kishy's 1985 Ranger

[kishy]

Eh, alright, yeah. The 4.0 OHV is fine, it's the 4.0 SOHC that I never ever want to be responsible for maintaining. Rocker rust is exactly what I think I'm going to find when I can finally get my eyes on the stupid van. I haven't seen it in a couple years; it was legitimately rust-free then, was oil sprayed once, and has been driven by a non-car-guy who doesn't care at all about it ever since. It is probably rougher than I'm willing to consider. It's basically only going to happen (Aerostar to replace the Ranger) if the van is in staggeringly good condition and is unrealistically cheap. And the A4LD is just whatever, really. Every Aerostar mechanical problem I've ever heard about has been either engine failure or rust, so it really just isn't even in the back of my mind that they've got a transmission reputation. Maybe I'll get to learn that lesson first-hand, but as noted, I do have my doubts I'll end up with it.

The other thing about running the 84 TC in the winter is that I really like driving Panthers in winter weather. The wipers parking below the hood are a serious annoyance, but other than that, they're really fun to toss around in the snow, when we get what little of it we still get.

A southern Ranger, or at least a southern cab for a Ranger, would be a reasonable outcome as well. But truly, I don't think I need a truck (given that I have a trailer made out of a Ranger bed and I'd be keeping that) and frequently find myself annoyed that my winter vehicle has so few seats, so it's a consideration.

[gadget73]

I kinda want/need a Ranger of this era but its to stuff that extra HO I have in. Marry it to a T5 and have something completely unsuitable for any practical purpose. Its the same basic problem though, they are all rotted, overpriced, or both. I don't care at all about the driveline in it, bonus if its shot, but a manual vehicle would be a help if just because it saves me from finding the pedals. Has to be 1995 or older for inspection reasons and I'd prefer square body, and for my purposes I need a 2wd.

[Arquemann]

-The wipers parking below the hood are a serious annoyance-

This. It sucks so much. Wipers in a recess like that is insanity in a cold and snowy winter. Even worse with constant temp fluctuations. Needs to snow, warm up a bit and freeze just once and you're stuck without wipers for fear of breaking them, the wiper transmission or both.
The Ranger has what I dream of during the winter, raised wiper arms, no recessed cowl and defrost that warms the wiper blades. Do the wiper arms have a detent to stay up off the glass?

Admittedly one of the few reason why I ended up with the 91+ Chevy instead of the older bodystyle. And why I'm a bit reluctant to get anything else with similarly recessed wipers.
I wish I had a garage, or atleast a carport...

[GM_Guy]

I wouldn't consider the Hormy, from a Toronto guy on redflagdeals;

Yes, insurance for a RHD costs more than a regular LHD car and Facility Association is the only one that will write you a policy for it. I went through Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers and got my policy for $320/month with full coverage, which is about $140/month more than what I had been paying for my old regular LHD Honda Civic. It’s up to you whether or not the increase in insurance premium is worth it.

Facility = who you are stuck with if nobody else will insure you because of a terrible driving record and none of the regulars want anything to do with you.

I'd put the 84 into use. Oil spray it and it'll hold up.

[kishy]

This. It sucks so much. Wipers in a recess like that is insanity in a cold and snowy winter. Even worse with constant temp fluctuations. Needs to snow, warm up a bit and freeze just once and you're stuck without wipers for fear of breaking them, the wiper transmission or both.
The Ranger has what I dream of during the winter, raised wiper arms, no recessed cowl and defrost that warms the wiper blades. Do the wiper arms have a detent to stay up off the glass?

Admittedly one of the few reason why I ended up with the 91+ Chevy instead of the older bodystyle. And why I'm a bit reluctant to get anything else with similarly recessed wipers.
I wish I had a garage, or atleast a carport...

I had once, a long time ago, asked about how to defeat the parking feature. My Google-fu to find my own post about this is lacking at the moment but it's out there somewhere, I believe here on GMN, and would probably date to when I was still driving my 91 in the winter (or indeed at all), so 2014ish?

I think there is a wire that you can interrupt which will prevent the wipers parking. Put this on a toggle switch up under the dash, switch it seasonally, and problem solved. But I never did it myself yet for a reason, probably some degree of laziness.

