Jeff's 1995 Gold Ranger Build Thread (jabbo88) - Page 18

jabbo88 · #**256** 10-07-2015, 03:56 PM

Got the new seats finally cleaned up and installed today. Cleaned the cab real good while they were out. Going to put the old seats up on Craigslist.

tredeh · #**257** 10-07-2015, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbo88

Got the new seats finally cleaned up and installed today. Cleaned the cab real good while they were out. Going to put the old seats up on Craigslist.

sharp!

jabbo88 · #**258** 10-14-2015, 05:30 PM

My old eBay wipers have given up the ghost and I've decided to replace them with Bosch Icons. A couple of the end caps came off and went missing from the Aero brand wipers, and the right wiper is not wiping so well anymore-- so time to replace them before the rains come (we hope. California drought continues).
Out of box, the Bosch Icons, which are basically the same design as the eBay ones, look a bit beefier. These Bosch ones cost over twice as much as the Aero's though. Not so sure they'll provide twice the performance and durability, but we shall see. It's still hot & sunny in Sacramento with no rain in sight, so I've covered the new wipers in Adam's SVRT UV protectant for now.
Other than that, the truck goes into the stereo shop this Friday for the new system install. Thanks again Savage03 for getting me a good deal at a good shop.

Bosch on top, Aero below.

Slathered in UV protectant and on the truck. Oh, and that pioneer center speaker will soon be listed for sale once the new system is in.

Savage03 · #**259** 10-14-2015, 05:42 PM

Nice man, I almost tried those but ended up with autozones version instead, think they are $20 and so far they work great. I had bought the ebay ones before that and they never would sit flat on the window, tried several things then gave up. Think their still on the work table somewhere lol.

Glad I could help, look forward to hearing it once done

jabbo88 · #**260** 10-20-2015, 12:59 PM

Got a cap for the tailgate:

And found a solution for washing my truck during the drought. I read about this Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine waterless car wash soap on one of the detailing forums out there and finally got some to try out. It's super concentrated, you only need 1 ounce per gallon of water. I put in a pump garden sprayer. Works really well. Just spray it on and wipe it off. No scratches and I can clean the truck quickly and economically pretty much everyday.

Also got my new system installed. I'll upload pics for that soon.

Savage03 · #**261** 10-20-2015, 01:18 PM

Interesting, my only concern would be spraying it on a dirty car and not getting a good full rinse first.
Keep us posted tho if its all good have try it. Right now I just spend $15 a month for unlimited washes at quick quack, go everyday if I wanted to lol.

And no update on what you had done recently?

jabbo88 · #**262** 10-20-2015, 06:17 PM

So here is the system I had installed recently. Sounds pretty good, but I'm still trying to work out some of the kinks in tuning it.
The system is now comprised of:

1) Head unit: Pioneer avh-x5600bhs
2) Front speakers: Diamond Audio D672S component 6x8's (new)
3) Rear speakers: Infinity Kappa 682.9 coaxial 6x8's
4) Subwoofer: Sundown SD-2 8" in sealed box (new)
5) Amplifier: Precision Power P900.5 5 channel (new)
6) Sound Processor: Massive Audio CORE-1 (new)

All this was installed by Rolling Soundz in Sacramento. It gets plenty loud and sounds good, but I want to get it where it sounds great, so I've got learn how to tune it by way of the DSP. This is my first experience with a digital sound processor, so I've got some learning to do. Will probably bring it back in to the shop for a final tune up once everything has had a chance to break in.

jabbo88 · #**263** 10-28-2015, 02:48 PM

I haven't been able to park in the garage for a long while 'cause it's clogged up with furniture, so I purchased a 7-layer cover for it to keep it protected from the elements when it's parked outside.

jabbo88 · #**264** 11-19-2015, 05:48 PM

So for awhile now I've been searching the internet for a replacement clear corner light housing because my driver's side one was chipped. They used to be plentiful on several different sites, but for months I haven't been able to find any for sale anywhere. The completely clear "diamond" ones are everywhere, but these semi-transparent "crystal" ones are the ones I like because they disperse the light from the LEDs in them better. I got lucky on a recent trip to the junkyard and spotted a perfect pair. So that got fixed and my slight ocd perfectionism regarding that is satisfied...

