1995 Ranger Part 3 -The Rebuild Process

I've said this a 1000 times already in these updates, but one more won't hurt. Before removing the old harness tag everything, take pics, do what ever you need to, to make sure you know what went where. It will come in handy, also wiring schematics are a huge plus. Now, with the wiring ran to the general areas they go too, I cut to length and started making the connections. Using the old fuse box pass through location, I made a removable panel that allowed me to mount the new fuse panel in an easy to reach position.

In most newer ford there is this. This is the GEM (General Electronic Module)  it controls just about everything in the vehicle. From wiper speed, to dome lights, to alarm. This is the brain center and must be reused if you wish to maintain your factory switches and features. It also is the most pain in the rear box to wire as it goes to everything. Since we have eliminated 90% of the factory features, I had to go through the schematics and change the wiring to make sure it was properly powered and grounded with out the other accessories it once controlled.

 

We put in the newly repainted dash so we could finish running our new harness and making our connections. This is necessary because we can't cut to length anything for radio, alarm, gauges, etc. with out knowing how long they need to be. And we don't want a ton of excess causing a pain and more unnecessary clutter.

Tip: some systems like this blinker headlight control are completely independent from the main harness and will need to be tied back in to the new one. This is where the tags and pics will come in handy.

 

Since we are going fully custom, I built this new housing using the factory bezel to house the new Autometer gauges. In a later update I'll show how to make your own.

 

 

Due to clearance issue the old fan was an issue, so I figured our with a little radiator support trimming and a slight rewire. We could turn the fans in to pushers instead of puller and put them in from of the radiator giving us ample and much need room. (puller mean pulling air through the radiator, while pushing means forcing air through instead. Most fan can be reversed with a simple wiring change and fan blade flip)

Up next, body mods and paint