I need some ideas

I like the idea of a frame up build, and I have a good to go (20K on it) 351M

~ It could become danged near anything, but I think 4X4. At this stage, the possibilities are without limit!


I have another Windsor, but I want to reserve it for something drastic. It (the W) is no-where near running, it needs machine work

*BANGEZZZ GAVEL*

"Will the meeting come to order?"

~We have a 'TANK' engine (hard to break) *

~We have a light chassis (complete)


Suggestions, anyone?




* A 351M is a baztardized Cleveland with a heavy crank. The main journals are much thicker - and that is what kills it as a race engine. All else is interchangeable.
But the thicker crank makes it a much stronger one for low RPM high torque applications

* The 351M was only produced for 4 years - '75 through '79. FOMOCO must have decided it was a dog.
They were wrong! It's a MULE...


~and mules have their uses.

That lower end is as strong as an Ox



What to do...


It doesn't even necessarily have to have a truck body on it - a car body could be slapped on, or a van

 

I wish I`d kept my 87 parts Ranger, I would love to try mounting one of my 53 F100`s on....only I found after I sold it did I find out that works out fairly well!

 

Damn Dutch ya know I have 3 4X4 Rangers with bent bodys that all still run and drive after a fashion. But a long ways to ship parts as ya know.
I am with Moe on the early 50's F1 or later F100 up to like 56 body on a Ranger 4X4.
Was and kinda still is a pipe dream of mine.
As for a car body I like the 79 Pinto wagon with like the free wheeling package
on it.
Had one I put a stang II 4 speed in with the auto rear gear and 14 inch wheels with pro 60's
With headers, a cam and 4 barrel carb it was a very fun car clocked at 130 MPH.
The wagon had the port hole windows in back with a yellow,purple and blue striping like the free wheeler trucks. Was on a candy red. All factory. Now if I had
that today to put on a V6 Ranger 4x4 chassis it would make a very cool rocket.
The only bad thing is the 79 V6 was the German built one. I don't think the V6
the mid 80's to early 90's are even close to preforming like it did.

Man if I just had a shop. Or a place to even put up one. But hey I still got the dreams. Right?
Anyway if ya need anything we can afford to ship off my Rangers just ask and
I will do my best to get it to ya.

 

Sadly I have too many unfinished projects to ever get to a mid 50`s F100 on a Ranger frame but I still like the idea a lot.

 

It could work Moe. They are so close. Just put the others aside and start in on it.
Ya got every thing ya need but the 4x4 Ranger. Right? Hey Dutch and I will help
from afar. Right Wolfie?

 

I wish it was that simple, guess it could be if I made up my mind to do it but then I`d have even more unfinished projects.

 

One of my biggest issues is that I often "SINGLE TRACK" to the exclusion of other things I could have done.

~Like the Suzuki Swift car I'm working up right now -
Phenominal gas mileage, and it won't take much to get it together, but I have ignored it for two years because IT WASN'T MY RANGER TRUCK...

I could have been running around scooping parts long ago, but I got too stubborn. It isn't a FORD either, but Suzuki made at least a couple of motor cycles that were worth killin' for!

I think of it as a GS-1300 with a roof and A/C

I wanted to bag a Fiesta, Festiva, or an Escort Wagon - to keep the driveway "FORD PRIDE" all the way, but what does pride have to do with mobility?

I glommed onto the thing with the future in plain sight, but lost that view somehow. This is now being corrected...

So soon I will have a tiny fuel miser runabout on the street that I can hit up all the places I could have been going to all along - and things will procede much faster.
*And who knows? I might even turn up an EXP somewhere...

The important thing though - and you guys said it yourselves - is to not lose track of what it is you want to do, and if all you can accomplish is a little at a time THAT IS STILL PROGRESS


Sometimes progress calls for wandering away far enough to get an overall view and decide what is truly necessary again


FABMANDELUXE in the high-desert region of Oregon noted the same thing about the fifties F-100's, and a Mustang K-Frame would allow dropped spindles/lowered suspension on it that would be a plus.
Retaining the "TWIN I-BEAM" signature suspension would make a better 'Rod out of it though (I think) because it holds to the spirit of the generation of truck the body comes from - yet it would still be a lot lighter and therefor quick

I wonder where a cab can come from?

A RANGER bed (with stepside fenders) is a no-brainer. Why retro fit what is already in plentiful supply?



The more I daydream about it: I could build a killer sled from hell outta this...


Like I wuzzz sayin' - the crank journals in a 351M are much more robust than a 'Cleve, a blower could be added for pure looks and it would live with it very easily.

Morry? You notice I ain't near done with the Ranger, got a SUZIE under PRIORITY ONE build status, and this is a thread I popped just for long range planning.
You never can tell when something on the back burner will suddenly get a huge boost from out of a clear blue sky!

The engine collection is just something that seems to happen around me, I don't even remember where I got the AOD for the Ranger or when. It just sorta materialised one day, and sat there.





***HAVE YOU CONSIDERED COMBINING SEVERAL PROJECTS INTO ONE?????

 

Hey Dutch? I am going to do an engine R&R in my Bronk. As you know the 351W
maybe you can help some. Here are the links.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post13727791

And the last page of this one.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post13727751

 

No, I have enough problems with what I`m already working on so I have to keep everything as simple as I can.

 

Then go a piece at a time, and don't worry about it!

Some of the best builds I ever saw at FTE took freaking AGES to come together

 

Haaa, Ya Like yours my friend

 

Oh well, so I'm not a freakin' super nova

Guys like that have more money than you or me...

JEGS and SUMMIT still think I'm pretty cool

*Advance Adapters can kiss the fuzzy parts I don't mention

 

I don't have ages to accomplish anything any more.... I don't even buy green bananas any more!

 

Im kind of in the same boat, Wolf. I have a 98 ranger chassis I cut the ifs off to use as a clip for my 49. Im thinking of folding the front ends on mine in to making a 302 trike.
Yours i could see if it was 4wd but the frame rails where the cab mounts, cut out that whole straight section. And put the front and rear pieces together. drastically shortening the wheelbase. And in the end build it as the ATV from hell. Cause you know an all ford 4 wheeler would be cats meow.

 

I think it's pretty much going to become a trailer hauler, using the 351M I have stashed away. I was going to send off for a top end gasket set last month, but got derailed with other things. More and more I want to get into building up very small cars as touring buggies, and a problem with that is what to drag home the projects with.

A well set up V8 Ranger with suspension mods from the beginning might be just the ticket - and going off the deep end before I have the means to gather parts from out there would be kinda silly.

I strongly believe in making the most of what I have, even though my finances have begun to lighten up. If all it is used for is to pull a small car trailer it doesn't have to even have a bed on it, so the cab could actually be slid backwards along the frame to make engine space. It will be interesting to see what evolves if I persue this notion.