D-Ranged

This is my Ranger. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I'm updating the beginning of the thread with how it progressed. To follow along, you can see some of it here, the rest is on The Ranger Station and Pirate. Just search D-Ranged. This thread isn't much different than what you would see on those forums, but a couple people asked me to post up about it on here too, so here you go. Also, I'm in the process of fixing all the bad links to pictures.


It started life simple. A 1 owner, ultra clean 94 4.0/5speed/4x4. I immediately removed the dear hoof wheels and installed some cheap aluminum ones.

Then a few months later, I put on a small lift, but not the tires... hey, the 31s still had tread and I was a lance corporal that lived in the barracks... cut me slack

tires finally wore out, bought some used 33s and a stupid roll bar thing

then i got a free drivetrain out of a FSB, and put it in (god this thing was SCARY to drive)

then i went to Loftis Motorsports in El Cajon, CA to get a SAS done

then I put an 06+ front clip on it

then i put a big ass bumper on it, a winch, added some lockers, and met up the Explorer Forum guys in Truckhaven in 2011.

oh yea, and painted it Screamin' Yellow.

I ran the 35s for a while, even took it to Moab,

and when they wore out, I stepped up to a set of 37s

added a doubler,

and took it to the rubicon. Alone. Don't EVER do that, especially on a trail that 600 miles from home and you drove your rig there

Then I moved to Kentucky for school and things went drastically south.

 

[Tbars4]

..Thanks for posting that up for us...:biggthump

 

[GRNMACHINE]

N I C E !! Will check it out in person next time at Book Store etc

 

[josh40601]

Whoa this thread is pretty out of date....

I have actually removed the yellow body, reworked the frame to fit the newer fuel and electrical system, picked up a donor 2001 4 door, dropped the body on the old frame, sold the old body, sold the front axle, gutted the interior, and filled the bed full of parts. Since July, it hasn't moved. Its sitting on blocks.

I know it looks bad,

 

[Tbars4]

..There are lot's of us who don't get over to the other site very often but we are still truly fans and will await your updates over here..

 

[josh40601]

Its still sitting in the same spot. Rick (RangerSVT) is going to do a V8 swap as soon as i can afford it. Putting my 70 car hauler up for sale, and if it does, I'll easily have the money to get it done.

 

[josh40601]

Not been much for updates on this, because, well, there were not updates. My buddy Rick has been searching for a donor truck for 2.5 months before he decided to piece it together. It is at his shop though.

So far he has the Engine, Transmission, ECU, harness, accessories, and oil filter relocation kit. Doesn't look like he will get it running this week, but hopefully by next week, it will at least do something. T-Case wise, I will be running a borrowed 205 until my doubler is finished. I think he said the doubler was a 1356/205, but I don't remember.

Here in Lexington, I have been doing some parts accumulating, while working on the C10. So far I have a set of 37" Baja Claws and a set of 17x9 Eagle wheels to put on D when it gets back. They are not new, or close to new, but they will suffice until I can afford something else.

Got some awesome news yesterday... I got accepted into grad school!

School starts next month.

 

[Tbars4]

..Congrats on the Grad School..:biggthump

..I'm not up to date on the "C-10" but I am wondering if you still have the first gen X too..:scratch:

..oh yea...anymore pictures?

 

[josh40601]

Thanks buddy!

This is the most recent pic I have

that was back in February when I took the truck to him.

No new pictures right now, I'm trying to get Rick to send me some.

My C10 is the truck I bought on my 1st deployment. Here is how she sits currently

Its a 68 C10 with an LS1, 4L60E, all aftermarket suspension, custom paint and interior. I had a 72 clip on it, but my dad and I changed it after it got damaged, and now we are knocking out all the problems at once. A link to the build is here ->http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=461483


Still got the Sarge. His build thread is in my signature. Once I get D back, the sarge is going up for sale. Especially now I have school, I don't want so many projects.

 

[josh40601]

Updates...
I finally found a good core support, and as it turns out its the same year as the cab, even has the same motor and trans (3.0/auto)...

Here it is out and on the dolly...

So that was pulled Friday. Today I decided to get the dash swapped, as it shouldn't take too long. Little did I know Josh decided I didn't have enough to do and made it even harder on me by taking every nut and bolt out of the dash frame except the four or five on the backside. Since it only has 7 bolts holding the dash to the firewall, I started pulling the dash...