The Ranger does not do a good job keeping its wipers thawed, but at least they don't pack ice down under the hood. It also has a sort of awful cowl design that guarantees the eventual death of the truck (as is happening to mine), but at least the wipers are free to do their thing. Ford clearly didn't believe in the ability to lift the wipers off the glass when parking the car, because you can't do it on this or any other period Ford I know of.

Part of my frustration with wipers freezing is almost certainly that I will not heat my car hot enough, generally. I don't like being as warm as I'll be if I have the defrost on with enough temperature and fan speed to keep the glass properly hot.

I wouldn't consider the Hormy, from a Toronto guy on redflagdeals;



Facility = who you are stuck with if nobody else will insure you because of a terrible driving record and none of the regulars want anything to do with you.

I'd put the 84 into use. Oil spray it and it'll hold up.

On the insurance: Hagerty will do it as a classic for the usual dirt cheap premium, and it absolutely would qualify.
I do not use any of my vehicles to commute to work so the fact I haven't already moved to a classic car policy is simply a result of being unwilling to mess around with the paperwork at this point.
RHD doesn't scare me off, I've driven RHD and do aspire to eventually own something RHD. But I'm not sure this is the right opportunity or reason for it.

The 84 is the likely choice. Ranger is on duty for this winter, for sure, and maybe even next, but I think I'm drawing a line at the 10 year anniversary even if it hasn't degraded much more by then compared to now. But I don't see how it won't have, it's crumbling beneath me every time I get in or slam the door, which no longer properly aligns in its opening.

[Arquemann]

The Ranger does not do a good job keeping its wipers thawed, but at least they don't pack ice down under the hood. It also has a sort of awful cowl design that guarantees the eventual death of the truck (as is happening to mine), but at least the wipers are free to do their thing. Ford clearly didn't believe in the ability to lift the wipers off the glass when parking the car, because you can't do it on this or any other period Ford I know of.

Part of my frustration with wipers freezing is almost certainly that I will not heat my car hot enough, generally. I don't like being as warm as I'll be if I have the defrost on with enough temperature and fan speed to keep the glass properly hot.

RWD Volvos typically have that type of open cowl vents, like many other old cars. Volvos also got an optional accessory called "snowcap", which reduces the amount of snow and water going straight in the cowl vents. How the water drains out from there is another question of course.

The Caprice has a single defrost vent, in the middle and quite far away from the glass, also one of my gripes with the car. Definitely does not warm up the wipers, even without the wipers parked.
I know a couple friends who have or had disabled the park function in their cars, not panthers but a '69 Fury and a box Buick I think.

[gadget73]

Does the Ranger have that same cowl deal where the wiper linkage lives that is just a big open channel between the hood and firewall for water to lay in and rot it? Some of the Fox cars have that, and if they don't get the leaves cleaned out it destroys the car. The Conti is bald of paint under there but no rot. I need to get in there with something to paint it so that doesn't change. Spent a lot of time with a vacuum clearing crap out of it when I got the car though.

[kishy]

EGR related

Good call. Tonight, the Ranger was pissing me off too much with its jerky misfiring, so I pulled over, took off the vacuum line from the EGR valve, and resumed driving. Completely cured.

What we know is:

• The PCM is from a 1993 vehicle, therefore it is possibly upset at the lack of VSS input.
• That being said, it hasn't has a VSS input at all since the engine swap, and this symptom has gotten worse recently (but was always a little stumbly).
• Since it has changed, something must be degrading, perhaps as you noted the EVR is opening the EGR valve too much in addition to doing so at times that the PCM may have canceled its operation due to VSS input.
• However, the fact the jerking has been so predictable and ongoing speaks to the fact that the PCM has not been disabling EGR due to setting a code (which I don't know if it ever has, because I can't self-test it and there's no CEL hooked up)

I think I will try to fix this. Shouldn't be terribly hard to toss a VSS in it and see if that changes anything. And I think I've got an EVR or two hanging around somewhere for parts cannon diagnostics.

RWD Volvos typically have that type of open cowl vents, like many other old cars. Volvos also got an optional accessory called "snowcap", which reduces the amount of snow and water going straight in the cowl vents. How the water drains out from there is another question of course.

The Caprice has a single defrost vent, in the middle and quite far away from the glass, also one of my gripes with the car. Definitely does not warm up the wipers, even without the wipers parked.
I know a couple friends who have or had disabled the park function in their cars, not panthers but a '69 Fury and a box Buick I think.

