One more 2wd 98 coil spring 5.0 swap.

[Jbrown1238]

A heart surgeon would be jealous of your cleanliness. Nice work...

SVT

Thank you. Looking back I should have asked Ziplock and Dawn Dish Soap to sponsor the build!

 

[Jbrown1238]

I know I am still bouncing around between sub-assemblies a little and have not had a chance to start color sanding and polishing the cab. The weather is back and forth, cold and dry or warm and wet. Color sanding seems to keep taking a back seat to other items on the check list.

I picked up a few salvage pieces late last week that I will need soon. Clutch pedal assembly and supporting pieces, factory manual shifter & boot, manual shift steering column trim piece (upper), 2011 OE Ranger hood panel and hinges, cab/roof molding trim piece(driver side), etc.



The clutch pedal assembly was the first of these items to hit the cutting block!

A frequent issue with manual shift V8 Rangers is adequate clutch disengagement. Depending on the application and choice of parts there just is not enough travel when using the common donor slave cylinder with the OE clutch master cylinder. Most will agree that the issue in question is matching the smaller bore diameter clutch master cylinder to the larger bore diameter slave cylinder. The clutch master cylinder can’t move enough fluid to push the slave cylinder to the maximum amount of travel. Most people overcome the problem by sourcing a larger diameter clutch master cylinder.

My thoughts were pretty simple, if small truck equals small clutch master cylinder, big truck should equal big clutch master cylinder! It makes sense right? I picked up one for a 99 Ranger and one for a 99 F550 for comparison.





Sure enough, the one for the F550 was slightly larger both in bore diameter and length of travel while still sharing the same basic design. The mounting configuration is identical except for the overall diameter of the unit. In the following photos you can see that the larger F550 piece will not fit through the small opening in the pedal bracket without minor modification.



99 Ranger piece.



F550 piece.



Ranger piece in bracket, F550 piece in hand.



By enlarging the mounting hole in the pedal bracket I was able to mount the F550 clutch master cylinder in the OE location.







The pushrod and backup/neutral safety switch from the 99 Ranger piece will be used with the new F550 clutch master cylinder. However, the new F550 clutch master cylinder not only has a slightly larger bore diameter but also allows for more travel. I would like to take advantage of the longer travel as well but will need to modify the clutch pedal and neutral safety switch in order to do so. I am still working through that mod and will revisit it at a later time.

99 Ranger piece. 1 1/2 inch travel.



99 F550 piece. 1 5/8 inch travel.



Approx. 1/8 more travel with the F550 clutch master cylinder.

 

[Jbrown1238]

The first step to allowing a little more clutch pedal travel involved modifying the internals to the clutch switch.



I removed the switch cover so the assembly is visible.



I then removed the pushrod from the assembly. You can see the white plunger that slides the length of the switch, currently 1 1/2 inch. I hope to modify this successfully to allow for an extra 1/8 inch of travel.



Next I removed the internal pieces and examined the interior.



I marked the three sides of the white plunger with a Sharpie so I could easily tell how much material to remove.



With a small amount of effort the excess material was removed from all three sides.



Now the pieces are returned to their original position.



It was difficult taking photos of the plunger compressed while holding everything else in one hand. With that being said you can see that the switch now allows for the added 1/8 inch of travel to match the total travel (1 5/8 inch) of the new F550 clutch master cylinder.



Next step will be a small amount of material removal from the back side of the clutch pedal where it contacts the floor pan and the rubber pedal stop.

 

[Jbrown1238]

The pushrod length checker arrived a week or so ago and I mocked everything up once again. After carefully checking the valve train with the OE pushrods I came up with the same results as the first time. I hit 20 foot lbs of torque before any drag was noticed on the pushrod. In fact even after the desired torque was reached there seemed to be far too much play in the rocker arm. I replaced the OE pushrod on the number one intake valve with the pushrod length checker and adjusted it to where I felt a slight drag and then rotated the rocker arm bolt ¼ turn before hitting 20 foot lbs of torque. I repeated the same procedure on the number one exhaust valve and achieved the same results. I doubled checked my findings on several intake and exhaust valves and felt comfortable with the final adjustment of the pushrod length checker.



I do not have a micrometer or digital caliper large enough to measure the pushrod length checker so I stopped by the machine shop and had them measure the OE pushrod and the final adjustment on the pushrod length checker. They came up with 6.250 for the OE pushrod and 6.258 for the pushrod length checker. I went ahead and ordered a set of 6.258 inch Crane Cam pushrods and a Crane Cam shim kit.







I did get a chance to compare the OE Ford Explorer lifters along side to the Ford Racing lifters and found that they were the same length overall. However, the cup part of the plunger was slightly deeper on the Ford Racing lifters which appeared to drop the pushrods slightly into the lifter. I think this is what caused the need for a longer pushrod.

I cleaned all the parts and placed them out earlier today in preparation for assembly.





I covered most of the rocker arm assembly procedures earlier in the thread so I will just go ahead and post a couple quick photos of today’s process and skip repeating the boring stuff.

 

[RangerSVT]

Looking good. Would you happen to have a pic of the harmonic balancer tone ring? I need one to do my 10 rib conversion, and I need to see if I need to make a custom piece, or if I can remove the tone ring to reuse...

