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My 1988 5.sl0w Ranger

Foxracin

Explorer Addict
Joined
August 29, 2008
Messages
1,080
Reaction score
2
City, State
Mount Holly, NC
Year, Model & Trim Level
1991
Here is my other ride. Never ending project and probably will never be "finished". lol

Here is a little run down.

5.0 roller bottom end refreshed
GT40P heads with crane springs and comp roller rockers
FRPP b-cam
Comper Timing set
Weiand Stealth intake
Holley 650dp
MSD Ignition
T5 Trans with pro 5.0 shifter
fidanza aluminum flywheel
FRPP king cobra clutch
Exploder 3L73 rear end
16 gal fuel cell under bed at the rear
battery relocated under bed

Im sure I am missing a lot but you get the idea.

Its not the quickest but it sure is fun to drive. Just keep it between the ditches. lol

fuelcellswap3.jpg

fuelcellswap4.jpg

fuelcellfinished3.jpg

fuelcellfinished.jpg

newgatesmall.jpg

ranga2640x480.jpg

grill.jpg
 



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oh wow im surprised no one has commented, but that is one super clean ranger:thumbsup: the last 5L rbv i seen did not look that clean, it was more of a rats nest

what other plans do you have in store for it? what colour are you going with or you sticking with flat black?

how far into your rad support is your rad? and also what e fan are you running?

edit: i just noticed it looks like you molded a sploder grill to a first gen grill?
 






Now that's a ranger I wouldn't mind having :D nice ride man
 






oh wow im surprised no one has commented, but that is one super clean ranger:thumbsup: the last 5L rbv i seen did not look that clean, it was more of a rats nest

what other plans do you have in store for it? what colour are you going with or you sticking with flat black?

how far into your rad support is your rad? and also what e fan are you running?

edit: i just noticed it looks like you molded a sploder grill to a first gen grill?

I want to do something with 2 hair dryers but that will be a good bit down the road. I want to find a 4.10 disc Explorer rear end and narrow it a little bit, and then body work. im going to do the body work and paint it with some good flat black.

The rad is tucked into the core support a good bit. None of it sitcks out past it. The fan is just a universal on from the auto part houses. I need to upgrade it. It will keep it from over heating but it will not cool it off.

The grill is a out of a Aerostar I molded into the Ranger shell.
 






if your having a hard time finding the sploder disk break setup or if they are too expensive to purchase whole, everything swaps over to the earlier 8.8

im loving that grill no matter what lol, i seen a ranger this year with a sploder grill and he did billet inserts inside each slot and i thought it looked sharp, too bad i didn't have my cam:(

if you want a damn good fan the taurus e fan is plenty enough, there are guys that run them in there dakotas, apparently from what i read is they push more air then the viper fan that everyone recommends them to use

just an fyi, if your flag mirrors haven't calfed yet, its just a matter of time before they do, my right mirror doesn't stay adjusted anymore, everything knocks it around
 






I was just more looking for a Exploder rear end with 4.10 LS already in so I dont have to do a gear change. Disc's are not a biggie to me.

I have read a lot of good things about the Taurus fan. But I believe it is a little to thick for my application. There is hardly any clearance for one. I may try a fan off a HHR you can cut the shroud and get them down to about 3 inches and the flow great too.

I know allllll about the mirror crap. I havent seen one that works right. lol At about 35-40 mph mine fold in. For aerodynamic reasons of course. lol
 






the taurus fan is about 3" thick and some spots can be trimmed down to bring it in a little. the guy i knew with a 302 in his b2 had his rad in the rad support and he ran the taurus fan, but what he also did was notch a small spot out of the housing and moved the fan over to the one side to gain total clearance

lol gotta love the aerodynamics, at least we can say ford was looking out for us in one department

i know if you want a sploder axle with 4:10's i heard rumour that the first gen sport tracs the majority of them have 4:10's i know my brothers does if you wanna come steal that from him and teach him a lesson lol
 






Got a disc 8.8 with 4.10 LS at the junkyard today. Went ahead and pulled the drivers side axle at the junkyard and swapped it out with the shorter passenger side. Going to just cut the drive side tube down and run a passenger side axle and move the spring perches.

The passenger side axle is about 3 inches shorter then the driver so it will get it back to about stock width. Then I can put some bigger meats on it and set the pinion angle right.

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What did it come out of?
 












When I did my Explorer 8.8 swap, it was less than an inch wider than my Ranger 8.8. So it threw me when you mentioned the 3" difference.

I always wondered why nobody ever swapped out one side to change the axle width, I always thought it would be a great way to get a wider stance for offroad stability. Obviously, you went for shorter to keep the tires tucked into the fenderwell.

Maybe you could do a writeup as a separate thread on changing the width?
 












Started tearing the new rear end apart.

Pulled the axles, brakes, backing plates. Cut off the stock spring perches.

narrowrear.jpg

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Only spring perches I could find locally was for a 3" axle tube. The Explorer 8.8 is a 3.250" axle tube. Just had to grind the corners of the perches a tad and they fit great.

narrowrear3.jpg
 






Went to Harbor Freight and got a big pipe cutter. It was only $20 and came with 2 extra cutting wheels.

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You ave to cut out 2-15/16" to be exact to put in a passenger side axle.

So mark it where you want to commence to cutting.

First cut

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Little deeper.

DSCI0003.jpg


Finished first cut.

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DSCI0006.jpg

DSCI0008.jpg

DSCI0009.jpg


Now start the second cut 2-15/16" from the other.

DSCI0010.jpg


Then thats all the cuts. It cuts through pretty good and quick just have to use some muscle.

I measured out where the spring pad will be welded on and made my cut/weld joint right between it so the spring pad will bridge the weld and help strengthen it.

DSCI0014.jpg


DSCI0012.jpg


Overall shot now.

DSCI0011.jpg


Piece I cut out.

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Now just have to weld it all up and it will be good to go.
 






nice ranger
 






Here is the axle tube welded back up.

welded.jpg

welded3.jpg

welded2.jpg


Still got to repack the clutches and I got a F150 s-spring for the L/S.

If the sway bar still bolts up ill leave it on if it doesnt line up ill just cut the mounts off.
 












I know this is a year old bump, but how is this project going for ya?

And uhm... I was just wondering how exactly you managed to use the perches at the the angle you have them at.. ? :confused:
 









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