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Picked up this 1990 Ranger yesterday 11-14-11 from James T. here on the board.

Got a ride to Barstow, then caught a ride from Tony (TCM GLX) to Bakersfield where I met James' dad to pick the ranger up.


Driving home on the 58 with a speedo that's way off. Need to fix that.

Luckily the truck had a full tank of gas when I picked it up... almost made it all the way home. Apparently the fuel gauge isn't the most accurate... it was above half a tank in Barstow and then quickly fell. Had to stop at Slim's gas station in Essex to get $20 worth to make it home. I'm lucky that station is there... The truck started sputtering about 5 miles before it and I was able to nurse it to the pump.



The next day at the shop I started cleaning it out and inspecting it.











Someone has put a roll cage in it that I will need to cut out and replace. Also, the rear shackle hangars are welded to the frame so I will need to fix that and flip the shackle. Red interior... Bleh. Wheel spacers on the front. Bleh.

First order of business is check maintenance stuff, then build a set of beams for the front to get rid of the spacers. Tires have flat spots from sitting so I may swap a set of 32" short course tires onto it.

Truck is a 2.3L five speed with an 8.8 disc brake Explorer rear. 4.56 gears. Support cover. Radius arms have heims... not sure who made them.

Drove 300+ miles home without a nut holding the pivot bolt on.

Since Ford uses some odd size nut on that bolt and the shackle hangars are welded on, it's obvious the only way to fix this is to build equal length beams and link it.

The truck does have forged beams so I'll probably just re use the ends and build fabricated equal length beams. I want the tire to match the fender better and also allow the truck to have more bump travel. It currently has a bump stop extension that uses 4" of up travel.

I need to put glass on the rear to cover the wider rear end and allow it to have more bump travel.

Did I mention that this is a shop truck... so it also needs a useable bed that can hold 1000 lbs of batteries. Time for a Hemet arm....

New battery for the Ranger... 22 lbs. One of the goals is to keep this truck way light.

Danger ranger..... glad you made it home safe and sound. The ranger was a good deal for sure!

philofab wrote:...it's obvious the only way to fix this is to build equal length beams and link it.

Oh boy. Here we go!

Light weight with links and Hemet arms?

SteveG wrote:

philofab wrote:...it's obvious the only way to fix this is to build equal length beams and link it.

Oh boy. Here we go!

Light weight with links and Hemet arms?

It can be done. Leaf springs weigh as much as links if not more. Do you remember the Red Courier that burnt to the ground build by Mark Newhan?

I want to keep it under 3000 pounds with a full cage.

Hahah cause we all know that in laughlin adjacent you need a cage for the shop ranger.

Damn - you act quick. I thought you weren't heading up there til after Baja.

It's even better though - we get to see the build start even sooner, and that thing looks like a good start for sure.

Looks like fun!

Oh and NICE battery!

I just weighed it. 3240# with me in it. I am 220 so the truck should be about 3020 to start with.

I'd like a hp/weight ratio of about 1:15 or better.

I need to get a 2.5L out of a 99/2000 to start playing with.... or the TDI out of Tony's new car.

For now I think I'll swap a later factory header on it and play with cam/ignition timing.

The PC928 weights 24 pounds according to the specs, and the group 58 that is in there is 30 or so.

I may go with a Lithium Pros C925. Same case size and only 9.5 pounds.

A fiberglass hood will save a lot of weight too. The factory hood is quite heavy.

Keeping it under 3,000 lbs would be awesome. It can be done, you just have to pay attention to weight everywhere and not overbuild, but you know that. I think it'll be a fun project.

Here are my ideas for weight reduction:

Lexan rear window.
Fiberglass single layer hood.
Header in place of exhaust manifold.
Interior cut for cage installation (removing unneeded panels, headliner, ect)
Race seats in place of factory bench
Swap gutted doors on for racing 1450....

cut out interior sheetmetal for cage tucking. It will not only help with getting more space in the tiny single cab, but it will very slightly help with weight reduction too.

That's the plan.

Cage will be simple instead of the standard DR tank design.

What size tire will you use?

Steve has a spare Ranger he's not using hahaha

SteveG wrote:What size tire will you use?

32" most likely because they are cheap from LOORS. I bought the last set of four for $150.

33" maximum. I like the idea of a 33x10.50x15 in front and a 33x12.50x15 in the rear.

philofab wrote:

SteveG wrote:What size tire will you use?

32" most likely because they are cheap from LOORS. I bought the last set of four for $150.

33" maximum. I like the idea of a 33x10.50x15 in front and a 33x12.50x15 in the rear.

I like the 33x10.50 but $150 for a set of tires is hard to beat.

Did you know the nut on the pivot bolt was gone before you started driving? That seems like a pretty drastic way to save weight.

Looks like it will be a fun little project, if it doesn't snowball out of control...but you know they all do.