SVT

 

[Jbrown1238]

Looking good. Would you happen to have a pic of the harmonic balancer tone ring? I need one to do my 10 rib conversion, and I need to see if I need to make a custom piece, or if I can remove the tone ring to reuse...

SVT

I will take a look at what I have. Not sure how many I have or if any of them will be of assistance to you. It may take a day or two as I have over 7000 photos on file now. Can any specific type of photos help now that the balancer is installed? If so I can take new photos if I don't have any on file. It sounds like you just want to know if the tone ring can be separated from the balancer without cutting.

 

[Jbrown1238]

I identified two areas on the back of the clutch pedal that contacted both the floor pan and the rubber stop. I marked the two areas that I wanted to remove excess material in order to create the additional 1/8 inch of travel.





I took a grinder and cut the excess material off with little effort.





Then I cleaned up both areas with a file and the back of the pedal was ready for a quick shot of flat black paint.





Then I moved over to the clutch master cylinder and attached the AN fitting by pressing in the role pin and setting it with a center punch.





Once that was completed I mounted the clutch pedal assembly to the fire wall and went ahead and fit the clutch master cylinder in place.

I

 

[Jbrown1238]

I started color sanding the cab this week. The first step was a fresh wash to make sure the surface was clean and then I moved forward with 600 grit wet and a soft block. I stayed off the edges for now with the 600 grit paper and will go back and cut them in once I step up to 1000 grit wet.







Even though the paint came out very clean there are still a few dirt nibs here and there. I knocked them down fairly well with the 600 grit but I will leave the ones close to the edges until I can clean them up with 1000 grit. I just want to be careful in the danger areas with the 600 grit paper.





The dirt nibs in the open area can be cut down with 600 grit wet until they are almost gone completely. A few passes with 1000 grit wet and they will be invisible.



Once the wide open spaces are flat and free of imperfections the panels are ready for step 2, time for 1000 grit wet.





I also went ahead and test fit the 2011 hood panel. I wanted to make sure it lined up well and that the hinges didn’t need any adjustment or modification. I can't believe how heavy this hood is compared to the 99 hood. I bet it is twice the weight.

 

[Jbrown1238]

I am still working through the color sanding process and hope to have some updated photos soon. If all goes well the polishing stage will start early next week.

I got home today and found a nice little box from UPS sitting at the front door waiting for me. It is the new Ford Racing M-2300-M Rear Cobra Brake kit. Once the flip kit arrives I will be about ready to mount the rear end in the truck. Just two small steps before that happens, paint the springs and press in new bushings.

 

[Lil-Pony]

What flip kit did you get?

 

[Jbrown1238]

What flip kit did you get?

Just the basic DJM flip kit.

 

[Jbrown1238]

The cab is completely color sanded up through 1000 grit wet. All of the edges have been cut in and the panels are ready to be washed with soap and water, dried with a clean towel, and lightly scuffed with 2000 grit wet to pull out the 1000 grit scratches. Once I have reached that point I will post some updated photos of the process in a day or two.

I got frustrated yesterday tripping over all the parts and pieces stacking up in the barn. Every time I want to work I have to push the engine, rear end, and Harley out of the barn so I can get to my tool chest. I decided to take a day or two off from color sanding and get one of those pieces out of the way for good.

I sprayed the leaf springs with two coats of epoxy primer and followed up with three coats of OEM chassis black. I also touched up the rear end with two light coats of OEM chassis black to help cover a few nicks that were collected during the assembly process. I let the paint set up overnight before pressing new bushings into the leaf springs. Once the new bushings were installed I attached the front of the leaf springs to the spring perches.





Then I moved the rear end a little closer to the final resting place.





With the help of a few jack stands I set the rear end in place so I could temporarily attached the leaf springs to the rear spring perches. The shackles are not ready as there was a problem with the bushings I received. The correct pieces are on the way and should be ready to install soon.



I started running out of day light but did manage to install the flip kit and U bolts on the driver side. I used a few pieces of paper towel between the U bolts and the housing to help avoid any new scratches during the installation.





Once the slack was drawn up on the U bolts the paper towels were removed.







Tomorrow I will button up the passenger side and trim the excess off the U bolts then torque everything down. That will leave the shackle bushings as the only remaining piece of the puzzle. As soon as they arrive I will go ahead and press them in and install the shackles.

 

[Lil-Pony]

Lookin good. Cant wait to see you drop the heart in.

 

[Jbrown1238]

Tonight I mocked up the Ford Racing M-2300-M Cobra Rear Disc Brake Kit. Because the Ranger rear end specs are slightly different than the Mustang rear end specs the caliper brackets require slight modification so they can be installed behind the housing flange. The Mustang set up allows the caliper bracket to be mounted on the outside of the housing flange so it can be slipped directly over the end of the housing without modification.

I had a diagram on file that I had saved a few years ago that assisted with the modification.





Once the two brackets were cut I went ahead and bolted them in place followed by the anti-moan brackets and finally the 11.65” Cobra rear disc.









I have my eye on a new set of 03 Cobra rear brake calipers that would look real nice mounted here. If all goes well I will be pulling the trigger on those in a week or two.

 

[RangerSVT]

You weren't that far into the axle build, why not leave the bracket intact and bolt it up when the axle shafts were out?

SVT