A gentleman at my church moved to florida and left his '97 ranger behind. After a brief stay at another family members house it found it's way to my house - ostensibly for my 16yr old (at the time) nephew to drive.
The gentleman is Ron and the ranger has a horse decal on the tailgate. Pony Patrol is game that my daughter made up that has nothing to do with the ranger.
I drive it to work once a week. It needs tires. I had to put a starter on it. The exhaust is rusted out at the connection to the manifold. It's a 4cyl/5 speed 2wd. There are drywall screws holding various interior trim pieces in place.
This thread will be for me to ask questions and hope that gumby or other resident ranger experts will chime in and help me out.
Ranger Ron:
The ponies:
Does the decal imply that the 2.3L puts out 8 horsepower? 
Some of those bobo drywall screws holding the interior together might be OEM. The originals looked like drywall screws.
cool truck though. Great vehicle for a new driver. Not enough power to get into (big)trouble, real transmission(manual), easy to work on, cheap parts, everything that can be done to them has been done and documented.
John Welsh said:
Does the decal imply that the 2.3L puts out 8 horsepower?
That's generous, at best.
First question has to do with the exhaust manifold to catalytic converter pipe connection. I'm 99% sure the studs in the manifold are rusted through/ not functional. I have a new catalyst pipe ready to go.
Should I try to get whats left of the studs out of manifold and replace with oem equivalent studs? If so, help me find the right studs.
Remove whats left and use some generic bolts?
Or just go straight to something like these manifold stud repair clamps? https://studfix.com/product/car-studfix-kit/ (not a canoe)
Depending on the condition of the flange I'd probably drill thru whats left of the old studs and use new thru bolts, or grab a replacement manifold and move on with life.
The ranger got some grand cherokee wheels (required spacers on the front to clear the center hub) and old tires from my PriusV last fall.
Still driving it once a week to work. Still haven't fixed the exhaust.
Nephew is learning to drive stick in it.
My brother had one -think it's slow? Throw a full load of black dirt or mulch into the back and you'll further understand slow.
Nephew graduated HS & got his license last week and has started venturing out solo in the ranger. He's on his way to his first day of summer deck-building work right now.
Had a similar 2wd 1993 Ranger with the 3.0 (also manual.. and no AC) when I lived in OH. Tip: don't try to climb a hill in the snow. Or an incline. Great truck otherwise. Hope it serves your nephew well.
OHSCrifle said:
Had a similar 2wd 1993 Ranger with the 3.0 (also manual.. and no AC) when I lived in OH. Tip: don't try to climb a hill in the snow. Or an incline. Great truck otherwise. Hope it serves your nephew well.
I had a 97 Club, XLT, 3.0, manual for 2 days. I washed it and it spontaneously combusted then burned to the ground.
In reply to QuasiMofo (John Brown) :
Dang that sucks.
OHSCrifle said:
Had a similar 2wd 1993 Ranger with the 3.0 (also manual.. and no AC) when I lived in OH. Tip: don't try to climb a hill in the snow. Or an incline. Great truck otherwise. Hope it serves your nephew well.
I can confirm this truck has the same snow performance.
Does this truck have the rev limiter like the Ford Splash does? That was the disappointing thing when I drove a brand new manual Splash back in the day. It was nowhere near the red line and robbed all the umph out of it. My Nissan pickup had alot more getup and go than that Splash. I do not know if the Rev limiter (in a Ford) can be bypassed or not. That was the first thing that came to mind when driving it. I know my 93 Ranger did not have one but it was a Automatic. And for snow sand bags in the back helps alot. :0)
In reply to MyMiatas :
I assume it has a rev limiter but I've never found it.
Between the still-way-loud exhaust and the way power falls off somewhere around 3-3.5k rpm I've never felt the need to try and find the limiter.
