7 month c.f. - 08 scsb project.

"They're never done. Thats thing, cars are never done. You'll see someone on the forums says 'i finished my car', 'i finished my project', bull****. Because next week youll want new wheels, theres always something bigger something better your going to want." Chris Serafino-Pursuit of Function.

Near the beginning of the year I decided that my powertrain warranty was up in a few months, stock was indeed boring, and I should finally commit to a 2/3 drop. The goal was to take truck that stock was scary in the twistys at less then the suggested yellow sign speed, and not raise its limits but make the truck more predictable to drive up to them. While still being able to drive through farmhillbillytown USA, up and over curbs etc, the reasons why you sell a honda on coilovers for a truck in the first place.

Heads up specs as it sits today, cause this thread will be long and boring and painful and hopefully informative.
-08 scsb duratak
-SLP "roush" front coils for 4.0 cut a finger width shy of half a coil, napa eccentrics.
-"Roush" oem 4x4 swaybar in front, 1" bII bar in back
-Djm 5" axle flip paired with shackle "DJM-SH1011-2" chevy 2" drop/lift shackle
- Energy suspension urethane bushings in leaves
- home depot ram-air
-6x9's oem style mounted in the doors
- Duratak mech fan delete.
- Procomp 1079's 15x8 with 255/60, 235/60-15's
- OEM front plate bracket cut trimmed, halfa$$ pwdjdm relocated
- Krylon white spraypaint "body matched" door handles with vht engine enamel clear( i know trs told me this but i forget which member)

Link for speaker install http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134877

Pics of homedepot ram-air.








The nightmare started when I ordered energy's 4.2134 kit, front bushing didnt fit. Ordered the 4.2154 "98-11" kit front bushings were the same exact size and the "54" kit didnt work just the same as the "34". Called them up, they were super helpful, I told them the newer rangers have a 1.75" front main eye. They sent me out a set of part# 2184 bushings with a od of 1.7506" same day at no cost. Sleeves in the kit need 9/16" hardware.

wrong bushing from kit left, new correct size bushing right.














That took 5 weeks to get sorted out, ended with this.


Promptly moved on to the front, knew the roush springs wouldnt drop 2" and would need a trim, using a terrible spring compressor and afraid to do it twice i cut a whole coil. good for a 4.5" balljoit destroying drop. I dont actually know how low they're good for because 4.5" is when i stopped cutting the bumpstops down.
Yeah thats cool, but thats not really cool.


Ordered new springs installed them the right way, uncut to break them in for a month and a half. Raised my rear shackles to the tallest setting, pulled the coil springs and cut just shy of half a coil. After resettling i was at 29" in front and 30" out back at the top of the fender with the stock 225/70-15's add a 1/4" to the passenger side measurements for ranger lean. Total 2.5" front drop, 3.5" rear drop.


Finally got wheels and tires installed after all that mess was sorted out.
Fitment

I like that intake setup. That's pretty sick.

I wish I could have got my hands on a black flextube but was too impatient and went with 99¢ homedepot black rattlecan to hide it. Your actually able to trim the bumper in a way that holds the 3>4" pvc connector without fasteners and keeps 2 of the 3 fogplug mount holes in case it needs to go back to stock.

I've been considering the clutch fan delete as well. Did you do anything to control the temp that the fan kicks on? I've heard others say that the e-fan is only triggered by coolant temps near 230F. Have you had any issues with your temps getting to hot, or the fan not cooling adequately?

Currently I've done nothing but remove the clutch fan and keep the oem "helper" efan. Ive read the efan kicks on when the ac pump is cycling which happens with alot of the hvac settings, but that would be awesome if it kicks on at 230 as well. For the most part the radiator designed to cool a 4.0 does an overly adequate job for maintaining 2.3 homeostasis. I have no dyno's to show it does anything, but i do feel that the revs drop quicker after the iac is done with hanging them.

That being said I did get caught out in the parkinglot of rush hour on a 105 degree day, with the truck sitting idle for 15+ minutes I saw the needle slowly start to move up past its norm but was able to control it back down from the hvac. It is enough of a bother if you sit in traffic in hot temps everyday that a temp switch would be nice. I try to avoid rush hour anyways so Id rather save for a sct to just program it to come on and use the hvac switches for now.

I hadn't thought of just using the HVAC settings to control the fan. I might have to give it a try sometime. Thanks!
Did you happen to notice a change in mpg's after removing the clutch fan?

In all honesty I havent ever tried to calculate mpg's. It hovers in the high 20's for sure, any higher then a stock duratec im not too sure, but always painless enough to drive around that i dont bother. I really dont feel like its ever pulled off the holy "30" in its life though.

I've been averaging 29-30.5mpg lately with mine. If I can do a "free" mod to get a little more, then I'm all for it. Thanks for the advice!

Your welcome dude. I have to say as far as the "free" mods go, pulling the fan has been my favorite by far. I did have to spend $10 on a ford fan wrench, I bought one made for 1st-2nd gen rangers and others fords that came with the 2.9 and 4.0, and had to take a grinding wheel to the arms of the wrench "fork" to get them to slide into the wrench holes on my fan pulley. For me it was 2 person job. One to keep the fan still and one underneath to wrench on the fan and break it loose.

Almost certain its reverse threads too if I remember correctly.

some night time fun. still not sick of the 2/3 drop