blksn8k2

Just looking at this rear quarter profile of the Everest it becomes pretty apparent that they widened the fenders and quarter panels to cover the 2" wider track from the previous gen but I'm starting to suspect that there was no change to the width of the cabin between the axles for this or the Ranger. And so far I have seen no word from Ford to the contrary.

My comment was more tongue in cheek as it really had nothing to do with road noise. But I actually did add a Mustang GT engine cover on my 2018 F-150 in hopes that it would dampen some of the racket. I even added more high temp insulation on the underside of the cover than what comes from the factory. It may have taken away a little of the injector noise but it didn't disguise any of the other numerous rattles and clangs emitting from the engine.

I think they must have also removed the sound deadening from the 5.0L V8. It sounds pretty tinny too. ?

Something else they changed with this new car is the elimination of the inner liner which is another reason why a car can't be driven back to the pits with flat tires. The lower profiles tires don't help either.

This is getting way out of hand now. I've actually lost track of how many orders I have placed on Ebay for shelves (when an order is cancelled it is removed from your Purchase History) but it has to be at least ten and some of those were for more than one unit. So far not a single order has worked out. The majority have been listings that were for a single 5 shelf unit and most of those have been canceled by the seller because the items were damaged and not suitable to be sold. The same thing happened on another order for three units. I had one order where the listing was removed by Ebay due to "issues with the sellers account". Unfortunately I had already placed the order before I got that message from Ebay. I can't do anything now until the estimated delivery date has passed at which time I can request a refund due to non-delivery. The only order I have received so far was the wrong size which I returned. I still have I think three orders pending and I only have a tracking number for one of those. My guess is that if I do get that one it will be the wrong size too. Haven't lost a dime yet but it will be a miracle if that holds true to the end. Sad part is that none of the sellers have had terrible ratings. I also had an order for four units from a company whose web store listed a Florida address. That was not on Ebay although the payment method was through Paypal. Paypal informed me that the company was actually in Hong Kong and would not respond to any attempts to contact them. Paypal eventually refunded my account. At this point it would be nuts to try again. You can't make this stuff up.

Looks like that carbon fiber rear diffuser is a bit of an issue. If the rear goes too low it hits the pavement and starts to get ground away or, worst case, upsets the car and causes a spin-out. If the rear tires go flat the car cannot be towed to the garage without damaging the diffuser. As was pointed out during qualifying for today's California race, the ride limiting blocks on the rear suspension are also a problem. When the tires go flat or the car bottoms out on a bump the car is hitting on those blocks and also unloading the suspension. Seems like a guaranteed way to cause more cautions as well as make those cautions last longer while trying to get cars off the track if their tires are flattened during a wreck (or a post race burnout)?

Cole Custer won the Xfinity race last night and Cindric is on the pole for today's Cup race. What do you think? Too much Ford dominance? I know it's a bit early to make any conclusions but about the only things they haven't won so far were the Daytona Xfinity race and the Daytona 500 pole. About time for some more rules changes? Maybe Fox needs to get Gordon back in the booth so he can resume his role as the Hendrick Cheerleader. ?

The only other specs I could find on the wheels are that the front 17x7s have 0mm offset and the rear 17x8s have -10mm offset. Oops, the link I posted earlier shows the backspacing as 4" on the fronts and 4.5" on the rears. Duh.

The hood has the correct factory style stripes with the engine size stenciled in the stripes.

DOT 5.1 is NOT in any way related to DOT 5. It is not silicon based and has higher boiling points than 3, 4 or 5. The wheels are from Canadian importer GLA https://www.goldenleafautomotive.com/#/Product_list?make=WHEEL I bought mine through a Dynacorn dealer and they were shipped from the Dynacorn distributor in Pittsburgh. They are obviously styled after the original Magnum 500. I wanted 17" wheels due to more modern tire choices and IMO these were the best Magnum 500 style in that size. The fronts are 17x7 (FW177C) with Goodrich 245/45ZR17 Comp T/As. The rears are 17x8 (FW178C) with Goodrich 275/40ZR17 G-Force Comp 2s. I'm not sure about offsets or backspacing but they were designed specifically to fit classic Mustangs. I bought them two or three years ago and don't remember the exact details, if I ever had them.

Finally got a response from QA1 on the height of their upper shock mounting bracket and they said it is 3.16" tall. That could be a deal breaker but I hope not. Best course of action will still be to re-install the hood and check the available space before placing an order. I've also been trying to decide what type of brake fluid to use. Because virtually every part of the brake system is new I might be able to use whatever is out there. When I replaced the tubing I used stainless steel and the flex hoses at each wheel are braided SS. Right now I'm thinking I will go with Dot 5.1. My reasoning is that it has the highest boiling point and is compatible with Dot 3 and Dot 4 and should not cause issues with rubber seals within the system like Dot 5 can because Dot 5 is silicon based. And because it is silicon based, I don't think I'm interested in Dot 5 because again it is not compatible with any of the other non-silicon based fluids and might cause even worse corrosion issues on a vehicle that is not daily driven. True, it will not absorb moisture like any of the other choices but that could lead to moisture collecting in the lowest points of the system (like wheel or caliper cylinders) since moisture is going to be there regardless. It just won't be suspended in the fluid. Probably better in a racing application where major brake components are replaced on a regular basis. Not sure that even makes sense since Dot 5.1 actually has a higher boiling point than Dot 5. One the downsides to Dots 3, 4 & 5.1 is that they will destroy painted surfaces while silicon based Dot 5 will not. They will also lose some of their effectiveness over time because they will be diluted by the moisture they absorb which will lower their boiling points but that would be somewhat mitigated by using the one with the highest boiling point which is Dot 5.1. Good comparison data here: http://www.mototribology.com/articles/brake-fluid/

