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kishy's 1985 Ranger

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    Gotcha. Although I get crazy with the cheese wiz alright, our appointments are next week. Of course, they never do a thorough job so I'll be on my back & knees touching it up for both our trucks. Yay.
    1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
    1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

    Comment


      Ranger was aligned today at the same shop that did the wagon. For the first time in owning it, the steering wheel is on-centre. Drives well, pretty numb on-centre but I think that's normal for these.

      Alignment specs for those who care/understand such things:

      Last edited by kishy; 10-21-2020, 04:54 PM.

      Current driver: Ranger
      Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
      | 88 TC | 91 GM
      Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
      Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
      | Junkyards

      Comment


        toe slightly in makes the wheel center a little more, but makes it more dead in the middle. Toe out makes it more responsive but prone to drift and wander. Dead on zero is the worst of both, numb and it tends to wander.
        86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
        5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

        91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

        1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

        Originally posted by phayzer5
        I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

        Comment


          Toe in. That's my dance move right there. Like that scene where the kids are dancing to Dio singing Holy Diver in South Park. Only I hate Dio, especially that tune. Lyric salad.
          1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
          1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

          Comment


            As I drove my work vehicle all through winter, the Ranger has just been sitting. Bravo to the Costco Kirkland battery, which soldiers on unbothered. It's been moved a few times, probably averages out to twice a month.

            I want to drive this when winter comes, so I have a few to-do list items that I'm looking at:

            1. Get power to the rear left corner, where I have wired switches for LED strip lighting in the cap/topper. I installed the lighting and switches in May 2020. Never mentioned it here or put up pics as I was waiting to actually have power for them to work.

            I ran two #14 wires in loom from the front right corner of the truck (starter relay - but actually a fuse panel I had added adjacent to it previously), along the frame rail, to the rear right corner, then brought them across to the left side. I brought them up through the cavity behind the tail light. In that space, I joined the +12V to the cap lighting with one of the 14 gauge new wires.

            The cap lighting all uses the cap itself for negative ground (it is aluminum), but the cap is not well connected electrically to the truck. I added a ground screw into the body in the space behind the tail light, and ran a ground wire from the cap to that screw.

            Result, the lighting works. Photos to follow when it's dark out.

            2. Correct the glowing LED brake light problem (due to cruise function of ECM putting a small voltage on the brake light circuit)

            My original solution for this was overkill: use a dual circuit brake light switch from another vehicle. Put the actual lighting on one circuit of the switch, and put the ECM function on the other circuit of the switch, perhaps with a load resistor to ground, or some other adequate load. I didn't end up implementing this before finding what I thought would be a better solution:

            After installing a Tekonsha Tow Ready 119147 trailer light power module in the wagon and finding (unintentionally) that it solved the problem in that car, I decided (already having another of those modules on-hand) to put one in the truck. I have now done so, and powered it with the second new 14ga wire from above, but ran into a little issue.

            Apparently the voltage output on the brake light circuit of a 93 Ranger ECM is more...I dunno, robust than that of the cruise module of an 85 Panther. With the module in place, the brake lights were still glowing, and in addition, the trailer brake lights were energized, because the module was seeing enough voltage to think it should turn them on.

            I added a single load resistor (of the type you'd commonly see used to fix turn signal flash rates) from the brake light circuit to ground in the engine bay. It did fix the problem. After some consideration, I've realized that was probably not the best way to do it, the resistor should probably have a load in series with it. I think. Still need to wrap my head around that more. The resistor gets very, very hot, so the computer is giving it some meaningful current, which I doubt is a good thing...still more to be done here.

            3. Repair the cap/topper rear hinge so I can put the rear door back on it, and have it latch and lock properly.

            Studied this problem a bit, have a rough idea what I need/want to do with it...not completely sure how I'm solving the problem yet. The top of the door frame is made of aluminum square tube, and the bolts that mounted the hinge to it sagged down, sawing through the aluminum. Seems like some sort of really large threaded insert (all the way through the square tubing and anchored from behind) would fix it, but I'm not sure the hardware I'm envisioning even exists. It was not engineered for longevity and that is showing.

            4. Dependent upon #3 due to mounting, add a third brake light.

            I have a small LED light, actually a clearance marker but bright enough to do brake light duty, which I want to mount to the hinge itself (above). I will have to pull another wire to the back of the truck, which I have a choice of sourcing from inside the cab at the brake light switch, or from in front of the firewall on the left side, so in either case it wouldn't have made sense to put it with the other two wires I ran. Can't touch this project until the hinge is repaired.
            Last edited by kishy; 06-26-2021, 06:39 PM.

            Current driver: Ranger
            Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
            | 88 TC | 91 GM
            Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
            Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
            | Junkyards

            Comment


              The resistor is the load, but if its getting too hot that means its flowing a fair bit of current. If its one of those high watt metal case ones with the two screw holes, those need to mount to a heat sink in order to handle their marked wattage. Without a heat sink the power rating is far lower. Volts squared / resistor value = power dissipation in watts. I don't like to see more than 50% rated for constant duty, and consider you'll need to account for full battery voltage when you're actually on the brakes. Thats not full time, so you can get by with about 75% of rating and never have to worry about it.

