Long time FTE resident, but new to the Ranger world. I picked up an 87 Ranger 4X4 a few weeks ago and as I start going thru my new project the interior puzzles me a bit.

The exterior paint in silver with the lower black. Interior is red cloth, dash and visors.

The "headliner" area in painted red to match the seats etc, but is peeling bad and the exterior silver is showing thru. Afterpeeling some of the paint, the silver below is in perfect condition not showing any signs of being sanded or scuffed for the red paint.

Is the red roof paint factory or did the PO paint the upper roof himself? The red paint is a good match to the pillars etc.

Just curious, if I go about just flaking the rest of the red paint off or repaint it.

Josh

 

My '83 has a two-toned exterior, brown and biege (same as pic below), the interior is all biege, flooring, seats, visors, dash, pillars, door panels, everything that is EXCEPT the headliner which is brown, as you alluded to, it's not a headliner per se, but rather just a "headliner" area, so based on that i'm assuming the PO painted yours, maybe others can confirm this.

 

Yeah the roof area... Just seems odd the silver underneath is perfect, unscuffed.

Josh

Josh

 

What you are describing sounds like a classic example of painting an unprepped surface. I do recall though that in '87, Ford messed around with primerless paint which caused auto/truck exterior paintjobs to peel. Ended up in a recall and free paint jobs. My brother had an 87 F150 and got free paint job sometime in the early 90s. Paint peeled off in sheets and the surface below just had some kind of conversion coating which to me, was smooth, but had a flat sheen.

 

My 87 4x4 has a velour headliner?? do you mean to say that there is no headliner, only the underside of the roof panel painted red?
Mine also had the velour door panels. Pretty beat up from the sun so I took them out and underneath was untouched paint. I made some panels using oak plywood, used Stainless Steel commercial storefront door pulls for armrests / door pulls, then fit in the power door and window lock switches. Looks alot better than the puke velour. Now I need to come up with a good headliner. Was thinking about making one out of 1/8" plywood skin with oak plastic laminate over it to match the oak door panels.

 

No actual headliner, just the maroon red paint applied over the same silver as the exterior.

Josh

Plastic maroon door panels, but it has what I assume to be aftermarket carpeting.