Been awhile, 1977 Ranchero weight/handling?
 

I've got a 1977 Ford Ranchero. The thing is HUGE. I park next to F250 extended cabs and go, yep a few inches longer. I even bent up all 4 the fender flares going tough a taco bell drive though!

I'm wondering, how much do these weigh?

Heres the fun part. How can I make these handle? Weight Disterbution? Who makes firm springs for them? Or billstein shocks? I'm not expecting a porsche here (although I did see a Torino and a Porsche at Infenion raceway, and the ex someting or other race car Torino was keeping right up with the porsche..on the curves!! Looked really funny, heres this little porsche, and this massive torino! So it's possible, at least for the Torinos!)

Does anyone make quick ratio steeting gearboxes for these?

It's easy enough to make enough HP to make it fast off the line, but to handle.. thats an interesting one.

do you mean gvwr or curb weight

It is possible to make them handle. You wont get new springs at all, you will cut out about 5/8th of a coil to drop the front end. You will upgrade the front sway bar if it is smaller than 1 1/4 most are unless your car had the handling pkg. If your car has no rear sway bar one must be added by fabbing a few brackets and you even use the existing front one that was on your car. The quick ratio steering is possible but some fabbing is needed to use a mustang set up. Hope this helps Bill
www.ranchero.us

I have large anti-sway bars on front and rear of my Ranchero and those alone really help the handling.

Shocks can help but really a shock is only to counter the spring rate. If the springs are the same, the better shocks still have the same dampening factor, just better control of the dampening.

I have a Porsche 914 and the Ranchero couldn't even think about keeping up on short tracks. However, on the long tracks where acceleration is important, my Ranchero can take the little Volkswagan engine hands down. But must have good brakes to slow down for the corners!

Those Porsche 914s.. you can make those little suckers lots-o-HP. In my airccoled time everybody love Jake Raby's engine kits. Thought about gettin one. 180HP in a beetle..wooh..

The ranchero is just too big and heavy. But I'd love this big and heavy ranchero to be rather shocking in the handling dept. As my jetta was in the take off fast dept.

I'm not quite into cutting the front springs though.. That gives me nightmares of bouncing civics and improper lowering. At least I don't have to worry about suspension geomitry as much as my macpherson strut cars.

Brakes are important too. To stop this heavy a car, I don't even know where to begin to make it stop.

I don't know if there were options for brakes, but my calipers, rotors, shoes, and drums are massive! They look like they came off a 3/4 ton. I have pulled boats and trailers behind my Ranchero and stopping was not a problem.

If you think the braking in your Ranchero is not very good, I would rebuild the brake system (if you are up to that challenge) and see how good the stock can be before I did custom brakes. Not that one couldn't improve the brakes, just that the stock brakes are big.

there prolly was an upgrade for towing, i have seen posts about guys getting the wrong rotors and shoes(too small). but if you really want to stop? http://www.baer.com/ you'll stop! i have read posts about rebuilding the steering box using late model quick ratio parts from other cars, too. i had a set of limo springs in my 72 torino, first time it touched ground it was like there was no engine in it! and it wouldn't budge! cutting a little coil off is no big deal, cut a 1/2 coil at a time or even a 1/4 coil to be cautious. it only takes a few minutes with a hacksaw, a couple minutes less with a sawzall(and a spring compressor). you can prolly do it without removing the spring from the car completely. added bonus is that the spring rate increases as the spring loses coils. in the old days i heard they used to just heat the spring until it sagged to the desired ride height(low).

Where can I find more info on rebuilding the stock steering box to make it more quick ratio?

With the brakes on the ranchero, I thought of just doing a rebuild. But I thought well if I'm going to be buying new parts I might as well see what upgrades there are. I'l like to transform the ranchero on to a bit of a sports/muscle ranchero, albit a big heavy one.

Limo springs in a tornino? Sounds interesting. I like a nice firm ride, very controled body lean, squat and dive. No one replaces the front springs they just cut them?

if your springs are original and/or soft, then some fresh replacements are the way to go. if your fresh replacements hold the front bumper up to the stars, start cutting. when i bought the torino i was told the springs in it were from a pontiac grand safari wagon, if they were an improvement i would hate to see what was in there before! the limo springs are Ford at least, prolly Lincoln? it's been so long i can't remember how much i cut off, but i do remember cutting twice to get them into reality range. they were still a little on the high side but i prefered that to the squiggly sprung marshmallows that couldn't keep the front end up. i'll keep my eyes open for the steering box info.

i found something- go to Randy A's site, under power train he lists the steering box as "saginaw, ford pattern" and using parts from an 80's firebird.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/threa...eid=1067008940

Hey now that is cool! Where can I buy or how do I build one of those?

Instead of loping coils off the springs and finding stock springs from anoteher car. I wonder if I can get more info on recomended F/R spring rates for resinence in the chassis. Get that extremely controled suspension and steering I'm searching for. With the mean look of cource :p (although that drop in the front would cause more weight dist to switch to the front of the car)

Or a set of aftermarket for another similer car that will go in the Ranchero?

just do a search for "moog coil springs" there are a lot of places.
http://www.performancesuspension.com/springs.htm

Where can I buy/build one of those steering boxes? Power steering is of cource important, however I woun't mind it a tad more firm. I can almost steer with my mind..

