Ford "Tauruck".

[tauruck]

Hi Sid, I'm Mike. The truck was a 1974 Ford XB Ute aka Ford Ranchero in South Africa. Motorsport South Africa will create a new class for it I'm told because of the "uniqueness". Chassis is tubing/Carbon on Aluminium honeycomb hybrid, Simply put it's a Carbon tub built into a Nascar style chassis. Body is all Carbon/Nomex honeycomb (although only the hood is made at this stage) and it will have all sorts of aerodynamic tweaks on it. Then there's the twin turbo Ford V8. Our LSR is small, probably as big as cricket is in the States. Not much going on really but it's starting to grow. It's a low car. I'm 5'7" and the roof is level with my chest. I did post pics earlier of the truck body before I molded it but here's a Photoshop example of what it should look like.

[robfrey]

Absolutely incredible build! Craftsmanship is amazing! Keep the pics coming, please.

[SPARKY]

Mike, I am no turbo expert--but I have a good many hours on Match-Bot now---I will between all of us we can identify some turbos that be used,  that you should be able to find used over there!!  What displacment and target hp are you looing for and what do you plan on using for intercoolers

[kiwi belly tank]

Hi Sid, I'm Mike. The truck was a 1974 Ford XB Ute aka Ford Ranchero in South Africa. Motorsport South Africa will create a new class for it I'm told because of the "uniqueness". Chassis is tubing/Carbon on Aluminium honeycomb hybrid, Simply put it's a Carbon tub built into a Nascar style chassis. Body is all Carbon/Nomex honeycomb (although only the hood is made at this stage) and it will have all sorts of aerodynamic tweaks on it. Then there's the twin turbo Ford V8. Our LSR is small, probably as big as cricket is in the States. Not much going on really but it's starting to grow. It's a low car. I'm 5'7" and the roof is level with my chest. I did post pics earlier of the truck body before I molded it but here's a Photoshop example of what it should look like.

I think I can see an XB Ute there Mike, that's bad ar$e Mate. Lol on the cricket thing.
I've been doing turbo'd $hit on a lunch money budget for a while now, my latest build is a KB with a pair of 133mm Garrett's that came off a 16V-149 Detroit.
Let's see if we can help you get around some of the turbo mystery here.
The first thing you need is a good turbo calculator & I found one online a few years ago that is easy to use & also has a really good gearing calculator in the side bar too.

http://www.squirrelpf.com/turbocalc/

I like to work with Garrett stuff as a guide, they are easy for me to ID.
The turbos on my KB for example are GT5533's & to break that down,
GT=Garrett Turbo
55= series number
33= 133mm exducer, thats the OD of the compressor wheel.

At a "rough" guess a 351 would use a pair of GT3271's. 71mm wheel.
Now you basically have the size turbo you need X2 so you can junkyard hunt with a caliper or web search the Garrett number to find out what engine that was fitted to. Probably a diesel.
The A/R numbers on compressor & turbine housings are "area ratio", the bigger the number, the slower it will spool up. Garrett will have different A/R housings available for series number turbos if you need to fine tune once you're up & running.

This is a backyard method that works for me, so all you "Expert's" out there that know better, stick it in your ear!!

I just got called out on a breakdown so I've gotta go to work. I get back to you on cheap BOV's & wastegates that work.
  Sid.

[Duck-Stew]

Looking real good!  Congrats on getting it as a roller. 

[tauruck]

This forum is unbelievable. All of you guys are like a big family. Where I come from guys won't share jack. Thanks for all the advice. I'll be hearing later today on the HX55 Holsets. If all goes well I'll be able to give accurate specs on them. My big concern is my engine block. Not coming from a turbo background I assumed the block I have being an Australian thick wall casting would hold up. The stresses of turbocharging will probably turn it into a pile of junk but I was determined to make it work so I checked with guys that "play" with these motors full time. It won't handle the strain. I checked block casting numbers and it got even worse. My original truck is Australian so the thought was that the motor would be as well. I have an American block (thin wall) but the heads are Australian. What I need is a Dart billet block so I contacted them and the answer is that it takes ten weeks and costs $10,300 plus shipping. That's around 150 grand where I live. My woman bought a new Chevy that cost R110,000. This is big bucks for a block. Years ago I would have said where do I pay but I haven't worked for a boss since 1988 and I don't own a company with staff. I kinda sit here and wait for miracles. They happen and work arrives but not regularly. One week I'll get a job to build a wrought iron gate then nothing. A month later I travel a few hundred miles and do fibreglass work and some skinning on a farmer's plane. A few Carbon bits here and there.  It's not great but it beats sitting in traffic wearing a suit. I did that deal. Things will work out I guess. I'll find that money somehow, anybody got a ski mask I can borrow?.
       

