Project 'Smokey' - '72 Ranger XLT

[Bullitt74]

A bit of progress today...had to remove the steering column, which was a bit stubborn. Planning to install black carpet, which is always tougher in a Ranger or XLT because they run a piece of carpet along the firewall (more on that later). The steering column needs to come out to make the firewall carpet installations a bit easier.


Steering column out...


Will have to make a firewall carpet piece from scratch. Thinking ahead, I ordered an extra yard for this purpose.


Scrubbed and dried the floor, replaced all rubber plugs and filled holes in the floor that I don’t need. Ready for sound deadener.

After an afternoon of work, I feel I’m back at a point where I can chip away in the evenings. It’s unfortunate that one has to go backwards and pull things out to make progress forward, but that’s the way it goes.

[Manny]

Great progress as normal. The tailgate should have had the satin black iirc. That opens the argument of what is actually correct gloss for factory ford satin black..... That war will never be settled.

[crazyhorse]

Mr Bullit, congratulations.
You are making lots of progress.
I enjoy your posts.

[Bullitt74]

Great progress as normal. The tailgate should have had the satin black iirc. That opens the argument of what is actually correct gloss for factory ford satin black..... That war will never be settled.

Thanks Manny! I have some satin black I bought from the Mustang Shop years ago - they felt it was a good match to the Ford satin black.

Mr Bullit, congratulations.
You are making lots of progress.
I enjoy your posts.

Thanks Crazyhorse and Manny for your words of encouragement!

[DuckRyder]

Looking forward to hearing about the carpet and seeing the finished product.

Been thinking about how to deal with that, tried to talk ACC into making it a couple of times (including bringing my truck and/or what is left of the original over there) but they say “no new patterns” ...

This is one of my favorite threads and projects, top 5 for sure...

[Bullitt74]

Looking forward to hearing about the carpet and seeing the finished product.

Been thinking about how to deal with that, tried to talk ACC into making it a couple of times (including bringing my truck and/or what is left of the original over there) but they say “no new patterns” ...

This is one of my favorite threads and projects, top 5 for sure...

Thanks Robert, that means a lot! I’ll try to provide a good amount of detail on the carpet bit, as there isn’t a lot of info out there for the DIY-er.

[Manny]

Trust me we are all following for ideas truly a fantastic resource of a thread. Love this thing can't wait to see her all done.

[Bullitt74]

Bit of progress today...

[Busboy]

I saved the firewall carpet out of a recent parting out of a 71 for the same purpose of making a pattern. The hard plastic firewall covers that I've been buying have left me disappointed. They have the original look but they never, ever fit like the factory piece. What type of floor insulation are you using?

[Bullitt74]

I saved the firewall carpet out of a recent parting out of a 71 for the same purpose of making a pattern. The hard plastic firewall covers that I've been buying have left me disappointed. They have the original look but they never, ever fit like the factory piece. What type of floor insulation are you using?

It's a product called "B-Quiet (Ultimate)". They are based out of my home province of Alberta, and is a fraction of the cost of Dynamat. They have performance specs on their website, and it is supposed to perform as good as, if not better than Dynamat. More importantly, it is quite easy to cut and work into contours, and doesn't smell like tar (doesn't smell like anything at all). Using my bare hands for install, and cleanup is fairly easy. For the seams, I'm using plain aluminum foil tape (found in the heating/cooling section of Home Depot).

https://www.b-quiet.com/products/b-quie ... ate-50sqft

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ADO-Product ... /302742795

As far as the firewall carpet, my upholsterer is working me through the steps involved. She has already marked out an approximation of where to cut, and has transferred the jute backing (it was in excellent shape) from the old one to the new carpet (I'll upload a picture later). Once I have it fitted and cut, she will sew a vinyl seam to the bottom like the old one. Hopefully it works out

[Manny]

I bought something similar for My brothers 350 it was rock mat. Again cheaper than dynamat but works the same. Looks good curious too see this firewall cover.

[Lone Ranger]

Great work as always

[Bullitt74]

Hi everyone - apologies for the lack of posts...encountered some marriage hiccups about the time of my last post, and things are beginning to stabilize. I also started a management job in December, and found that managing over 100 staff is difficult work!

I did manage to get the B-quiet sound deadener installed:


Hoping to get back to Smokey this weekend - he keeps flipping me the fender every time I walk by him...

[Bullitt74]

I ordered my new ACC carpet, and I found that it is a bit short on the width by 1/8” to 1/4”. Not really much I can do about this, but speaking with others, I found out that ACC measures their carpet up with the intention of using an underlay (in addition to the jute that is adhered to back of the carpet itself). I ordered some fancy silver stuff from a fabric supply store (good for boats, so must be good for vehicles) and laid that down and glued it to the trans hump. This widens out the trans hump a bit, and allows for the proper fit of the ACC carpet. One must also realize that although Dynamat and B-quiet material will keep down noise and engine heat, it has little-to-no insulation value!. If you want to keep your heat or cold air in your cab, I suspect the underlay will help to some degree.

I still have to do the final fitment of the carpet, so if the width is still short, I will add another layer of underlay just to the sides of the trans hump.





I sourced this material (“Thermozite”) from a Canadian supplier, but I’m certain it’s widely available.

https://www.jtsoutdoorfabrics.com/Therm ... 15278.html

[Bullitt74]

Fitting the carpet - I’ll have to do the final fit on hot day and leave it outside so it conforms a bit better and one big wrinkle comes out...