Picked up a Mopar A-body (Duster, Dart, Demon, etc) 8-3/4" differential housing. it was very affordable since the spring perches had previously be relocated. I needed to cut them off to match the Ranger's spring spacing anyway, so I snagged it. I went with the Mopar diff over a 9" or an 8.8 simply because I have several center sections, gears and specialty tools for these diffs already, not to mention the fact the A-body housing is just about the perfect width for my truck.
After hacking off the old perches with a grinder and sawzall (my arms are still buzzing from that one), the areas to be welded on were wire brushed to clean off the surface rust and old paint.
After hacking off the old perches with a grinder and sawzall (my arms are still buzzing from that one), the areas to be welded on were wire brushed to clean off the surface rust and old paint.
Double click to edit
Being the thrifty individual I am (read: cheap), I took some plate steel I had lying around and cut out some shock mounting brackets. I also grabbed a piece of heavy steel tubing, bent it and cut it to make a back brace for the old housing. New spring perches were welded on the Ranger's 39" spring centerline distance and a jacking bung was mounted to the bottom.
The plan is to run leaf springs with Cal-tracs or Slide-a-Links and mount the rear shocks vertically, similar to the way a ladder bar or 4 link suspension would have them mounted.
Here is a pic of the filter mount area that I drilled and tapped. I will plug the return hole (top) and attach a line to the feed hole (bottom).
Header mods have begun. This is a set of Hooker fenderwell headers for a big block Chevy in a Chevy II. While the *look* like the fit pretty well, they definately needed modification to fit a Ranger.
As you can see here, unmodified, the Nova headers were about 3-4" too wide for this truck.
Out came the sawzall and welder and I went to town hacking and melting.
After playing with them for a while they came together rather well, BUT that looping tube may still need to be tweaked to allow for a decent turning radius... more on that later.
95% welded in this pic. It became obvious rather quickly that the tube that once went over the top would have to go under the others in order for ne to still have spark plug access.
Driver's side. Once again it *looks* like they are a close fit, but plenty of stuff needs to be modified.
Looking in fenderwell. These are much closer to being the right width that the passenger's header was.
Major tube rerouting is beginning to take place as I decided I definately needed to have good tire clearance.
I tucked to back and down and rotated it slightly so these two tubes would fit beteen the shock tower and the body.
Just about finished with this side.
I pulled the front springs so I could compress the front suspension to check for front tire clearance.
Tubes clear the front tires at full suspension compression and almost full steering lock. Too bad the passenger side does not.....
Boring interior with Grand Am bucket seats, rubber floor mat, unfinished sub box and B&M shifter with the pedestal I built to get it at a comfortable height.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Well I couldn't stand it. I just HAD to rebuild the passenger's side header. I am much happier with it now.