This "snowcap" sounds like what I was striving for when I glued down some pieces of aluminum siding on the cowl vents of the Ranger:

...
I used some scraps of aluminum siding, and polyurethane adhesive:



This does not make the cowl space be waterproof, but it does reduce how much goes in. The openings around the wipers are still an entry point. When using the "outside air" setting on the HVAC, air is now pulled in around the wipers, presumably as well as in through the ends of the cowl space from the fenders (but point being there is still a source of high pressure fresh outside air at highway speed when wanted).
...

The damage was done long ago, though. As for the GM "single defrost vent" thing, they did that on a handful of vehicles and I find it truly astonishing that whoever was involved in engineering that didn't see a problem with it.

Does the Ranger have that same cowl deal where the wiper linkage lives that is just a big open channel between the hood and firewall for water to lay in and rot it? Some of the Fox cars have that, and if they don't get the leaves cleaned out it destroys the car. The Conti is bald of paint under there but no rot. I need to get in there with something to paint it so that doesn't change. Spent a lot of time with a vacuum clearing crap out of it when I got the car though.

Yes, exactly as you described it. The cowl runs the width of the windshield, and cannot be opened or accessed in any way other than through a tiny access panel that is presumably where you're intended to get your hands on the wiper transmission, and with the 4-banger, the engine blocks that panel anyway. It has drains out into each fender, however catastrophic firewall rust (and structural failure) is common, again even on trucks that don't see salt.

[gadget73]

I never got EGR codes from the Towncar either. The ECM commanded an EGR open and the position sensor registered an open. It just wasn't modulating at all because the EVR was sticky. Easy enough to confirm with a vac gauge and a tee. A shot of WD40 in the EVR made it able to modulate again. The VSS issue just corrected when it was even trying to open, but was unrelated to the all or nothing valve behavior.

The Conti at least has a removable panel in the middle. Same as the Mustangs do, its where the right side wiper arm comes out. Remove the arm and a couple of screws and there is a fairly good size hole, easy to get a full arm into. Access is bad just because it pretty much means laying on the hood of the car with your arm in there to reach but it can be done.

[kishy]

I got to thinking about the oil in this, since I just did the Focus oil change. I couldn't remember when I'd done it, so I checked.
2020-05-15 at 145,485km

Well, here we are on 2023-12-31 at 156,612km. 11,127km or 6913mi. Not really all that bad for being a tight engine on full synthetic oil, but it does idle a lot (remote start) and it would probably accumulate a good amount of condensation, so time for a change.







Changed the oil and filter, put a new fuel filter on, put a dab of RTV on a hole in a spark plug boot, and briefly studied the rust before heading back inside.



Working on a little project to refurbish a right side convex mirror for this as well. You can read about that on The Ranger Station if you feel so inclined. Once I have a moderately successful result I'll post it in this thread here too, obviously.

[DerekTheGreat]

Ah, The Ranger Station! I was on there, way back in the day when I had one. Fun little trucks. Your cab rot is pretty scary. Glad to know unplugging the EGR vac. line cleared that up. Drove my Town Car the other day and noticed that stumble again. I'll try that to see if it's the smoking gun.

[kishy]

Alrighty, finally got that mirror back together, so I'll cross post my progress.

Basic summary: bought the truck in 2015 with its original equipment base model mirrors. Small, useless, and no convex passenger mirror.
I found a Bronco II in a junkyard with the big mirrors, which the sales brochure refers to as "Bright Western Swingaway Mirrors", and I retrofitted them onto my truck. They were great.
In 2021, something broke in the right side mirror and it wouldn't hold its position anymore. Fixing this, or even identifying what actually broke, was complicated by the fact that I had previously re-glued the glass into the mirror, and there was no way it was coming free without breaking.

Dorman makes a mirror that is designed to be a replacement for these, part 955180. I put one of these on my truck but I quickly grew to hate it for a couple key reasons:

• The Dorman mirror is not convex, which is annoying. However, something even worse than that is that it seems to be very very slightly concave and seems to magnify as well, which gives an extremely narrow field of view.
• The Dorman mirror picks up vehicle vibrations which the stock mirror did not. The mirror glass vibrates at a high frequency when driving, causing headlights in it to have a dazzling effect and making it nearly impossible to get a good sense of what you're looking at in it.