Savage03 · #**265** 11-19-2015, 06:07 PM

lol ocd perfection...Can tell I suffer greatly from this

Tell ya I thought my lights were a pain to get out but yours are way worse! Looks good tho

shawn_house102 · #**266** 11-20-2015, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbo88

So for awhile now I've been searching the internet for a replacement clear corner light housing because my driver's side one was chipped. They used to be plentiful on several different sites, but for months I haven't been able to find any for sale anywhere. The completely clear "diamond" ones are everywhere, but these semi-transparent "crystal" ones are the ones I like because they disperse the light from the LEDs in them better. I got lucky on a recent trip to the junkyard and spotted a perfect pair. So that got fixed and my slight ocd perfectionism regarding that is satisfied...

Looks like they match the headlights also!

jabbo88 · #**267** 11-20-2015, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Savage03

lol ocd perfection...Can tell I suffer greatly from this

Tell ya I thought my lights were a pain to get out but yours are way worse! Looks good tho

yeah man, you've got it bad lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shawn_house102

Looks like they match the headlights also!

yeah, that's why I like them, they're pretty much the same style as the headlights which is nice. Gives it a uniform look.

jabbo88 · #**268** 11-20-2015, 03:53 PM

I decided to update the frame-to-body grounds today. The stock ground straps are pretty weak and worn out. They're just a 1/2" wide and have little clips for terminals. One side clips to the frame and one side clips to the body, but only a small portion of the clip is actually touching metal it seems, so doesn't seem very solid. and they kind of frayed, rusty, and dirty. so I beefed them up.
I picked up some heavy-duty 1" wide, 8" long grounding straps from a local hot rod store. Then I picked up some nuts & bolts from the hardware store. I found that both the frame and body had factory made holes in them close together that would work perfect for this. I used a wire brush around the holes to get all the road gunk off, then I used a sanding block with 50 grit "for-metal" sandpaper to get down to raw shiny metal. I greased up the bolts to prevent corrosion and seizing, and bolted the new straps down. Then I used a little spray paint on the exposed metal to prevent rust.
Why do all this? Well, it's just an extension of beefing up the whole truck's electrical "circuit" by doing the big-three upgrade, to make sure voltage is flowing with as little resistance as possible, which in turn insures everything electrical on the truck is getting the power it needs without problem, including of course the stereo system.

And a couple recent pics for the heck of it:

jabbo88 · #**269** 02-22-2016, 12:21 PM

Haven't posted for awhile, so here's a quick update: Truck has been running great without any major hiccups. The weather has been awesome, so I took the opportunity to remove the rubber bed mat to clean it and sweep out the bed. It was actually the first time I've ever removed it since owning the truck, so I was a little worried about what condition I'd find the metal underneath.

After I took it off I was glad to see the bed was in excellent condition; only a little bit of trash and some dirt to sweep out. But no rust.

Then I took a scrub brush to the bed mat and hung over a fence to dry in the sun.

Then, last week, I had the next variant of my ever-evolving sound system installed at a little place here in Sac called Arden Audio. This time around I may have gone "full retard".

Had them switch out the sealed box for a custom-built ported box. I went from the 5-channel amp to a 4-channel amp and a monoblock (Precision Power P900.4 and P1000.1) because the 5-channel wasn't quite cutting it in power output for the subwoofer. They ran a new 1/0 gauge Sky High power wire from the battery to a distribution block mounted on the floor behind the driver's seat. Then they ran 1/0 awg power and ground Sky High wires to/from the amps. Also had them put some sound deadener on the back wall while they in there.
The little SD 8" is sounding better and louder than ever, but the downside is I lost a little bit of legroom with the new box. They had to move the driver's seat up a click to make it fit. And even then, I have to have the center console in the upright position--I can't lower it and use it unless I move the seat up two clicks. I can barely fit in the truck and drive it with the seat up two clicks. So, for now I'm living with the console upright until I come up with a fix. Maybe I can fabricate some kind of bracket to move the console forward. Or possibly I'll make/buy a vertical ported box to fit behind the passenger seat only.
The system is sounding pretty good, clear and focused, but is lacking a bit of midrange. So I'm going back in for some more tuning this week...

GreatDane · #**270** 12-26-2016, 01:01 PM

Jeff - Truck still running and safe and sound ?

Long time no see