1994 Ford Ranger

I've been absent the last few months, busy completing the latest project: restoring a 1994 Ford Ranger. These are great little trucks, and this one in particular has some sentimental value, so it was worth the time and money to get her on the road again.

The once black Ranger was my wife's first truck and had been sitting at a family member's land for years. Here's how we found her.

 



After buying the truck back, we got her on a trailer and took her home. A thorough inspection and a list was made. I separated the list into 3 milestones: Startable, Drivable, and Enjoyable/Reliable.

 

The largest item before starting the truck was the cooling system...this got replaced entirely. All the new parts and lots of cleaning had the engine bay looking great. After a month of engine work, she started right up and sounded great.

 

 

It was another full month of work on brakes, suspension, transmission, interior, electrical, etc, etc, etc. So after help from mechanically inclined family members, and spending tons of money on tires, she was finally on the road.

 

The last thing to do was get her prettied up. Not wanting to spend hundreds of dollars on paint, I took her to the local car wash and paid them $100 to polish and wax the entire truck. The result was amazing...here's a before and after.

 

 

 

Currently she's my daily driver and I absolutely love "Vernabelle". Couldn't have done it without my family's help; also the help of therangerstation.com, fordrangerforum.com, and explorerforum.com.

Punchlist Items for the Bobber

I've been riding the bike every chance I get and loving it. This week I was able to knock out a couple things to get me closer to final paint.

The first was to counterbore and safety wire the rear sprocket. I had to machine some spacers for it to accomodate the larger rear tire, so this mod would secure the nuts that hold the sprocket on.

The next was to replace the aluminum axle spacers I made a while back. I had planned on these being temporary and it's a good thing too. When I pulled the aluminum ones off they were worn out. Here's a comparison of the old stainless spacer (just has a polished ring from the wheel rubbing) and the new aluminum spacer (has a worn groove from the wheel).

So I machined a permanent spacer out of stainless and she came out purdy. Something addicting about making chips on the lathe.

My First Customer!

Many people have great ideas, but they don't know where to start; that was the case here. The inventor had a novel idea in his head, just couldn't make it a reality. After dealing with all the legal stuff he came to me. We sat down for a meeting, then I was off to get the idea out of his head, and into his hands. Here's how it went down:

     - Draw up concept using 3D modeling software (this was done with the customer, it was fun watching his excitement as the design took shape)
     - Perform engineering calculations to validate function and improve efficiency of design
     - Create drawings to include tolerances and incorporate ease of manufacturing
     - Make it! (this prototype was built 100% in my shop, but if need be I have colleagues in Houston with very expensive toys to make the more complicated stuff)

Here are some progress pics, I'll continue to support the customer as the design and company evolve. So rewarding working with passionate people!

The common denominator for all prototypes...raw material

The Basic Shape

More Machining Details

I'll post more when I can!

Tuning the Bobber

It's been 3 months since final assembly of the bobber. In my schedule I gave myself  some time to fine tune everything before final paint and powder coat, and I'm sure glad I did. Since August I've done more tuning and motor work that I ever thought; tearing into the top end, going through the ENTIRE charging system one wire at a time, and replacing nearly every gasket, o-ring, and rubber part on the engine. The good news is each change gets me one step closer to a well tuned machine.

The latest change was to replace the aftermarket "pod" air filters with the stock air box. I've learned the hard way these carbs do not operate well with the turbulent air flow pods provide. Unfortunately, the stock air box is massive, and required some cutting of my custom frame to make fit. Here's the air box all hooked up.

Now the only aftermarket piece of the engine is my exhaust. It's a Kerker 4 into 1 header with the muffler removed. I did the "lollipop" trick to try and retain some back pressure. The "lollipop" is a washer welded to a bolt and acts as an orifice plate...here's a picture of it near the end of the exhaust.

The guys at cb750c.com have been a huge help this entire process. Here's a video I shot using the bar camera mount to give them a listen after these changes were made. I tried to open her up as much as I could, but the Houston streets only allow for so much of that, especially with a hardtail...I swear I caught air at least twice on this ride. The bike sounds great and pulls hard, but still not perfect enough for me...hopefully soon!

Variable Speed Drill Press

I recently made the decision to get a drill press...the cordless drill and my wrist were tired of waiting for a mill. A few days searching on craigslist, and using an old treadmill motor I had laying around, got me an inexpensive and useful tool for the garage.

The drill press was made by Orbit. It's an old Taiwan press that I've read is much better than the chinese ones floating around. The owner wanted $230 for it, but we worked a deal where he kept the motor and I got the press for $50. It also came with a 1/8" - 5/8" Jacobs chuck with a #2 Morse Taper...great American made chuck that will fit the lathe too. First thing I did was strip it down for a closer look.

