Project AlterEgo, Driveabeater take notice

[joemac]

This is my little '93 Ranger project. I bought it in November '09 and let it sit until February until I was ready to put it on the road. It's got the infamous 2.3l four banger 5 speed manual. Truck has 222K miles on it and I paid $500 cash.



This is what it needed to just go through inspection;

Cat back exhaust
Rear shocks
Rear brake line across axle
Front brake rotors and pads
Upper and lower ball joints both sides
Front wheel bearings
Coolant change
Heater core
Water pump/thermostat
Motor oil and filter
Air filter
Trans fluid change
Shifter knob
Front and rear windshields
Rear view mirror
Wiper blades
Fuel level sending unit and fuel lines coming out of tank
Rear cab mounts and bushings
Dome light
Tag light
battery hold down
Battery cables

I've been driving it around in desperate need of tires and I don't even have a radio for it yet. It also needs a little body work, shackles and hangers before they dsintegrate and the core support needs to be replaced badly. I'm in it about $1600 including putting it on the road and the purchase price. I will try to provide a precise budget just like driveabeater has.

After subscribing to the Driveabeater thread and seeing how much fun Michael was having building his little GMC mini truck I got the idea that I would build mine in the same manner except opposite of him, his is GMC, mine is Ford. His is black I plan a color change to white eventually. He is swapping in a v6 I plan on a turbo diesel. Hence the name AlterEgo. You can check his thread out here if you're not familiar with it Project Driveabeater

I also call it the junkyard dog because I try to buy as many used parts as possible and get as many parts from the junkyard as I can find. It was also in poor enough condition when I bought it most reasonable people would have called the junk man to come get it. But I'm having a good time wrenching on it. I'm consistently knocking down 22 mpg. A couple preliminary pics;




Future plans include 12" explorer sport trac front rotors with '95-'97 spindles and twin piston calipers with spacer bracket, 12" sn95 cobra brakes in back, lowered 3/5 and a I5, 2.7l Mercedes turbo diesel out of a Sprinter van. It has a factory turbo, 4v per cylinder, common rail and an aluminum head. Stock power is around 160 and 270tq with 180/290 a tune away, mated to either a t56 or a tr6060 I believe that's what the new 6 speeds are anyway. I'll be doing some body mods, updating the front end to '98-00, doing a nice spray in liner and a decent head unit with gps and dvd. I'll be adding a/c too, these MD summers are hot and humid. This truck will be a driver first and foremost but will be able to do a little corner carving. Immediate plans will be a shackle hanger flip which will get me a free 2" lower in back and a decent set of wheels most likely Mustang Bullits or 10th anny cobras.