Springs..nothing specifically for the Ranchero, How do I know what works or doesnt?

well, if more info and/or parts don't fall into my lap, i'm gonna go see these guys-
http://www.pwrsteering.com/index.html
i have heard them recommended several times for obscure/impossible to find parts, and they are local for me. as far as the partial listings not showing rancheros specifically, no big deal. the ranchero/ torino shares interchangeability with a lot of other mid/full size fords right up to the late model crown vic interceptors. once you call a distributor/manufacturer they will be able to dial you in. i like the deal i got on the limo springs...FREEBIE! ZIP..ZERO...NADA! i still have them for spares along with 90% of the torino.

mysticle, like you heard these things will handle really well.
to give you an idea on the weight. with me and a 1/4 tank of gas it weighed in at 4480 lbs on the scale at my local dump. :-hair

the first place you can start is with new poly sway bar bushings and end links.
then check your control arm bushing, ball joints and replace if needed. if only one side needs it do em both anyway.

getting all that weight lower to the ground helps too. cut the old springs, find a good interchangable set, whatever you have the money, patience, skill for. I went with the low budget way and used 2 sets of spring compressor to completely collapse one coil space in the front dropping me 1 3/4". in the back I loaded it with some fire wood (about 3 or 400 lbs) and heated up one of the coils to get about an 1 1/4" of drop. if you have never done this seek help. you can go too far or totally trash the spring rate.
225/60/14 will give you about another 1 1/2" drop all around. not to mention the added rubber to the road.

to get even more choices check this out. I just got the rear control arm bushings in the mail. their down to 48$
http://members.aol.com/tocool4u26/ranchero.htm

my goodness.. these things are soooo heavy. You’ve got to generate ridicules amounts of power to make them move, and stop.

I ordered that Ranchero handling manual. Is it pretty much 'the ultimate' manual? I'm still waiting for it to get here..

I read that somebody and somebody else makes fiberglass hoods for 72, 73, 74 torinos. And fiberglass front clip for 72.

I've been looking at fitting a 74+ torino hood on my car, and seeing if I can modify the sides of the front clip to match my ranchero's body lines. That is if the two cars have the same line in the top of the fender.

I've read that I can use all (fenders, hood, clip, bumper) on my 77 but there are no fenders that are the proper width for the hood from another car that doesn't have that middle line in the side of the fender. And maybe 73 stuff is too hard to come by? Which leads to wonder if the Mondego sport (GT) hood will bolt on to a 74 torino. I never checked that..

some say the 72-76 parts will fit but not seperatly. yeah a hood may fit the fenders with but you may have to change the whole grill assembly.

I've had trouble finding any fiberglass front end parts that are bolt on by themselves. if you do please post for all to see.

you don't need tons of power if you have a 400. you allready have tons of torque. my 0-60 has improved to 7.11 seconds since my gear change. I can't run 130 no more but how often do you get to do that :)

you are in luck! 73-76 hoods are $100 off right now! they only list them on the site as "race weight" and might not use stock hinges, they might need to be pinned down? but they might be able to make it in the heavy duty style if you ask? they are listed under "fairlane" at http://www.usbody.com/

I've noticed a few mercs seem to have the same body style (IE, I can look at hood hinges, and how the front windshield part is styled) All the way to 67.

Did the torino, Montego, Ranchero, cougar, LTD II, T-bird, Elite basic styling start at 1972? It's interesting that the montegos fenders are unique to it, it seems.

I also wonder about doors, the montego and cougar and elites have doors that I like. They swoop up in the back (near the door handle). Does anyone know if the early (72, 73?) torino door panels will clip on to them (IE is the 'swoop' the same?)

Hmm. I just read that the elite was a mid size car. And the Ranchero is full size. I wonder if the elites hood (whole front end) was smaller. I know there are some big ole' brackets on my ranchero for the bumper that bring it out two or 3 inches.

77, I'm curious how you built for 400 and what you did.

all the models you stated have so many changes from 70 to 79 to accurately compare "basic styling".

I'm not sure about the Elite doors fitting but you can change to a single headlight setup with the front grill assembly from a 74-76 elite. I have a pic but I haven't found it yet.

this currently where I'm at with my 400.

Performer 400 intake
Performer 600cfm man choke carb
1.73 FMS roller rockers
MSD 6A ignition w/ Blaster coil
9mm FMS wires
4" moroso aluminum crank pulley
small dia aluminum altenator pulley
4 core radiator with electric fan

Dual exhaust 2 1/4" pipes with 40 series
mild shift kit
3.70 gears w/ an equa loc

cam, headers and head work are soon to come. dont be bassakwards like me. do these mods first with a new intake. :-X10 a good cam is what really wakes these motors up.

Basic body style meening. Hood hinges, same large frontal area, same winshield area, same door mounting, same rear pillers, fender mounting...etc.

mysticle, I found that pick on the elite front end.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...=52303&width=0

That elite is an interesting option. Just like mine (no need to change hood) just single headlights.

Ultimately I'd like to bolt up a 74+ Torino hood and front clip (with bumper from..something that works) And see if I can reshape (modify, bondo, cut, POR-15, weld) the sides to match the smooth curve of the Rancheros fender..

Or

Lincoln front end (or Tbird, maybe Montego or Cougar) I'd have to see what I can find in real life, and how I like them in real life, and what colors I can paint the car with that front end..