Hopefully no one minds that I start a build thread of this nature here. It seems fitting since 75% of it is or will be mustang in nature. I need to get motivated to get this project of mine back in motion. I feel like a mustang forum is the better place for this build as most of my questions will be centered around a pushrod 5.0, t5, sn95 wiring, sn95 interior.
So now your like okay dude what the hell are you building. Well it's a 96 ford ranger. Here are some pics of where it's been and where it is.
Here is what a hunk of turd looks like. Day I bought it for 650 bucks. It is a regular cab short bed and had a running 3.0 v6 auto. Drove it home about 75 miles
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Immediately started taking it apart. Sold the motor and trans to a guy for 650 bucks
that means truck is now free
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Went to a junkyard and got an entire front clip for 200 bucks. That's hood, fenders, header panel, grille, and front bumper. This is it mocked up.
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That's about where the ranger parts stop. Now enter mustang seats. Got these for 100 bucks WITH power seat tracks that I couldn't use. Sold them on eBay for 150. So seats paid me 50 to own them I will eventually re upholster them. I also ditched the headrests
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Here is a pic of it with some mustang wheels I picked up from a co worker for 200 bucks. These will be what it rolls around on at first until I figure out where to go with the wheels. Also note the different door. Old door was dented up badly, new door was 75 bucks. I also started to shave the handles in this pic
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Here is where it starts to get fun. I pulled this Lincoln mark VIII IRS out of a car in a junk yard for 150 bucks. Benefits are the aluminum 8.8, obvious IRS vs straight axle, disc brakes. Please don't criticize the welds or how it's currently mounted. This will change and improve. This was just to figure out where and how to mount it. Plus decide ride height (will use bags but normal drive ride height)
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Here is how low it sits at full drop in the rear.
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Now some of you who know your stuff about the Lincoln IRS know that the bolt pattern is 5x 4.25 and not 5x 4.5 like a mustang. Luckily a mustang cobra IRS hub can be used in the Lincoln set up. I have already swapped that out. I will just need to get an adapter to run a cobra IRS rotor.
So I already have plans to chop out the front of the frame and build my own using a mustang II set up. I already have the subframe for that. That's kind of the next step.
Now I did score a great deal on a 1996 Ford Explorer with a 5.0 it was FREE. One day I was looking at craigslist and come across this ad, no pictures. Just says 1996 Ford Explorer v8 come get it. So I email and to my surprise it's still there. The lady tells me she is the original owner, truck has 116k on it. She parked it one day because the fuel pump stopped back in 2004 and she never got it fixed because it was a gas hog. So I rented a uhaul trailer, borrowed a truck and hauled butt down where it was (2.5 hours away) and to my surprise it was legit. Truck was an Eddie Bauer 2wd 96 5.0. Ugly as hell, dirty as hell. But the motor looked amazing. Not even an oil leak. So I ask her why she was giving it away? Well she lost the title (no it wasn't stolen she showed me the original sale receipt with her name on it!) and she lost the keys! So I had to bust the lock out of the column to be able to steer it and get it on the trailer. Bam. Free motor. I got it home and in a weeks time I had it running. Fuel pump from eBay for 30 bucks, plugs and wires for 50 and cleaned all the fuel injectors and tank out. Also changed the fuel filter. Put. Battery in it, and swapped the steering column out with the one from the ranger! Lol started and ran great. Drove it around a few days in my neighborhood and made sure everything was good with the motor. No check engine lights. Hell the ac even worked! Ice cold I might add. The down side was the brakes were terrible. Anyway I only wanted to make sure it ran properly. It was a great deal. So I pulled the motor. Sold the trans and the rear end (was a 3.73 tracloc 8.8 with disc brakes) made over 2500 on the part I sold from that thing. I even cut the explorer up and took the metal to scrap. Lol
The awesome thing is this motor has the GT40 heads, and the explorer intake already. So I then picked up a complete wire harness from a 95 cobra. Everything. Also have a T4M0 computer to run it. Then I picked up a T5 that I will rebuild. So I'm on my way. I have a ton of parts for this thing. The goal is to basically build a mustang inspired mini truck. I even have a dash from a sn95 and yes it will fit. Have a center console also.
I'm hoping by starting this thread I will get motivated to get this thing back on the road to getting finished. I literally moved this project to the side to make room to park my 14 mustang in the garage. That's kinda why the work stopped. I will have to move the mustang out to start working again.