Since I had to pull all the bolts out of the old dash, as Josh didn't save the bolts from the grey dash he pulled, I left the frame and wire harness in the truck...
.

Finished pulling the grey dash pad from the frame...
.

Then after a few more hours of installing all the bolts back into the dash frame, the dash was swapped...

For those with good eyes, you will notice the instrument cluster is not installed. The cluster trim panel, knee panel, and radio bezel are just sitting there as I still need to swap the wires over for the tach. I stopped here for the day, as I'll be back on it Tuesday and swap the wires and install the cluster. Monday is grass cutting day.
As much extra work Josh cost me, I think the price of his winch will be enough restitution :thefinger:

SVT

 

[josh40601]

Updates!

here is the flange on the Tcase adapter that's bolted to the trans...

Here is the Tcase that's gonna get used temporarily. Just a 205 until the doubler is finished.

There is a small problem though... Shifter linkage and adapter want to occupy the same area...

So, the adapter needs to be trimmed...

Here is the fitment after its trimmed...

Here is another shot...

At this point the trans pan was removed as someone drilled a 1/4" drain hole in the bottom of the pan, but used a rubber grommet as a plug. While the pan is off, Rick went ahead and changed the filter. 149k miles and the trans was never serviced. It still had the factory fill neck stopper in the pan. This is both good and bad, good in that I know how many times the trans was serviced and know how hard the trans' life was. Bad in that it was never changed. The fluid was a little dark, but no burnt smell at all, giving me the info that would seem like it wasn't ran too hard.

Here is the hole in the pan, you might have noticed it in earlier pics...

Inside the pan, you can see the factory filler neck plug, indicating the pan has never been off. You can also see the fluid is a little dark, but otherwise pretty clean...

Here is the pan repaired and ready for service. New filter was installed, pan was wiped clean, as well as the magnet...

Next up will be the final install of the motor, trans, and Tcase.

 

[josh40601]

Updates! No i haven't gotten her back yet, but it has come a damn good long way in a weekend.

Updates...
I'll start with the parts list...
Motor mount plates made from 3/8" plate, driver side lifted up 1.25"....

Radiator from V8 explorer, fan shroud, and AC condensor...

AC line from evaporator to condensor...

Complete motor...

Spare wiring harness with ECU and MAF...

On with today's progress.

When I got the motor, I had found one that was already pulled, and it shows...

If you haven't noticed, they cut the harness right by the plug for the ECU and the 42 pin plug, what idiots...

This is why I needed the spare harness. So once I had that changed out, I started by bolting the tranny to the motor..

Once that was done, I started bolting the 205 tcase to the tranny, using RTV sealant between the tranny and the tcase...

The bolts for the tcase are standard bolts with no shoulder, so I needed to install a washer so the aluminum tranny case would not get damaged. Some of you know, some of you don't. But to get a washer to fit tightly to a bolt, you can use a smaller size washer. The bolt size is 3/8, the washer is 5/16...

Here is the combo assembled ready for install....

Even the stock VSS fits with plenty of slack in the harness when installed in the 205....

For those with a clever eye, you noticed one of the shift rail poppets missing. I bought the tcase like this from the boneyard, so if anyone has a spare poppet, spring and detent ball, PM me. This is what they look like...

I borrowed one from my other 205 for the time being. Here it is installed..

Here it is going into the engine bay...

It's a tight fit with the shock hoops where they're at...

It's getting real tight, had to pull both motor mounts off the frame, as well as remove the AC compressor to make room to squeeze it in (insert "thats what she said" jokes)...

And here is where my luck went south. When I did SVT's swap, I tried using the stock explorer oil pan. It wouldn't fit, but I also had the motor at least 3" forward from the firewall. I was hoping with me positioning the motor as close to the firewall as possible, that the stock pan would fit, it won't...

A look underneath showing where the oil pan sits in relation to the crossmember...

That's where I stopped today. Got to run to both the parts store and the boneyard to pick up more parts, which consist of oil pan and pickup tube, tranny cooling lines, oil and filters, oil pan bolts, pan gasket, fuel lines, and a couple other odds and ends for this project. I'm hoping to be done this weekend. Stay tuned...


