36 Ford truck on Ranger
- Thread starter MercuryMac
- Start date
Help Support Rat Rods Rule:
Bamamav
Well-known member
Torchie, Rangers were twin I beam front ends until 1999, then they went to IFS with normal A arms.
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
Torchie, my donor Ranger was an '87. I don't know the width of the '99+ ones but for a while there they had torsion bars. Kinda' Chryslerish, hint, hint.
Here's a picture of the [blue] plug in the power brake line.
The gauge pair that I was fighting with to remove is almost out.
Here's a picture of the [blue] plug in the power brake line.
The gauge pair that I was fighting with to remove is almost out.
Attachments
Torchie
Well-known member
Not to hijack this thread....So is Mac's Twin I beam? Doesn't look like it to me.
What say you Mac????
I see that some of the ones made with IFS also were made with torsion bars.
It's a bit confusing.
I believe the 99 -2002 were wider.. As far as I can tell?????
Torchie
Last edited:
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
Yes Torchie, mine is a twin I-beam with 1 1/2 coils cut off the springs. This is almost too much, as I can feel the suspension bottom out on the rubber stoppers sometimes. I hope you don't cut any on the front of yours as it needs the front end higher than the back. Nothing makes a long low car with fender skirts, look so dorky, as the wrong slant. [This is an opinion, --- but stated with emotion].
Torchie
Well-known member
No worries Mac.
I haven’t got one yet as I’m still in search mode.
And no, this car will not have a “ California “ rake.
Torchie
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
We think alike, Torchie, Maybe we're related.
I got the gauges out and apart. A little facia plate had come unglued and fallen down inside the housing. [in the pictures it's the thin pewter perimeter around the oil idiot light hole.] It is Gorilla glued now. It's all re-installed, but I seem to have lost my dash-lights while I was rooting around behind there.
I test drove the fixed vacuum fitting and the plugged off power brake vacuum line and it was marginally better. Then I thought the motor sounded retarded at idle so I advanced the timing. No improvement on that test-drive.
I got the gauges out and apart. A little facia plate had come unglued and fallen down inside the housing. [in the pictures it's the thin pewter perimeter around the oil idiot light hole.] It is Gorilla glued now. It's all re-installed, but I seem to have lost my dash-lights while I was rooting around behind there.
I test drove the fixed vacuum fitting and the plugged off power brake vacuum line and it was marginally better. Then I thought the motor sounded retarded at idle so I advanced the timing. No improvement on that test-drive.
Attachments
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
I had phoned my racing friend, BUCK-SHY, and whined to him. He came over to visit yesterday and brought his vacuum gauge. It took me quite a while to visit, and even longer to hook up his gauge to my intake manifold, but I got it handled. My numbers are quite low. Almost 14#Hg at an idle, that's with a mild cam and at 2200 ft. above sea level. I worry that my cam is out of time, but it doesn't heat up. I sprayed starting fluid around the carbs, especially the throttle shafts on the primary one. No change.
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
Weird progress today. I plugged the draft tube and the oil filler pipe and watched the vacuum gauge. There was no change so that might rule out an 'inside the engine' leak of the intake manifold. That was disappointing. Again, today, I sprayed starting fluid around on the top of the intake, with no noticeable results.
I checked out four other intake and carb combinations that I have and then took the one that is in the shop, warm. I cleaned it up and am rebuilding the Mercury Holley carb [teapot two barrel].
I checked out four other intake and carb combinations that I have and then took the one that is in the shop, warm. I cleaned it up and am rebuilding the Mercury Holley carb [teapot two barrel].
Old Iron
Well-known member
[s
[p[p[p
[p[p[p
DozerII
Well-known member
Sorry to see this thing kicking your butt MM [P[P
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
Thanks Dozer.
Not much progress today, but I paged through a lot of dusty old shop manuals looking for their trouble shooting sections for flatheads. No luck there.
Not much progress today, but I paged through a lot of dusty old shop manuals looking for their trouble shooting sections for flatheads. No luck there.
smallfoot
He's rockin' the "Nuttin Special"!
Mac, would one of the old blue Motor manuals have the info you need? I have one that covers back to 1936 I believe...
bob w
Still crazy after all these years!
Run a leak down test on it. See You Tube.
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
Smallfoot, the manuals that I have don't have very big 'trouble shooting' sections, and I don't have a good manual for the flathead years. I was hoping to find some other way to test camshaft timing, [other than vacuum]. My old timing gears showed me the timing marks were very simple to figure out.
Bob, will do, thanks for the suggestion.
Bob, will do, thanks for the suggestion.
smallfoot
He's rockin' the "Nuttin Special"!
This old manual explains a leak down method pretty good. Make a tool by knocking the ceramic out of an old plug and braze a tire valve into the plug shell. Remove all plugs and bring no. 1 up to top dead center on compression stroke. Add air and listen for hiss at muffler for exhaust valve leak. Listen for hiss at air cleaner for intake leak. And listen at oil filler opening for leaking rings. You can look in radiator for bubbles that will indicate leaking cylinder head gasket. Roll each other cylinder to TDC to check all the same way.
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
I wandered around utube and watched some leak-down tests, so I thought about it for a while. My motor is freshly rebuilt by a professional and has only 200 miles on it, none of them nice. My compression numbers are all around 150, so I'm probably not going to do a leak-down test right now.
Today I took the three deuce manifold off and finished rebuilding the single teapot carb that I'm going to try on there. The intake gasket [that I hoped would show some air flow paths] looks good to me, although a little oily. The fuel pump pushrod bushing was not plugged off so maybe that's why there was oil splashing all around under the intake.
Here's the two intake manifolds.
Today I took the three deuce manifold off and finished rebuilding the single teapot carb that I'm going to try on there. The intake gasket [that I hoped would show some air flow paths] looks good to me, although a little oily. The fuel pump pushrod bushing was not plugged off so maybe that's why there was oil splashing all around under the intake.
Here's the two intake manifolds.
Attachments
Old Iron
Well-known member
[P[P[P
Torchie
Well-known member
Mac.
Refresh my memory.
What ignition system are you running. Is it the stock flathead?
[P [P [P
Torchie
Refresh my memory.
What ignition system are you running. Is it the stock flathead?
[P [P [P
Torchie
MercuryMac
Builder Junky!
Torchie, yes and no. It has the stock distributor with vacuum advance, no mechanical. Sometimes it had stock points it there and sometimes electronic contacts, [like now]. The spark plug wires have been; new carbon, original steel, and then new expensive carbon. I've had new old stock spark plugs in there, and now new, new sparkplugs. This coil is fairly new as was the last one, but just ordinary, not MSD.
