My 71 Bump

[clemsonjeep]

Hey guys, just picked up this 71 Ranger XLT yesterday. Im the third owner and the second owner only had it the past 9 months. From what i can tell the truck never lived further than 30 minutes from where it was originally purchased. The odometer currently reads just over 52,800. The story goes that the original owner bought it and it was used on a grape farm until it was handed over to his son...who never retitled it. Then he parked it in 99 "because gas prices got too high where it sat until 2014 when the previous owner picked it up. The guy I got it from lives a block away from the original owners and said when he got it the intake had rusted internally so he put the Edelbrock intake on it as well as the matching 4 barrel. He also replaced the pushrods, springs, rockers, distributor, alternator, and a few other bits.

I thought it was crazy that everything inside is in great shape and works! The floors are solid...the original carpet has some small spots that have gotten weak, but is in great shape otherwise. On to the pics...

[jimmy828]

Nice score on that ride and a short bed too!

[clemsonjeep]

Nice score on that ride and a short bed too!

Thanks...Im excited about it. Just put a little over 100 miles on it today

[clemsonjeep]

Sooo...first question I have is regarding the temp gauge. When I got it the gauge wasnt reading anything so i grounded the wire and the gauge went to the HOT side. So this morning I got a new sender and installed it. This evening I drove the truck around 60 miles in one trip on 2 lane backroads averaging 50mph. The gauge never made it into the normal range but instead sat just outside of it like in the picture below.

What Im wondering is...do yall think this could be wrong thermostat (it does have one), or is the sender producing a slightly different reading than the original unit, or do these gauges have any issues with correct reading, or is this normal and i just need to drive the truck?

[clemsonjeep]

Was just out tinkering on the truck putting a wrench on bolts just so I know what's what. I knew the valve covers had been swapped out but when I put the wrench on them the bolts were barely finger tight and the rear cylinder on driver side had oil around the spark plug. I tightened them down and then after doing a few other things I started the truck. There was a clicking noise from the passenger side...rockers hitting the cover. I slowly backed off on the screws until the noise stopped.

Come to find out the covers are the cheapy cheap Specter ones from Summit. Anyone else had or heard of this being an issue?



I already knew I wanted a set of OEM covers for it, but this might have put that at the top of the list of parts to find.

[clemsonjeep]

Crisis averted... Was the baffle towards the rear of the cover ever so slightly coming into contact with the rocker.

[clemsonjeep]

Part of the 200 or so miles she saw this past weekend was a mandatory stop at the local HD dealer to pick up a sticker for the rear window.



Sunday morning I removed the dash pad...







Last night I picked up some etching primer and some Dupli Color Wimbledon White to paint the defroster grills that I removed from the dash pad. I plan to put some weatherstripping around the back side of them so I don't have to tighten them down onto the dash, but will also keep them from rattling. I think the white will help break up all of the green...

While I had the cluster I out I also noticed that the wire harness for the cargo light was melted...so I disconnected it and have tied it up in the corner until I can get a replacement. It also damaged a few of the wires it was laying across so I'll have to go back through it and make sure there arent any bare spots that could cause a problem.

Then I noticed the wires on the back of the fuse panel weren't too happy looking either so I'll be looking for one of these with a few extra inches of wiring to splice back in and hide so it looks "factory".





I did find a few good parts yesterday at a local salvage yard where the owner is a big fan of Fords. The trip there was to look for a brake booster, which I found, but I also ended up talking him out of a pair of original valve covers that were in pretty decent shape.



The brake booster install was pretty painless, but the first time around the pedal would go just about all the way down before I had brakes. I got out early this morning and pulled the MC back off and adjusted the push rod and now it's good to go

[clemsonjeep]

My next project for the rest of the week most likely is removing a pile of "bracing" that someone felt the need to install. All I can figure is they had entirely too much time on their hands, because the frame on this truck is absolutely solid. I took the truck down to the muffler shop yesterday to have them look it over in prep for a new system, but wanted to make sure what all I had to get done before that happens. Of course...everything needs to be removed....

Can you tell what these are...



This is located right about at the tail of the transmission...



There's more of this up at the front and the rear. At the engine cradle there's even what looks like 1/2" thick blocks welded between the frame and cradle

Gotta love redneck ingenuity. Previous owner used galvanized chain link fence post for the exhaust.



Found a socket



To end on a high note...

[jthulan]

My temp gauge reads the exact same way. Was that way for about three years before I recently broke it all down to fix up. ??
Love your horn button on the steering wheel, .
That bracing is crazy. Even rednecks usually have a "method to their madness." That would really have me pondering HARD. I will be thinking about that the rest of today...

Nice truck BTW!

[popeyes71]

Great looking truck! As for that bracing under the truck........I have no idea what was trying to be accomplished there Maybe someone else here on the site may have some ideas. I like the idea of always having a socket on the pan bolt; you just need a ratchet and drain pan. Have fun cleaning up the truck, it looks like a good solid truck.

[clemsonjeep]

Turns out those leaf springs used as braces were actually from the packs on this truck. In any case I began cutting all of it out of the rear but called it quits and will go back to it tomorrow evening. Id hoped to take it back to the muffler shop tomorrow but itll probably be Thursday or Friday morning after seeing how much grinding I have left to do. After all itll be much easier to do this without the pipes and mufflers in my way.

[clemsonjeep]

I'm looking for pictures of exhaust exiting behind the rear tires...but not coming straight out. I want them to come out at a downwards angle...similar to having them go over the rear axle and dump under the bed.

Been looking the past couple days and can't find man pictures and it's always easier to show the muffler shop what I'm describing.

[clemsonjeep]

Had the exhaust done last Friday...much better sound and much better looking...and no more rattles!

[clemsonjeep]

Next step for me was to track down leaks and stop them! In the process i plan to clean everything up and throw on a new coat of paint.

Tonight i pulled the motor and trans...







Tomorrow ill move on to pressure washing the engine bay, motor, and transmission.

[clemsonjeep]

I also grabbed a fuse panel from another 71 thats in much better condition than mine to splice in this week. Gonna be busy...