Project Assassin

[Hitman89x]

OK so im finally getting around to putting this on here....  bought a 1989 ranger 5spd 2.9l 4x4 needs a lot of work will be my DD as well as my off road play toy.. haha



so far...

got the truck first day had awful ticking from motor tore into to find about half an inch of sludge... WOOHOO  so tore the motor out tore it down sent block and head to machine shop one head was cracked the other was warped... so new heads are needed...

( if anyone knows where i can find some WP heads that would be excellent.. )

anyway... found out block is still good going to have it bored .030 over and ill rebuild it...  this time with proper cooling  going to get the 4.0l radiator and 180 degree thermostat with electric fans?

also will port/ polish the heads a little when i get them and get some nice headers and bigger injectors also try to find the bigger throttle body for it.. and lastly i mihgt get a chip for it.. but they cost way to much.. this is going to be a little beast when done..










From here i decided while the machine shop is doing the block i would start on the frame and body work...

not bad amount of rust on truck but enough ....


Have new fenders for both sides of truck...

started work on the bed.. this was the side with the most rust...


other side thati finnished..


started to put on the 3 inch body lift...


under the bed.. going to under coat it..


Frame of the truck mmmm RUSTY but SOLID!




put some rust crap on the frame then primered it and painted it silver looks nice..






and lastly just started to paint the valve covers... they are just primered for now...




any suggestions would be great!

[D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F.]

very  nice  good  start.  now  as  for  the  2.9  i  would  not  waist  my  time  or  money  on  it  i  have  alwas  found  them  to  be  underpowered  and  easy  to  blowup  in  high  rpms.  ditch  it  for  a  4.0  or  a  302.  me  my  self  i  would  hunt  the  junk  yards  for  a  newer  ranger  and  buy  the 4.0  motor  trans  a  shift  on  the  floor  transfer  case an  wireing  harness  and  install  that.

[ProGrade]

I had an 88 2.9 5 speed....I had it for 5 years, and wrenched on it constantly.  Eventually i rebuilt the top end, (heads valves lifters etc.) then blew out the bottom end, put in an ACdelco remanned motor (yeah they do ford motors too, go figure) and sold the truck less than a year later...its been through 3 motors since....the ticking is the lifters, the engine design is very inefficient and has no power, and I dont think the bottom end will handle upgrades to the top end.  When I pulled my heads the machine shop told me 80-90% of the heads that come off, come off cracked, both of mine did.  I would seriously consider an engine swap. I put so much into my motor when I had mine, and that is the biggest regret I had.  JMO though, this is your truck not mine.  Otherwise at some point I will try and dig up pictures of the transformation of my truck, so far looking at your pictures is like deja vu. 

[Kyle]

that thing would be wicked with a 302...

[Hitman89x]

would be nice to put the 302 in it but that means alot of custom stuff that i dont want to get into now... and like i said its kinda more a weekend warrior truck trail ride and light mud.. as for the motor im going to get the newer thicker designed heads and like i said better cooling also doing some tricks i found on the ranger station to up the power  with bigger injectors and what not.. plus it will be all new bottom end .020 main bearing and .010 rod bearins reground crank (balanced)  as for the noise on the top end the ranger has a thread for free floating rocker arms that improve oil flow ALOT  with the proper cooling and proper oil flow it should be a killer motor  i would be more worried about the dinky little Mitsubishi POS tranny i got behind it..

[Hitman89x]

heres a good question....... TOW POINTS..... where ? put hooks on the frame?

[Hitman89x]

oh one last thing lol.... this motor was running on half oil/ half antifreeze ROFL so it cant be that easy to kill this thing... also it was running pretty good at that lol .. got it up to 75 no prob on the way home lol

[Hitman89x]

more on the project... picked up a good tailgate for 10$~~!!! and drivers headlight assembly and two grilles for another 10$!!!
   

[Kyle]

tow points: hooks on the frame would be good. should have a strong set of points front and back. just dont use the small midsize truck tow hooks for the front. get a set of chevy 88-98 tow hooks. basically universal and still beefy and strong

imy bet freind ran his 78 chevy 350 with maybe 1qt of oil in it because the pan leaked and the wires were in the wrong wiming order and it was falling apart and it was a plow truck and it still managed to run JUST FINE. and when he pulled the top end of it off everything was clean... dont know how it did it but it did

[Hitman89x]

lol, just like them ford inline 6 cylinders impossible to kill i had one of those before this but it was 2wd..

[Hitman89x]

just did some math for the motor and if i had the motor bored .040 over it would be a 3.0l engine then  probably going to stick with the .030 over bore... just thought it was good info!

[D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F.]

well good luck. i think it would be sick with a v8, 4.0, or even a streigt 6. man makes me i had one my self to try it with a streigh 6 5 speed and a good transfercase

[Hitman89x]

right on, DO IT you can pick up  a ranger pretty cheap! lol

[Hitman89x]

LOOK what i picked up for 80$ chrome roll/light bar and lights from harbor freight for 10$ a piece !!!

[Kyle]

ITS SO CUTE!!! ITS SO TINY!!! jk jk 

[ProGrade]

would be nice to put the 302 in it but that means alot of custom stuff that i dont want to get into now... and like i said its kinda more a weekend warrior truck trail ride and light mud.. as for the motor im going to get the newer thicker designed heads and like i said better cooling also doing some tricks i found on the ranger station to up the power  with bigger injectors and what not.. plus it will be all new bottom end .020 main bearing and .010 rod bearins reground crank (balanced)  as for the noise on the top end the ranger has a thread for free floating rocker arms that improve oil flow ALOT  with the proper cooling and proper oil flow it should be a killer motor  i would be more worried about the dinky little Mitsubishi POS tranny i got behind it..

It should be a mazda not a mitsubishi. (asian is asian though right?)  I had 200k on the mazda 5 speed, and since i've sold it, its gotten another 130k+.  I dont think you will have a problem with the tranny, just put a good clutch in it, I had a centerforce in mine.

[KORNBREAD]

This is gonna be one bad ass looking truck when its done. keep up the good work man and cant wait to see more pics!

[Hitman89x]

nope the ranger came with a Mazda 5 spd and a Mitsubishi 5 spd  and the crapy auto trans.. ( thank god i didnt get the a4ld POS ) and thats what im going to get is the mazda after this one craps out.. lol  but thanks for the interest!  and hell yeah it will be bad ass as long as i can keep my income lol

[Hitman89x]

ITS SO CUTE!!! ITS SO TINY!!! jk jk 

That means lighter also!  haha i had a bigger truck before and sank into everything! 95 f150

[Hitman89x]

got the upper and lower intake back from cleaning.. looks much better