the "Raunchero"

[ryanjones2150]

Thought you guys might enjoy taking a peek at this beauty. This masterpiece of fine Detroit craftsmanship repurposed into a 4,150 lbs of torque monstrosity.

This is the "Raunchero". It's a 1973 Ford Ranchero Squirre. Ain't she purdy?

Why turn a Ranchero into a drag car you ask? Because it's different. It's ugly. It's awesome. People keep comparing it to the likes of "Farm truck" on that street racing show, but I don't know much about it, I don't watch it. But guys at the track just look and smile when they see us. Then they see that thing launch and really smile. And, we're about to run Hotrod Magazine's Drag Week in September in this luxury ride. Whatdoya guys think?

[H80N]

Am I seeing a Rat Motor inside that Blue Oval...??...

Details PLS..??

VERY COOL.....

EDIT... OOPS... just noticed the distributor on the front..not a BBC.... soo it'sa 460..???..429..??

[H80N]

Do think it is doubly cool that you plan on running in "Hot Rod Magazine DRAG WEEK".......

September 13, 2015 - September 19, 2015 HOT ROD Drag Week is the event where street/strip cars are driven 1,000-plus miles on public roads during a trip that includes four dragstrips and five races in five days. The winner in each of the many classes is the car that averages the quickest elapsed time over the five races, and the quickest overall is named HOT ROD's Fastest Street Car in America. Drag Week: anything else is just talk.

http://www.hotrod.com/events/drag-week/

[ryanjones2150]

That was a 460 in a previous life...now it's a 572 John Kasse from John Kasse himself (he's the one in the middle below). We sent that old block off to him, drove to Georgia, bought a little trailer and picked up the parts from his machine shop. That place was so clean, you could lick the floor and not get your tongue dirty. Pretty fun putting it together.

On a 300 shot of nitrous, that bad mammer jammer is pumping out over 1000hp. We wanted to make the car look as close to stock as possible, so building that hood scoop (which was a metal bookshelf in its former life) broke our hearts just a little. We scrounged parts and materials for that thing from all over. Its been a fun project.

[H80N]

That was a 460 in a previous life...now it's a 572 John Kasse from John Kasse himself (he's the one in the middle below). We sent that old block off to him, drove to Georgia, bought a little trailer and picked up the parts from his machine shop. That place was so clean, you could lick the floor and not get your tongue dirty. Pretty fun putting it together.

On a 300 shot of nitrous, that bad mammer jammer is pumping out over 1000hp. We wanted to make the car look as close to stock as possible, so building that hood scoop (which was a metal bookshelf in its former life) broke our hearts just a little. We scrounged parts and materials for that thing from all over. Its been a fun project.

http://www.jonkaaseracingengines.com/

Make one heck of a Q-Ship/SLEEPER....

that is if the exhaust note does not give you away....

[H80N]

Am really curious as to the chassis work you had to perform to get all that hp to the ground effectively… it must have been well thought out and extensive….

Saw the bars and front engine plate in the engine room… what else..??


From my own experience years ago having a warmed over daily driven (Mid 11 second) Buick GS455…it was nothing compared to your beast….

But would still twist the chassis on launch… like a flexi flyer

You are into the Nine's.... a whole different world...

[ryanjones2150]

the "Raunchero"

I'd say that we probably have spent more time in setting up our rear end than anything else. The suspension is a place where a lot of amateurs like us overlook. The Ranchero stock rear suspension is four link, so we just modified it. We dropped the connection points and fabbed up adjustable links. We beefed the living daylights out of the housing dumped some serious money into the shocks. All the mounts are beefed up, trying me bullet proof as best we can. This was absolute key in getting the car to hook up off the line.

Because it's so heavy, nitrous is a must to propel that beast down the track. But hitting the juice full on just shakes the tires like nobody's business. So we got our hands on a nitrous stage control flimflam. That box lets us adjust how much (in %) of the total hit of nitrous is right off the line, then ramp it up to a full on 300 hit of the stuff. For example, we've found that that engine LOVES the 300 shot, but nothing more than 75% of it off the line, depending on what the track can handle. Then we ramp it up over the next half second or so to 100%. Keeps the rear end planted and the tires from spinning.

