Hope you like lots of pics! I guess I'm being an attention whore having my truck on two sites but oh well RangerScene is my home

So I probably won't have anything to interesting to show you for a couple months once I have the new frame finished but here is where I am right now.

Just a little background, I never thought I would actually own this truck. I bought it from my friend Johnny in January 08, and am now starting a complete rebuild.

Here are some pics from the past.

Here is a pic of Johnny and I racing back in 2003 I want to say. Yes Toyotas and Rangers are slow My Ranger ran a 17.2 and beat the Toyota by about a car Length oh well.



These are from back in 2004 after I finished bagging the truck for Johnny.

Front


Side It bottomed out on the inner fenders at the time but eventually it would bottom out on the bags before laying frame.



Rear Shot You can see my Ranger in the background



In 2006-2007 Johnny decided he wanted a body drop and wanted to do it by himself. A body drop is alot of work to do especially if you havn't done alot of welding and fabrication before. He got part of the way through the cab before he sold it to me.

*Now Closer to the Present These are some shots how I picked it up from Johnny in January 08

On Trailer



Sitting at his house

Alright here is my starting point. Truck at my house

Front after I sold the grille, lights, bumper etc to Vegas



Side



Bed you can see where he cut the notch and lowered it to get more lift for the body drop.



I'm glad he never cut the bed or got that far into the body drop, it will be easier on me.





Interior, I'll take more once I remove the carpet and cut out the floor.



Engine



First task is to take everything apart and sell what I'm not going to use. I'm going to be swapping in a 1uz Lexus 4.0L v8 so the first thing to go is the motor.

Alot of parts were disconnected or half way put back together so it made things easier



I'm sure I'm going to need help from you guys when everything is put back together!



I noticed that the inner fenders were cut up pretty good and not connected to the core support so I went ahead and took off the fenders and cut the rest and removed the core support to get the engine out. I'm glad Toyota Fenders have more bolt holes on the cab then a Ranger!



Yada yada Engine is out.



Here is what I found when i took everything out. Half way finished Z. Doesn't look good but was strong enough to allow me to jack the truck up by the front crossmember.





More to come I'm sure

Nothing really major to update, I hope to have the cab & bed pulled this weekend to start getting some frame measurements.

Cleaned Firewall - need any parts? pm me



And my frame table waiting on me to hurry up and start the new frame

Cant wait to see more progress on this!

Small Update: The more I take it apart the more I hate it. I'm pretty sure everything is square on the cab but after I pulled the cab of the frame I guess it broke his welds on the passenger side floor so the body moves up and down over the floor if you touch it on the right side. I really thought he finished more than this!!! ...

Oh well

Frame ready for rebuild (side project)


Note: Pulling a cab is possible by yourself but not fun

Finally finished my adjustable body cart...I'll make it look pretty later


There she is in the corner, one more body cart to build for the bed woot

Sweet! Get to work!

Wow, good luck on all the future work. Nice truck

good luck on the build...

Thanks guys I know what you're thinking but it's starting to look better.


The front is cleaned up and ready for new brackets!

Frame on Table


I love being able to work on that table, I'm so glad I built that first.



And these pictures are for reference if anyone is wanting to see what it takes to lay frame.

Here you can see Transmission crossmember will keep the truck up about 1.5" from the ground.



The angle of the picture is misleading but it is 1.5"

I've been told I'll have to Z the front also but I'll see how much once I get to that point, with the table I can make sure it's flat.

yea we had to Z my buddys yota. once you get that tranny Xmember out of the way and level the frame out you will see it holds the front end up. Also its pretty easy to lower the motors on those trucks to keep the stock hood with a body drop.

Do you remember how much you have to Z it? I already have some dropped motor mounts.

I'm moving as slow as a snail, but I ran out of welding gas today and decided to take some pictures.

The top part of the Z is done minus finishing the welds on the inside of the frame. You can see the front crossmember in one of the pics. I have to put that back on, and the bag mounts then I can flip the frame over and finish the rest.


Pie cut, and formed transmission crossmember to raise it 1.5". I wanted the frame to have a factory type appearence.





You can't see in the pic but here is measuring from the body mount outward. I would have to look at it again to tell you an exact measurement but from the pic you can see you have about 4" from the body mount to where the firewall is. Remember this body has a cut floor for a traditional body drop.



You don't have to follow the way I did mine, but I measured 9" from the body mount as my cut. I did this so I would have room to raise it up and clear the firewall, and make the angle of my Z less severe to make it appear more factory.



Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions I'll try to get more pics.

Another view of pie cut, and formed transmission crossmember.


Penetration Inside View


Hopefully more next weekend, weather permitting.