The red Ranger

[TC Chris]

My sweet old 2005 Ranger just hit 210K miles, which means that this is the first vehicle I have ever driven 200K miles myself--all my miles. Previous daily-driver vehicles have fallen to rust before getting that far. You pro drivers may find that unremarkable, but for an ordinary driver like me, it's a feat. This is such a nice truck. It has everything I wanted. Red. 2 WD. 2 doors. 4 cyl. 5 spd. manual. Long bed. It's my idea of a great ride.

I just got back from sailing this evening. It's hot here in MI, upper 80s today and sticky. Not quite so hot out on Saginaw Bay, since our Great Lakes are big heat sinks that make things cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. There was no wind at first, then I changed sails and the wind picked up and the boat moved along nicely. I sailed back up the river... almost. About 1/2 mile from the marina the breeze dropped and finally I started the outboard and powered the last little bit. Putting the boat away at the end is the hot part. Always is. I was dripping.

But the red Ranger has AC that works, the only vehicle I've ever had with working AC, and it's so welcome as a drying-out method when I'm sweaty.

So it's all the sadder that, at 19 years old, the Ranger is getting rusty. The '61 Chevy had rust penetration by age 4, just to remind southern folks what life in the salt belt is like. Sadly, the new Rangers are all too big, too many doors, too many cylinders, and all automatics. My brother noted that you can still get Toyotas with manuals, so maybe that's my next truck. But Toyota = $$$$. I can't figure out why Detroit has such an obsession with bigger. Aargh.

Chris Campbell

[William]

Well, Chris, I am kind of in the same boat except my Ranger is a 1994 with only 139,000 miles on it and runs like a top. My problem, RUST, and it is everywhere with holes everywhere. It is to the point when I shut the door a piece of the truck usually falls off. Since I too would like to replace exactly what I have I have been thinking of going south or southwest and looking for a newer Ranger with no rust. If it has a bad engine, I could have my engine transplanted and have a great truck that will last me probably the rest of my life.

Bill

[TC Chris]

I have thought about the "go south" solution too. A few decades ago, local entrepreneurs used to haul back loads of truck beds from the south and sell them to us rust-afflicted northerners. I haven't seen any of that activity lately, perhaps because the vehicles do last a lot longer now, and the the time they are rusty, the rest of the vehicle is tired too. But not mine. Still goes about 8K on a quart of 5W-20.

I even fixed the dome light, which had gone on strike.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Out here those Ranger trucks were beat to death by the landscapers, delivery people and extermination companies. The V-6 trucks didn't last very long, the engines were problematic. The four-cylinder trucks were seemingly indestructible. I had a guy who worked for me who put a turbocharged and intercooled 2.3 liter Merkur engine in his Ranger truck. The Merkur was basically made by Ford of Germany, but it used the Mustang/Ranger/Tbird engine. It was a crappy little car, but ran like a scalded dog. It had a Gertrag five-speed transmission and would run really well for a truck. You might find a complete body in a salvage yard if they haven't been crushed. The little GM trucks were not nearly as tough as the Ranger. You never see an older Ranger on the road out here. Finding a body that is not all beat up will be the challenge.

[TC Chris]

Ford's name for the little engine was "Duratec." Maybe they let the engineers name it instead of the marketing dept. guys. I jut think it's cool to have a dual overhead cam engine with 4 valves/cylinder and fuel injection (in a truck). When I was a kid, that was a race car engine.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

That 2.3 liter engine came out in the Pinto, in the 1970's. It was a tough little bugger, capable of a lot more performance than it started out with. I think it has a single overhead cam, belt driven. Emissions regulations killed it. The later versions had two spark plugs per cylinder so it would pass stricter emissions standards.

[William]

My Ranger has 2 spark plugs per cylinder and it may have helped emissions but did nothing for performance.

Bill

[TC Chris]

Trying again. To celebrate the red Ranger reaching 210K, 200K in my care, I cleaned the upholstery. It's black and light gray cloth, and eventually driving on rainy days eaves the upholstery spotted like I've got an incontinence problem or an excitable dog (neither, so far). I got out the Bissell Green Machine, a miniature version of a carpet cleaner. It squirts out cleaner and then you suck it up.

I inherited this device from my brother-in-law's office when it closed. It was handy because I couple weeks back I was staining a ceiling beam at the cottage where leaks had shown up, and I dropped the rag on an upholstered chair. Soap and water mostly helped that but left a larger stain because the chair had not been cleaned in forever. The next weekend I took the machine with me and it removed the problem. It's really an effective little device.

The truck looks great so far. I've got a blower going inside to dry things out. It's the old exhaust blower from my little heating boiler (bearings got noisy). The other choice was the induction blower for a gas conversion burner from a massive old cast-iron steam boiler that was designed to burn coal. That seemed like overkill. We'll leave the hurricanes in FL and just keep the air stirred up here.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

A big 'ol turbocharger and an intercooler will surely warm it up! Those engines in the T-Bird and Mustang "Turbo Coupe" models would run with the 305 V-8's then current for the Camaro. Of course, a kid on a tricycle who had just drunk an energy drink would outrun a Chevy 305.......

[TC Chris]

That 2.3 liter engine came out in the Pinto, in the 1970's. It was a tough little bugger, capable of a lot more performance than it started out with. I think it has a single overhead cam, belt driven. Emissions regulations killed it. The later versions had two spark plugs per cylinder so it would pass stricter emissions standards.

My '92 Ranger had one cam, 2 valves/cyl., and two plugs/cyl. Then they got fancy. More cams and valves, fewer plugs. The 2005 is plenty lively for an old man's driving. On desperate occasions I have passed 3 cars at once. Just downshift to wherever you want to be in the torque curve, and it launches.

Here at the end of the development cycle of the internal combustion engine, they have reached an amazing state of development. Pretty soon it will be forgotten technology. I have an old family friend's set of Audel's steam engineering books. Who do you know today who can hold forth on different steam engines and their complicated valve and timing systems? Now the gas engines are on that same precipice of obsolescence.

Chris Campbell