1965 Ranchero Page 1
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I have been in the process of resto-moding a 1965 Ford Ranchero. It has been a lot of work and it seems like everything needed to be replaced. I also wanted to change the color from white to a light turquoise metallic with pearl added to the clear coat. The paint job alone cost close to $5,000 and that was with me doing most of the body work. The original motor, a 6 cylinder, has been replaced with a 1990 - 5.0 HO Roller Cam "Crate" motor and at present has an Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold and #1405, 600 CFM, carburetor. It also has an Accel ignition system. The original C-4 "Green dot" Automatic transmission was replaced with a C-5 and works fine. The rear end is from a 1964 Sprint and has 3.25 gears. The front steering gear is from a 1964 Ranchero with power steering. The Ranchero has 1978 Granada  Disk breaks and a duel master cylinder. I  took everything apart to see if anything needed fixing so, she went through as close to what is called a "Frame-Off" restoration as a uni-body vehicle can get. Other explanations will be under the photos. Enjoy!

Click on the small image to see the bigger picture.

This is the way the car looked before I started all the work. First I wanted to get the bed of the truck taken care of. I had a friend that works at a body shop take all the dents out of the bed. Then I had a liner sprayed into the bed. It's put on HOT and 1/8" to 3/16" thick.
Next I removed the hood and fenders. Lots of work here! New fender seals and some undercoating. Lots of surface rust to get rid of. This is the color of the paint I thought I was going to use. I am going to be changing it.
A bit more work under fender. It doesn't look too bad.  Again, part of the car with the wrong color paint. Under fender rust prevention. This side was kind' a bad. The cowling, pre paint. As you can see, all the rubber is shot!
Hood and fender waiting for me to do something with them. Front of car, Headlight area. Pretty gross. New rubber and paint. Looks great now! All glass is removed and the disassembly is almost complete.
Rear of truck after disassembly. Interior disassembled. Wiring seems to be OK! New steering gear is going in now.
Under fender is ready for prep. This fender is almost ready for paint. I finally found the color of paint I want. A beautiful 2001 color, "Crystal Blue Pearl". I am going to try and do some "Leading". Here are some holes I will Lead in.
Here is the other side of the car where I finished leading in the mirror holes. I painted the interior. Now you can really see the color I have chosen. The cowling turned out pretty good. This is the rear of the interior. All in all, I think it is turning out great!
I finally got the guide coat on the car. It may not look like it but the paint has a slight blue tint to it. This will help me while sanding to let me know if there are any high or low spots. All I need to do now is sand the entire car until it is "Baby's Butt" smooth. Here is one of the hoods. I have painted the underside with two coats and will wait a week to spray the final coats of paint. I am starting to put the car back together, AT LAST!
   
Here goes the beginnings of the interior reinstallation. And the BIG BAD 1990-302 Roller Motor, Pre-print.    

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I have much more work to do on it and will update the page as I go.    Mail me if you like.