the rust bucket rat

[90longbed]

march 2013 I bought this ranger for $1100 for a daily driver... I can never leave anything stock so at first I was looking at an offroad build.... then discovered how spendy that can be...... so after seeing "the good, the bad, the ugly " buildup I decided to do a rat rod build.... here is what I started with....




the gas gauge dont work, the tailgate didnt open and the windshield is cracked.....
it had a bedliner in it but the tailgate section was missing... so out it came.... I also put in a toolbox as those with reg cab rangers know what a pain it is to haul groceries in one


I was able to get the tailgate to open, it was jammed due to the body damage, so I did some poormans bodywork


when I was messing with the light the side reflector broke off.... I also got the bumpers pulled back out

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wasnt able to get the body perfect....dont have much of a budget seeing as I am not working at the moment....

it was at this point I changed my mind on the build...I had also discovered some rust issues....



i had painted the wheels chrome silver as they were a little rusty.... decided I didnt like the look , so I painted them fire red and removed the emblems for that rat rod look

I also installed some skull door lock knobs and a skull shift knob

I had some old car emblems laying around in the garage... I had got them with a 76 f100 I bought that had a 429 thunderjet in it( had to sell it after the house fire in 2006)


I was gonna use this one but it broke while I was installing it

so for now I am gonna use this till I can find some money to go to the junkyard to get some stuff


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borrowed an idea from another build..... cut down my antenna and also cut down a metal valve stem I had laying around and tapped it over the cut end of the antenna, and used a rubber vacuum cap to make it a tight fit and used a skull valve stem cap

some pics from last summer


customized the grille emblem.......used a hair dryer and separated the 2 halves of the emblem, the chrome came off so I used some silver paint to give it the right patina to go with my theme


installed the grille emblem


also used the extra tie down I had left on the tailgate


did the throttle cable mod( zipties) ... only needed 1 ziptie..... also removed the air silencer... the preheat tube was rusted off the exhaust manifold and the air silencer was broke anyways....sounds about the same... will see how it does longterm

went to the junk yard and picked up a few things.....
a fullsize spare tire... got lucky it was just laying in the back of a ranger

sorry I put it in place before I left the junkyard..... also got a lf light bezel.... wasnt able to find a black one so I got a chrome one , sanded down the chrome real good and painted it




also picked up some window cranks from an 83 ranger... was looking for some 73-79 f150 ones but didnt find any


found these while shopping with the wife one day


and the shift knob came apart.... so I swapped it out with the transfer case shifter on my k5 rat wheeler

[90longbed]

took the stupid duralast plaque off that was stuck on the toolbox with double sided tape and replaced it with this fairlane emblem

through some horse trading with a friend I got some new mirrors




muffler rusted out so I replaced it with a turbo muffler


what I spent $46 on





came home and got it installed.....drove it to my local walmart and back... like the way it sounds..... has some attitude but doesnt sound ricer




spare tire carrier was rusted out




not the prettiest thing but it works and it was free to make


the rubber floor mat was really torn up plus the windshield leaked so I removed it and painted the floor




also painted part of the back wall of the cab

put the emblems back on, but they are not how they came from the factory






the chrome on the outside of the dome light was looking worn so I sanded it down and painted it flat black


I made some skulls out of aluminum sheeting


added more plates...




also moved the front plate down and put expanded metal in the holes in the bumpers



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these are the most recent pics

[dented95ranger]

We all love polishing up our royal turds! Nice work making an old truck look much more presentable then it was! I'm not a big fan of the whole red, and skulls thing, but if that's what you like then so be it. Hope more pics are on the way!

[90longbed]

Originally Posted by dented95ranger

We all love polishing up our royal turds! Nice work making an old truck look much more presentable then it was! I'm not a big fan of the whole red, and skulls thing, but if that's what you like then so be it. Hope more pics are on the way!

actually the wheels are flat black now and I removed most of the stickers ..... someone attempted to pry the slider open a few days ago, so I am trying to make the truck more stealth to thieves

[90longbed]

update...... as I said before, someone attempted to steal the ranger but didnt succeed because I pulled the fuel pump fuse... was over at my parents place and had to park like a block away because of the stupid parking there......after I fixed the slider and replaced the radio, I changed some things....... most of the stickers came off, the wheels got painted flat black..removed the cargo hooks and put them inside the bed....also been doing some more body work too

[ICRage42]

I like the look. Loved my 92 was a fun truck. They do like to rust but I had redone my frame and left it looking like a basket case...if youd pop the hood tho or look underneath you wouldn't believe it was the same truck. But it was homely looking but I didn't have to worry about spilling coffee or setting a bucket of mortar on the hood. Hell I carried mason block on the roof of cab.....many scratches but it gave it character and that is what your truck has.

Keep up at it its looking good. Sorry to hear about the almost theft. I had mine stolen but was short on gas .....they found it to be about 4 blocks down and ran out of gas and radio gone. I had to replace the fuel pump and had it towed.....put fuel in and nothing happened. Good idea with the fuse never thought of that.

Food for thought I have a complete grill and headlights for sale would like to get them out of the garage. They were from my 92 all in pretty good shape. Email me if interested hogwashed12@yahoo.com I also have them posted up here in the for sale section.

[90longbed]

finished up some of the body work today and took some pics