Drag Truck - The Danger Ranger

ksack

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Pretty excited to see what this thing is like when finished...I love seeing older vehicles given new life

Thanks! Still working on getting settled at my new place but next weekend is a 4 day for us so I'm hoping to get the axle swap going. Finally sold the motor to a guy that had his burning oil so I'm happy to have gotten that off my hands. Also gave away a bunch of random interior parts to a guy that I was gonna throw away before the move. I kept some of the more valuable stuff like fuel pump and computer and those are still for sale.

Moving the truck was a bit of an adventure. I opted for a dolly because it was cheaper and I could load it myself. No way I could put it up on a car hauler myself. I couldn't get enough speed with one of the tires being flat so I ended up setting the ebrake and backing the trailer up under it. Worked like a charm. This is just a pic of it loaded up and hooked up to my 97 Ranger. It was a proud moment because it's never towed anything. 4 banger with a bumper ball and she did great pulling it around the block. I wouldn't want to go any more than that considering I was doubling the max tow rating. I did the 220 mile trip with an 18' Penske.



This is a pic 20 miles from my new place. I stopped to pee and out of habit did a walk around to make sure everything was good. I had no idea I had blown it and it was 100 miles from my previous stop. The rim is trashed now but I'm sure I'll find use for it around the garage. Luckily I had a spare and aired it up at the gas station and swapped it out. The tires seem to be pretty old and I was doing 65-70 so I'm really not surprised it blew.

 

ksack

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Forgot to post this before. The shaft was too long like I said, but they machine lots of extra spline on there for that exact reason. Took it back to the machine shop that did the housing and they did it that afternoon for $20. That's solid business right there. Once I got that sorted out, got everything installed and looks great. Just need to shorten the brake line and it should be good to go. Only real problem I ran in to was the ARP studs I'm using have a larger head than the low profile bolts supplied with the elim kit so they hit the ebrake components. I opted to pull that stuff for now and may reinstall it later but I'm going to go sans ebrake for the time being. It'll be an automatic so I'm not super concerned.

 

Shaggy

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Thanks! Still working on getting settled at my new place but next weekend is a 4 day for us so I'm hoping to get the axle swap going. Finally sold the motor to a guy that had his burning oil so I'm happy to have gotten that off my hands. Also gave away a bunch of random interior parts to a guy that I was gonna throw away before the move. I kept some of the more valuable stuff like fuel pump and computer and those are still for sale.

Moving the truck was a bit of an adventure. I opted for a dolly because it was cheaper and I could load it myself. No way I could put it up on a car hauler myself. I couldn't get enough speed with one of the tires being flat so I ended up setting the ebrake and backing the trailer up under it. Worked like a charm. This is just a pic of it loaded up and hooked up to my 97 Ranger. It was a proud moment because it's never towed anything. 4 banger with a bumper ball and she did great pulling it around the block. I wouldn't want to go any more than that considering I was doubling the max tow rating. I did the 220 mile trip with an 18' Penske.



This is a pic 20 miles from my new place. I stopped to pee and out of habit did a walk around to make sure everything was good. I had no idea I had blown it and it was 100 miles from my previous stop. The rim is trashed now but I'm sure I'll find use for it around the garage. Luckily I had a spare and aired it up at the gas station and swapped it out. The tires seem to be pretty old and I was doing 65-70 so I'm really not surprised it blew.


Nobody waved you down telling you about the blow out? :yaoface:
 

ksack

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Here's how she sits as of last weekend. Removed the bed, exhaust, and rear axle and mocked up the 8.8. Need to transfer the shock mounts and spring perches over from the old axle as these are different designs and sizes. Next weekend I'm hoping to have some exciting news for you guys as to where the project is heading.

 

ksack

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I'm excited to finally announce the plans for the build since I now have the parts. Last night I took delivery of a 2014 F150 with a coyote and 6R80. Copart find and it is a run and drive with 100k miles so everything is mechanically sound. The ranger will be getting a drive train swap along with the instrument cluster. Everything else will be parted out to recoup some of the cost. First step is to find out what I can unplug without pissing off the computer and putting it into safe mode. I will post the findings of that as I get them. Future plans for the build are to first get it working N/A. After that at some point I would like to turbo it and shoot for ~600hp on a safe turbo tune with stock internals. After that it will be money and time driven. I may as an in between step cave in and slap some happy gas on it. We'll see. But like I said, first step is to just get it running. Why was it totaled? I don't know but my guess is bent frame.





 

tjm73

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This just got super interesting.

I think you could flip the exhaust manifolds side for side and fab up a pair of turbo mounts (or a single) pretty easy. At just 10 psi on the stock truck engine (lower compression from the factory) you could be close to 600 hp.
 

ksack

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This just got super interesting.

I think you could flip the exhaust manifolds side for side and fab up a pair of turbo mounts (or a single) pretty easy. At just 10 psi on the stock truck engine (lower compression from the factory) you could be close to 600 hp.

