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text and photos by forum member Jeff931

393 Cleveland stroker
1973 Ford Ranchero GT

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This 1973 Ford Ranchero GT, VIN 3A48Q197113 was originally a bright red, "Q-code" 351Cleveland-4V Cobra Jet/C6 car.




393 Clevland stroker:
Bottem end: I used a 351C-2V block, 2 bolt mains with ARP studs, line-honed, decked & bored 0.030" over, 3.850" stroke cast steel Scat crank, Scat I-beam rods w/ARP bolts, Probe forged pistons w/lite weight, thin-wall cro-moly wrist pins, a Pioneer damper & a B&M flexplate, all dynamically balanced; I installed a Moroso windage tray, a Melling stock volume oil pump with ARP cro-moly driveshaft, Melling oil tube pickup, and stock 5 qt oil pan with home-made baffles; {no other oil system mods installed; I have 45 psi oil pressure @ idle and 60 psi by 2000 rpm.} Cam: I converted to a hydraulic roller cam and used all CompCams parts including: a custom ground cam with 224/230* duration and .572/.584 lift @ 0.050", Magnum 1.72:1 roller rockers, Beehive springs with steel retainers & locks, guideplates & 3/8" pushrods and a double roller timing chain set. Top End: I used "Aussie" 302C 2V heads with 58cc closed chambers; I added stainless steel Manley 2.19 intake & 1.72 exhaust valves and a three-angle valve job, bronze quides, hardened exhaust seats, machined for guide plates, larger springs and teflon valve seals, and decked them enough to straighten them out.; I cleaned up the ports and the bowl area below the valves and around the valve guide boss, and installed them with Fel Pro gaskets and ARP head studs. Intake/Exhaust, etc: I used an Edelbrock Performer dual plane intake and a Barry Grant Speed Demon 750 4 barrel with vaccum secondaries & a 13" open air cleaner; The exhaust manifolds are 2V iron jobs I ported a little, 2 1/2" dual exhaust system with Magnaflow X-pipe and mufflers; I used a Ford single point distributor and installed a Pertronix digital ignition module, then recurved it with new springs; a Pertronix hi-voltage coil, 7mm Motorcraft wires and Motorcraft platinum spark plugs round out the ignition system; All Fel Pro gaskets and ARP 12 point fasteners; stock Ford water pump and 60 amp alternator, a Motorcraft 600 CCA battery & a Powermaster Hi Torq starter.





I wanted to maintain the "stock-original" look of the engine bay,
with no "clues" as to what is hiding below those "old" valve covers, heh, heh....

These are the "Aussie" 302C 2V heads I used, before any porting or machine work.

These are the intake ports on the "Aussie" heads I used, before any machining or porting.

These are the exhaust ports of the "Aussie" heads I used, before any porting or machine work.

This is the casting number and date code on the 351C-2V block I used.

I've installed 20" Coy's C-5 wheels in the rear, & 18" in the front;

those are stock Ford coil springs in the rear and small-block coils up front.

I built this fresh C6 myself, with a wide ratio 1st-2nd gear set, "S" servo, six pinion planetary and a B&M Stage II shift kit; the convertor is a 11" TCS "Pro Street" 2500 rpm stall; first time down the track yielded a 14.62 @93.78mph; traction was a problem!