In other words, the Dorman mirror is basically useless as an automotive mirror, which started me on the hunt for a good convex right-side mirror. In February (of '23), I was able to collect the pieces I would need for this project:

• One right-side convex mirror, but with a broken pivot mechanism.
• In the yard, I disassembled a left-side mirror with a seemingly good pivot mechanism, and removed the pivot mechanism.

Between the various mirrors I've looked at, I identified a few different ways that these mirrors fail:

• The cage which holds the spring rusts apart and the spring doesn't maintain tension on the ball stud anymore.
• The entire pivot mechanism rusts off of its fasteners, and the mirror assembly rattles loosely with the pivot mechanism still maintaining tension but no longer holding the mirror.
• The plastic cup/socket for the ball stud cracks and breaks apart, causing there to be no spring tension on the ball stud.

As I inch towards retiring the truck due to rust, I'm hoping to tackle a bunch of to-do items to cut down on my stash of Ranger parts. This may seem wasteful, but my thinking is that it's easier to store the bits waiting for another Ranger if they're all assembled together on this truck rather than as loose pieces distributed across my storage empire.

Moving on to the mirror surgery, this is what's inside the mirror (left is an assembled assembly, right is 'exploded'):



This is what one looks like when it dies:



I pried the glass out carefully, then pried off the back cover (stainless?). The cover and the glass are held on with the same type of adhesive which is a relatively flexible silicone, so slow careful prying will get it to let go, but rushing will break things.

Sandblasted and painted the pieces of the pivot assembly.





Upon closer inspection, I found that the 'socket' for the pivot ball stud has a crack in it. I initially tried to glue the cracks but later decided it would be better to 3D print a replacement.
I should mention I have no prior experience with 3D modeling or printing, but I have friends who are experienced with it, and the 3D modeling process for a part this simple was not hard. I used Tinkercad for the first model (printed in white), and my friend then made his own model which I ended up liking more (printed in black).



Tinkercad: https://www.tinkercad.com/
Printable parts: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6413568

Lost a month due to the cold weather and problems with my garage heat, which I've since fixed.

I cleaned everything and assembled it, using new hardware. M3 for the three screws that hold the pivot assembly into the mirror body, and 10-32 screws to replace the rivets. Notably, I also applied sil-glyde caliper slide grease to the pivot ball. Fasteners inside the mirror all received medium-strength threadlocker. I test-mounted it on the truck to see how adjustable/rigid it is, and found it's about perfect. Took it back off to continue reassembly.







I used the cheapest general purpose silicone-containing caulk I could find to glue the stainless cap back onto the body. This is the same method the factory used originally, but they used some sort of clear silicone. I'm hoping what I picked is close enough.







I let it cure overnight, then put it on the truck. It's been a couple days now and it's holding on just fine, which is great.
I can't tell you how great it is to have 3 stable, non-vibrating lanes in my passenger side mirror again vs the Dorman mirror that gives less than one jittering so much you can't even see it.

Definitely still monitoring to be sure the caulk doesn't let go. I don't want that mirror glass to escape, it isn't the easiest to come by now.

Ah, The Ranger Station! I was on there, way back in the day when I had one. Fun little trucks. Your cab rot is pretty scary. Glad to know unplugging the EGR vac. line cleared that up. Drove my Town Car the other day and noticed that stumble again. I'll try that to see if it's the smoking gun.

TRS is a pretty great website. Large and diverse member base, good crossover between online and in-person (I've attended a meet with some of the staff, and the one guy was from Texas or similarly far away), great knowledge resources, and a highly functional website built on what is in my opinion the best forum software you can use, XenForo. I hope to see us end up as "highly polished" in the future - we've got the people, community, and knowledge, just need a little organizational dress-up I think.

[DerekTheGreat]

This site could definitely use some dress-up. It's like we're slowly fading away as the panther platform ages. Speaking of The Ranger Station, how is that community embracing the new generation of Rangers?

Looking at that mirror with it's script reminds me of a scene from Ace Ventura, "Warning! Assholes in mirror are closer than they appear!"

[friskyfrankie]

Love the very descriptive posts and attention to detail! Photos are very informative as well.

[87gtVIC]

Nice work on the mirror bits. That is some good fiddly work right there.