94 Overhaul

[D94R]

So, with the weather turning cold and we had the first snow of the year already, I took the Ranger off the road. This pushed me into starting down the long road over hauling the Ranger.

She was starting to show signs of "the cancer" on the top of the cab above the windsheild. This is the beginning of my project.




This is what the rust looked like. It had started a couple years ago, and I made some quick fixes by sanding down the spots and using touch up paint to fix them for the time being before they got real bad. At the time I didn't have the time or place to fix it for good. Now I do. The rust ran from one side of the cab to the other. Most were spots the size of a quarter. Not really sure of the cause. Maybe the paint was just tired and showing its age.







After I started grinding down on the worst spots.






All the spots on top the cab ground/sanded. Ground down to bare metal where the rust was. The rest of the area I only ground down to the Factory Sealer.










Passenger side rear cab seem. You can see where the paint is split along the seam as the factory body filler has finally gave up. Rust has started to form along this area. Not a lot, but I'm gonna finish weld the seem to avoid as much body filler as possible.






Driver side rear cab seem. Already ground down and old body filler ground out.





Passenger door lower rear quarter of it.
I had hit a deer a few years ago and it barely skimmed down the door. Only damage it did was to the lower rear there. It pushed against the inside frame and creased the metal. It can be fixed/pulled easily, but has some surface rust starting that needs taken care of too.





I'll be using this stuff for a sealer/base primer. Then I'll do the body work on top of it. Should halt any rust from ever forming on the cab again.
No More Rust






PLAN:
Next to happen is the windshield gets pulled and I grind the sealing area to kill any rust around it as well. After that, front fenders get yanked. Then, the core support, header panel, front bumper, head lights and valence are getting replaced with NEW parts. They are rusty pretty bad. Not as bad as Salatings, but getting there.

Engine/tranny will then be yanked. Frame will be also be treated to a grind/sand overhaul and treated to the Nomorerust as well.

Moving to the rear, the cab may or may not be completely pulled to attack the frame in that area.

The rear suspension will be yanked and a parallel true 4-link will be installed. Coilover's are yet to be determined as I need to figure out how to figure coil weights and what not. Rear frame will obviously be treated to a refinish as well.

Gas tank will be ditched in favor of a fuel cell relocated to bed or behind the axle, havent decided yet.

Rear bumper will be cleaned up and possibly rechromed. Not doing a roll pan as I actually want to return the body exterior of the truck to as stock as possible.

Tail gate will be replaced with new as well as the bottom drip rail has the Rot and is beyond fixable. Plus I shaved it year ago and I'm not liking that anymore.

Then, eventually it will be repainted stock. It's a unique two-tone, and I can't picture her painted any other way.



Stay tuned. It's going to be long and tedious I'm sure, but fun!