I figured I'd start this now, because I really don't want to have to list everything all at once after I start, so I'll just update as I go.
Bought this baby on September 9th of 18. This is my second Ranger I've had, my first vehicle in high school was a white 97 5 speed I bought for $1100 and it was perfect! I wish you could find them for that price now and not a hunk of junk. ANYHOO. Bought this one from a sort of sketchy dealer that I didn't know was a dealer, which is what I get for going on CL. $2600 later and it was mine. It had a blown head gasket but that was fixed by the mechanic that was also selling it. Like I said. Sketchy situation. What I liked about it was the tan color and it's an extended cab (my first was a regular cab and holy crap I wasn't about to deal with that lack of space again). The tan color attracted my eyes because I always wanted a "desert tan" color since black looks so dang good against it. Enough of my yammering, on to the things I've currently done and will do in the future.
Truck when I bought it.jpg
This is basically the only side picture I have of it before I started doing stuff to it.
Truck stock before mods.jpg
Day 1 of having my truck home to me. It took 2 weeks to get it to be in my name due to the sketchy dealer not having the title in the right name.
After getting it home and driving for a bit, I noticed a knock (which I actually have posted about here
Engine knock after driving for a bit... ) so I took another look under the hood. In my excitement, I failed to remember to check the radiator fluid. It was BURNT. ORANGE. Absolutely nasty. Also the oil was pretty rank too. So I figured I'd try to fix that and see if that might help.
Recently, on Thursday of last week (11/15/18) I flushed the radiator, changed the oil, oil filter, and even threw a can of Seafoam in my gas tank. $65 later and it still knocked. Oh well, it had to be done anyway. In the middle of flushing the radiator while waiting for the engine to cool, I started actually doing some "mods."
Truck before grill.jpg
I got around to getting some amazing paint (Krylon supermaxx satin black paint. This stuff is amazing!) so I wanted to start getting rid of the nasty chrome. (I'm sorry, I can't really stand chrome)
Let's just say that front grille was a bit of a pain in the butt if those clips are rusted. I almost broke the driver's side part trying to pull it off.
My next project after starting the painting is to get some new headlights because these are so clouded.
Truck during painting grill.jpg
I couldn't decide if I wanted to paint the whole piece I just pulled off painted, or just the chrome. So I just taped everything around the chrome first, then started painting. The Krylon actually worked really well. No prepping or anything, just cleaned it first then spray painted it. And let me just say....
Truck grill after.jpg
It turned out freaking amazing. It made a huge difference with the lack of chrome. I'm also super glad I didn't paint the whole piece. I don't think it would've looked right....
I also painted the little Ranger emblems on the sides of the truck, but those pictures are coming next. I also put on my toolbox from my old truck after I "repainted it." All I did was spray paint it to get the ugly faded black off of it, but it won't stay ugly spray paint for long.