Hello all,

Well, Steve delivered the Ranger today. It arrived at 10:15 AM this morning. (Thanks Steve!) For some reason he would not sell his '06 F-250 King Ranch to me for $1k so I settled for the Ranger.

I spent most the day cleaning out the interior, and bed (it is amazing how much trash collects in a vehicle that has been sitting since 2001), and even Windexed the windows. And I already made one mistake in this project, by throwing away two items I needed. In my haste to clean it up, I threw away the left front turn signal assembly, and the tailgate rod. Both of which I was able to retrieve from the dumpster.

The tailgate does not open due to a missing plastic clip that goes on the rod, and I did not notice the turn signal assembly missing until I went to clean it. I have posted some pics of it in my gallery, and will post a couple here if I can remember how to do it.



I wiped down all five tires with Meguires tire cleaner, and even popped the hood, and wiped everything rubber/plastic in the engine bay. I will take some pictures of the "cleaned up" truck tomorrow. Can't believe I didn't take any pics of the engine bay today.



Anyway, it has a few minor things wrong with it, like missing trim, no horn button, no rear bumper etc, and the main issue (atleast for me) is the engine idling problem when warm. However, I still think I got a good deal on a low mileage one owner truck. And with that 2.3 under the hood, this one will get double the gas mileage my old camper did.

I have already reinstalled the steering column cover as I did not want anyone thinking it was a stolen vehicle. Anyway I am happy with it so far, and can't wait to drive it. I will be picking up a battery for it soon, as the one in it died just was Steve was delivering it to me.

And, I may end up having to use it as a daily driver sooner than expected, as I just noticed water getting in the oil on my Buick this past Friday. It still runs fine, but I know it will not last too long without replacing the head gasket. Which I cannot afford at the moment since I just bought this truck.

 

Took some pics of the engine bay And one of the interior with the column covers on.

 

Congrats Jim. That looks like a good truck. I like the simplicity of those older Rangers. They were tough and reliable, even if they weren't the fastest. You will be amazed by all the little improvements you can make over time that costs little or nothing. Keep us updated.

 

Yepperz I plan on fixing it a little at a time as money and time allow.

 

congrats on your newest vehicle. looks good from here.

 

Thanks guys.

I got lucky today. I took the battery to Autozone to have it checked, fully prepared to buy a new one, and they told me it was still good, just needed charging. So that saved me $80. So, with the money I saved, I bought oil, and filter, air filter, locking gas cap, and locking lug nuts.

After putting the battery back in and a gallon of gas, I started it up and drove it around the parking lot. Ran pretty good. Definitely not going to mistake it for a Buick though. Going to have to get used to driving a manual trans again too.

 

Just make sure you get fire insurance on this one. Lol !!! Look pretty nice to me. I didn't realize this was a 4X4. I though you said it was a 2WD. Must have missed that. How does that work? Hate to tell you but, stick 4X4's tow even less than what we were talking about before. However, I think you came to the conclusion that your probably not going to tow much anyways. On the plus side most of the 4cylinder 4X4 came stock with 4:10 gears which will help you mpg around town. On the freeway your looking at 19-20mpg with that set up as long as it has the OD 5th.

$1000 for a working 4X4 is a great deal !!! Let me know if you run into anymore deals like that. Nice Truck.

 

The reason for the locking gas cap and wheel locks is because I can't watch it 24 hours a day. I would have liked to have picked up a steering wheel lock too but didn't know how much I would need for everything else. May get that tomorrow after work.

This one is 4x4. My brother's '87 which I was originally going to get is a 2wd. This one has the 5 speed, and a 3.73 limited slip. Steve says he has gets abot 20 mpg on the freeway.

With only 79hp I won't be towing much. However, I have a '87-88 Turbo Coupe lined up (only $400 w/blown trans) I am going to try an get before he sells it to someone else. And next payday I am picking up a manual trans Turbo Coupe computer. So, God willing, sometime down the road a piece, I will have 190hp instead of 79hp.

I have not tried the 4x4 system yet. I went to the DMV and got the title transferred and paid for another Planned Non Operation. So I will only drive it in the parking lot until I switch my insurance to this, and pay the registration fees. Want to make sure it will pass smog first before I do that though.

 

Jim, I have a bunch of misc spare parts that i'll do you right with. Mostly just small stuff but it could be worth your while if you need stuff like that, including a signal stalk, front running lights and turns.
So holler here if you need something. The donor has finally showed it's self after the winter so some parts should be no problem.



Rich

 

Thanks Rich, I might take you up on that. The truck is going to need a few odds and ends, I figure I can get them at a local junkyard. But if you have them already, just let me know a price. I'll PM you.

 

Well, I drove the Ranger today. Only around the parking lot, but I let it warm up first, and I didn't notice anything wrong with the idle. I was told it idled rough once it warmed up, but it seemed fine to me. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe it just had not run long enough to start having a problem. It was warm enough for the heater to blow warm air, so I figured it had warmed up enough.

 

Update.

First setback today. Took it out for a run to the store, and to the local Autozone, and the driver's side front brake decided not to let go. It didn't lock up the wheel but it was smoking pretty bad after about a mile of driving.

I took the truck to the local tire dealer yesterday and they "supposedly" fixed the two tires that were leaking. I say supposedly, because one stopped leaking, but the other went flat after only 5 hours. I noticed then, that the front pads are down to about an 8th of an inch of material. So I figured I would buy brake pads for it. Now it looks like I will be buying calipers too. No sense replacing just one.

It ran ok in the first two gears, but with the brake dragging so much as soon as I shifted into 3rd, it lugged the engine so much it started knocking pretty bad. 79hp can only overcome so much resistance I guess.

Still, I saw no oil or water leaks, and it tracked pretty good when going down the road, no pulling to either side. So I am still happy I got it, just can't wait to get it running reliably enough so I can use it as my daily driver instead of the Buick.