Hello, I've been here for awhile but don't post much, mainly lurk around and see what everyones up to.

Simply put: Me and my dad are building a 94 Ranger and sticking a 302 in it.
My old man had a 1978 F-150 that was all jacked up and crap, but I'm more into the going fast thing. His truck had a nickname of 'big red' so I guess that makes me 'little red.'

Plans: Have a badass street/strip truck that surprises the hell out of the local dumb chevy crowd.

Like I said, I'm going the 302 route.
Originally I bought a 302, did a hack job on the heads, installed a comp xe268 hydraulic cam in it, ran it on the stand I have for a total of an hour tops. The last time I ran it, it popped and whatnot a few times. Then I changed the oil, hmmm... why does it look metallic?:ooer: Guess what, Flat Tappet Cam break in is important.:dizzy: So I ground the cam and lifters down, and sent microscopic metal bit's throughout my engine.
So I ripped it all apart, and it's still apart.
Time to do it right.
As of now with the engine, my plans are

-302, stock displacement... well, .030 over.
-Hyper Pistons
-Some type of light I beam rod
-possibly a 255 crank if I can find one in decent shape
-Gt-40 heads converted to stud mount by a machinist friend of mine (temporary)
-Comp 282s cam (temporary, it's a free-be from a friend, I'll call Jay Allen once I learn to drive), or maybe a stock HO cam
-Single plane intake

I've got the heads, still gotta have em machined, and then just going to have a valve job done. I am buying the pistons 'used'.. but brand new, from a friend. I also have my eyes on a 255 crank.



The Truck is most certainly a work in progress. I picked it up last fall for $650 and drove it home. I pulled out the gutless 2.3L and 5speed. Then I bought a Jegster 8pt Roll bar kit. So I bulled the bench seat and rubber mat. Then the dashboard was an ugly red so I pulled out the entire interior and painted it. Then I pulled the box off.

Yeah, I've got a gutted truck as of right now. The roll bar is in except the two rear support bars, Got to wait until I can do a Lexan window...
The frame is going to get sandblasted by myself, hopefully this weekend.

Now the sandblasting has me somewhat worried, once I pulled the box off, I noticed a couple small spots that are quite rusty. One spot, in front of the passenger spring hanger actually has a small hole in it. The rear of the frame is also rusted pretty good. I'll have to wait and see the outcome of the blasting. I 'may' box the frame. We'll see what sandblasting does. I'll slop on a nice coat of black rust-oleum just so it's purty and not rusty/crappy to work under.

I'm planning on buying the S&W Ladder bar kit. I'll run some type of explorer rear, possibly even pre-95. I don't care about disk breaks as much as I care about something that doesn't puke axle parts all over. Fat (13" or 14"?)tires because I'll mount the ladder bar's on the inside of the frame.

Transmission will be a c4 with a rmvb and a brake. Stall... not sure yet.

I'll post pictures tommorow of what it looks like as of now, but for today, I'll show how nice it was just one year ago.


http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/8017/dscn0653k.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9438/dscn0655n.jpg
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9779/dscn0658iu.jpg

is that the stock bench? you want a tan one? its in rediculous shape like this one! we can trade.. mhmmmmmm

is that the stock bench? you want a tan one? its in rediculous shape like this one! we can trade.. mhmmmmmm

Yeah, that was the stock bench.

I gave it away the day I pulled it out to a buddy of mine who has some Rat Rod. It's a 53 (ish?) Dodge pickup body on a mid 90's S10 frame.
It's too comical, and he needed a seat.

Sorry man.

Love the wheel choice. 4 different ones! :P

What kind of fuel are you going to use? Maybe cut heads/deck to bump compression a bit? Machine heads for a dual spring?

Cup brushes and tiger paws will clean that frame rust up. Salt country sucks.

What kind of fuel are you going to use?
Just 93 octane pump gas. The fuel lines will be steel so if I want to, I can try E-85 with one less change.

Maybe cut heads/deck to bump compression a bit?
The head's will be cut a little to straighten them, I'll see about getting them down to 60 cc or so.


Machine heads for a dual spring?
Don't know yet, maybe. Again, like another $100. If I use my buddy's 282s, I already have the springs for it from another build. There just Comp Single springs w/ a dampener.


Cup brushes and tiger paws will clean that frame rust up.
Eh, just gunna sandblast it since I have access to one.
What are 'cup brushes and tiger paws' anyway?

Salt country sucks.
Oh yes, yes it does.

