okay some updates on "top dollar Ranger" she's getting closer. Paint on this truck is 22 years old and although it cleans up nice she needed some help. The hood and roof were the worst, some sort of tree sap, brake fluid, something. Most of it comes off with a good tar remover, cleaner wax. The hood had a bugshield YUCK and it wore through the paint, so we made a nice strip of bedliner as part of our rehab.
Front and rear bumpers also got the treatment

front bumper sanded down to remove all rust and rock chips, then cleaned soap and water, wiped with acetone, then finally paint with duplicolor bed armor
You can see the restored headlights too








similar for the hood front lip


Grill and wiper arms were also treated and re painted



Interior is going back together very nicely, I cannot believe the 98 interior is this flawless






I stripped out the 98 tail light wiring harness and modified it to incorporate the 5 wire to 4 wire converter and the 06 tail light sockets then re installed, the new tails look so much cleaner.


from 3 plugs down to two:


completed harness

all connections soldered and heat shrink of course.

Next onto the tachometer, when you switch from a v6 to a v8 you have to move the tachometer ground wire in the instrument cluster so it will read the correct RPM







The instrument cluster was also carefully cleaned inside and out while it was apart. The transmission gear indicator needle was also adjusted to be dead nuts accurate


We are fitting this truck with 2007 side steps too, much fabrication is required to make the brackets work. These will go a long way to help hide the exposed frame rail from the body lift.

front end goes together today with many new parts, the tires will be here tomorrow!!!

Last edited on Wed Dec 4th, 2019 09:28 am by 410customs