Add to that changing the "pills" in the ignition box. That gives us the ability to change the rev limiter, shift rpm, launch rpm, etc., all depending on the track and conditions.

It's a lot of all them fancy doohickies working together and making some sweet music. Plus, we don't wash it. That dirt is in very strategic places that help to break the hold of the encapsulated vortexes that slow down your average drag car...or something.

[H80N]

Any construction pics that you could share with us...??

of course leaving out the TOP SECRET ones...
we would not want to risk national security...

Nine seconds... is VERY RESPECTABLE....

[ryanjones2150]

Well, we didn't take many pictures, but here's me using the foot pedal like a thigh master finishing up the roll cage under the dash. I'll see if I can find some more. We have some gopro videos though.

[H80N]

Well, we didn't take many pictures, but here's me using the foot pedal like a thigh master finishing up the roll cage under the dash. I'll see if I can find some more. We have some gopro videos though.

I always get more out of the "In Progress" pics and video than the finished presentation stuff... is there a youtube channel..??

[ryanjones2150]

the "Raunchero"

No YouTube thing. I think we posted the videos to some other doodad though. I'll see if I can find the links.

[ryanjones2150]

Had to do some investigative work on the engine today. We lost nearly all the vacuum from the pump on the motor, but still ran 9.94. After digging into it, the valve cover gasket was sucked in on top. The valve cover has only two bolts on top, so we put a stud in the head in the middle to keep the gasket from being sucked in and we turned the vacuum down a skosh.

Also, been having a consistent problem with the nitrous solenoid not closing on the first test of the day. So after talking to the fine folks at nitrous express, they claim to have very few problems with their solenoids except with under voltage or amperage or some power drop issue, I can't remember exactly what the guy said, but we rewired them with 12ga in place of the 16ga wire...problem solved so far. Here's a quick shot after adjusting the valves...

[H80N]

Had to do some investigative work on the engine today. We lost nearly all the vacuum from the pump on the motor, but still ran 9.94. After digging into it, the valve cover gasket was sucked in on top. The valve cover has only two bolts on top, so we put a stud in the head in the middle to keep the gasket from being sucked in and we turned the vacuum down a skosh.

Also, been having a consistent problem with the nitrous solenoid not closing on the first test of the day. So after talking to the fine folks at nitrous express, they claim to have very few problems with their solenoids except with under voltage or amperage or some power drop issue, I can't remember exactly what the guy said, but we rewired them with 12ga in place of the 16ga wire...problem solved so far. Here's a quick shot after adjusting the valves...

Get her sorted out for Drag Week....

Is there any chance that your NOX solenoid is freezing on you..?? like is common with C02 regs at high flow rates...??

Pls keep us posted... and as always... More PICS...

[ryanjones2150]

in tase I would say no. We have had one of the solenoids freeze, the first time on the the dyno, first hit stuck it open...but that was some crudd got in there and obstructed it. Got it cleared out and worked fine. It was pretty obvious it was stuck open though.

We have found that if our system pressure is too high, the solenoids won't open, so we monitor or system pressure very close. The sweet spot also happens to be just a little under that max pressure though.

I did pose the question about the solenoids freezing to the nitrous express folks and they say its not likely, especially since its the first test of the day and we haven't flowed any gas yet. The issue we have is exclusively on the first test of the day, in the pit or when we let the car sit a while then try it again. A while being several hours. So far, this change seems to have solved the problem.

Today I'm working on building my nitrous refill station that I plan to mount inside the trailer somewhere, somehow...we'll see. The cylinder has to be upside-down though (250 cu ft), and there might not be enough height inside that little bity trailer. I'll figure something out, a stand of some sort.

[H80N]

You might consider treating the solenoid with a dry teflon lube like Slikene from Kano

http://www.kanolabs.com/indLub.html


there are a lot of other similar dry lubes that might help the binding that you are seeing at higher pressures and the greater lateral loading of the solenoid slug

and a dumb question.... you guys did not use any teflon tape when you plumbed that system...

know most fittings used these day are "AN".... but I have to ask... tiny shreds can make huge mayhem