Ranger One

[CheapJeep]

Look's badass John.

[redcagepatrol]

looks great - again, nice fab work.

[DRAGOONRANCH]

looks like crap, you suck.

[Sharpe]

Did you use poly spring bushings for the motor mounts? Thats what I have in pigpen and the vibration annoys the **** out of me. I am planning on swapping them out for rubber spring bushings eventually but hopefully when my new motor is done it wont vibrate nearly as much. I'm sure the 5.3 doesnt vibrate as much as a 20 year old 6.2 so this probably wont be an issue for you.

[agjohn02]

I'm using poly. My first set of motor mounts in the Scout were poly bushing style. I don't recall engine vibrations being the problem. It was a rear driveshaft angle problem. I didn't put a CV on it when I did the engine swap. When I did the suspension, I put a CV on and the new motor mounts just for good measure. I hope this 5.3L doesn't vibrate as much as a 20 year old 6.2L diesel with cracked pistons.


edit- Thanks for the compliments fellas. Especially you Ed, you're a sweetheart.

[Sharpe]

Old motor had cracked pistons, new one probably doesnt.

[BMFScout]

The fab looks great, but you need more speedholes. You can never have too many speedholes.

[fbronco86]

Looks like any other crappy ole jeep to me

[agjohn02]

The fab looks great, but you need more speedholes. You can't ever have too many speedholes.

Holesaws are expensive! One of these days ill have a job [shudder] and I'll be a dimple die fool.

[Jackasic]

post up some current pics, i haven't owned the Benz in months.

[DRAGOONRANCH]

edit- Thanks for the compliments fellas. Especially you Ed, you're a sweetheart.

I love you man....

[agjohn02]

Next on the agenda was to address the intereference issues I mentioned earlier. I do not like body lifts and did not want to run one. The truck manifold is too tall, the truck pan is too deep and the truck driver's side exhaust manifold dumps into the top of the framerail. All three were dealt with using f-body parts. I put a 2000 LS-1 intake manifold on. That shaved around 6" off of the height of the engine and got the intake under the hood. I had to relocate one idler pulley and cut off the old pulley mount to clear the lower throttle body. I also had to rotate the coolant inlet neck a little to just barely clear the throttle cam. The shorter runners will cost a little low end torque, but I don't think it will be missed with the low gearing. The f-body oil pan is 3" shorter than the deep truck pan but with a longer sump, so the capacity does not suffer. The truck pan simply hung down too low for me to feel comfortable wheeling it like that and cast aluminum oil pans don't dent, they break. I didn't want this rig to be the Exxon Valdez on the trail. The exhaust manifold I got for $5 so that worked out much better than aftermarket headers. It is tucked up closer to the block so it dumps inside the framerail. Plus, I won't have to worry about constantly keeping bolts tight to prevent exhaust leaks.

[agjohn02]

My next step was to build a skid plate to protect the underside. There is a lot of expensive aluminum under there that won't get along well with rocks. I went to Bryan Iron and Metal and got a 4'x6' or so peice of 1/4" mill plate. I notched for the spring shackles and slid it under the jeep. After marking and figuring up what needed to be dropped to clear the crossmember, trans pan and oil pan I decided to have it broken at the fab shop to create a 1" "dip" in the middle. This cleared the crossmember and gave me a comfortable margin between the trans, engine and skid. After I had the basic shape, I built the mounts and stiffened the skid up with some angle and c channel. You can see now why I built the engine mounts beefy. I've still got some additional gussets and stiffners to put in, but that will come after I disassemble for paint.

[Reckless]

I bet thats a heavy b!tch but looks great.

[BMFScout]

I thought you were already buidling cage?