Pictures of my so called 'progress'

Gutted interior, Rollbar itself is in, but no other supports.
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/2500/rockerarm023.jpg

How I attached the rollbar to the frame. It's just bolted for now, but I can weld it at a later time easily enough
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3056/rockerarm024.jpg

Rollbar is done except for rear supports. Dashboard is painted. I'm going to order a swing out door bar kit and at least have it on the drivers side. It's a little tight getting around the wheel. I've got a smaller wheel but it will still be a pain in the ass.
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/6918/dscn0570a.jpg

Here's how I attached the front rollbar support
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/5161/dscn0460ko.jpg


here are my seats
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5373/tach005.jpg


Since this picture was taken, the heater box has been removed and trimmed
The outer and inner fenders are off. Throttle cable taken out, new one ordered. Clutch pedal and master cylinder got tossed, and I pulled out the brake lines.
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/9210/tach004.jpg

My heater box, kinda dumb to do it without test fitting the engine. Oh well, just a quick patch. :wiggle:
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/2064/heaterbox013.jpg

And the last two pictures for now. I'll be sure to get some pic's of the sandblasting.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/2240/dscn0567h.jpg

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/884/dscn0568t.jpg

That's quite the "garage" you've got there.:wiggle:

It's where my dad works.

It's a blessing/pain in the ass having the truck there. I would love to come home from work and just work for awhile in my own garage.

Instead, I'm limited to weekends pretty much, and have to push the truck out and in when I want to work on it.
But besides that, I've got a ton of room, an overhead crane capable of lifting something like 6 tons, a plethora of forklifts (work OK as a lift:tongue)

Damn, I need a heat only box like that for mine....

Looks good. Are you going to clean up/paint the engine bay too?

Cup brush:

http://www.kcbrush.com/UpLoadFile/2008062009033473499.jpg

Tiger paw:

http://www.gulfsupply.com/itms/PF62034.JPG

Thanks MX:redface:

I've always called the top one a wire wheel :wiggle:

Well, the weather was crappy so I didn't sandblast it today.

Instead I made seat mounts and took out the engine bay/headlight harness.

Making stuff is never as easy or quick as you think it will be.

It's actually not as hard to climb into as I thought it would be. Screw the swing out door bar's, I'm young.:tongue
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/9228/dscn0594q.jpg

Just an old belt I had. I'm going to pick up a set of (expired) red ones. The trucks going to be bright red, so they should look good.
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/1824/dscn0596b.jpg

They sit even with each other, one's just reclined a little.
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2123/dscn0595y.jpg

Underside #1
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8868/dscn0597xm.jpg

Underside #2
http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/530/dscn0598m.jpg

What else come's apart on this thing? lol
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/156/dscn0599o.jpg

93s and 94s are bastard children when it comes to the wiring....

93s and 94s are bastard children when it comes to the wiring....

How so? :ooer:

This is the first vehicle I've ripped to peices, but it seems straightforward enough.

The wiring is different from any other year Rangers and the chassis and engine wiring are all intertwined into one harness. I ended up swapping over to a '92 chassis harness in my 94. The older trucks had separate engine harnesses and chassis harnesses. The 95 and newer trucks, the Exploder harnesses basically swap right into them, which some rearranging I'm sure.

oh ok that makes sense.

Now that I think of it, the engine harness is connected to the headlight's and whatnot.

I cut the engine harness right where it comes out to the power distribution box. If I need to do some harness searching, I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks.

well I'll tell ya now that I did the same thing you just did.... so get searching for a harness or get the soldering iron warm..... EVERYTHING goes through that power distribution box. Thats basically what my hold up was for 3 years was what to do with the wiring.

well I'll tell ya now that I did the same thing you just did.... so get searching for a harness or get the soldering iron warm..... EVERYTHING goes through that power distribution box. Thats basically what my hold up was for 3 years was what to do with the wiring.


I pulled out my chilton manual to look at the wiring harness. To me, it looks like most of the stuff I care about get's it's power from the fuse box.

What does that power distribution box actually distribute power to? I don't care about the engine harness, I'll make my own for that.

I was hoping to keep the wiring harness for the headlights/turn signals/tail lights, etc. the same. If I have to make a couple things that's fine, like the fuel pump for example.

But what was it that I cut by getting rid of the power distribution box?

I'd like to know too, doing the same thing on my 94.

Actually everything runs throught that power distribution box- fuel pump, ignition, dash panel, all the lights, you name it. If I could do mine again I would have left the power box in there and just cut the EFI wires off and used the wires going to the gauge cluster and stuff like that. Your best bet now is to get a chassis harness from an older truck and put it in. It basically plugs in but there's some plugs that need changed, wires lengthened and a few moved around. Also on the older harness the power distribution box is on the passenger side, not on the driver's side by the battery.