Vital Designs 1993 Regular Cab Prerunner

[ChristianEwing]

Whats up guys, im new to this forum but have lurked for a few years now. I figured id make an account to get this build thread going on here. This truck started out as a 1993 regular cab Ford Ranger with the 4.0/5 speed, this was the very first vehicle I bought when I was 15 years old from a family friend and drove for a number of years before selling it which brings some sentimental value to this whole thing. I sold it to the current owner, who is a good friend of mine that I am now building this truck for through my business Vital Designs (@Vital_Designs on instagram). Back in 2019 I did a camburg unequal length kit on it with 2.5x14” coilovers and a super simple engine cage with glass on it. It’s been driven that way up until the end of 2022 when this new build process started. The plan is a complete front to back build, with the mindset to build it capable enough to race, but will be used as a weekend play toy.

If anyone has questions on any of this stuff as it goes along feel free to ask away!

This is how the truck was previously and a few of the parts going on it

 

[ChristianEwing]

When the truck got here, the first thing I started on was the cab cage. I got the main structure in the truck (whole truck is 2” .120 DOM mains with 1.75/1.5” .095 DOM stringers) basically just enough to where I could start on the external B pillar outside of the back of the cab. The reason I went with an external B pillar is because I knew with this being a regular cab we were going to start running out of room quickly, especially with helmets on. Safety is priority number one, so I did not want to have any tubing close to heads in the truck. After those tubes were ran, I got the frame cut off around the cab of the cab and the 4 link pivot boxes in place, those hold the VD trailing arms attached to the Camburg 3.5" housing, and then got the B pillar tube structure in place and the front section of the backhalf built up until the axle housing

Getting stripped down

Cab cage structure going in, making sure all the tubes are tucked as tight as I could for the most space possible in the end

External B pillar going together

Front section of the backhalf up until the axle

My own designed and fabricated trailing arms. These are cad drawn, laser cut and bent and then fixtured for a precise fit and finish. These are something I offer to the public along with some other parts as well

 

[ChristianEwing]

Next the backhalf started going together, the 50 gallon Fuel Safe fuel cell found it’s home behind the axle and shocks started getting mocked up to start on shock mounts. This truck is running a full King Shock package from the boys at DownSouth Motorsports in San Diego. The rear is running a 2.5x16” PR coilover and a 3.0x18” RS 5 tube overlapping layout piggyback bypass. I did make the mid compression tube on these the bigger 1” diameter, as well as a bigger diameter resi port off the body to help a bit with fluid flow for chatter bumps and Ryan balled out on the finned resi’s

 

[Josh B]

A total race truck eh? Mine ain't never been that excited

 

[ChristianEwing]

A total race truck eh? Mine ain't never been that excited

Pretty much! haha all thats really going to be left of the factory ranger will be the outside sheet metal of the cab, doors, 5 feet of frame rail and the original engine and trans (for now). When I get to posting a little more youll start seeing more and more factory stuff start disappearing haha. This will be used just to have fun with though, not a purpose built race vehicle. It'll have a full interior back in it and most of the creature comforts

 

[ChristianEwing]

Shock mounts got done, as well as the lower plate structure tying the fuel cell cradle into the front section of the backhalf. This truck has a theme going through it of 3 holes, weather it’s on an overlay or a through hole through things. All my trailing arms run 3 thru holes in the front, the shock mounts have 3 holes in them, the pivot boxes have 3 holes in them on the overlays as well as other stuff that’s not been posted yet like the jack mount, fluid containers, trans mount, fuel cell hold down. Also got a few more tubes in the backhalf

One thing I want to bring to light is I have never gone to school, worked at a shop, or had any sort of formal training for anything im doing with fab. Everything im doing is self taught from spending way to much time on forums looking at what people are doing and then going out in the garage and doing it myself and putting my twist on it. All the way down to welding, im 100% self taught by just trial and error and making stuff look like with a Home depot flux core welder starting out to now where I am today. Its cool to step back and look at some of the stuff im doing now and really appreciate how far ive come over the last couple years. Im not where I want to be yet, but i can appreciate how far ive come

 

[mtnrgr]

I did comment on this build. Not sure what happened to it . I have been all around the block many times knowing and seeing alot of builders, and I must say your work and welds are top notch. Been along time since I have seen welds and custom fab work this good.

Have watched your build since the start on YouTube, after the front was finished I saw this truck in a couple areas of east county of San Diego. Excellent work..

If I still lived in San Diego, I would take those door panels off your hands . Would have loved to see this in person as it's being built.

Can I ask why an ls instead of a ford v8?

Looking forward to seeing more .

 

[bobbywalter]

all that non motor stuff is more then i make in a year.....


thats why LS.



junkyard build 500 hp 351w vs 500 hp 6.2LS... there is no comparison...




brand new build....

running an LS all in new from scratch .... parts availabiltiy is king. tuning is easy...cost effective....

build a windsor ... i think the windsor sounds much better.....especially after the afr heads...and aftermarket block...and intake...then the tune....

but a stroker 6.0 or 6.2.....with a 4l80.....just hard to beat.

 

[ChristianEwing]

A total race truck eh? Mine ain't never been that excited

I did comment on this build. Not sure what happened to it . I have been all around the block many times knowing and seeing alot of builders, and I must say your work and welds are top notch. Been along time since I have seen welds and custom fab work this good.

Have watched your build since the start on YouTube, after the front was finished I saw this truck in a couple areas of east county of San Diego. Excellent work..

If I still lived in San Diego, I would take those door panels off your hands . Would have loved to see this in person as it's being built.

