1963 Ford Ranchero

I was out this morning and took a new photo of the Ranchero.

I got my new wheels and tires installed finally. I installed P195/60r14 tires both front and rear due to the size limitations for the rear tires. I only have about 1/2 inch between the fender well and the edge of the tire.

New Wheels

I found a set of 4 of these on CL the other day for $300.00. They are 7x14 American Racing AR23 wheels with a -6 offset. The tires are shot but for the price I couldn't go wrong. The AR23's are discontinued in the 4 lug version and I haven't ever seen them on a Ranchero or early Falcon so they should be unique.

Headers and dual exhaust

I installed a chrome split header I purchased on ebay and dual exhaust with turbo mufflers. I had a bit of a hard time installing the header because of the taller 250 cuin I6 engine. Also the headers came very close to the starter so I changed it out to a 'mini starter' also purchased from ebay. Here's a photo of the headers and video of the dual exhaust.

 Video

Replaced Odometer

The speedometer housing in the Ranchero, is from a 1962-63 Mercury Comet. It fits great however the odometer hasn't worked since I've owned the car. I've looked for a replacement but never was able to locate one. I did find a few replacement speedometer housings but the cost was prohibitive. I was finally able to locate just the speedometer (with odo) for a 1961 Ford Falcon. With quite a bit of research it appeared that it probably would work in the Merc housing. I went ahead and bought it ($53.00 with shipping). The only modifications I made were to cut the top 1" or so off of the black back panel since the Merc housing needs that area to cast the illumination for the lights and clear the area that the Merc uses 2 round tubes to direct the high beam and turn signal indicator lights. Here's some photos of the 'old' non-functioning odo.               
And here's a photo of the 'new' speedometer before I modified it.
   The new speedometer / odometer are working great!!!

8" rear end installed.

Well I finally got everything together and installed the 'new' 8" Maverick rear end. The 3.00 gear ratio makes a big difference!

I had to get the drive shaft modified again to accept the new u-joint for the 8". While checking it out we discovered that the front u-joint yoke was bad. So basically I had to replace everything but the 'tube'. Now it should last a while.

Everything went smooth, no surprises. The 8" is about 1/4" wider on both sides so the tires stick out that much further. Not enough to be a problem. I haven't tried the 'new' 14 inch tires yet but I will sometime soon.

Hope to get some photos up soon.

Another rear end!

I happened upon a rare 8" four lug rear end from a 71 Ford Maverick a week or so ago. The price was right so I went to Corona to pick it up. After talking with the guy for a while I also was able to get 4 each 14" rims (2 with good tires) a air cleaner housing and the rear end for $80.00. This rear end is heavier duty than the 7 3/4 inch I have now and a big advantage is that it's a 3.00 rather than the 3.50 I have now. So instead of 2900 rpm at 60 mph it will drop to a much less stress 2450. Also with the larger 14" tires it will drop even further to 2375. I probably won't put the tire on for a while as I really don't need new tires yet so I will save them till I can change all four and put new caps and trim rings on the 14's.