              Something about that sounds wrong to me thouh, so you might want to unplug the brake light switch to make sure its not leaking current. I would not expect the ECM to put any significant current on that circuit since its really just looking for it to switch from a low to high state.

              Cheater trick if its just how it is, instead of a resistor install a lamp socket under the hood and have it power a bulb. If it burns out its cheap to replace.


              not sure precisely what you have in mind for a fastener but maybe sounds like a rivet nut might get it done? Those go into a hole and compress somewhat like a pop rivet but you have a threaded hole to run a bolt into. They exist in assorted sizes.
              86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
              5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

              91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

              1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

              Originally posted by phayzer5
              I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

              Comment


                Rivet nut was the original plan, but this aluminum is soft as butter and I wasn't sure that solution would actually work out any better over time.
                That, and, the tool I bought for it turned out to be absolute garbage and broke during its first use in a different project. Reviews of the less-cheap ones I can get locally suggest they aren't any better.

                Decided to:
                1. glue the hinge in place with a sealant, for water intrusion prevention
                2. set the hinge in place using clamps
                3. used a handful of self-drilling #6 screws coming in both vertically and horizontally to firmly set the hinge where it belongs
                4. drilled all new holes all the way through the whole structure, and put 1/4" cap screws through them, then through flat washers, lock washers, threadlock, and nuts.











                It seems reasonably secure. The rear door is now attached, for the first time in probably over a year. In order to stop all the holes from egging out even worse I had removed it to take the weight off it way-back-when.
                Still need another lift support; I see they are on sale at a local vendor so I'm going to grab a couple.

                I repaired the gash in the aluminum skin on one side by patching over it with aluminum sheeting from another junkyard cap. When I got this cap, there was a similar design one on a full size truck nearby. I had harvested a bunch of bits of hardware and pieces like a section of sheet aluminum so repairing the issues with this one would be easier. Killed one cap to save another.









                I've added the third brake light. It isn't wired to the brakes yet, still need to pull that wire.










                Current driver: Ranger
                Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
                | 88 TC | 91 GM
                Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
                Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
                | Junkyards

                Comment


                  is that a pneumatic caulking gun? Cool!
                  ~David~

                  My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                  My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                  Originally posted by ootdega
                  My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                  Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                  But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                  Originally posted by gadget73
                  my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




                  Comment


                    Yep, air-powered caulking gun. I had been recommended to use one instead of the mechanical type for windshield urethane, because it takes a lot of oomph to get it out of the tube and making a consistent bead by hand is difficult. It's a pretty fantastic tool. In this case the tube had sort of sealed itself shut but I was able to blast the somewhat cured plug out the end by bumping the air pressure up and holding the trigger for a while.

                    Decided to run the wire for the third brake light. I'd say it performs well.



                    I verified the resistor does not seem to be getting hot to the touch. It had been in direct sunlight for a bit before I touched it, so maybe that was it. I did also verify the brake light switch doesn't seem to leak anything.

                    Wiring looks like this: BOO circuit in the 93 Ranger harness has a splice to a wire I was not using in my installation. I've put a fuse holder on it with 2A fuse, then from the fuse holder, I have the wire branch into two. One is the resistor which then goes to ground, and the other is the wire to the third brake light.

                    8V or whatever it is comes from the ECM on that circuit. The resistor is disposing of that voltage to ground.
                    When the brake light switch is active, full battery voltage enters that circuit, and while some current will still go through the resistor to ground, the brake lights illuminate as they should.

                    Tested some failure modes:
                    -if the resistor fails shorted (don't think that's a thing, but maybe), the 2A fuse will blow, if not from current available from the ECM (don't think 2A will come from there), then the first time the brake pedal is pushed after the resistor failure.
                    -if the resistor fails open, the third brake light will illuminate at almost its full brightness when key is in run, but the normal left and right brake lights will perform as normal.
                    -if the fuse opens (overcurrent, short, whatever), the third brake light will not work, and the left and right brake lights will glow dimly when key is in run, but still work normally aside from the ambient glow.

                    Defeating the dim glow of the brake lights is important because of that "change" effect from dim to bright. If the light is already glowing a bit, when you push the brake pedal, the change to full brightness is less obvious. This has cured that.
                    Adding the third brake light is important for reasons I've discussed before that I'm sure many of us recognize.

                    I believe that the success on this project has canceled the need/want to do the dual circuit brake light switch.

                    Next up for this one: rebuild the passenger side mirror. The pivot ball mechanism has broken and the mirror just flops around. I have some junk mirrors kicking around to rob parts from, hopefully. There's a little cage and spring and I bet they just rusted apart.

