“Nikki” 1995-ish Ford Ranger

[DialedShockPrep]

Mannn where do I even begin, I’m not quite sure where the beginning even began except at a FoMoCo plant somewhere. About 7 years ago I bought this truck from Jason Hemphill, or “HEMP” on RDC. I had always loved this truck ever since I first saw a picture of it parked out in the dezert with the wheels turned. The big single coilover up front with the thin looking beams and crossover steering just made me all warm and fuzzy inside (ha GAAYYYY)
Anyways, it’s rad to own this truck and slowly be chasing the dream of owning the truck i dreamt of as a kid even if it’s taken me 5ish years to get it here and.. nothing is really the same as when I bought it. I won’t fill in the backstory of prior to me owning the truck so i will start from when I picked it up. It was in rough shape from being rolled and sitting for at least a year covered in soggy dry lake mud, but it had good bones.

 

[DialedShockPrep]

more old photos of the truck prior to me owning it

 

[DialedShockPrep]

As visible above, the truck was rolled and neglected. I slowly went through the truck and fixed all kinds of sketchy things with the truck as I used it for about a year. Everything was covered in rust, the shock were blown, rear suspension was setup wrong and the shocks would bottom about 4” before the axle touched the bump, the shackle was way too long and bound the leafs up, almost everything was wired poorly with no connectors, just twisted wires and electrical tape to hold it together. The fuel pump wiring had 6 butt splices in 5 ft of wiring and they were all done incorrectly and didn’t have a good connection, the engine computer had been remounted on top of the engine and the hood was rubbing on the wiring harness so bad that about half of the wiring was exposed copper. It’s a miracle the truck hadn’t caught on fire from electrical issues. Nevertheless i used the truck for a year, grenaded the trans and rebuilt it, and tried to clean the truck up as time progressed

 

[DialedShockPrep]

At this point in life I had saved enough money to put myself through a trade school program where I relocated to Northern California for 4 months, so I had set things up to send the truck to a body shop to get the cab fixed while I was away so when I got back I could send the truck to another shop to install the 4 link kit and have the backhalf done. Unfortunately when I got back from school after 4 months, they had not even touched my truck and it caused me to loose my spot in the shop for the backhalf. Eventually the roof was repaired (thank you Keith Smith for the donor cab and doors) and it made its way to a friends shop for the SI/Plank/Newline 4 link and backhalf. Unfortunately shortly after the truck had the 4 link installed the shop owner closed doors for a better job opportunity so it again got to sit in my parents backyard for awhile till I find a place to work on it. I ended up getting my own shop in hopes of working on it myself but a year of looking for work and scraping Pennys to get by didn’t net any real gain either, so it was once again moved to my garage where I had moved to (yeah, it gets old moving a non driving truck around so many times)

 

[DialedShockPrep]

Finally a good friend of mine Gatlan had room and desire to work on the truck in his at home shop and he took the ball and ran with it. Keeping true to all of the original fab on the truck, it is all Chromoly, all TIG welded with the exception of the axle housing (thanks Currie.. long story), 44-ish gallon tank, single lay down spare tire, 3.0x14” coilover and 3.0x16” 5 tube bypass, 2.5x4” bolt in bump, etc.

 

[DialedShockPrep]

More photos

 

[DialedShockPrep]

Then the snowball REALLY began..

 

[DialedShockPrep]

Mas photos

 

[DialedShockPrep]

And this brings us to where we are at currently. The truck still needs a TON of fab, wiring, plumbing, etc. Working full time + trying to run a business on the side + being a father/husband all adds up to me having very VERY little time to wrench on this truck. I’ve collected the majority of the parts for the truck at this point, it’s just a matter of me finally getting a shop and leaving my day job to pursue Dialed Shock Prep full time which would give me some time to work on the truck, or finding a shop willing to start tackling things on the truck. Both of which are becoming within grasp, it’s just one takes big balls and the other takes big money hahaha.

 

[JACKSONRALLYINC]

Woohoo!

I bet if I look in the mirror I can talk to the guy who initially built the truck many years ago

I always wondered what happened to this truck. I figured it was only a matter of time before it was rolled...,I know when it left us at Newline it did not have a cage. Everything after that is news to me. Can't wait to see it finished.

 

[JACKSONRALLYINC]

HAHA, much much younger me.

 

[DialedShockPrep]

Woohoo!

I bet if I look in the mirror I can talk to the guy who initially built the truck many years ago

I always wondered what happened to this truck. I figured it was only a matter of time before it was rolled...,I know when it left us at Newline it did not have a cage. Everything after that is news to me. Can't wait to see it finished.

Haha yooo whatever happened to that Grey beamed F150 you built? It got finished, went to the offroad expo, and completely disappeared. It was a work of art and absolutely flawless. Are you still doing fab work?

