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Lately, I've begun to suspect the Focus oil pan is shallower than the Ranger unit. It might be worth while to check it out. If you happen to decide to witch to a Focus pan, be sure to get the oil pick up. I'm positive they are different.

Bill

the speedway nose fits almost exactly, especially if the car is a 442 and you need some extra hight in the hood area, this of course will also require an increase in hight of the scuttle to keep the hood line reasonable, it is also not square.

the only bad point is the grill, as supplied, it is a rough casting and when i say rough, i mean rough to the point of having to file all the vertical bars and use a disc on the frame, the mounting holes are NOT drilled and will require threading also, i must assume that in the sprint car world they just sillicon it in place.

i considered the focus pan but it is designed for transverse installation and the baffling and pickup are all wrong, there are now some other people making pans from steel with, it is alledged, the right baffles for a north south config, as finances allow, i will persue this line as my motor sticks out the bottom about 11/2 inches.

i did not use the ranger intake because it mounts above the engineand would stick through the hood some 4 inches. To fit the focus manifold, which i purchased from blue spring ford over the net, cheaper than a used one from the wrecking yard, you must modify the coolant pipe behind the manifold, use a focus throttle body, but the stock ranger idle air control fits as does the throttle cable. beware, there are several manifolds and throttle bodies available, you need it to operate with a cable.

i also used the focus fuel rail, this is square section as opposed to round, it has the fuel inlet at the rear instead of at the front as in the ranger, there two distinct differences that must be dealt with, the ranger has what looks like a pressure regulator on the top, it is NOT! it is a pulse dampener this is not used on the focus as the fuel rail is larger in volume but has a flange with two screw holes to allow fitment of a fuel pressure sensor because the focus adjusts the pressure by speeding or slowing the pump in the tank, unlike the ranger which has a conventional regulator in the tank on the return line.( fuel is pumped from the intank pump to the fuel filter where some runs to the front to feed the fuel rail and the rest is returned to the tank via a pressure regulator set at 40p.s.i.

i used this system as it provides a single line to the front of the car, as to the flange on the fuel rail, i just braised a plug in the hole.

A single line is cleaner to install, but does not purge the line of air (or vapor) pockets. A carb will do that, after a fashion, as will a return line setup. But if you get a bubble in a dead end system, you're looking at ton's 'o fun.

Bill

Bill,

Doesn't the air eventually work its way out through the injectors, and isn't there still a valve on top of the rail for pressure testing that also allows the trapped air to escape when triggered?

Tom

Yes, it does work its way out. But that can take quite a bit of time and each bit of air expelled is an engine miss. As for the valve, the one on my fuel rail was a standard Shrader valve, nothing automatic.

Bill

so you are saying that every time someone runs out of fuel or a tech works on the f.i. the engine will missfire because air is in the system,

now i don't know everything but as i am an ase master tech, i do know about this, shure there will be air in the line, turn on the key about three times and then poke the shreider valve and the air comes right out cos there is 40 p.s.i. pushing it.

on installation it may take a bit more effort but hey, i made the effort to build a car!

return systems are good but the money it cost to add a custom fuel rail, a custom regulator, the return line to the tank, a new fuel filter and modifying the sender in the tank with all the associated couplings?

all i did was replace the fuel rail with a focus rail to make the line attach from the rear instead of the front, used the factory line from that to the factory chassis line and pluged the factory filter on the end under the car conveniently over the reat axle then i ran a 5/16 steel retun line from the filter using compression fitting to the sender with another comp fitting, then a 3/8 comp fitting from the filter through 3/8 steel fuel line to the sender where it also attaches with a comp fitting then fitted the ranger regulator to the return line in the tank wth a new piece of hose.

total parts needed,
2 x 3/8 compression fittings
2 x 5/16 compression fittings
2 ft of 3/8 and 2 ft of 5/16 steel fuel line
short piece of hose to attach the regulator to the end of the sender unit
2 hose clips

i still have enough steel line and hose to do it again!

when i pluged the fuel rail because there was no need for the pressure sender i added a bleed screw from a wheel cylinder, now i can open the screw and turn on the key to bleed the system.

John, I was able to convert my Ranger fuel rail to return style by removing the endcap and installing an ordinary plumbing fitting. From there a rubber hose goes to a fuel pressure regulator with barb fittings, then to 1/4" I.D. steel (brake) return line. Total cost: not much. I had no donor car so had little to start with. Had to purchase the fuel pump, filters and line.

My car does not have a swirl pot, so there have been a couple of times the self-clearing property of the return line has been highly appreciated.

Bill

hi i do not have a return line on my set up, never had to bleed air out, even on first start up. i believe the air self bleeds though the injectors quickly

this week i built a spray booth at one end of the shop and modified a swamp cooler blower to extract the fumes.

made a cart from a bed frame and some electrical conduit.

painted the frame with etch primer from trinity 1945 called dtm cost $79.99 including reducer making 2 gal of mixed paint, i sprayed the underside first then turned it over the next day, this involved some manhandling and expected the primer to get scratched in the process but even though i scraped the chassis in one or two places the primer has stuck like well etch primer, this is only a base for some 2k primer on the areas that will be seen.

i will paint the underside with gravitex stone chip before finish paint to stop it from chipping and to sound proof it, at least stop it drumming.

i am considering painting the inside floors with truck bed paint but i haven't had a lot of success with this on beds in the past, i would appreciate any thoughts on this if there is anyone who has learnt the secret of a good finish.

tomorrow i will start the seam sealing process before painting.

i intend to paint the parts as i require them during the build so i guess its the suspension next, then i can wheel it around the shop and plumb the brake lines, fuel line, battery cable, and electrical harness.

this i how far i've got

i have not painted the car yet its just primer,

work outstandig is front brake hoses, down stream o2 sensor, key coding, carpet on the interior and some upholstery in the cockpit, that is apart from the paint

just to show, i'm not new to this, i found this picture of me driving the first locost i built when working as a college tutor in england in 1998, note that the car is right hand drive

so now i have a complete car, o2 sensor installed, front brake lines installed,

now all i have to do is make it run and paint the rest of the car.

to make it run, i can get coded keys made, cost is $150 for keys and coding plus a 120 mile round trip in my truck towing a trailer to the locksmith at 10 mpg. = $48.00 in gas so total is about $200.00.

alternativly, as the rear axle ratio is way different, do i send the ecm to dunn-rite and have the pats removed, the ecm inputs adjusted to make the speedo read correctly and a higher level of tune put in at a cost of $350.00 plus shipping and handling?

Yo John-
I really like those vents you have set into the side of the hood and lower body panel. Where'd they come from? (I might wanna copy-cat on you!)

Good looking build!

JDK

made from 1/4" bar stock and 1/8" welding rod, braised together.

did you notice my hood pins at the bottom of the grills in the hood?