                    On the fence about doing the red/white switchbacks in the reverse lights on this one (not sequencing, lighting together with the normal brake/turn lights). Don't really feel like it's necessary with the effectiveness of the third brake light, but I do think I'll do a mock-up once my additional LEDs arrive and see what it looks like.
                    Last edited by kishy; 06-27-2021, 10:42 PM.

                    Current driver: Ranger
                    Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
                    | 88 TC | 91 GM
                    Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
                    Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
                    | Junkyards

                    Comment


                      That rear gate latch looks like a door handle from a 70s AMC product
                      86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                      5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

                      91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

                      1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

                      Originally posted by phayzer5
                      I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

                      Comment


                        Faintly, yes, but it's more of just a "generic truck box handle" you see on all sorts of utility stuff. I think I like these better than the T-handles that are often on these; seems the latch mechanism is more robust.

                        Tonight, removed the exhaust after the cat. It's aluminized steel and was probably recently new before I got the truck. Winters have not been kind to it, with hangers rusting off and some of the deep flaking rust is very close to going through in many spots. The hangers no longer staying positioned firmly where they belong have caused the tailpipe to wiggle against the bedside/quarter panel, damaging the paint (not that it was perfect to begin with). Time for it to go.

                        I have a full exhaust after the cat from a newer 4.0L Ranger because it had eyeballed up as probably fitting OK and it's in great shape, seems to be a grade of stainless maybe. Looks like it'll work:

















                        Looks like I'll be grinding/cutting off the hangers on the new exhaust, and adding my own.
                        The pipe from cat to muffler is 2" OD, tailpipe is 2-1/4" OD.
                        End which goes toward cat has a female socket (as in ball & socket) connector; easiest is going to be just cutting that and band clamping to existing stuff.

                        Hangers: thinking of something in this style (exact hanger to be determined, just to give you an idea): https://www.amazon.ca/Pypes-Exhaust-.../dp/B007ICDARS
                        Two for 2" pipe, to go ahead of the muffler and hang from existing rubber isolators.
                        One for 2-1/4" pipe, to go at the tailpipe and hand from an existing rubber isolator.
                        Maybe replace the isolators with universal ones with multiple holes so I can more easily tweak the height everything hangs at when it's installed.

                        Should be a straightforward project that won't cost a lot, just need to work out what parts I need for it.

                        Current driver: Ranger
                        Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
                        | 88 TC | 91 GM
                        Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
                        Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
                        | Junkyards

                        Comment


                          I put a fair bit of time into trying to find suitable hangers for the exhaust project, and eventually concluded that since I am not competent to manufacture the needed parts myself, I would need to buy pre-made ones.

                          The most cost effective solution that offered the amount of adjustability I wanted (to ensure smooth installation) ended up being these:
                          2" quantity 2: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B086MCW8XP/
                          2.25" quantity 1: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08D3CFQ57/
                          Plus a 2" butt joint band clamp I had hanging around already.

                          I had a Prime free trial active, so the shipping from the US was free.
                          They aren't stainless as I had wanted, but they will likely outlive the truck at this point.

                          With those in-hand, I went about putting the newer Ranger exhaust in. It ended up being necessary to remove the spare tire carrier to create room to pass the assembly in from the rear, which is fine as I have never used it and the trailer hitch made it inaccessible anyway.











                          The tailpipe angle may seem a little excessive, but it is not low enough to effect departure angle yet as the trailer hitch is at that height but further back. It fits rather well. The "ear dyno" is satisfied as well, it breathes well and sounds good. There is still a minor exhaust leak at the clamp coming out of the cat and there was no viable way to correct that as the clamp has turned to solid rust now.

                          Current driver: Ranger
                          Panthers: 83 GM 2dr | 84 TC | 85 CS
                          | 88 TC | 91 GM
                          Not Panthers: 85 Ranger | Ranger trailer | 91 Acclaim | 05 Focus
                          Gone: 97 CV | 83 TC | 04 Focus | 86 GM
                          | Junkyards

                          Comment


                            Tailpipe outlet hung fairly low on my 95 when it was new. I put a glass pack on there and moved the outlet up in the process. It sounds terrible for the record but runs better.

                            I haven't seen one of those threaded rod hanger/clamp combos before. Decent solution when the welder isn't available.
                            1990 Country Squire - weekend cruiser, next project
                            1988 Crown Vic LTD Wagon - waiting in the wings

                            GMN Box Panther History
                            Box Panther Horsepower and Torque Ratings
                            Box Panther Production Numbers

                            Comment


                              Those are super handy looking.
                              ~David~

                              My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
                              My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

                              Originally posted by ootdega
                              My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

                              Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
                              But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

                              Originally posted by gadget73
                              my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.




                              Comment


                                That's what I miss about my Ranger. I lost the muffler shortly after getting it, so I put the Dynomax that was supposed to go on the CV in its place. A little while later, the tailpipe started falling off; so I ran 2.5" pipe from the muffler out the back with an old Pacesetter exhaust tip. Worked great; ran quiet and smooth until the cat started crumbling.

                                Comment

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