1. The ECU is accessed from the engine compartment. Step one is to disconnect the battery. Then undo the center bolt and disconnect the main ECU harness connectors. Two bolts hold the ECU in the firewall. Remove them and pull the ECU.

2. Remove the cover on the back of the ECU to access the connector on the back of the circuit board.

3. Use the supplied Scotchbrite pad to clean the connector on the back of the circuit board. Clean both the top and the bottom of the printed circuit connector and blow off any dust and powder from the connector.

4. Pop the module into place onto the circuit board. It should slide into place with a minimum amount of effort. Don’t force it.

5. Use the supplied decal to secure the module. You can now reinstall the module, reconnect the battery and start the engine.

6. The thermostat installs in the normal way. Drain about half the coolant from the radiator drain plug. If you are careful, you can do this without contaminating it. You can then reuse the coolant after the t-stat is installed. Run the engine to operating temp to “burp” the system of air, then recheck coolant level after it cools.

1. The Gibson cat back stainless exhaust system is almost too pretty to install. Before installation, it’s a good idea to lay the system out on the floor as it would be installed on the truck to make sure all the pieces are there and you are clear as to the order of assembly.

2. Unbolt the stock exhaust at the flange behind the catalytic converter. You should support the cat with a stand in the process. On a high mileage engine, it may pay to install a new cat. They slowly get plugged over the years and can restrict flow. There was no indication of this on our rig, so we left ours alone. However, high flow cats are available from various sources should you want to replace yours.

3. Begin at the front and start assembling the system towards the back. Don’t fully tighten the clamps until the system is installed and adjusted. You want at least 3/8-inch clearance between the pipes and anything else on the truck. The piece de resistance of the system is the gorgeous polished stainless steel tip. The Gibson sound is mellow, yet has a healthy, competitive ring. It takes the Ranger from a shower caterwauller to spotlighted, tuxedo-clad crooner.

1. The Painless dual battery kit includes a heavy duty solenoid, switches, relays and wiring.

2. The weatherproof solenoid can be mounted nearly anywhere and Oaks chose to mount his in the bed near where the batteries are mounted. He used bulk welding cable and crimped his own terminals. Because this solenoid is rated for only 250 amps and the winch is rated for 400 at max pull, Oaks will install a second solenoid in parallel to carry the load.

1. MileMarker’s E12000 winch is relatively new to the market. It’s a planetary unit with a 265:1 gear ratio and a 5.5 hp motor. It weighs 93 pounds with a full 100 foot load of 3/8-inch cable. The winch draws 400 amps at a full load. It’s pretty fast, with a 21.3 feet per minute (fpm) line speed at no-load, 6.5 fpm at 8,000 pounds and 4.4 fpm at 12,000 pounds.

2. The MileMarker fits many standard winch bumpers and MileMarker offers bolt-in mounts to fit many applications. In this case it will bolt up to a custom setup. Here, Oaks measures the mounting bolt location to drill the holes, which are 10 inches on center.

3. There are four wires coming out of the solenoid box, three of which attach to the winch. The correct hookup is pretty hard to screw up when color coded this way. The fourth cable is the red power cable that attaches to battery power. There is also a separate ground cable that’s vital to proper operation. It connects to a stud on the bottom of the motor and is ideally run direct to the negative post of the battery. It can be chassis grounded as long as the winch battery is grounded to the chassis with a cable of the same gauge.

4. The solenoid box mounts to the tie bars on the winch and makes the winch controller accessible. ProComp tow hooks are mounted on either side of the mounting plate, just under the lower tube of the bumper. Oaks’ home built winch mount and bumper turned out pretty nice for a first effort. The right tools, patience and a good coach named Ozzy were key ingredients to its success!

1. Oaks removed the O.E. fenders to replace them with prerunner type fiberglass units and this made the snorkel instalation easier. The part he’s removing is the inlet duct.

2. The system is built of PVC, readily available at hardware stores. You can pretty much get the idea on how to build it from this shot. It’s secured to the body with U-bolts and the pipe joints are glued with PVC glue.

3. The inlet mounts up on the cowl and is protected by this grate that keeps out the big chunks. It could easily be extended higher.

1. These are easy lights to wire up, needing only power and a ground. The important thing to remember is wire size. A 100 watt light draws about 8 amps (to get amps, divide the wattage into the volts: 100/12=8.3 amps). Times four that’s a total of 32 amps. The wires must be large enough to handle the load and be able to supply full current for maximum brightness. To avoid voltage drop, the wires must be larger the longer they are. A 14 gauge wire can handle up to 20 amps if it’s less than four feet in length. From there to ten feet, you need to bump up to the next gauge, which is 12, after which you should use 10 gauge.

2. Oaks wired the lights to two relays with a fuse box mounted inside the toolbox in the bed. This spot is protected from the weather and relatively close to the power source. A single 10 gauge wire powers the relays, while 12 gauge wires run from the relay to the lights. The relay trigger wires run into the cab. Relays are also amp rated, so make sure you don’t overpower them. Each relay powers two lights. More stuff will be wired into this remote fuse box as needed. We’ll show you how he set up the switches when we do the full interior in the next issue.