Project 'Smokey' - '72 Ranger XLT

[Bullitt74]

Started the day finishing up my dome light switches, and cleaned up and painted the brackets:



Then started on my tail lights. Pulled out my rear wiring harness, and it was a dusty rotten mess . Probably most of you have dealt with this at some point. it seems Ford used hockey tape to tape up the wiring - my truck WAS built in Canada after all, but all it did was attract dust and break down. However, 98% of the wiring is intact and is in good condition, so I guess that's a win for hockey tape...


Here's how it started - a camo-coloured dusty mess.


The pile of hockey tape after I peeled it off.


The end result after wrapping it with proper electrical tape, and wrapping again with plastic-braided loom. The was the first time I used this stuff (from LMC Truck), and I am quite happy with the result. A few broken wires that needed to be fixed, and that is probably why my license plate lights didn't work.

That's enough for tonight - Westworld on HBO is calling my name...

[DuckRyder]

Man this truck is going to be something else...

Nice floor too...

[Bullitt74]

Right on, those lenses turned out great! Great progress!

Man this truck is going to be something else...

Nice floor too...

Thanks guys! It's getting there...slowly...

I'll pass on the floor complement to my wife - she picked out the tile

[Bullitt74]

A bit more progress tonight...


Starting to realize I might have a problem. This is hardware that I acid bathed in vinegar, scrubbed and painted, yet will never see the light of day. However, hold off the intervention until Smokey is done...I'm just havin' too much fun!


Can't beat the DC repros for these reflectors - NOS pieces generally don't even look this nice.


Going to try the standard chrome rear bumper. If I decide I don't like it, I will have my old step bumper powder coated.


One light down, and the wiring works so far. A good time to pack 'er in for the night...

[Bullitt74]

Got into the weeds a bit with my license plate lights. The Dennis Carpenter ones I bought 15 years ago basically fell apart, so I had to rebuild them with new pigtails. I couldn't find much that fit, but installed a similar pigtail and affixed it with electrical tape to the light housing. It should work if my tape job holds up (although they get fairly hot, so all bets are off )


A stock type pigtail with yellow light. The advantage here is the housing to bumper connection is the ground, thus one wire.


A 2-wire LED light I purchased from Princess Auto (similar to Harbor Freight in the US) for $5. The light fits into the housing, and is held in place with a rubber grommet. A bit of extra work as they require a separate ground.


LED white vs. incandescent yellow.


So in the end I chose the one-wire incandescent for it's stock yellow light. I'm skeptical whether they'll hold up. I'll keep the LED's handy just in case.

[Manny]

Absolutely fantastic. I love this truck 150% she is just a beauty thru and thru. Your attention to detail deserves the upmost applause!!!!

[hfdco4]

Awesome work reviving all those old parts.

[popeyes71]

Wow, she is looking great! Yeah, your right, DC's stuff is nice!

[Manny]

Made any more headway on this beautiful truck?

[crazyhorse]

Mr Bulllit , congratulations , it sure is looking good.

[Bullitt74]

Thanks for the encouragement guys - I have been chipping away at a couple of things, but was on the road for work last week, and this week was a gong show at home also.


Currently working the door seals - I decided to glue down just one section at a time. So far so good, and I quite like the DC product.

[Bullitt74]

When I pulled my truck apart 2 years ago, I busted the studs on one of park/signal light buckets. I meant to nab a replacement along the way, but I guess I forgot. Tried to line one up this week, but it fell through.

So, for some reason I put a couple hours into the old one...I decided to detail the steps in case someone wishes to do the same...


Started by carefully removing the pigtail. Just had to bend back the flange, and hopefully it will go back as easily.


Gave it a vinegar bath for a few days. Pickling vinegar is 7% as opposed to regular vinegar, which is only 5% acetic acid.


After the vinegar bath...


Ground down what was left of the broken studs.


Ready for the drill press.


Tapping the hole for a 1/4"-20 threaded stud.


A quick weld here to cinch the studs in place.


Didn't want to show you guys my crappy welding job, but turned out well after grinding.


Ready for some rust treatment primer.



So again, not sure why I spent the time on this piece...I guess I just wanted to see if I could replace the studs and make it look almost like factory. Call me crazy, but at least I'm havin' fun!


Polished one lens and repainted the silver paint. The other side is on order from Dennis Carpenter, as these are tough to find in reasonable condition.

All for now - hopefully can get started on the sound deadener and carpet this week!

[Lone Ranger]

Steve your attention to detail is fantastic. That looks awesome!

[Manny]

Got some great skills going here learning some neat tricks with this. Looks fantastic and again great attention to details.

[Bullitt74]

Thanks guys for the encouragement! A long time between posts, but I was able to make more progress recently.


Installed my park light buckets. On the passenger side (not shown), recall that I took the pigtail out. This had to be reinstalled, which took a bit of banging with body hammer to get the flange to fit tightly and make a good ground connection.


A bit of double-faced tape to set the gaskets into place. This worked well for the taillight buckets as well.




Brand new from Dennis Carpenter. These aren't a bad deal, and have no identifiers that I can find that denote it as a reproduction. Probably worth it to buy both sides if you are replacing them.


As mentioned earlier, I used chrome paint when restoring my old one, which is probably not correct if one is doing a concours restoration. Probably argent/silver would be correct, as per the DC reproduction.


I love the buffing wheel on the drill...I keep it handy to shine up screws before installing...may as well make it all look like new.


Nice and bright - quite happy with the results