The 1st gen ranger

I know all my friends are going to have a terrific time bashing me about my "disease" and laghing at my ubsurd ideas but here goes nothin. It started out the summer before I bought the Cherokee. I was driving from my girlfriend (angie's) house and I spotted a little truck still sitting next to a buiding on hwy 10 at mathews auto sales. I stopped in and asked about the truck and one the owner wasnt there so his son said to come back later well long story short when i saved up enough money they sold it out from under me. A little background on this place is their bussiness is unorginized and sketchy and their always have money trouble. Well thats what started my disease with ford rangers and I havent been the same since. I am a GM guy thru and thru although I do like some ford trucks ( like my 83) I am generally not a ford guy. However as I looked at more and more rangers I loved the little first gen pickups and so I decided to build one. Now this is premature I know because I do not yet own the truck yet however being cooped up in a dorm room at college I have had lots of time to think about it and plan it out. So without further comment heres some of my plans and ideas. Thanks for looking.

Where to start

What will I use this truck for:
Daily driver (street drivable in all conditions)
-needs to be comfortable and easy to drive
-decent gas milage
Trail rig (capable of easy to moderate trails)
-flexible suspension
-35 inch tires + durable driveline
-body armor
Road trip/adventure travel
-carry lots of equipment for camping
-decent gas milage
-useful onboard tools such as on board air and welder

Base vehicle
1984 to 1988 ford ranger ext cab

Modifications
Powertrain

-5.0 efi
-tranny undecided- posibbly zf 5 spd, nv13550, or np235
-t-case-depends on tranny
-eventually 203/205 triple-sticked

Axles

-front-dana 44 rr out of a 79 f-250 with good stuff inside once $ permits
http://evanstruckpages.blogspot.com/2009/01/dana-44-front-build.html
-rear-dana 60 out of same truck also with goodies

Suspension


-leaf spring front and rear using 4 in lift springs for a 73-87 chevy
-not sure if I will use 1/2 or 3/4 ton leafs yet. Custom front hangers with shackles to the rear.
-front and rear sway bars with disconects.

Interior


-rhino lined floor
-cd player with 4 speakers in cab maybe a small sub but i doubt it
-cb and maybe ham if i get my liscense
-not sure on seats yet

Exterior

-bushwacker cut out flares
-custom front and rear bumpers and sliders
-custom adventure topper with roof rack
-Tan in color with black accents


Wheels and tires

-35x10.5x16 Boggers or like
-steelies eventually with weld on beadlocks

Here are some sketches from a boring day in chemistry class You can see I added a moovisor which I think looks dumb in this sketch but oh well its in pen. Also the blank area obove the roof is a slanted part of the topper to create more headroom. I should also have added a grill gaurd bar but forgot to.
Got the custom rear bumper but i think ill have the receiver drop below the bumper and add a couple lights to the liscense plate area. swing away tire carrier holds fullsize spare and a jerry can. Note the extra tall topper window to provide more shelter over tailgate. Also planning out an awning that uses topper window and swing out tire carrier as anchor points.
This is the ranger that started all the madness. And humorously enough it ends up at the same car lot as before but once again I dont have the money, oh well im over it and besides i decided to get an ex cab anyways. Its a super clean georgia truck with under 50 thousand miles. Too bad the seller is sketchy and he raised his price $700 from the last time he sold it.

Ha ha I was putting off homework on yet another late sunday night and conjured up this compilation of photos and alot of simple photoshoping

Now that you know my plans I will go into more detail about the build. This will be a slow process as I currently am in school and have NO money.

The Adventure Topper

Well thats what i decided to name it. Pretty lame I know but oh well

Edit 8/25/2009: Still plan to someday do this project but probably not in the next 5 years