So after running to town for more parts from the boneyard and two parts stores, I made it back to the house for a few more hours of wrenching. First, I had to drop the oil pan and swap it to a foxbody dual sump style. While I had the pan off, I inspected any play in the rods and checked the timing chain for wear/stretching...

Here is the new pan installed with new hardware and a new rubber pan gasket...

Here is the motor in its new home, sitting on the mounts. You can also see the new rubber pan gasket...

Engine to firewall clearance...

Oil pan to crossmember clearance, this one fits much better than the stock explorer...

A couple of issues came up, the engine cage, which is also the coilover mounts, are wanting to occupy the same space as the AC compressor and the alternator. When the cage was built, it was built around a 4.0. Talked to Josh, it will be temporarily moved until he decides to build a new one...

The alternator side...

I also need to extend the 42 pin plug as its about 10" too short. It'll take about 6 hours just to do that...

The ECU, heater hoses, and vacuum lines for HVAC are all hooked up...

Tomorrow's plans are to get the front core support trimmed and mounted in place so I can start on the wiring...

The motor mounts in the stock location are not level. The driver side mount is about 1.25" lower than the passenger side...


Today's updates...
After talking with Josh, he decided a new engine cage will be fabricated when he gets the truck back, so I relocated the tubes just enough to fit the alternator and the AC compressor, then rewelded the tubes til they can be replaced...

A little hard to see, but this one is showing all accessories mounted and the belt is installed. I wonder where the winch went? Oh wait, I know! LOL...

Next up is plumbing the power steering, I was able to reuse the stock 94 4.0L pressure line, I took and basically straightened out all the bends at the gearbox end to make it reach. The return line already had a section of rubber line added to it, so I just trimmed it to fit....

Onto fitting the core support. I wanted to make the core support removable for the next engine swap, or any maintenance or any other reason. It's not entirely how I wanted to do it, but it will be strong enough. If Josh doesn't like it, there is enough material left so that it can be welded for a factory replacement type repair. Basically, the top and sides are butted against the firewall side, and the lower side and bottom are overlapped. The sides have a reinforcement panel that runs past the firewall to the doorjam. These reinforcement panels were left intact, and the inner finderwells were the panels that were cut and matched up...

Here is a front shot...

If you noticed on the driver side, not all the holes in the support panel and inner fender panel line up. This is cause the core support is not bolted down to the core support frame mounts. They don't line up, and they are shaped differently. I can either cut and move the frame mounts outwards about an inch each side to line up with the core support and use a set of 94 core support mounts, which need to be replaced, one is missing and the other is froze, or I can go back to the boneyard, get a pair of 01+ frame mounts and get the rubbers while I'm there...

Next up is test fitting the radiator and AC condensor. I'm using the explorer 5.0 rad and condensor, and with the rad and condensor bolted in place, using the stock clutch fan, there is about an inch between the rad and the fan blades. This gives me a little room to move the motor forward about a half inch. The motor is sitting a little high, and the fan shroud will either need to be modified or lift tabs made to attach it to the rad. The motor can only be lowered about 3/4" before the passenger exhaust manifold flange contacts the frame...

The rad is tall, even with the custom bumper it still hangs down low, got to talk to Josh, might be swapping this out for a 4.0L rad...

The rad inlet is close to the engine cage, so in its present location connecting the upper hose is not happening. You can also see the AC line from the condensor to the evaporator is connected...

The AC line from the compressor to the condensor, yep, it will have a functioning AC...

The battery box and driver side engine cage. Looks like the battery will fit in the stock location. Even though the engine cage will need to be relocated, there is plenty of room...

The stock air inlet tube in place, the lower is not installed, but the mounts are there and there is plenty of room...

With the air filter cover in place, you can see there is plenty of room for the engine cage to be relocated. The driver side has more room than the passenger side, pictured here...

Here is a side shot of how high the motor sits in the frame...

But with the hood on...

The IAC valve, which sits on top of the throttle body, and the highest part on the motor, still clears the hood by about an inch...

The hood hinges I think were bent and needed to be replaced, the ones Josh sent don't line up, or they are both from one side. One more thing I need to discuss with Josh...

