1969 Ranger - Project Glory Days!

[sargentrs]

Looking good Tyler! Can't wait to see more.

[Manny]

Tyler i have made a bad mistake by not watching this post before. Amazing work your doing here. Looking at this i begin to think more, and more about saving my cab versus scrapping it for another. Also Love seeing the powder coat work that is nice that years down the road the product is still working well. I do have one question though. That is an older Edelbrock streetmaster 390 intake isn't it???? Looking awesome

[FormerMarine1981]

How much to have you make my crew cab cab look like that

[tylerb43]

Tyler i have made a bad mistake by not watching this post before. Amazing work your doing here. Looking at this i begin to think more, and more about saving my cab versus scrapping it for another. Also Love seeing the powder coat work that is nice that years down the road the product is still working well. I do have one question though. That is an older Edelbrock streetmaster 390 intake isn't it???? Looking awesome

Good eye, Dan. Yes, that's an old school Streetmaster 390 intake, blasted and powder coated. Arguably one of the best all around intakes for the FE engine. And I decided early to save this cab for sentimental reasons, I just couldn't see tossing it aside if there was a chance to save it. I've never been afraid of extra work to get what I want, but it was still more than I anticipated!

How much to have you make my crew cab cab look like that

More than you'd want to spend, sir, I'm sure of it!! I think I even mumbled to myself last weekend "I wouldn't do this for someone else for a ton of money!"

[Manny]

More than you'd want to spend, sir, I'm sure of it!! I think I even mumbled to myself last weekend "I wouldn't do this for someone else for a ton of money!"

Okay so a dollar bill weighs....... divided by the sum of...........

[tylerb43]

Update - A good friend stopped by last Saturday, and I made him help me set the cab on the frame. Yes, just the two of us. Earlier that morning, I fixed the front cab mounts (they were rusted out pretty badly) by cutting out the bad area with the plasma, and welding in a patch of .125 steel. After Chad and I set the cab on and located it with the rear mounts, we moved the cab back a foot or so, marked and drilled the front mounts with a 1 5/8" hole saw, then set the cab back on the mounts. Wait...did that all make sense? Oh well.

It was pretty awesome seeing the cab sitting on the chassis for the first time after it's extensive surgery. The next day I bolted on the inner fenders, core support, and fenders to check the fit. This is all for mock-up, it will of course come apart again for paint, but it was really cool and gave me the shot of motivation I needed!

[sargentrs]

It's like a dream come true! Congratulations, Tyler! I hope to be at that point by this summer.

[67nukeford]

Looking good man!!

[67mann]

and all this by page 14 Never doubted your skills one minute Oh and have I told you how jealous I am of your shop
Nice work Tyler...are ya seeing the finish line yet

[thrush544]

WOW!!! Great job!!!

[tylerb43]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the support

I bolted up the doors and sat the hood on to complete the test fit of the sheet metal. Fortunately, everything looks like it'll line up well with minor adjustments after all pieces are painted. You'll notice the jack under the PS of the core support. It had to come up about .25" to make the fender line up right with the cowl and door lines. No big, body shims are your friend!



I couldn't resist throwing in a block of wood and jumping in for a couple minutes of day-dreaming!!

[67mann]

I couldn't resist throwing in a block of wood and jumping in for a couple minutes of day-dreaming!!

glad no one was in the shop to see me sitting on a milk crate(on the frame)and shifting through the gears after I got my linkage set I'm tellin ya ..the tires Chirped in third

Where's the box I only ask,cause some say(and I might agree)that seems how the box mounts directly to the frame....your body line starts from there. Just a thought to "kick around" before or while you have the chance

[tylerb43]

..the tires Chirped in third

That's a good point about the box, Jerry, but it's still at my parent's farm. Plus this was a quick assembly to see if I needed to make any "metal" adjustments (particularly the relationship between the cab corners and doors) before paint. I can tweak and shim during final assembly (I'll make sure the box is present for that), right now I just wanted to get a peek to see if I had any majors areas of concern.

Last Saturday I loaded up both doors, the hood, and an extra fender, and headed to ACP Metal Cleaners in Millstadt, IL, referred to me by tybob (thanks, man! ) It's a small, one man operation, but he seems honest and has very fair prices. I expect they'll be ready for pick up in about 3 weeks (he's pretty busy).

You should've seen me loading the hood by myself. I hooked two tie down straps over the DS and put the PS against my waist, wrapping the straps around my wrists. I know, I know, killed my lower back, but it worked. Things you gotta do when working by yourself, right?



Here's a picture from ACP, that's a late 70's Blazer body half in the tank.



And then back home I started laying out my condenser mount and mocking up the A/C hardlines using 3/16 brakelines. There was a lot of "that looks about right" engineering going on here.

[Manny]

Got it going on there Tyler looking good for sure. That is good stuff right there. One question did you make the four barrel noise to yourself while in the cab, and bang some gears????

[tylerb43]

You know it buddy! Just turned the radio off and listened to the pipes!!

Thanks for the compliments