I've missed my 1st gen quite a lot over this past year...

so......i got a little project...

i wanted something reliable, but rough around the edges and that had character.
and turn it into something that would make Mad Max and the Duke boys proud.

so about 2 months ago i started searching and about mid-september i found a winner.
a 1985 XLT 4x4 long bed....in black

a true barn find
An old farmer bought it to restore it but health issues put him back and he decided to sell....i made a few phone calls, and a few days later i was there with a trailer....







got her home and went to work...











As you can see....she sat for quite a few years
so the interior has to go
i can't fit in a 1st gen reg cab with the factory bench anyways...lol

OUT WITH IT!
and the vinyl floors









Sitting for long periods of time also does other nasty things....
so instead of draining the tank and rebuilding the carb....i kinda cheated :icon16:
i decided to go old school and Duraspark the beast while i had it apart.
along with replacing the gas tank...
a Duraspark conversion also consists of ripping out ALL of the computer sensors and EGR system.....suck it hippies
most of the parts were readily available (i work for O'reillys)
and my Grandad came through with a motorcraft 2150 carb FRESHLY rebuilt
he just had it "laying around"












Heres the whole computer harness...



gas tank removal








The Duraspark conversion was not very hard at all
especially if you've worked with the components before
i had her gutted and back to running condition within a few days
the timing was the hardest part....especially if you don't have a timing gun









EGR blocking plate...guaranteed to never leak...lol


and since i had the valve covers off.....i thought i'd brighten them up....a lot




With the motor finished and running like a champ...
i moved to the driveline...replacing u-joints is a lot easier with the bed off


next up was a good power washing of the frame....
it looks a lot better than it did....and now it has a nice rubberized undercoating from the front to the rear







the next step was....hard
i had to rob Stig 1.0 of its trademark roll bars....the problem was that i put them in to STAY....so the powertools had to come out











and this is pretty much how she sits now....



to give you a perspective on how hard i've worked and how fast....
i brought her home on Sept. 18th
since then i've:
gutted the interior
swapped fuel tanks
did a full duraspark conversion
ripped out all unnecessary wiring
cleaned here and there
front and rear drive shaft u-joints (haven't done the axle yet)
undercoated the frame
cut out and custom re-installed roll bars

there's a lot left to do and i want to have it done by the end of the month.
i will update as i go from here....

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1996 XLT 2.3T "White Lightning" 5/7 dropped, Turbo street toy
2006 FX4 Off Road, DD, work in progress
1985 XLT 2.8L 4x4 "The Black Pearl" (retired but still around)
1987 XL 2.3L 2wd R.I.P.

AWESOME WRTIE UP!!!! cant wait to see more

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-1995 ford ranger prerunner, 4.0, 4x4, 5-speed, 62k original miles, 2.5 radflo bypass front and 2.5 radflo triple bypass rear, deavers f23, 4.56 gears front and back, 07 seats, 07 mirrors, 35x12.50 bfg a/t, 4" fiberwerk glass front and rear, eagle alloy rims, 6k hid heads, two 8k hid off road lights, 34" led light bar, bed/roll cage/engine cage, 25 gallon fuel cell, cut and extended beams/radius arms
-2000 ford SVT f150 lightning -SOLD Lifted 2001 Ford Ranger EDGE, April's 2012 TOTM

thanks much

been bustin my butt to git-r-done and i didn't even want to make a thread yet but i had some down time....

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1996 XLT 2.3T "White Lightning" 5/7 dropped, Turbo street toy
2006 FX4 Off Road, DD, work in progress
1985 XLT 2.8L 4x4 "The Black Pearl" (retired but still around)
1987 XL 2.3L 2wd R.I.P.

haha glad you did!! that is going to be one hell of a rig when your all done with it

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-1995 ford ranger prerunner, 4.0, 4x4, 5-speed, 62k original miles, 2.5 radflo bypass front and 2.5 radflo triple bypass rear, deavers f23, 4.56 gears front and back, 07 seats, 07 mirrors, 35x12.50 bfg a/t, 4" fiberwerk glass front and rear, eagle alloy rims, 6k hid heads, two 8k hid off road lights, 34" led light bar, bed/roll cage/engine cage, 25 gallon fuel cell, cut and extended beams/radius arms
-2000 ford SVT f150 lightning -SOLD Lifted 2001 Ford Ranger EDGE, April's 2012 TOTM

sooo... SAS and 35's in the works or what

lol....not anytime soon but maybe

the plan right now is to make it a reliable, bad ass winter DD.

i'm looking for a decent set of 30" tires for now but the treads that are on it are fine

i may lincoln lock the rear diff but i wanna road test the motor to see how much power its really putting down first....i don't wanna toast an axle

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1996 XLT 2.3T "White Lightning" 5/7 dropped, Turbo street toy
2006 FX4 Off Road, DD, work in progress
1985 XLT 2.8L 4x4 "The Black Pearl" (retired but still around)
1987 XL 2.3L 2wd R.I.P.

with all the parts you just put on it, im sure you wouldnt have a problem finding an axle lol

Winter DD and Welded rear dont mix well.

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RR

so this is all that "miss behavin" i keep seeing on facebook.lol

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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.

yeah....it was just an idea

probably wont do it since i'm trying to make it a reliable rig

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1996 XLT 2.3T "White Lightning" 5/7 dropped, Turbo street toy
2006 FX4 Off Road, DD, work in progress
1985 XLT 2.8L 4x4 "The Black Pearl" (retired but still around)
1987 XL 2.3L 2wd R.I.P.

todays update:

got the bars welded in place and cleaned out the hubs
the old grease was not letting them engage into 4x4
got them all clean and everything seems to work.....
i still need the front axle u-joints so i didnt engage it just yet cuz i don't want them to grenade on me

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1996 XLT 2.3T "White Lightning" 5/7 dropped, Turbo street toy
2006 FX4 Off Road, DD, work in progress
1985 XLT 2.8L 4x4 "The Black Pearl" (retired but still around)
1987 XL 2.3L 2wd R.I.P.

lookin good, time to paint it tan like stig 1.0

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Hell no

I hated that color......the only reason I didn't paint it was because it was in good shape.

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1996 XLT 2.3T "White Lightning" 5/7 dropped, Turbo street toy
2006 FX4 Off Road, DD, work in progress
1985 XLT 2.8L 4x4 "The Black Pearl" (retired but still around)
1987 XL 2.3L 2wd R.I.P.

lol i didnt like it wither, i was just saying...rofl

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Cool project. How much did get the truck for?

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