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PNWMike
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2024
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 6
- Points
- 3
- Location
- Pacfic NW
- Vehicle Year
- 2006
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger FX4
- Engine Type
- 4.0 V6
- Transmission
- Manual
- 2WD / 4WD
- 4WD
My wife used to refer the Harbor Freight and other tool catalogs as "tool porn", and the various car magazines I used to get (Car Craft, Hot Rod, etc.) as "car porn" so, yeah, the analogy holds. It started when she saw me reading a Jegs catalog and from her perspective, she thought the logo said "jugs", and made a "what are you reading" type of comment. Once I showed her what it was, she laughed and commented that "oh, its just car porn", and walked away. The running joke has persists to this day. 
Attached is a pic of my Ranger on the day we picked her up. The knobby off road style tires have since been replaced with something more pavement friendly so I can hear myself think while I drive and hear the radio. The off road tires looked cool, but had horrid traction on pavement and a very annoying drone at all speeds above 25mph.
I've already had the damaged door locks replaced and body work done from where a previous miscreant jimmied both of them and damaged both doors in the process, as well as done a double-DIN radio swap, and replaced all of the burnt out dash lights - the was a bit of an adventure to figure out the right bulbs and managed to get most of them out of the small bases without breaking them.
I also had to repair the mounting holes for the center console rear brace - it seems Ford drilled them a mm or so too far forward, then they interfered with an under floor crossmember, and as a result the rivets didn't hold very well. It looks like the rivets flexed enough that they tore out and did some damage to the floor in the process. Not a hard fix if you have a friend who loves to weld, just annoying. At least now I have studs on the floor to mount the rear console brace to like the Explorers have.
I'm still working through the Explorer seat swap, and just discovered that a previous gorilla had stripped the trans mount bolt holes in the trans, so that's on the agenda for this weekend. Surprisingly, you'd never know the trans wasn't actually mounted to the trans mount by driving it, but I'll be fixing that ASAP for obvious reasons.
Attached is a pic of my Ranger on the day we picked her up. The knobby off road style tires have since been replaced with something more pavement friendly so I can hear myself think while I drive and hear the radio. The off road tires looked cool, but had horrid traction on pavement and a very annoying drone at all speeds above 25mph.
I've already had the damaged door locks replaced and body work done from where a previous miscreant jimmied both of them and damaged both doors in the process, as well as done a double-DIN radio swap, and replaced all of the burnt out dash lights - the was a bit of an adventure to figure out the right bulbs and managed to get most of them out of the small bases without breaking them.
I also had to repair the mounting holes for the center console rear brace - it seems Ford drilled them a mm or so too far forward, then they interfered with an under floor crossmember, and as a result the rivets didn't hold very well. It looks like the rivets flexed enough that they tore out and did some damage to the floor in the process. Not a hard fix if you have a friend who loves to weld, just annoying. At least now I have studs on the floor to mount the rear console brace to like the Explorers have.
I'm still working through the Explorer seat swap, and just discovered that a previous gorilla had stripped the trans mount bolt holes in the trans, so that's on the agenda for this weekend. Surprisingly, you'd never know the trans wasn't actually mounted to the trans mount by driving it, but I'll be fixing that ASAP for obvious reasons.