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So any help you guys can offer on getting the motor ready and wiring ect will be helpful. I will update as I go, but this is a project that will take a few years to complete.
IG @Oxford5pointoh
So now your like okay dude what the hell are you building. Well it's a 96 ford ranger. Here are some pics of where it's been and where it is.
Here is what a hunk of turd looks like. Day I bought it for 650 bucks. It is a regular cab short bed and had a running 3.0 v6 auto. Drove it home about 75 miles
Immediately started taking it apart. Sold the motor and trans to a guy for 650 bucks
that means truck is now free
Went to a junkyard and got an entire front clip for 200 bucks. That's hood, fenders, header panel, grille, and front bumper. This is it mocked up.
That's about where the ranger parts stop. Now enter mustang seats. Got these for 100 bucks WITH power seat tracks that I couldn't use. Sold them on eBay for 150. So seats paid me 50 to own them
I will eventually re upholster them. I also ditched the headrests
Here is a pic of it with some mustang wheels I picked up from a co worker for 200 bucks. These will be what it rolls around on at first until I figure out where to go with the wheels. Also note the different door. Old door was dented up badly, new door was 75 bucks. I also started to shave the handles in this pic
Here is where it starts to get fun. I pulled this Lincoln mark VIII IRS out of a car in a junk yard for 150 bucks. Benefits are the aluminum 8.8, obvious IRS vs straight axle, disc brakes. Please don't criticize the welds or how it's currently mounted. This will change and improve. This was just to figure out where and how to mount it. Plus decide ride height (will use bags but normal drive ride height)
Here is how low it sits at full drop in the rear.
Now some of you who know your stuff about the Lincoln IRS know that the bolt pattern is 5x 4.25 and not 5x 4.5 like a mustang. Luckily a mustang cobra IRS hub can be used in the Lincoln set up. I have already swapped that out. I will just need to get an adapter to run a cobra IRS rotor.
So I already have plans to chop out the front of the frame and build my own using a mustang II set up. I already have the subframe for that. That's kind of the next step.
Now I did score a great deal on a 1996 Ford Explorer with a 5.0 it was FREE. One day I was looking at craigslist and come across this ad, no pictures. Just says 1996 Ford Explorer v8 come get it. So I email and to my surprise it's still there. The lady tells me she is the original owner, truck has 116k on it. She parked it one day because the fuel pump stopped back in 2004 and she never got it fixed because it was a gas hog. So I rented a uhaul trailer, borrowed a truck and hauled butt down where it was (2.5 hours away) and to my surprise it was legit. Truck was an Eddie Bauer 2wd 96 5.0. Ugly as hell, dirty as hell. But the motor looked amazing. Not even an oil leak. So I ask her why she was giving it away? Well she lost the title (no it wasn't stolen she showed me the original sale receipt with her name on it!) and she lost the keys! So I had to bust the lock out of the column to be able to steer it and get it on the trailer. Bam. Free motor. I got it home and in a weeks time I had it running. Fuel pump from eBay for 30 bucks, plugs and wires for 50 and cleaned all the fuel injectors and tank out. Also changed the fuel filter. Put. Battery in it, and swapped the steering column out with the one from the ranger! Lol started and ran great. Drove it around a few days in my neighborhood and made sure everything was good with the motor. No check engine lights. Hell the ac even worked! Ice cold I might add. The down side was the brakes were terrible. Anyway I only wanted to make sure it ran properly. It was a great deal. So I pulled the motor. Sold the trans and the rear end (was a 3.73 tracloc 8.8 with disc brakes) made over 2500 on the part I sold from that thing. I even cut the explorer up and took the metal to scrap. Lol
The awesome thing is this motor has the GT40 heads, and the explorer intake already. So I then picked up a complete wire harness from a 95 cobra. Everything. Also have a T4M0 computer to run it. Then I picked up a T5 that I will rebuild. So I'm on my way. I have a ton of parts for this thing. The goal is to basically build a mustang inspired mini truck. I even have a dash from a sn95 and yes it will fit. Have a center console also.
I'm hoping by starting this thread I will get motivated to get this thing back on the road to getting finished. I literally moved this project to the side to make room to park my 14 mustang in the garage. That's kinda why the work stopped. I will have to move the mustang out to start working again.
So any help you guys can offer on getting the motor ready and wiring ect will be helpful. I will update as I go, but this is a project that will take a few years to complete.
IG @Oxford5pointoh