[SPARKY]

Mike what kind of power adders are they using? 

Turbos are much, much easier on "parts" than others.  The revs. are usually much less and the pistons are never completely unloaded..

[tauruck]

Turbos. Sparky, I'm building the pipes and all the parts that go with it but Mo is the guy who'll setup the system. I did see that Dart had blocks for Ford that were half the price of what they recommended.
        I had a short discussion with Peter Jack on LSR and he's given some great advice. Pete, here are the pics of the roof flap mountings etc. When I did the roof mold I built in the flap molds as seperate items. I'll remove the blue ones and produce the flaps using Carbon/Ally honeycomb but leave about 1/2" around the perimeter where it will only be Carbon. After curing I cleco the finished parts to their molds and reinsert those molds in the main one. After release agent I lay up the rest of the roof. When it's ready I have a roof section with a recess 1/2" wide and the depth of the thickness around both flaps with no gaps. Well, that's the plan anyway. The surface will keep it's shape with no protrusions, the flaps will fit perfectly and before paint a light sand will remove a small amount of material. The big flap doubles as an escape hatch as well.
      Since deciding/being told a light car isn't the right way to go I added a few more pipes to the chassis.  Some 2" cross braces. I'm not done, I'm ordering more material today. They say if you throw a chicken into the chassis and it gets out you need more tubing. I built in the tow hook that slides through a bushing and is kept in place by an R clip. I'll punch a hole through the roof when the time comes and get a plastic chair leg plug to seal it when not in use. A few more bracket must be added for body mountings etc and she's ready for that NASCAR white paint. I could probably spray it here but I always seem to get "orange peel" on tubing. It could be my thinner to paint ratio but I can never get it right. My mate Jacques has a body shop up the road and he needs something from me so the barter system is in effect. A while back a customer owed me about $200 and said he didn't have it but maybe I'd accept a few gauges instead. It was a big plastic shopping bag full of Autometer Ultra light. 8 in total including a tach with the reset/electronic telltale, manual water, oil etc. I "GRUDGINGLY" accepted the package.

[tauruck]

More poics.

[tauruck]

Last one.

[kiwi belly tank]

With all the Ozzy Falcons down there you should be able to come up with one of the thick blocks right?
If you get one of those, I wouldn't worry about hanging boost on it. Main studs & a girdle would be desirable so you don't run over the crank. I used to build my own step girdles out of 3/8 plate & never dropped a crank.
  Sid.

[tauruck]

Thanks Sid, I'm going to put an ad in the classifieds right now. I have the material for the girdle and My ARP inventory is vast. I got some bad news today. My mentor passed away. Jaapie Ludick. He was one of the best weldors ever (even Titanium), machinist and car guy. He was so good that when Ferarri used to come here in the 70s and 80s for the Grand Prix they used him as their away from home engineer. I went to him in the early 90s to do some welding for me and when he asked what I did and heard I built Carbon fiber parts he got me work from clients he was doing work for. I wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't met him. There are a number of parts he welded for me going on my car. I'm pleased I kept them. He was a special dude.

[tauruck]

Concerning motors now. I just got an email from Jeff Gapp, son of Wayne who gave me the horsepower figures on what Wayne Gapp and Jack Roush got out of the 351C. 2.6HP per cubic inch @9000rpm. Stock factory block. That's incredible power for a normally aspirated motor from the early 70s. I thought I'd share that with my new mate, Sid.

[Duck-Stew]

Sorry to hear about your friend/mentor...

Regarding Jack Roush:  It was always a treat to drive by one of his shops in Livonia, MI and hear a high rpm Ford V8 screaming out a dyno run from blocks away.  It was very loud even at blocks away!

[tauruck]

Yes, Jack's a real Patriot as well. A client of mine from about 10 years ago spent time at Jack's opreation having motors built. The story he told me was that one of Roush's guys on the race team bought a Japanese truck and when pay day rolled around Jack paid him in Japanese Yen. The guy was told if you want to drive a Jap truck you get paid Jap money. It's a funny story I think is true because the source doesn't have time to BS.