Thanks for the detail, it makes perfect sense now. I was thinking about it in a "making a car" way when I should have been thinking of it as making as cosplay prop. You're not trying to make a Ranger that happens to have another car under it; you're making a Ranger costume for a Taurus.
That thing is a fantastic effort! I'm so glad you didn't just do the death kart thing and just hack off the body. That's an effective way to drop weight, but the Ranger body gave it way more panache!
I'm loving your build and back story! I've been bringing students to this event for 20 years because I was absolutely convinced they could do it well... I'm so glad to see you have proved it to be possible!
Awesome job! I did not realize until now that you all are Florida-based.
Awesome build. I'm a sucker for 80s trucks.
I don't think i knew that those Tauruses could be acquired cheap enough to make the challenge feasible. I assume it came from an auction?
Please continue with your build/race report, Katie! We are all greatly enjoying this!
It is rather amazing how hideously wonderful the truck in the ad is for Challenge purposes!
No drivetrain...don't need one! The ad was 8 weeks old. He didn't still have it because he was turning down offers. I suspect no one was inquiring. Did the $300 offer get you the wheels too that he was excluding originally?
When ya'll showed up at events like these with traditional, well build drag cars...
...with this and laid down low 12's, what were the reactions/comments?
From a distance I would make assumptions of what this is. From a far distance I see a lowered Ranger likely running a turbo V8. Every step closer might have me changing my thoughts, like as I get closer I might think its a tube chassis replaced Ranger still with V8 Turbo. As I got ultra close, I would never guess a unibody to be lurking under those Ranger panels. The absence of any real frame (factory Ranger or tube frame.) If I heard Ex-Cop car underneath...Crown Vic would be the natural progression???
Amazing!
killitkatie said:In reply to wae :
...
As far as attaching the truck cab to the Taurus, we inserted 1" steel tubing inside of the truck's A pillars, screwed directly through the pillar with self tapping screws into the tubing with three screws each side. The bottom of the tubing was flattened out and attached to the door frame of the Taurus with another 3 self tapping screws. The rear of the cab was welded (by my dad) to the roll bar with some scrap metal tabs. The bed of the truck was screwed to the back of the cab and also welded to the shock towers as well as 4 pieces of metal angle to keep it attached at the very rear of the bed. The fenders were screwed on to the Taurus just like normal fenders, but not in the right places, and with about 10 self tapping screws each side. The hood was held on with hood pins, and the doors we used gate hinges with self tapping screws into the door jambs of the Taurus and welded onto the doors of the Ranger. I will say that the doors were the most floppy things you will ever see!
I really want to like this too much to be too critical, but using sheet metal screws to hold the body on seems to be right at the edge of janky. Please tell me there was a roll cage and seats and harness' were tied to the unibody floor pan.
Love the creativity and can do attitude, and don't want to put a damper on this deal, but maybe you could weld some of the cab to the floor pan. Don't care about the hood, fenders, and bed can fall off without someone getting hurt
In reply to twentyover :
Yes, quite janky! But as I mentioned, my dad welded the cab to the roll bar with some tabs at the back of the cab. The roll bar is welded to the Taurus door sills with 6" square plates like normal and is quite sturdy. But my dad says def not NHRA compliant!
In reply to John Welsh :
Amazing comments. Everyone was super supportive and interested! We left the truck in the staging lanes to go watch for 30 minutes as our lanes were not moving. When we got back, the girl in the Mustang next to us said, "Girl, your car is popular. Everyone keeps stopping and asking me questions about it, maybe you should stick around!"
In reply to killitkatie :
I can imagine! You girls bring your "Hillybilly Truck" to the drags and start putting down 12's! That's gonna certainly attract attention! Way to go!
killitkatie said:In reply to twentyover :
Yes, quite janky! But as I mentioned, my dad welded the cab to the roll bar with some tabs at the back of the cab. The roll bar is welded to the Taurus door sills with 6" square plates like normal and is quite sturdy. But my dad says def not NHRA compliant!
Ummm... doesn't it have to be nhra compliant?
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
Only if you're putting down a lower than 11 sec ET. At least I think that was the number...
rdcyclist said:In reply to wvumtnbkr :
Only if you're putting down a lower than 11 sec ET. At least I think that was the number...
That's not really right. There are a few exceptions for slower cars, but they are things like allowing windows down or exhausts to exit through the hood, etc.
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