Hi Scott - Ranger heads were the first heads used on Fox stunt 29 and 35 engines, came in both 4 and 6 bolt configurations. They are lower compression than the later wedge head, and a lot lower compression than the current aftermarket hemi heads. Very usable for smaller airplanes, with a gentle break, and not as much top end as a wedge. They can be absolutely sweet in a light, small airplane when set up to run in a 4/4 style, where the engine runs in a deep 4 cycle most of the time, only giving little chirps of 2 stroke firing over the tops of the maneuvers. It's the same style of run as is presently used with the big block Aero and Ro Jett stunt setups. It gives a less harsh break than a present day squish band head. They give the same operating benefits for stunt as all of the rest of the hemi head styles that came later, provided the engine displacement is bigger than customary for the weight and size of the airframe.
In that sense, they were years ahead of their time. They were out of production early, about 1951 or so, so can be hard to find on the swap meet circuit. The Ranger logo was the name of the job foundry where they were cast. My guess is that the wedge head came out when Fox developed the ability to cast parts in house. All of the above is not to say that many guys ran stunt Foxes in a 4/4 style in the early days. Stunt in that era was flown as fast and low as possible, with 25% or so nitro, and a full power lean needle setting. If some sharpshooter wants to buy them, I'll beat his price. Tom H.
Topic: What is it? (Read 1144 times)