I was very impressed with the inner workings; well made and everything was still nice and tight. While I was inspecting it, all moving parts got a fresh coat of lithium grease.

To fit my motor I needed to make some modifications to the belt and pulley housing. I used a funnel to trace a circle and enlarge the hole.

I also had to modify the switch plate. The original had 2 switches: one for the motor and one for a working light. I'm not using the working light, but did need a place to mount the speed control knob. I picked up a metal cover plate from Home Depot for a blank canvas.

Some dremel and file work and I had a new switch cover.

The motor is a 1hp treadmill motor I got from an estate sale almost a year ago. The treadmill was broken, so I was able to pick it up for $5! I utilized the orignial motor mount as a welding jig for my new mount.

Here's how the motor is mounted now.

For my first design I tried to use the existing v-belts and build spacers to get the motor located correctly. Here's some spacer work on the South Bend.

And here's how it looked with the spacers installed. Unfortunately, the flywheel on the motor was just too large. So eventually the spacers came out and I was forced to by a new v-belt for $10.

I mounted the electronic controller below the motor to take advantage of the cooling fan. I also made a wood cover to protect the circuit board.

Time to wire everything up. Luckily it went together just fine and I had all the correct connectors to make it work.

The wiring and entire assembly cleaned up very nice.

Here's a picture of the switch cover mounted. I also machined an aluminum knob for the speed control.

All done! For $65 I'm very happy. With the money saved I'll be able to get a clamping set and start saving for nice vise.



Playsport Bar Mount

After the success of the wand mount, I wanted to make a mount I could attach to any kind of round bar (e.g. handlebars) and record video. Here's how I did it.

Once again the design started in SolidWorks. The idea was to have this clamp to any 1" bar and have a way to level and change the angle of the camera. A few "feel good" calculations and the design was complete.

I started with some aluminum stock I had leftover from the handlebar risers I did earlier this year. 

I needed a way to mark a line directly down the center of the piece so I used a very expensive line drawing machine...lathes can do anything!

This would be my first attempt milling on the South Bend. It turned out OK for something like this. The biggest negative was being limited to 0.5" thick piece since I'm using the tool holder for a work holder.

Another milling and drilling operation on the lathe. Not the best way of doing it but I made lemonade.

Then I got a chance to use some large twist drill bits I bought some months back. Working my way up to 1" with 3 or 4 pilot holes made the job easy.

This is where the precise line was necessary. I used it to guide the cut that split the piece exactly in half.

Next job was to machine the top piece used to angle and level the camera. Again using the versatility of the lathe to turn, mill, drill, and tap this piece.

And finally all the pieces together.

Here it is in action, ready for the first test.

And the first video...worked great!



Making a Headboard

Our master bedroom needed some TLC and my wife had been gathering ideas for a headboard for some time. So we put the ideas to use and I surprised her with a couple extras that brought it all together.

We'd been without a headboard for a few months since we broke our last one. This is how our room started out.

I grabbed an old cardboard box and we began laying out the outline of the headboard and button location. 

Then we took the template outside and traced it on to some MDF.

After cutting out the headboard frame with a jigsaw, my wife got to sanding the rough edges and drilling holes for the buttons. She makes it look easy...and good...mmm MMM you drill that MDF uh huh.

Back on track. I drilled in some screws on the back of the headboard next to the button holes; these would be used to tie off the buttons. I also ripped a piece of 1x6 at a 45; this would make it very easy to hang on the wall, nice and level.

For the padding, we used 2 foam mattress pads form wally world (much cheaper than foam at the craft store), a layer of batting, and a can of spray adhesive to keep it all in place. Here's my wife cutting out the foam. 

The foam was cut exactly to the size of the headboard, while the batting was cut oversize so we could fold it over the back and staple it. Starting from the middle, pulling the batting tight, and many well placed staples worked great.

We used the same technique for the cover material, but before attaching it my wife laid it out and ironed out any wrinkles. We also made sure to pull the material taut and checked often for creases or wrinkles.

The buttons were a bit of a challenge. We were using heavy duty fabric for our cover material so it was thicker than normal and wouldn't work with the button kit. So I had to try and reduce the thickness somehow; I ended up using sandpaper to grab the backing on the fabric, then pulled the backing off to thin it up. Then I made a little contraption the help press in the button with a hammer, and it somehow worked.

Attaching the buttons was simple, but it's definitely a 2 person job. I pushed the needle through from the back, attached a button, thread it back through to the back, then while my wife pressed the button into the headboard, I tied the thread off to the screws out back.

Lookin' good and ready to hang.

But first, we had to hang a little surprise I got for my wife from Lowe's. After she wrapped the cords in burlap, we hung 2 of these next to the bed.

 

She's happy, I'm happy. Fun project.