Hello all,
I recently was given a nice little 85 ranger. It has a 6" Rancho lift, with 33.5" tires. Under the hood, first off is nasty, but it has the original 2.8L V-6, 220K on the engine.
I am looking for the best way to clean up the engine. It has 20 years of oil, grease and grime on it. The oil is so thick that it actually smokes when the engine warms up, not good in my book.
Also, I am looking for a replacement bench seat, the current one has no springs left in the driver side.
You can see a couple of pictures of it at http://members.***.net/charles.keezer, there are also some pics of my 7 mnth old little boy too.

Thanks,
Chuck

 

get a couple cans of engine brite by Gunk. Spray it on..let it sit for 15-20 mins then hose off. As far as the seat goes..go pull any seats from a Ranger or Bronco II or Explorer.

 

Cover all the electronics, connectors and distributor with plastic to keep them dry.

 

How about some replacement shocks? I am not sure what typr are on there now, but it is a rough ride. I shoudl just be able to order some Rancho shocks for a 6" lift, Right? I am still learning, this is a project truck for me. Thanks,

Chuck

 

I had a simliar problem mine is a 4x4 with 305,000 kilometers cept my engine is near had it for power but as for the seat i took the bench seat out
and put in buckets from a 94 sable, it worked quite well considering
and looks alot better

 

Chuck
Good luck on the project. I have an 86 stock truck and just began changing the seats last Friday. It takes patients but the 13 mm bolts in the back of the brackets come off 1/8 turn at a time. Read the archives on Interiors to make sure that when you go to the junk yard that you only get brackts for your bucket or 40/60 seats that conform to your model of truck. I did not notice if you had a single or extra cab, if you have a regular cab, only take brackets off of a reg. cab truck. Ditto for an extra cab. The bracktes from your bench will only fit another Ford bench seat.
I tried to put'88 Mazda MX6 fully adjustable buckets in my Ranger, it took two hours and 3 die grinder discs before I gave up on that idea. There were too many spot welds and I was bending the hell out of the parts I wanted to save.
Next I went with two early Ford Escape seats, my brackets fit the passenger seat fine after I ground off the Escape brackets. The drivers seat had a height adjustment on it and that took all afternoon to remove the height adjustment and tack on the Ranger brackets. I still have not positioned the brackets for the final weld but I may have 12 hours in the thing before its over.
Save yourself some time by buying a Ranger bench in good shape, Tempo, Mustang and as the guy said Sable bucket seats may just bolt on without welding and grinding.
I had to grind and weld because the seats were free, I have no money and plenty of tools and free time.

 

dont think id go as far to say they just bolt in it took me about 5 hours per seat. I had to make the mounts and shim them up here and there I never cut anything off the original seat only thing i didnt like to do was putting the new carpet down. I had to weld some floor in anyways so i thought it would be nice to have buckets.

 

I hear ya on hard labor fitting the seats in so that they will be safe.
One of my big concerns with a single cab truck with no head rest is that if you ever get rear ended, your head is going to go through the rear window if the accident is bad enough. I have only been rear ended at slow speed once in the Ranger but in my full size truck three times in 12 years. One of those accidents would have totaled a Ranger but the F150 needed about $3 grand to repair the thing.
One thing I forgot to mention when selecting seats is to make sure you get a seat that flips forward, the Escape seats that I will install only recline backwards. By not flipping forward, the seats are going to be a pain in every day use. But the truck is not going to live forever.

 

Thanks for all the insight. I think I am going to try and find a old ranger to match mine and check out the seat. I am making a trip to the U-Wrench-It yard today to see what I can find. I will keep you all posted on what happens.