Skritch

February 2007 Gen 2 Truck Of The Month – Congratulations Ron (Ron’s Bolt) Rairie ! (NLOC #1767)

The truck selected for February TOTM is a stunning, well-detailed White 2000 model hailing from Texas ! As is always the case Ron continues to concentrate on making his Lightning both quicker and faster. His current best in the ¼ mile of 11.426 @ 117.37 MPH still isn’t enough ! NLOC managed to get Ron to stop long enough to tell us how he became infected with this Lightning disease and what he’s done to try and effect a cure…but he hasn’t found the cure yet ! Check it out.




1. What sparked your interest in the Ford Lightning?

My jaw dropped when the Lightning debuted. It was the best looking truck I had ever seen…and still is for that matter. The HP/TQ rating was icing on the cake. Being a GM man all my life the 1999 SVT Lightning was impressive enough to “eventually” lead me to the Dark side.



2. Do you have any interesting stories about previously owned vehicles, before becoming a Lightning owner?

Not really interesting, but ironic. Back in 1998 when I owned a 1987 Grand National, I recall flipping through the pages of a performance magazine and there I found the 1999 SVT Lightning. I thought it was an Awesome machine! Then I started reading into the specs and I began to feel my G/N was in for some serious competition. The thought of having to compete with a pick-up really bothered me. I told myself I would own one as soon as I could afford one. The rest is history.



3. What modifications have you made to your truck since you have owned it...both show and go?

Wow! It’s more like what haven’t I done. lol!

Over the past three years and 8 months I’ve made incremental changes performance wise as well as cosmetic, so I’ll go straight to my current status.

Performance:

· JDM longblock w/ stage II cams

· Kooks LT headers w/ high-flow cats.

· JDM Silver Bullet cat-back

· Deca 60# injectors

· SCT BA2400 MAF

· Kenne Bell 2.3 blower

· JLP sheet metal plenum

· Accufab singe blade TB

· CAI

· Walbro 255 fuel pumps

· PSI Motorsports tuned

· Dual electric fans (Flex-a-lite)

· Cobra water pump

· JLP bed mount supercooler

· Fluidyne heat exchanger

· Manual over ride switch (intercooler pump)

· Circle D Built transmission

· Circle D 2600 stall converter.

· Lake wood slappers. (still working on going another route)

· Strange Engineering adjustable shocks.

· Wideband Commander, electric FP, boost and coolant temp gauges.

Cosmetic:

· Cervinis 3” cowl induction hood

· Innovation Pro-Sport tonneau.

· BedRug

· 2002 HD upper grill w/ custom J-Jent lower

· Centerline Matrix 5 wheels wrapped in Nitto Extremes (DR’s on the rear)

· Bucket seat mod w/ Expedition console

· Eibach hanger kit.

· Belltech 4804 drop springs.

Sound:

· MTX ThunderForm box w/ dual 10” subs.

· Audiobahn speakers all the way around.

· 600-Watt amplifier.

· Stock head unit. (Soon to be replaced)



4. Tell us about yourself, your hobbies, business or work, sports, family, etc.

Work: I’ve been a supervisor with NOV (National Oilwell Varco) for over ten years now. We build safety equipment for drilling rigs (land/sub-sea). I really love my job! It has given me the opportunity to fulfill building an awesome street machine such as my Lightning !

Hobbies: Working on my truck and racing it! Working out. Drinking plenty of Bud-light on my days off.

Family: Married /no children. Two cats, one dog.



5. How long have you been a user of the NLOC.net, when did you become an NLOC member, and why did you choose to become a member of NLOC?

I’ve been a member since 2004. I chose to become a member to help support the board that brings so many enthusiasts together.



6. What suggestions do you have to make the NLOC.net website easier to use and navigate?

I have no issues navigating through NLOC. The people who have put the website together have done an awesome job !



7. Why did you pick your board user name (screen name)?

There really wasn’t a lot of thought put into my NLOC screen name. I pretty much pulled it out of the air. I recall thinking about “Don’s Bolt” screen name and figure Ron’s Bolt would do.



8. What are your plans for future changes to your truck?

I’m constantly modding my truck one way or another.

* Work on suspension (traction)
* Nitrous system
* Whipple 2.6 or 2.8 (in question)
* Roll cage (in question)
* Racing seats.
* Focus more on underhood cosmetics.
* Upgrade stereo head unit



9. This is where you link favorite websites, your website, family pictures and add any other comments.

I’d like to thank a few Halo members as well as a few other people in the Lightning community. I could always count on these fine people to give me a hand whether it was turning wrenches, or just giving good advice. I’ve found the people in the Lightning community are far better than any other group I’ve been associated with.

Andre Terranova (1BADTK), Michael Anderson (Chillfactor), Bob Carpenter (BigBobSL), Ken Wilson (RUNVS), Shane Mcalister (Madness), Chris Barnes (Barnyard), Jerrod Gross (99SVT), Chris Wheichline (SilverLightning), Mike Nicholas (CowlSS), James Connor (JACSLX), Curtis Bender (Ltngdrvr), Greg Liggin (Pitch black), Chad Broadwater (Fuzzie), Shawn Aryres (Shock therapy), Scott Rowe (Sinister04L), Chuck Massey (LTNBOLT), Bob Browning (Fade to black), Mark Esparza (SUX2BU), and Patrick O’Gorman of PSI Motorsports in Webster Texas.

Most of all I’d like to thank my lovely wife for supporting me 100% on everything I’ve done to my truck !



Congratulations to Ron Rairie and his 2000 White Ford Lightning for Gen 2 Truck of the Month, February 2007!

huffentuff95

The stance is awsome ... yea that white 00 looks great. congrats on you being picked as GEN II TOTM

FSUSVT

Awesome truck man! Congrats!

phil6608

Congrats, great looking truck.

Phil

svtjay

beautiful truck!!!

Ron's Bolt

Thank you. I appreciate the compliments.

Scuba-Matt

Congratulations Ron. Thats one beautiful Lightning.

Brucewrs

Very nice.Congrats on TOTM!!!

ShockTherapy

Hell yeah! Well deserved Ron. Best looking White L out there IMHO.

CowlSS

Congrats man, you deserve it. It has to be the cleanest daily driver I've ever seen.

__________________
My Hummer can run over your hybrid, hippie!

jacslx

Sweeeet Dude

MadNess

Gratz Ron, a spectacular truck for sure

Hilander

Congrats! One of my fav trucks.

__________________
Built Motor, BTS Trans, Induction By Whipple 3.4
Tuned By Jim@JDM
10 Sec Club......All Boost! With Baby Whipple

boosted635

Congrats Ron! Well chosen TOTM for sure.
My absolute favorite White L.

Dave London

Congrats !!