got the dash buttoned back up tonight. well, almost. still need to finish the hvac panel. dem084 is helping with that.

anyways, here are the pics:

explorer sport gauge bezel:


headlight switch:

and the newest mod, backlit "FORD" logo in place of the gear selector:




The logo took a lot of trial and error to get it to shine right. at first, the leds were too bright, causing the entire area to illuminate blue instead of just the "FORD". a little cutting, and a little painting took care of it.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

No real progress yet, but have changed some parts, and ordered some more. Over the last month, I have picked up the rest of the dash plastic, in dark charcoal. This includes both defrost vents, the little vent between the radio and the airbag, the fuse panel cover, and the passenger side vent. No more light grey plastic. I have picked up charcoal seat belts from an explorer. Haven't tried putting them in yet, but I think they should work. I've also got a silver radio bezel coming, with two cig lighters, and a fog light switch. plan to tie the projectors into the fog light switch. got the seat heaters wired up. very happy with them. nice and toasty.

And the big purchase, i just ordered my ABS headliner board. When it gets here, i'll post some pics of it.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

Got the headliner board last week. It looks pretty nice. Haven't gotten a chance to fit it yet, but hopefully sometime soon. I want to test it in my truck without a sunroof first, but I don't want to tear into that truck right now.





this would look good painted, or even smoothed out and then painted. would be much easier than trying to fiberglass your stock board. only problem with it is there is an extra hole in the middle of the board. not sure what it's for, but it's not a problem for me.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

Hmmmm.......What is this?



Oh yeah, HURST! I love it! Simple to install. Thanks to daranger94 for selling it! I actually had more time in reinstalling the console than i did installing the shifter. took me about 15 minutes to put it in, and another 30 minutes to put the console back in. the shape of the shifter make it difficult to slide a console brace between the shifter and the dash. i finally got it in, then found the shifter arm hits a different brace in 1, 3, and 5th gears. so i knocked it out for now, and will fix it when i recover the console. I think i'm also going to make an adapter to move the shifter back about 1.5". It's just a little too close to the dash for me.

I also just bought a pistol grip knob and a "hurst equipped" emblem. I got both of those for $33. The knob alone is $75 from jegs or summit. got to love ebay.

here are a few more pics of it with the console back in.



when i recover the console, i will probably make the boot not come up so high so you see more of the arm.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

Got the pistol grip handle in. Also got an emblem. I think it will look better on the stepside below a "ranger" emblem. Hoping that will be soon.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

Haven't done much more lately. But I did get an 03 Ranger silver cluster and put it in with the LEDs. I need to get a new piece of vinyl cut for the gear selector delete. Also, took a few pics of the dash as I don't think I have ever posted any pics of it. There are a couple spots that I need to address, maybe this winter I can pull it back out.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

And that gets everything caught up to where I am. More progress hopefully tomorrow.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

looks good so far, only things i'd change would be to lose the hitch and get rid of all the fuzzy yellow stuff on the inside. it just looks too busy, paint is your friend.

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2001 Ford Ranger Supercab (4dr), Oxford White, 4.0 Sohc, 4x4, Manual trans (hurst equipped), 4:10's, 3" body lift.

i'll probably ditch the hitch when i put the stepside back on. although, it is nice insurance on steep drive ways.

the yellow suede is being replaced with charcoal suede to match the vinyl.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

did some work on the headliner today. started out by putting the dome light switches back in the door latches. first time having a working dome light in close to 5 years. also found out that my "fuel door" light works and the dinger. guess i'll have to fix those later.

anyways, here are the pics of the headliner board.

rough layout where to cut:


first cut and fit. yes, i cut up a $250 piece of plastic.



had to trim out for the ohc, and two small spots on the back of the sunroof frame.


put the ohc back up and ran into this problem.



so a few minutes with the grinder, it now sits like this.



that's as far as i got. still need to drill a couple holes for the mustang dome light. i sat it up in place and it's gonna look nice. i can't wait to start laying some material on the visors, ohc, and dome light, but don't want to do the headliner until i can get some welding done on the roof. maybe i can get that stuff done in the next few weeks so i can button the headliner up.

i am happy with the fit of the board, but it's not perfect. a couple holes are cut too big. if you were wanting to paint it, it would be a problem. once the material is on, should be no problem. i just have to remember not to trim my material down to the board as i normally do.

over both doors:



and the big problem is across the back. could be from cutting it all up, or the ohc may have pulled the board forward. i'll have to add a piece some board to it to make it go all the way to the window. no biggie. still need to shave the "oh crap" handle and the rear coat hook. don't need those.


and just for you dem, no more tach! pillars will get recovered when i do the suede work. hoping the spot in the dash pops back up in a few days.


and a little more fiberglass work.

didn't get as far as i wanted. ran out of resin about half way through. have to wait til next week to buy some more. will probably get a gallon this time.

reinforcement on the rear: still need to add some more to the edge of the tail light filler, but it's pretty close.


shot from the outside where the caddy's used to be:


and i guess i'll go ahead and post this. here are my tails.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

Got a little more glass work done. Ran out of mat today, so I had to stop. Started sanding on the other side and it looks like all is going to work out well. Just a skim coat of filler and it should be good.

also, i just bought a charcoal grey steering wheel for my truck. That's one less piece of black plastic in there. now if i could find some billet interior door handles.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

Covered the visors today. Was trying to make a how to, but realized it wasn't going to happen.

New vs Old:






Now, I just need to find a new sticker for the mirrors.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

got a little work done this morning. thought i was close, but found out i still need some more fiberglass. trimmed down the sides so i could get the tailgate on and check the contour. driver side needs some work:



passenger side looks better. needs just a touch more towards the middle of the light:


so then decided i need to mount the roll pan to check the contour:






contour looks good. matches the gate well, and looks like the bottom corners are going to work well. need to add some of the sides of the roll pan as the aren't square. it's wider at the rear and narrower where you see it.

but here is the bigger problem:


not sure if i want to just add a spacer to the truck (1/2" square stock) or if i want to cut the roll pan apart and add it to the top edge.

and i just couldn't resist. i set the lights up about where they would go. yes, i know they won't be over the gate like that, but i didn't have any other way to hold them in place. not sure how i feel about it yet. i will say this. they would look killer in the roll pan, but i don't want them that low. it's the biggest concern i have with the long caddies in my fleetside.



and here is a video of the tails. i ignored the instructions that state "do not hook these directly to a battery or damage will result". they worked flawlessly. in the video, the black wire is parking lights, the red is brake lights (they flash three times then stay on), and the yellow is the turn. if the brake and turn are on at the same time (3 bulb setup) then the turn signal powers over the brake. no extra wiring needed! click on the pic!

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

The charcoal wheel came in about a week ago and it was in terrible shape. It was all nicked and cut up. sent it back. currently looking for another. i did buy a ranger airbag with the ford emblem on it. was like $30 shipped. felt that was a pretty good deal.

On another note, I got come metallic grey vinyl in for the "FORD" panel on my cluster. Need to get a new piece made for it and get it back in.

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Krylon Fusion is for Amateurs.

Hell yeah man, looks like you've been keeping busy!