Progress made on the Mustang calipers. The caliper clearance was so tight that one set of my 18" wheels would not clear. The Haas made quick work of it all.
Sadly I found an internal passageway.
Not to dwell long on the problem, out came the welder and a little Bridgeport work.
Test fitted and painted up.
JGRAHAM said:Finished up the chassis table that I'll use this winter when I lop off the back half of the Ranger. The table and reference lines should keep everything true and where I want them.
Hey JGraham Im looking at building a chassis table for my 1999 ranger how did you go about planing and designing yours and what size of I-beams did you use. I see the basic lay out but some more insight would be awesome
Regarding Exhaust extraction.
If done right they will make enough vacuum to pull a super light Dick Landy Hemi valve cover down onto the rockers!
Don't ask how I learned that.
You could route the crank vent through a puke can to keep oil out of the exhaust.
In reply to Wtrskiadic1 :
Hey, sorry I just saw your comment. I believe I used W ~3" wide flange, 4" tall web I beam. You just need something that won't flex a lot. If I had bigger, extra scrap I beam at the time I would have used it. The general table dimensions are set by your designed wheelbase, overall length, hub track width, and chassis rail width. Put your all your members in the center of of these dimensions. I have the luxury of having a really large, very flat existing welding table to build the chassis table off of. It made the welding and alignment part very simple by building it upside down on an existing table. Even without an existing table you can get it done with a good flat concrete floor, level, tape measure, and some shim stock. I can't stress this enough, but take your time with building it. If you know something needs to move 1/32" to be perfectly square DO IT. It will payoff in the end. I hope this helps you out in getting start!
In reply to bentwrench :
Wow I wouldn't have thought it would generate that much. I'm going to hook up a gauge and see what my setup can generate.
I know kinda late on this thread jgraham you wouldn't still happen to have those dream beams by chance if you I'd be interested in any buying them
bentwrench said:
Regarding Exhaust extraction.
If done right they will make enough vacuum to pull a super light Dick Landy Hemi valve cover down onto the rockers!
Don't ask how I learned that.
Actually, we're very interested to hear about that. Pitchers would be excellent...
In reply to ShortBus :
No sorry they were sold long ago. I do still have a ~13" brake setup that may be of interest to the Ranger guys.
In reply to rdcyclist :
I got the truck running pretty well. I'm going to tee in avacuum gauge this weekend and see what it's doing.
Well I've been able to drive the truck around the neighbor......getting closer to another autocross event.
I decided to redo the rear flares. The tires would rub pretty good with the old ones.
Also cut a hole in the hood for the new air intake.
Bringing up an old thread that I always loved seeing updated. Anything new with the truck lately?
And finally another update......
I was able to attend a few autocross events throughout the summer. The truck was reliable and ran relatively well. It took most of the year to get the 347 happy with the new carb. I still need to fine tune carb more. I'd ultimately like to get some dyno time with the new setup.
So this winter Im planning too:
And onto the progress photos....
Front end teardown
New NASCAR style sway bar mocked up.
The new front bumper being fitted. Per CAM it'll have a "6 front splitter. It's also going to be quick release for loading the trailer.
I'll try to update more frequently this winter as work gets done. Enjoy!
JGRAHAM said:
I'll try to update more frequently this winter as work get done. Enjoy!
Please do, this thing is hawt! I'll be reading through the rest of the thread when I can.
Was able to pull last year's 3.31 LSD differential out and will be installing the new unit- a 3.55 Torsen I've heard good things about this Ford differential and excited to try it out.
man i really want to autocross my 79 f100
A little more work has been done on the Ranger.
I decided to extend the air intake further forward- out of the hot engine air.
Longer intake installed with the hood hole enlarged.
Cleaned up the hood cuts.
Made a trim panel template.
And lastly the new trim panel riveted down.
Here's a shot of the new radiator placement. It should get the F/R bias better this year.
Awesome! I am lovin these truck updates; the world needs badass minis.
Rear mounting the radiator was on my list too. I don't think I'll get there this winter though
In reply to gumby :
Thanks Gumby. Yes think we'll continue to see more and more mini-truck builds in the future.
I had debated if moving the radiator would be worth it for a while now. We'll see on the scales!
This truck gives me a boner.
This build has a lot of cool stuff going on, but what I like most is the rough appearance and outer finish. Way more cool and functional than some glossy expensive paint job.
Decided to install a fire suppression system. I've had concerns with the over-frame rail headers being completely exposed in the bay....better safe than sorry.
Using my first post on GRM to say I absolutely love this build! One of my favorite builds ever actually, regardless of which forum (I'm on probably over a dozen), and at any budget. Seriously this truck is just flat out awesome.
Any updates from the 2020 autocross season? If you have gone to any events what with CV19 and all that. Keep on truckin!
I've been lurking on here for a while but never joined, your build finally made me create an account so I can comment and gain more info in the future. WE NEED MORE MINITRUCKS!!! I finally purchased my first autocross car, a stock 91 S10, won't be stock for long, you have given me years of inspiration, thank you sir! I can't wait to see what else you come up with. Great job!!!
Amazing build man. Reminds me of my dearly departed Daewoo project in the sense that there's absolutely no hesitation to cut E36 M3 open and figure out the consequences later!
I love Rangers and B-Series Mazda pickups and every now and then I'll just Google "Ranger Autocross" to see what kind of stuff people have done with them. I'm so glad I found this thread. I can't tell you how much I love this truck.
As the father of 2 young kids, I have to say that I can't believe you were able to manage parts of this project with a toddler. I feel like you're beating me at having a wicked shop space, building a sick truck, AND parenting. 
Keep up the great work!
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