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Ford Ranger rebuild and conversion to diesel
October 25, 2004
A while back, my father gave me a 1989 Ford Ranger XLT. Unfortunately, he made the decision to give it to me after my brother had borrowed it and wrecked it (why is there always a catch to a free car?). The bed was damaged a bit, but is useable. I may be able to straighten it out. The driver's door and the cab are gonna have to be replaced, since the door and door frame are trashed. After the wreck, it sat for a while, and the electronics developed problems. It won't even start, now.
I'm currently driving a 1982 VW Rabbit Convertible (another free car, from a neighbor, that needed extensive work), that I converted from a gas engine to a diesel engine. It's a bit slow, but it's hard to beat the fuel mileage and the lower maintenance. It wasn't that difficult a conversion, since VW made both gas and diesel versions of the Rabbit hardtop. Seems Ford also offered a diesel version of the Ranger, so...
I purchased a driver's door from a salvage yard, and I think I've located a cab in decent condition (it's free, so I have to find out what's wrong with it). Besides the bodywork, the plan is to replace the V6 and automatic transmission with a 2.2L diesel (Ford used a Mazda diesel in 1983 and 1984) and manual transmission. The free cab is on a parts truck that has a manual transmission (but that will also be free, so I don't know what's wrong with it, either). Maybe I'll be able to find a diesel engine for free, but I'll probably have to buy one from a salvage yard (I can only fix so much free stuff).
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