Ya my only concern with that is room. I mocked up the motor with some cardboard awhile back and it's going to be a tight fit. I may have to do a bed mounted turbo from the lack of room. We will see.....
 

ksack

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Progress for today. Ripped apart the dash so I can easily access all the harness connectors and start doing my testing. Let me tell you- These trucks are built way better than they used to be. The Ranger was cake to take apart. This...pain in the ass. I did my due diligence and tried to take off everything without breaking stuff so I could resell it. I eventually got to the main dash piece and it is screwed in to not only the steel dash structure, but also the duct work for the defrost. And of course this is stuff you can't access unless you pull the entire metal framework out. I eventually caved in and just took the dremel to it. I doubt anyone will want the full big dash plastic anyway.... Here's how it sits when I called it a day. I'm at the point where I need to discharge the AC lines to disconnect them from the box in the cab. The local Sears Auto Center said they'd do it for free so I'll be making a trip sometime this week to get that done.
 

tjm73

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Ya my only concern with that is room. I mocked up the motor with some cardboard awhile back and it's going to be a tight fit. I may have to do a bed mounted turbo from the lack of room. We will see.....

Nothing a Mustang II front suspension won't cure.
 

ksack

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Got all the HVAC out along with the steel structure that supports the dash and everything. I can now easily access all the interior harnesses and have begun my testing for what can be unplugged and not piss off the computer. So far I've learned that undoing the brake reservoir sensor defaults the parking brake light to on, unplugging the headlight switch defaults the lights to on, and unplugging either the TCS button or the abs wheel sensors trip AdvanceTrac service. Also tried unpinning the PATS from the connector on the junction box....disables the ignition.

Interior as I left it today.



The hvac unit. It was annoying because it has both the AC and heater cores built in and the lines run through the firewall (vice being in the engine bay and just running the conditioned air through the firewall. I have upside down on a bucket to let the residual coolant drain out.

 

ksack

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Today I did some more testing. Found out unplugging the door sensor puts it into safe mode...makes sense. Pulled the ECU because everyone that does swaps sends it off to get PATS disabled. HOWEVER....I had a thought. I'm using the ignition and key from the donor vehicle so I shouldn't have to disable PATS right? I shot an email off to Eric Brooks to confirm but want to hear what you guys think too. If not, I'll order my tuner and get that all squared away before swapping everything over. Hoping to get the heavy lifting in before it gets too hot.
 
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ksack

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Eric Brooks got back to me and said I should be good to go with swapping everything over and not needing to send in the PCM for PATS. I'll let you know if that changes. I have an Ngauge on order so hopefully it'll be here sometime next week.
 

ksack

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Got a tune back from the tuner. Engine response is great. Wasn't able to disable the door sensors so I'll have to swap those over with the body harness. He is going to look into the front wheel speed sensors tomorrow for ABS/AdvanceTrac. I tried just pulling them but it gets unhappy once it realizes the car is moving and it isn't getting a signal. I'll keep you posted on what solutions I get.
 

ksack

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Thanks! My tuner is in the middle of moving houses so he hasn't been able to dig into the options to get AdvanceTrac disabled...hopefully he can do that. I'm gone this weekend anyway but we shall see.
 

ksack

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Good news! Got my revised tune back today with TCS and ABS disabled and it works! The dash looks like a Christmas tree and still posts all the error messages, but I was able to rev over 6k with the door, brake reservoir, and wheel speed sensors unplugged. Still says door ajar, parking brake on, shift to park, service brakes, and service advancetrac but I can just undo all the lights. I'm going to continue unplugged things to make sure it doesn't go into safe mode on me and then the swapping begins!
 

ksack

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No progress on the truck lately. Been out of town and busy with work. I did however pick up this bad boy yesterday. 03 2500 with the 5.9 Cummins and a 6 speed. Wanted something bigger with 4 doors so I can actually take people and crap places unlike my single cab Ranger. And once this project is done, I'll need something to tow it to the track with!
IMG_3500_zpsafryjo92.jpg
 

ksack

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Turned out the new truck had a leaky water pump and power steering pump. Don't know how because I specifically crawled under the damn thing looking for exactly that. Anyway, both are fixed now but that took away time from the swap. I spent about an hour starting to unplug the harnesses from the engine bay and labeling everything. I'll need another hour or two of unplugging and labeling and a couple hours disconnecting cooling system and everything on the trans and should be good to pull.
 

ksack

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Had a morning off from work and got some good progress. All the wiring from the motor is disconnected, radiator and front support is out (all came out as one unit which is nice). Drained the trans and removed the oil cooler. I plan on deleting it but still need to figure out how. I'm assuming there's a pump in the trans to move that fluid up through the cooler so I can't just plug the holes. This trans is also a pain in the ass to drain as you have to take the whole bottom pan off. Anyway, I'll be tapping the pan and adding a drain for the future. Right now I need to disconnect the shift linkage, driveshaft, cross member, exhaust, fuel line and motor mounts and it should be good to pull. Hoping to have it pulled this weekend unless something comes up.

 

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