Can I ask why an ls instead of a ford v8?

Thank you for the compliments dude! Its funny seeing the range of people watching our youtube stuff haha, I honestly wouldnt expect anyone on this forum to know about that!

The door panels may be staying, im not 100% on it yet. I just got done fitting seats and door bars and everything clears the factory door panels still so we will see what he decides he wants to do

Main reason behind LS over a Ford is cost to reliability ratio. There is no comparison TBH. Just as an example, buying a yanked LS1 out of a camaro for $2,000 and slapping a T400 behind it with Holley powering it is alot more bang for your buck than trying to cobble together a 351 with all the supporting mods to make it do the same stuff as a stock ls1 would. These kinds of trucks basically live in high rpm their entire life, the ls will take that without much hesitation over and over and over again. I drive our personal F150 with an LS1 on the limiter like it owes me money every time we drive it and have never had it skip a beat once. Not to mention it came out of a 2000 camaro with 80k on it, and then went into another prerunner for years before ours and got its ass handed to it, and then came into our possession and we are proceeding to do the same thing. Engine has never been rebuilt, holds compression just fine and seems to not even care! I think there is something on the table with the new 7.3 ford motors, but again the bang for the buck with an LS you are not beating. Also, with this truck being so small, the godzilla would not fit very well in the truck

all that non motor stuff is more then i make in a year.....


thats why LS.



junkyard build 500 hp 351w vs 500 hp 6.2LS... there is no comparison...




brand new build....

running an LS all in new from scratch .... parts availabiltiy is king. tuning is easy...cost effective....

build a windsor ... i think the windsor sounds much better.....especially after the afr heads...and aftermarket block...and intake...then the tune....

but a stroker 6.0 or 6.2.....with a 4l80.....just hard to beat.

I agree! Ford motors sounds leaps and bounds better singing their song at high RPM! The issue comes down to reliability while doing that. They sound great, until they dont! Im not sure what the actual engine/trans package will be for this thing when the time comes since its so far down the road, but Id like to see a crate 525 6.2 LS3 and a 4l80e go in it. It wouldnt need a cam, crazy heads, or anything just a bone stock crate engine, it would be more than enough power for this little truck and the reliability would be stupid. LS engines I look at as lego's, they are just too easy to work with and they have a crazy wide range of aftermarket availability for them

 

[ChristianEwing]

Next was bumps and sway bar setup. Things got kinda tricky with this. When the housing was ordered, the plan was to run the camburg unequal length kit it had already so we set the overall width of the housing to work with that. The track width on the rear of this truck is 76” OUTSIDE TIRE to OUTSIDE TIRE, not WMS. The space I had to work with for sway bar and bump stops is tight. Another original plan was to do dual stand up spares on each side of the fuel cell. Both of those situations is what dictated where the sway bar went on the chassis. I built the arms myself, using the DIY Off-road machined splined sections, the arms are 13” long to package in between the shocks and the bumpstop. The linkages are running FK HRSMX8T heims since they come with built in misalignments and the mounting width is perfect for swaybar stuff. The truck is running a 1.5” 35 spline torsion bar, with how short the arms are I’m curious to see how this thing feels. I may end up machining the bar down after we drive it to soften the rate up a little bit. There was no possible way to get the sway bar to pass between the bumpstop and the inside of the tire to make them longer in length, which is what I would have preferred because of it helping with leverage as well as not limiting the travel numbers on the rear end. I got away with it on this setup, but I’m using the entire throw of this sway bar to the extremes of almost binding at bump and almost overextending at droop and going straight with the linkage. The bumps being used on the rear of this is a 2.5 diameter by 4” stroke

Just to reiterate, if any of you have questions on this, feel free to ask away! Im an open book with any of it

 

[Josh B]

How do you get the luggage and tool box in there? And what about the dog!?

 

[bobbywalter]

goooood lllaaaaaaaaaawwwddd....

 

[Ranger850]

can you explain what is happening here? the small 1" - 2" piece. Is it a small section welded in, or is it bent. I only see weld on the front/cab side, and I couldn't image you would grind the weld down.

 

[ChristianEwing]

How do you get the luggage and tool box in there? And what about the dog!?

Haha! There will be a tool storage box behind the cab, as well as two decent size random/camping storage boxes on each side of the fuel cell mounted to the outside of the cage work. This truck will be used alot for camping and he doesnt have another truck currently to tow it to and from the desert so all the camping equipment he takes will need to live on the truck as he drives it too and from. As far as a doggo goes, lil homie can sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the ride haha!

can you explain what is happening here? the small 1" - 2" piece. Is it a small section welded in, or is it bent. I only see weld on the front/cab side, and I couldn't image you would grind the weld down.

I misjudged how far to stick the main tube that comes out of the cab when I was originally doing the cab cage. I have never done an external B pillar like this truck before and thought I left myself enough space to be able to miter the main tube later when I was ready to get the down tubes in, but I realized that wasn't going to work once the B pillar got built haha. The miter is blended out so you don't see the weld, there is a internal rib (1/8" plate that sits between the two pieces of tubing) that gets put in and then the weld is getting full penetration on the entire joint before getting blended out. And then where its spliced into the main down tube, there is a 1.75" .120 tube that is sleeved inside the joint to make a good bond between both 2" .120 tubes with rosette plug welds on each side. With the shock mount coming up and getting welded to that entire area its strong as shit. Visually though it still bugs me knowing I didn't calculate it correctly HAHA wuuuuuutever

 

[Josh B]

Great job man It takes a lot to envision that stuff and bring it about