Confirmation on the Ford Performance site: "European Ranger enthusiasts have special reason to celebrate as the all-new Ranger Raptor is the first model from the Next-Gen Ranger line-up to be launched in Europe, with customer deliveries starting in the final quarter of 2022." https://performance.ford.com/enthusiasts/media-room/2022/2/ranger-raptor-reveal.html?cid=PRODDM446237&bid=1589941992

I wonder if it has anything to do with that plant also building the Amarok?

Saw this on the drive.com.ua website. Any idea what the logic is behind this and could the part about the Raptor being launched first possibly be applied to NA? Hey, we can dream, right? "The 2023 Ford Ranger Raptor is slated to arrive in European showrooms before the end of 2022 – at a similar time to first Australian showroom arrivals. Unlike Australia, the Raptor will be the first new-generation Ranger variant to launch in Europe, with lesser variants to follow in the first half of 2023."

True, but this is only Feb. 22. If they start building late '23 you might be able to buy one by this time in '24.

Sadly it will be almost two years before you could buy it anyway.

I was trying to place what that poem in the reveal video reminded me of and it finally came to me - the "Late Lament" ending of the Moody Blues "Nights In White Satin". It was the Euro reveal after all. ?

This one will be hard to resist....

It almost looks like there is a semblance of a step on the lower rear corner of the bed which was also not there on previous Raptor prototypes. Just more things to watch for tomorrow...or could there be differences between the ROW and NA Raptors?

This came from the Ford Performance website. Is it just my imagination or do the fender flares look more pronounced than on the other supposedly Raptor prototypes?

Farley said next year so I'm gonna hold him to it. LOL

So are you at liberty to say how long before the Ranger Raptor goes into production?

I thought I saw them pushing it backwards to victory lane which made me wonder if he broke something else. And he did say at the end of it "I hope you don't need this motor". I would have done the same thing...

Well, at least a Penske car won. I thought for sure Cindric and Blaney were going to wreck each other and give the win to Bubba. For all the changes to the car superspeedway racing is still pretty much pack racing and waiting for someone to screw up and wreck half the field. So did Cindric actually break anything on the car during his burnout or was it just flat tires?

I've been wanting to add some more steel shelving in the loft of my shop but I'm having a devil of a time buying it for a decent price. The first place I checked was Lowe's but their price is about $160 for a single 48"W x 24"D x 72"H unit with steel framing and particle board shelves. I already have one identical unit that I bought at Lowe's several years ago so that is what I would obviously prefer and the local store has several in stock. So I thought I would check a few other sources just to compare prices. Home Depot sells them for about the same price but when they had a recent sale none of the local stores had any in stock and they were not available to be shipped. Strike one. Then I found several listings on Ebay for lower prices. I ordered one set from a two different sellers whose listings both showed that they only had one remaining and both were listed for about $122 with free shipping. When the first one came it was the wrong size. It was only 18" deep. The description said it was 24". So I returned that one. Then I got a notice that the other one was canceled because they apparently sold it before my order went through. Strike two, or is that three? Then I decided to design my own shelves out of wood. When I priced the materials at Lowe's I was only saving a few bucks compared to their steel shelves and that didn't account for fasteners or my time to cut all the pieces and assemble them. Ball one. So today I checked Ebay again and found what looked like a really good deal. But you know what they say about things that look to good to be true... The listing was for the same size unit that I wanted and the photos showed the same construction of steel framing and wooden shelves for $88.99 per unit. So I placed an order for six. The other interesting thing about this listing is that there is a notice stating that the seller is on vacation and might not be able to ship the items for a few days. That's fine. Wait a minute, the description says "Wire Shelving". Crap. No wonder the price was so low. And there was nothing in the description about wooden shelves. But the photos show wooden shelves. Looks fishy to me. So I requested that the order be canceled. Keep in mind that I have NEVER had any success when trying to cancel any previous Ebay purchases no matter how quickly I requested it after placing the order. Then I sent the seller a separate message stating that his photos did not match his description and if he shipped the items and they did not match the photos I would request a return and a full refund. Within a few minutes of requesting the cancellation and sending the message I got a notice from Ebay that my order had been canceled and that I had been issued a refund. WOW! Didn't expect that. When I checked the listing again there was a notice that it had been updated. Now the word "Wire" has been removed from the title and the description has been changed to state that the shelves are particle board. But the price has not changed. Hmmm? So I tried sending the seller another message to get clarification and ask WTF was going on but all I got was a notice that the seller would not accept my message. Then I tried placing the same items in my shopping cart again but the only thing I got was a message stating "The buyer does not meet the seller's requirements". Looks more to me like somebody got caught in a bait and switch. You're out! ROFLMAO.