Not pictured, but I also have the wiring harness routed in place and everything is hooked up at the firewall at the AC blower, AC low and high pressure switch, cruise control module, and throttle cable at the throttle body. The horns are not hooked up since there is no horns there, but the plug is there, I don't have the headlights, corner lights or marker lights, but all the wiring is in place. I will be reusing the 3.0 alternator harness as it is the correct length to reach both the alternator and the AC compressor clutch. Since this will reach, I don't have to worry about repinning the oval 12 pin plug that contains the starter circuit, AC high pressure switch and AC clutch. I will have to redo the starter wire as its on the driver side on the 3.0, the passenger side on the 5.0. This is where I stopped for today, since its after 9pm...

Alright. That catches everyone up to date. i'm just posting directly from TRS, so if you follow the build there, all the posts are the same. This is just for people who give a **** who don't follow it there

 

[Tbars4]

This is just for people who give a **** who don't follow it there

...And we appreciate it...:biggthump

 

[josh40601]

...And we appreciate it...:biggthump

That's why i do it brother!

 

[josh40601]

On the way home

Off loaded and ready to start tearing into it

since I still need to clear out the bed, I decided to pull the fenders out and set them up on there. Gonna bring the header panel and all the other parts in Thursday. I'll get the header panel mounted up so I can see where the coolers are going to go, then I'm starting on putting the rear axle in.

She doesn't run yet, but like Rick said, i was pressed hard for time and had to go. Got plenty of stuff to do until he gets up here though.

 

[josh40601]

got some updates....

When I installed the rear, I made a mistake...

I centered the rear diff, not the entire axle, so now it's off to one side. I'll redo it once I pull the bed for paint. Ugh. So aggravated at myself. When I did the 9", it was centered in the axle tubes, the sterling is not. oh well. stuff happens

also got all the old brackets cut off and ground down on the 50, and ordered a 3 link kit from Barnes using their new Enduro Joints. going to run the 3rd link on the passenger side of the axle.

 

[Tbars4]

...Good...I'm not the only one that does this kind of stuff..:

...I always figure it out after I get to thinking Boy, that sure went well today..

..Is that front end hooked up? look at that droop..

 

[josh40601]

yea, in that pic, it was hooked up. I had it strapped at 16" from the bottom of the frame. Going for the same with the 3 link. Going to use these arms on my Jeep with the old axles from D.

 

[josh40601]

so today started out here:

pulled the old axle the rest of the way, removed the shocks and arms, then cut the welds off the bumper to get it out of the way. (the guy who was doing most of the building back in SD tacked the bumper mounts to the frame)

So then I disconnected everything I was afraid of cooking with the torch

Then I went to cutting...

First was the battery tray. The battery will not be in the engine compartment, so i wanted to get rid of that to allow some wiggle room for other things i may want under the hood

Next up were the 94 radiator support mounts. They were useless to me since they didn't line up, so off they went.

Then I pulled the bumper and could really start to see things happening now

The last thing I did before coming inside to knock out some homework was cut off the passenger side sock mount

 

[josh40601]

On a break at school, so i put in some wrench time. Since money is tight and i scrapped the TJ, I decided to just put the 44/9 back under the truck until I can afford to build a better set of axles. I have the super duties, but they are not locked, geared, or converted to lock out hubs.

I also picked up a new set of wheels for a song

I started by lopping off the last part of the old cage, then cleaning up the frame to get ready for the plates I wanted to add.

Next I added 3/16 plate to the sides of the frame where the crinkle looking sections are. No real reason why i did it, other than i think this will add a little bit more rigidity to the front of the frame where the bumper mounts.

Next I used the 94 body mount flanges with the 2004+ bushings. They are not the same, so I needed to modify the top of the mount to fit the newer bushing. I then added some scrap angle iron to mate the frame to the mounts.

Sorry for the nasty looking welds and the crappy pics.

I also got all the nuts holding the front clip tacked on so that if or when i have to remove the front clip, I don't have to drill out about a bajillion spot welds. (Thanks Rick!)

I got the passenger side of the frame done as well, just didn't take a picture.

Got her to fire and run for about 3 seconds. I think the fuel pump is locked up. also get the front axle located under it, and the motor in place.

 

[josh40601]

Starting to look like the ranger again!

Still haven't gotten it running for longer than 10 seconds. Still having issues with getting fuel to the engine. Everything else is working, and the pump, relay, and fuses have all been changed.