I guess when the previous owner picked the truck up from BMS after the cab cage was installed, he pulled the truck on the trailer and just left. I guess he wasn’t aware you needed to tie the truck down to the trailer and it fell off a couple blocks later when he pulled away from a stop light haha.

 

[JACKSONRALLYINC]

Haha yooo whatever happened to that Grey beamed F150 you built? It got finished, went to the offroad expo, and completely disappeared. It was a work of art and absolutely flawless. Are you still doing fab work?

I guess when the previous owner picked the truck up from BMS after the cab cage was installed, he pulled the truck on the trailer and just left. I guess he wasn’t aware you needed to tie the truck down to the trailer and it fell off a couple blocks later when he pulled away from a stop light haha.

The Grey truck is still around and still with the original owner. It is only used to prerun in Baja, but I don't think it has been out for a few years.

 

[marcytech]

wasnt this "oorracing"s truck?

 

[Mullen]

wasnt this "oorracing"s truck?

oorracing = Dialed Shock Prep.

Props Kevin for staying motivated enough to keep building this truck. I was waiting for the part out. If you're interested in sharing a shop that happens to be near Corona, let me know as I've been wanting shop space too.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

oorracing = Dialed Shock Prep.

Props Kevin for staying motivated enough to keep building this truck. I was waiting for the part out. If you're interested in sharing a shop that happens to be near Corona, let me know as I've been wanting shop space too.

He was being a jackass...... he's friends with Kevin. hah

 

[DialedShockPrep]

Kind of an update…? The ol’man and I are dedicating a few hours each Friday to assemble my engine. There’s a story that goes along with that but I’ll try and keep it simple. The plan was to take the stock 6.0l LQ9 i picked up from Mike Cox and freshen it up and throw in a RV/Torque style cam, valve springs, and call it a day. Last time I fresheners up and did the cam/springs in an LS it ended up running me about $4,000 in parts and machine work. A friend at work was starting to build a 402 stroker for a guy when he needed it gone ASAP and it somehow found its way in the bed of my truck. I’ve definitely deviated from the parts I picked up from him but the core is still there.

Specs for this engine we are putting together is fresh 6.0l block, Scat 4” crank (brings it to a 402) H beam rods, flat top pistons, CNC’d 243 heads, FAST LSXR-T intake manifold (yes it’s HUGE.. probably going to stick up through the hood a tad) with 102mm Throttle body, FAST fuel rails, and it will have all ARP hardware internally. Once the engine is assembled I’ll be figuring out what management system I’ll be running and then have the engine broken in/tuned on a dyno to make sure everything is 100%, and that way it will have a decent starting point once i get the engine in the truck. I’ll make sure I update this in 3 months once I’m done assembling the engine haha

 

[Chancegoodman]

Kind of an update…? The ol’man and I are dedicating a few hours each Friday to assemble my engine. There’s a story that goes along with that but I’ll try and keep it simple. The plan was to take the stock 6.0l LQ9 i picked up from Mike Cox and freshen it up and throw in a RV/Torque style cam, valve springs, and call it a day. Last time I fresheners up and did the cam/springs in an LS it ended up running me about $4,000 in parts and machine work. A friend at work was starting to build a 402 stroker for a guy when he needed it gone ASAP and it somehow found its way in the bed of my truck. I’ve definitely deviated from the parts I picked up from him but the core is still there.

Specs for this engine we are putting together is fresh 6.0l block, Scat 4” crank (brings it to a 402) H beam rods, flat top pistons, CNC’d 243 heads, FAST LSXR-T intake manifold (yes it’s HUGE.. probably going to stick up through the hood a tad) with 102mm Throttle body, FAST fuel rails, and it will have all ARP hardware internally. Once the engine is assembled I’ll be figuring out what management system I’ll be running and then have the engine broken in/tuned on a dyno to make sure everything is 100%, and that way it will have a decent starting point once i get the engine in the truck. I’ll make sure I update this in 3 months once I’m done assembling the engine haha

View attachment 12240

what cam is this going to have? and do you have any idea on what power numbers you could expect?

 

[DialedShockPrep]

There was a BTR stage 4 truck cam and BTR springs with all of the parts I picked up but that cam and spring choice is pretty tame, especially since i went with the bigger intake manifold, throttle body, and already have custom headers. The heads are at Jeff Ginter Racing Engines to get refinished, assembled and CC’d and he is going to spec me a cam as well. As for power, I have no clue what this engine will make and I really don’t have a goal other than drivability and reliable. I’ve asked around and read online and a lot of guys are putting down 400-500 rwhp in street cars, some even close to 600 but that’s not exactly applicable to my truck. I don’t want an engine that only makes power at WFO, which is why i went with the LSXR-T manifold vs the LSXR. The longer runners should help make more torque across the board and same with the Tri-Y headers. I guess we’ll find out soon when it’s all assembled and I can get it on a dyno.

 

[Thomas Built Motorsports]

mucho like all of this! keep it up dude! Thing is gonna be a ripper!