Gerard's 1970 Ford Ranchero GT

Gerard's 1970 Ford Ranchero GT

I saw this car sitting in an apartment parking lot in El Cajon California, and slipped my business card through the window with a note to call me. The owner did, and I'm the new owner of a 1970 Ford Ranchero GT!

Details: N Code 429, C6 Auto Trans, Air Conditioning, Hideaway Headlights, Rimblow Steering Wheel, Ribbon Tachometer, Extra GT hood with vent. The engine has been rebuilt recently, but the car hasn't been driven for about 2 years. Someone stole the taillights, but the seller found new ones and included them. It starts and moves, but I need to do a full checkout before driving it any distance.

Progress 2012

Well, it's been slow going, but the Ranchero is finally on its feet! Here is a little information on the feet, since a lot of Torino / Ranchero folks like to know wheel and tire sizes prior to making large investments.

The wheels are original Ford 15 x 7 wheels from the late 60's, which use the small opening (approx. 1-7/8) for the center cap. I believe the backspacing is 4-1/4.

The tires are BFGoodrich Radial T/A's, 255-60 R15 in the rear and 215-70 R15 in the front. The two pictures a little further down show the clearance in the rear wheelwells, and it is more than enough, inside and out.

The photo below shows the 2-gauge battery cables needed to start this monster engine. I like to recurve my Ford distributors, using this method: Timing Tips for Ford (and other) Distributors.

The timing recurve works so well because of the higher than stock initial timing, and this makes the engine harder to turn over. After trying to start this thing, I felt the stock 4-gauge cables, and they were getting hot because they were too small. I replaced all three cables with 2-gauge, and installed a 00-gauge ground from the engine block to the frame. With all the other same parts and timing set at 12 degrees advanced, this engine kicks right over with the bigger cables!

If you compare this photo below to some of those above, you'll notice things missing, like all the extra wires, and the MSD on the shock tower. The thing wouldn't run longer than one or two minutes, and it was definitely electrical, so all that extra stuff had to come out. What's not visible is the points (yes, mechanical ignition) distributor, and the 750 vacuum secondary Holley. This air filter has some history...the housing was on my 66 Fairlane GTA in the late 90's. The filter element was also, but it spent the interval on my 72 F250. You can't see the rust on the mesh, so the element will be replaced soon.

This reproduction fuel pickup came without a sock. The sock I used slid up and blocked the fuel flow. My fix was to slide a piece of fuel hose along the tube, then clamp it into place. To keep the strainer from falling off, I flared the end a little bit.

Anyone know where I can find a set of these center caps, for the small diameter (1-7/8 inch) Magnum 500 wheels? They need to be snap in, because the bolt-in type won't clear the grease caps on the front.

Latch trouble

Ok, what am I doing wrong here? Why does the hood latch interfere with the hideaway actuator and spring arm? Are the parts correct?

Pointed the lever toward the radiator, now the spring is exerting too much force to get the doors to close.

Heater core trouble

My car has air conditioning, and the heater core has three pipes. I found a reasonably priced heater core through eBay...the picture is correct and the listing is correct.

This is what I received:

I knew before I even opened the box that it was wrong...the box was too small to hold the heater core I needed.

Luckily, I bought it through eBay, and they have a return policy that favors the buyer. The seller wanted me to return the unit AT MY COST, even though I did everything possible to make sure I ordered the correct part. It's not my fault their manufacturer has it messed up...why should I pay $7 or $8 to send the thing back for a refund? eBay has buyer protection, where if the thing you get is not as described, the seller pays the shipping cost back.

So, buyer beware on the late 60's to early 70's three pipe A/C heater core.

Heater core change and fan problems

The heater box is extremely difficult to get out of this car! Here is what I found when I got it all apart.

The new heater core on the left is a little shorter by about 1/2 inch. This turns out to be a good thing, because the heater core I removed totally killed the cushion. I'll rebuild the cushion a little with some closed-cell foam.