Thanks fella's, glad you approve. It's a beater with a heater but that's one of the things I like about it. No worries about experimenting with things, getting it dirty or putting another dent in it. It fills the void on everything I wouldn't dare do with my '09. Not to say I don't use the new one as a truck but I look under the hood and I'm afraid to do anything other than routine maintenance because I don't know what 1/2 the stuff is anymore. I suppose I could learn but I'd rather just go with what I know.

 

Nice score on the new rig smashclash. Very nice looking

 

Real nice smashclash. Did you just get lucky, or do you know the previous owner?

There is one thing I miss in my truck, a/c! I don't like heat, and I don't like humidity. The heater works like a SOB, but the lack of a/c is a killer. I do have the nifty vents under the dash though

 

If they're clogged up with leaves,they're of no use.Take them off and have a look for leaves.The huge open slots in the cowl panel are an easy way for leaves to get into the passageway.In case you didn't know,this can be a fire hazard if you have wires running through there.Alot of guys have swapped to an 87-91 Cowl Panel,which is the exact same,except instead of large slots it has tiny pinholes,eliminating the leave problem.You could also add screen to your original panel,but it's a little difficult finding a way to attach the screen securely.I just went with the newer cowl panel,as I never really felt a huge difference coming from the cowl vents anyway.

 

Yeah. Mine are all clear, and they work fine, but you only get cool air in...if it's cool out, haha. Otherwise, you just blow around the warm air. That's all I meant by that. They actually work very well as far as flow-through.

 

That's good.The clogged leave problem usually happens to trucks that sit for awhile,or sit under trees.My truck sat for 3-4 years before I got it,so the cowl area was piled high with leaves.

 

Here is my 80 f150 4.9 project currently doing body work and swapping in 85 front end and 3.70 gear with trac locker and got a set of 31'' wranglers on cepek rims waitign to be mounted. Half done body work right now!!

 

 

how do u like it. not great just "old blue" a good old truck. we had a record breaking snow last winter (two 30+in storms) back to back and i did not have my 35s on my 07 at the time and old blue was the life line (i did have to dig him out of a 4ft snow drift) but he was ready for the fight

 

That's a tough lookin 84 there. I like the overall look of it a lot.

 

thanks its a good old truck and i have an 07 with a bunch of stuff on it (daily driver) but when your in old blue its just not the same, you feel like your in a truck and my little girl loves it so i will have it for a long time

 

Sweet Ranger XLT man!Ya got any interior pics?I love the Black/Silver Two-Tone.I really never understood why Ford used a Red Interior with that combo,woulda been sweeter with a Black Interior.Oh well,still a sweet truck.

 

Well,I got 1/6 of my emblem swap done last week.




I still need to get a Lariat emblem for the tailgate,another Ranger emblem,another useable Lariat Cab emblem,and the Ranger Lariat radio bezel.Then,I have to put them all on.For future reference,if anybody ever wants to swap between Custom/Ranger fender emblems on their 80-81,all the holes are the same so the Emblem swap is a matter of pulling off the old emblem,lining up the holes and putting on the new emblem.

 

No, actually the guy had it on craigslist. He had only owned it for 2 months (bought it for the snow we were getting in NJ).

It was repainted 10 years ago according to the guy I bought it from. The paint does look pretty good for an 86 overall but there's still rusted spots in the rear wheel wells and the bottom of the doors. (The drivers side door I should replace).

I paid $1,500 for it... down from $1,800 firm. It's far from perfect but I plan to give it some TLC and keep for a while to use as a work truck and pull my boat and the occasional woods excursion.

Some of the major things it needs work on:
-Loose steering. (don't know why yet, I'm going to jack up the front this weekend and hopefully figure it out)
-Brakes... pedal needs to be pressed very very far down before it engages. I looked over the brake lines and didn't find any leaks. The brake master cylinder was almost out in the front (smaller) reservoir which I believe engages the rear brakes. I picked up a new master cylinder since it's so cheap and will put that in soon. I'm hoping that's my problem cause I don't know what else it could be. The brakes aren't spongy, just need to press down on the pedal far.
-Front fuel tank leaks. I see where it's coming from and not sure if it's worth repairing or replacing. I see a new tank from advance can be had for $84 shipped to my door but I see everyone recommending a new sending unit and other goodies which doubles the price. Ughhh
-Rear tank is out of order. I see where the line has rusted through near the exhaust. Not sure if this will be the only problem but it's a problem
-Last but not least the frame has some rust spots. Not where there's major components but still stuff to keep an eye one. The exhaust where the muffler is really did a number on the parts near it. There's a cross beam that helps hold up the gas tank. One of the brackets for this is almost completely rusted out. I'm not sure if getting this out of a junkyard is doable or not since they look to be pretty big bolts and i'm sure would take a lot of elbow grease and a ton of penetrating catalyst.
Also, the passenger side frame at the rear bumper. There's a tow hitch on the truck and right where the tow hitch ends at the frame connection it's almost rusted out completely around the hitch. That is, the drivers side of the frame is probably 90% of what's holding the hitch and bumper on. So I'll have to figure out something. Probably need to carve up some plates and weld things on. I"m sure those rust bolts holding the hitch and bumper are will be a real treat to try and get off too.

But hey, it's a work truck I hope to have for a long time. The motor seems great, starts right up, idles great, all that. The transmission seems to want to hit a little hard when shifting from neutral to drive or sometimes between gears depending on how much acceleration is applied. Hopefully I can squeeze many more miles out of her though before it goes. That's a bit of an expensive fix I don't want to invest in quite yet.


EDIT: oh yeah, it does have A/C however it doesn't work. It has the old R12. It's not my daily driver and I don't mind the heat enough to spend all the money to convert over. In fact, as long as I'm moving I enjoy riding with the windows open. Between the window down, the little side window turned, and the back window slid open it's like a convertible!!

 

haha smash we call that 2/50 ac. nice truck btw and good luck with those repairs... I wish I knew how to weld or had a welder... I have no friends in this town lol. anyway nice trucks everyone