Introduction and Motor Tear Down Hey all of you guys, today I´m starting the very long thread of my dream project. I recently finally bought my dream car, the Ford Ranchero. My entire childhood my family watched That 70ś Show. Yeah, I was way too young to be watching it but I didn´t get the jokes anyway, but for those of you who watched the show you probably all remember Hyde´s El Camino. When I saw this car I thought the idea of the car-truck was the best thing either and at that age I was 12. My dad and I were always complete Ford junkies though. So I asked him if there was a Ford version of the El Camino, he then introduced me to the Ford Ranchero. I immediately fell in love and decided I would one day own that as my project car. Well this past month I finally made that dream come true. After operating a landscaping business for four years I finally had the stable enough money to afford a project car. I then bought my 78 Red Ranchero Squire with a 351 Windsor. Above is the picture the day my dad and I went and picked her up. Below is the picture of our stop on the way home. And now she is finally in the garage (I had to finish a Sport Trac that wasn´t running). And then I disassembled the engine to see what the 351 Windsor really looked like. And I was very surprised. I didn´t think much of the car when I initially got it because of how the engine was merely thrown in with motor mounts and two bolts in each exhaust manifold. I´m very excited for how clean this is but I´m glad I didn´t take that for granted. I quickly found some things that need to be done. For starters the fuel pump eccentric literally rubbed against the front timing cover. So I need to figure that out and also it needs main bearings and connecting rod bearings. Woop dee doo, not surprised. So that was the motor tear down. In the coming posts I will discuss what is next and my venture into making this Ranchero what I´ve dreamed of.
Future Plans Here is a list of the future plans I have Steering wheel Steering wheel column cover Radio Floor pans Front turn signal housings both Throttle cable Hub cap Cool gas cap Door panels Rear view mirror Battery Carpet Ignition figured out Carb Main Bearings Connecting Rod Bearings Gear to Gear Timing Drive Kit This is a very short list of the first things I need to get done before we can get stupid with sound systems and all that good stuff.
You, with the Ranchero, was like me, with the full-sized Bronco, introduced when I was in junior high in September '77 (talk about "That '70s"!), And armed with the dealer brochure I snagged when my older bro was there to buy a car (he got a '72 Mustang Grande), I spent the next year planning out what kind of Bronco I would want. Took me 26 years to finally end up with an '89 Eddie Bauer, then I had to sell it when my heart went bad on me. But I already had Babe the Blue Ox, and as I got better and more able to work, I dove in...head first into the shallow end, but I dove in. There's another member who is a bit older than you, he has his projects, and I gave him some advice, that you might want to read: http://www.ranchero.us/forum/index.php?threads/teenagers-1969-ranchero-project.19151/page-11 Read that page, and my advice is in post #209. Good luck, be patient, and you'll eventually get to the point of having a righteous rig to drive.
Oh I plan to! Thanks for the encouragement. I will definitely look into that post, thanks for the encouragement and the story. I'm glad I found a place to share this project with people who will enjoy it along with me. Thanks! Edit: I really like the idea of notebooks, I will probably implement that!
Andy always coming up with cool ideas... and suggestions If you are computer savvy, you may want to look into the Collector Car Companion. Software that will keep track of all that info for you. By system, sub-system, part numbers, pictures and more. There is a free trial version. Could be real handy (Andy (LOL)), particularly if you have more then one build going.
Update: Bearings and gasket kit are ordered! In a week or so I'll also order the gear to gear kit so we can get that ultra-cool cam gear sound. I'd like to get a mild cam soon as well but that will take quite a bit of founds and as you can see in the title of this project, I'm a high school student, so while I make decent money for a high school student I will still be trying to keep this build at a decent price. But I'm definitely looking for suggestions on a cam and also a name for the car! Can't wait for the bearings and I will be showing that whole deal soon, plenty of pictures will be taken.
Good progress. Don't expect the gear drive to be real obvious. Unlike a chevy, the Ford doesn't have a tin diaphragm that amplifies sound over the timing chain. A Ford engine needs to be rather quiet to be able to hear a gear drive.
Duely noted. I'm hoping for at least a little bit of sound going on but if not I'll have the quiet satisfaction of zero slack timing lol Edit: And I'm specifically buying one that is louder, so maybe that will help
Oh and also I took a look at my cam and all that good stuff and I'm pretty sure the endplay is fine. If you're referencing the fuel pump eccentric then I'm pretty sure the guy who built this engine was a moron and put the wrong one in or something. He didn't impress me much and that's why I'm going through all of the trouble of going through this engine before I run it. After I get the bearings done and I go to work on the gear drive I will be making sure that eccentric isn't a problem so we are ready to run when I drop the engine in.
End play has to be checked with the cam installed. You will be checking crank and cam end play when you build the engine, but checking things beforehand can identify unusable parts in advance.
Oh, gotcha! I will be checking everything from taking a dial indicator to multiple points on the crank to make sure it's straight and I'll be doing all of that great stuff. I might go ahead and check the end play while I wait for the Brown Santa (UPS) to show up.
"Brown Santa." I'll have to steal that, pretend like I made it up. Which, incidentally, could be a name for your rig....
No rush on the name... took almost 4 years for Brittany to get hers... and it just happened. Wasn't a whole lot of thought behind it. The upholstery guy was putting in the carpet... after he was done, he stood back looking over the car and said: "Brittany is going to be one sassy Bitch"! and he was right! Someone will say something, or something will happen along the way. And you will get your name!
Mine came in the conversation I had with my dear departed friend Dale, when I showed him the car after the drivetrain work was done. I said, basically, that it would need a set of oxen horns for it, as it was a 'beast of burden.' My niece Leah, who was outside playing nearby, heard me, and blurted out, "If you do that, you have to name it Babe the Blue Ox!'"
