Rally’s Ranger

Adding some Subaru into the mix. Blue and white oval meets blue and yellow oval.

Except yours is red.

Well, pink really, despite what Subaru says

I have ordered a Process West oil catch can and a turbo hose. Apparently these hoses are prone to fail, something I would rather avoid. Then on Monday I am ordering a new canopy. I have also been designing a custom made slide and drawer set up. It’s disappointing there is not a greater variety of options for supercab utes.

Supercab is a new term to me. Is that what Ford calls a crew cab (seats 5) or is it a king cab (seats 2 with gear space behind the seats)?

Supercab is Fordspeak for extra cab, king cab, space cab. Others think a supercab is what they race at Bathurst.

I'd love to see how this thing goes up that hill in the national park which the SJ struggled with.....

Really interested seeing the difference between the Ranger's traction control and locked diffs on that slope with the extra weight and higher centre of gravity.

Happy to give it a go, but I suspect having seen how the 100 series got up there it will be fine. It weighs more than the Ranger too.

Things are slowly coming together as I go through all the various permutations and combinations of what is the best way to set the car up. Starting from scratch with such a different vehicle has been quite a challenge. Just as well I have time to go through things, as I want to make as few mistakes as possible.

The canopy is only a couple of weeks away, assuming they get their act together. I also did some maths, and it’s clear now that with a fully loaded ute, I will exceed the gvm by at least 100kg. So a gvm upgrade is required. The Lovell’s kit seems to be the best bet at this stage, although it’s staggering the difference in price between different workshops. The gvm upgrade allows another 300kg in gvm, and raises the gcm from 6,0000 to 7,000kgs, according to Lovell’s. A bit of uncertainty in some corners about the GCM upgrade, yet Lovells are definite it’s legal. The upgrade includes spacers for the tailshaft and wedges to improve the pinion angle, new bushes, springs and shocks.

I’ve also been looking at drawer systems, and I’m leaning towards ORS. There is a mob in Queensland as well, but I think it will be better dealing with a local business rather than one interstate. They will include a water tank of about 100 litres.

And then once it’s all together, I still need to get the car, with 50mm lift and roof top tent, in the garage. Except it will then be too tall. So I need a new garage door! Fortunately I have plenty of ceiling height, and I can get a 2.4m opening, or another 300mm.

Lovells springs have been good on the Triton. A guy in the Subie club with a similar Ranger, as per the pic here on page 6, had a GVM upgrade done to cater for the slide-on; I can find out what was used or put you in touch with him.

ORS are also good; the ORS drawers in my Foz have held up well over many years.

What about fridge?
I've had my eye on these but they'e been out of stock for a while, not sure if there may be a problem with them? One of the surf clubs has one in their board trailer, seems to work a treat, quite compact too. Couldn't be anywhere near as efficient as a traditional 'bucket' style fridge though. coz everytime you opened it a lot more of the cold would get out surely.

Two of them would make for a pretty neat fridge/freezer set up.
Not sure if they are stackable though, or how much airflow they need around them (presumably at the back)
Edit: Good review on an Engel version [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM-mepr3s7Q"]here[/ame]

I like the idea of being able to move the compressor..

Another upgrade will be dust sealing in the tub. While not confident of ridding dust altogether, I hope a new kit it will at least reduce it to bearable levels. Meanwhile, the scangauge has arrived and been installed.

Just check as I had to seal the front of the tub from underneath as well because the corrugated floor was not sealed; I guess they wanted to allow water to drain from the front and rear.

I am hoping the drawer kit will contain dust from underneath. Grommets and sealant for everywhere else

Rally said:

I am hoping the drawer kit will contain dust from underneath. Grommets and sealant for everywhere else

Click to expand...

How much dust are you planning on containing in the drawer kit?

Edit: I imagine you could fit quite a bit!! :rotfl:

Apparently the hose from the fmic to the throttle body is prone to splitting. I bought an upgraded hose and fitted it last night. Took about 10 minutes if that.

Canopy installed, now for the GVM/GCM upgrade.

Oh, for some reason I thought you were replacing the tub and going with something completely custom

With good reason. That was something I was investigating but the cost was way over the top

Rally said:

With good reason. That was something I was investigating but the cost was way over the top

Click to expand...

Like everything in the “mainstream” 4wd world...

Bennie