This is my first project I started on. The first ride I ever did custom work on. Alot of what I've learned about body work I learned by trial and error on this ride. This truck has a long history, so here we go... When my parents got it for me in 2000 for my senior year in high school, it was completely stock except for some very wide alloy bullet hole rims with hub caps that rattled on it. It also had a small stainless steel 3" blunt-cut exhaust tip, but no aftermarket exhaust!!! At the time, I was trying to get my ass outta high school and into college, so I didn't have gobs of time or money to spend on it. But my Dad helped me with amplifying the sound of the engine a bit....we got a 16" glass pack and dummy-dual turn-out exhaust installed with chrome slant-cut tips.
First steps... As many Ford owners know, the condition of my headlight lenses were appauling...so that was my next step. During the summer between my first year in college and my second, I worked at grocery store as a stock clerk to earn a little cash so I could get some euro-clear diamondback headlight housings. After my second year, I started working full time at Pioneer Automotive in Meridian, MS; so I could work towards buying a set of custom rims and tires (which I would have to install first) and then a 3/4 drop kit. A friend of mine had a 98 Mazda B2200 with a set of Antera 17" chrome rims wrapped in 235/45 Falken tires he wanted to sell. Knowing that most components off a 98 Mazda pickup would fit a 93 - 2000 Ranger, I jumped on the deal like white on rice. With the rims on, and the tires no longer sticking out beyond the fenderswells, it was time to lower my altitude.
The drops: I ordered a 3/4 drop from Chassistech, containing the usual 3" TRUE I-Beams (not those cheap DREAM BEAMS!!!!) and the 4" flip kit for the rear. I rode for about a year with that drop, but when my best friend got a 88 Mazda B2200 hardbody and we dropped it 3/4 by turning the torsion bars in front and installing 4" blocks on the rear that changed. We would park the lowriders side-by-side in parking lots on weekends, and it didn't take long for me to see that because of his Mazda's suspension setup, he was sitting about two inches lower than me. I couldn't stand it. So it was back to Chassistech for a 2/2 drop - using 2" drop coil springs in the front and 2" lowering blocks in the rear. Since the leaf pack had already been moved underneath the axle, the blocks would work the same as they would on a S-10, Mazda or Nissan hardbody, or Sonoma. With the new drop totaling 5/6, I was pleased with the truck's stance.
More mods, more probs: I came up with an idea for a new exhaust set up. I wanted twin blunt cut tips coming straight out the passenger side, but keep the glass pack. So it was back to the muffler shop. After we got the truck on the rack and got to snooping around underneath the truck, we discovered that following my second drop install, the upper mandrel bend in the exhaust pipe that arches the rear axle was touching the bottom side of the bed, and a brake line was resting on the exhaust pipe as well. We adjusted the brake line, but the shop guy said that there would be no room to run dual pipes parallel to one another out one side, because the body was too low now. My choices came down to either run a single pipe out the passenger side with the blunt tip, or raise the truck back up. Naturally, I went with the single exhaust, which actuclly turned out to sound really well for a 3.0 V6. From there, it was on to body mods.
The midde of the road is very wide! The stock bumper, although painted to match on the Splash models, just had to go. And the painted-to-match front bumper was missing something to. So I ordered a Xenon polyurethane roll pan and a Xenon polyurethane front bumper cover - mainly because I knew the front would be dragging alot and fiberglass would crack easily. That really set things off. The last mods I made to it, which was last summer, was shaving and molding the roll pan into the bed, and shaving the 3rd brake light. I found a "Drifter" front bumper for it, so I sold my Xenon front to another Ranger owner. That's about it. Oh yeah - I blew the engine in it back in Feb, so if anyone knows where I can find a 3.0 V6 with decent miles on it, give me holla! I miss my lowrider!

Body Mods:
- Xenon roll pan (molded into body)
- Shaved third brake light
- 5/6 Chassistech drop; True I-beams, coil springs, flip kit & 2" lowering blocks
- Euro-clear diamond-back headlight housings
- "Rainbow effect" headlights
- 17" Antera chrome rims wrapped in Kumho/Federal 235/45 rubs
- 2 1/2% window tint

Performance Mods:
- K & N air filtercharger

Interior Mods:
- Kenwood Excelon CD player
- Polished aluminum shifter knob
- Air vents painted royal blue
- Blue neon accents; 1 3" tube under dashboard in front of either seat, one 15" tube mounted to rear wall