Project "Step Child"

[MountainMike]

Thanks Paul. Still a few little things I need to do on the exterior, namely the rear bumper and hoop. Lots to do on the interior. Good mild wheeler i can still DD comfortably.

 

[Boggin]

nice looking b2 you got there

 

[greasemonkey6886]

Same to you but thank you sir. got a lot of ideas and plans just not a lot of time or money just yet. What makes it worse is that it is a co-workers house an hour away from me. City kinda frowns on "projects" sitting in the driveway. God I wish I had a garage!!

 

[Boggin]

yup garages are perfect, thats why i love living out in the country lol

 

[greasemonkey6886]

Wish I did!! I'm just a country boy at heart but am stuck living in town for the moment. Been looking for a place in the country though, ideally something with at least 2 acres and a shop or garage. Not gonna give up untill I find it either. Thoght we had one last year with 5 acres and a really nice,big shop but the deal fell through and it got sold to someone else. Talk about a bummer, I was down in the dumps for weeks after that.

 

[greasemonkey6886]

Well got tired of it sitting an hour away so I went and drug her home. As long as I keep the tag on it and it looking like it's driveable I should be ok.
Had some time off from work and the weather was decent so I started scrapping the sound deadener off the floor in prep to put my DIY bedliner coating on.The wiring that you see hanging is the dash loom. I have it removed also.

Found that a good sharp wood chisel worked really well.

After removing the majority of it with the chisel I cleaned it all up and scuffed it up with the drill and grinder that are laying in the floor. Sorry forgot to take pics of it all clean.
Here it is with the first coat of bedliner applied.

I just did the area where the seats were today as the back is still full of parts. I intend to do the back this weekend.

 

[The_Dealer]

dang that looks really good. what bedliner did u use to coat it with? i thought about doing that in mine, but that deadener looks like a pita to get off. u roll it on or spray it? things comming along pretty good

 

[greasemonkey6886]

I used the same bed liner stuff you used on your roof. It's the Rustoleum brand. I used a roller to apply it really thick and a foam brush to get into the crevises that the roller wouldnt get. It is kinda a pain to get off but not REAL bad. Once you get a corner started it goes kinda easy. Just use a really sharp chisel. Like I mentioned you will want to use a grinder or drill with a really still wire wheel afterwords to remove the remaining residue. Plus side is that by using the wire wheel it will also scuff the floor and remove any surface rust you find. And trust me, if yours is like mine it will have rust under the sound deadener.

 

[The_Dealer]

sweet might have to do that and put some indoor outdoor black carpeting over it. i might buy a gallon and put another coat on my roof and some one my lightboxes and the rest on the floor. lol i got too many projects going for the thing at one time. im gonna try to finish up the light boxes and the shaft this weeekend. hard to find time now with working 50+ hrs a week lol

 

[greasemonkey6886]

I understand the long hours at work. I went through that this past summer, had to love the extra money though. I think I'm gonna just use some of those heavy duty rubber floor mats on top of my bedliner floor. Might wind up spraying the floor a grey color on top of the bedliner after I have it finished though. Not sure yet if I like the black. Doesn't look bad at all just think it might make it too dark inside once the whole floor is done. We will see. At least it will be more waterproof and easier to keep cleaned after mudding and wheeling.

 

[greasemonkey6886]

Small update. Got the back cleaned out this weekend and got the rest of the floor cleaned and bedlined.

Also went down to the donor Explorer and got the seats and dash out and brought home. Got them mocked up in place but didn't get pics, by the time the floor was dry enough and got them in it was dark. Will get more pics as time permits. In the next week or so I will start on boxing in the rear sides and building the floor toolbox in the space that the rear seats used to occupy. It will then get some sort of bulkhead panel just behind the rear seats. Not sure if I want it to go up as high as a normal pickup bed bulkhead or just up a foot or so from the top of the toolbox. On the toolbox idea imagine the lid being the same height as the rear cargo floor and being strong enough to act as cargo floor also.

 

[02RangerXLT]

What did you put on the floor? It doesn't seem to have quite the texture normal bedliner does. Or does it in person?

 

[greasemonkey6886]

It is the cheaper DIY bedliner in a gallon can and no it doesn't have the texture of the pro grade stuff like Rhinoliner and the like. It has a slight texture to it though. It is the Rustoleum brand from Autozone. It's not gonna be as good as the other stuff I know but it will do for now. Thought about after I put my final coat on to sprinkle some sand or something like that over it to give it a little more texture. That is how we done the non-skid coating on the floors of our trucks when I was in the Army.

 

[02RangerXLT]

It is the cheaper DIY bedliner in a gallon can and no it doesn't have the texture of the pro grade stuff like Rhinoliner and the like. It has a slight texture to it though. It is the Rustoleum brand from Autozone. It's not gonna be as good as the other stuff I know but it will do for now. Thought about after I put my final coat on to sprinkle some sand or something like that over it to give it a little more texture. That is how we done the non-skid coating on the floors of our trucks when I was in the Army.

Never thought of that, actually seems like a good idea! I know that if you use Herculiner and roll it on, that seems to give a textured look.

 

[greasemonkey6886]

Ok time for an update of sorts. Haven't done any work to it in a while but progress has been made in a way. Got to thinking why put it together with the stock drivetrain when I intend to do the 4.0 swap eventually anyhow so I went to searching for a donor and finally found one.

I used the tires and rims off stepchild to bring it home. It actually sits on a set of 36's as seen in the next pictures.

As you can see I had to take it mudding...need to make sure there is no problems with the drive train right? Lol.

 

[greasemonkey6886]

After running this thing plans have changed a little. Still gonna do the 4.0 swap on stepchild using the engine out of the white Ranger however I not gonna use the axles. Gonna leave them in the Ranger and use a different set. The Ranger will then get a v-8 and be used as a bogger truck for the local mudbogs, trailered there and back.
And yes thats a TRS hat I have on in the pic..thanks Pete!!

 

[Ranger Kip]

looks good so far

 

[greasemonkey6886]

Ok update time. Got the 4.0 out of the Ranger donor and into stepchild. I used the ranger headlight and engine harness and the Explorer dash harness. It fired right up but i don't have any rear lights or fuel gauge. Turns out that the Ex. dash dumps the rear lighting out under the dash instead of at the fenderwell like the Ranger and BII do. Now I have to take it back out and swap in a correct dash harness...Dont feel like messing with jumper wires or the like. Would rather it all be like original,less chance of wiring problems later. I will get pics up in a day or two, its dark already or I would grab some now.

 

[Rangerman4158]

nice build and I like that white ranger it will be an awesome beater

 

[greasemonkey6886]

Thanks Rangerman! Yea I couldn't see scrapping the Ranger out. Like you said it will be a good beater to run hard and not worry about beating up stepchild too much. After doing all this work to stepchild I don't want to beat the body all to hell however I am not going to afraid to run it either.
Last trip oout to the mud with the Ranger I broke the l/r axleshaft. Will have to fix that before we stab that V-8 in her. By the way, am I mistaken that the shafts in a 7.5 and 8.8 are the same as long as you have same spline count? Seems like I read that somewhere but don't know for shure.