I have always liked the Prerunner or Baja trucks and for the last few months I have been thinking of making a Prerunner styled truck. I say "style" truck because where I live (Indiana) there are no places to really use a prerunner truck so it will be used to cruse around town, some light off road action and lots of snow fun.

Here is what I'm looking for. I want the tube bumpers, fender flares, wide tires, roll bars in bed and small lift(maybe 2"), so nothing to wild. I don't mind cutting holes in the bed to run the bars and make a place to put a spare tire but don't want to loose the bed fully.

Here is my thought process of how I got to this point.

At first I was thinking the best place to start was to pick up a 80's-90's ranger as a base and build it. I don't think a 4cly would be enough power so would need to get a V6 model, but some of the ranger V6 are lets just say "not the best" so I thought I could swap a 302 into it. Doing some checking I should be able to make it work with some fab work but nothing too major. I could pick up a 95-01 Explorer to swap out the V8, and axles.

But then I got to thinking if I want a V8 why not just buy a f150 with a V8 to start with? It would save me a lot of trouble and maybe some money in the long run.

Then I got to thinking if I'm just going to buy a F150 for this why not just use my current 78 F150? The truck isn't stock the PO swapped engines, bed and front fenders from other trucks, so I won't be messing up a original truck. The only draw back I can see to this is with that 8' bed it is a long truck and pretty heavy. I could make bumpers and add on to the current roll bar. Would need to add some new springs all the way around and maybe swap the bench seat for some buckets.

So needs some feed back would be it nuts to use my 78 for this project? Or should I pick up a ranger like I was thinking at first?

Long read I know thanks for any feedback.

 

I have decided to use my 78 for the project.