'70 Maverick

[TerryH432]

I think 2.5" exhaust is plenty adequate for a 347. The car sounds great.

Thank you!

[MachineADDICT]

This is impeccable work. I look forward to seeing how it turns out in future, willing to bet it’ll come out a stunner

[TerryH432]

This is impeccable work. I look forward to seeing how it turns out in future, willing to bet it’ll come out a stunner

Thank you!

[TerryH432]

Few more projects going on. Yanked the TKO out and took it to a local shop that works on them. Definitely needs an input bearing. Pulled the bellhousing and RST clutch to check everything over. Took time to measure concentricity while it was out. Took a little bit of effort to do it by myself but with the help of my phone shooting video under the car and a bunch trips under myself I got it done. All good with .0025 runout. Would have the clutch and bellhousing back in it but a small snag with my Summit delivery yesterday. Bronze bushing in a McLeod 8606 pilot bearing package. Bummer but Summit has another on the way.



Took time to do some VHT high heat on the welds and the Flowmaster 40's. Pipe is aluminumized and the VHT aluminum is a pretty good match. Used my MAP gas torch to cure the VHT. Turned out pretty good. Still nothing like a lot of big money exhaust systems I see on these cars but I'm happy with it.

[TerryH432]

Continuing with a few other projects on the Mav.

I hate hood prop rods but refused to spend $1500 on the cool billet hinges from Brazil that have hydraulic cylinders on them. Found these on the Maverick/Comet forum. Has a pretty neat little catch on the right hinge to keep the hood open. $400 a lot easier for me to swallow for a set of hood hinges.



Got them mounted up but not ready to put the hood back on just yet. Looks like they should work out well and look 100x's better than the totally worn out stockers.



For whatever reason the door weatherstrips and bumpers were not put on the car when it was built. Got those installed. Replaced the painted over screws on the door latches with the proper new ones. Little things make a big difference...to me anyway.



Started on building a set of shock tower struts. Using the sedged aluminum rods and rod ends from Speedway. Fabbing up the brackets from 1/4" 6061 plate. Got a bit done but stuck until the trans is back in the car. The long rod going in between the towers has to fit just right between the Sniper and the distributor. Like to be for sure that the engine is sitting where it's going to be before I finish shaping the brackets on the top of the towers so they look good and function properly.



Sent a few things out to polish. Debated painting the valve covers, air cleaner and battery hold down body color but just couldn't do it. I know it would have been more in current style but I guess I'm just too old school to paint polished stuff. Have these pieces at my Cerakote guy's place now getting cleared.

[TerryH432]

Got the Tremec back and in. Still noisy. Beats me what to do now. Guess I'll just drive it with the stereo up. Several other projects completed. Rerouted the fuel and brake lines under the car. Got the fresh polished valve covers, air cleaner etc... cleared with Cerakote MC-5100. Cleaned up a bunch of wiring and such. Got the hood back on and the new hood hinges adjusted. I'm really liking the new exhaust with the Flowmaster 40's. I think it looks better with the VHT on the mufflers. Putting the strut tower project on hold for now because I'm sick of working on the thing. Ready to drive for a while and then get back to it. Anyway, good to have it back together. Headed to our local cars and coffee tomorrow.

[TerryH432]

Took the opportunity to get some shots using some of the cool murals in our downtown for a background. Just park illegally right by the no parking sign pointed in the wrong direction. lol...

[speedfreakcobra]

Great build, yesterday I was driving south on I-15 here in San Diego County and saw a blue one just like this. About broke my damn neck staring at it.

[TerryH432]

Great build, yesterday I was driving south on I-15 here in San Diego County and saw a blue one just like this. About broke my damn neck staring at it.

Thank you!

[TerryH432]

Continuing to work thru an assortment of issues. The axle seals look like they've been seeping for a good while. Upon close inspection I see that the rear end does not have the correct Wilwood bearing retainers on it. Pulled the axles. Had the new bearings and seals pressed on and got the right retainers on it. No more leak and no more slop in the axles.



Correct vs incorrect bearing retainer. Retainer needs that lip to take up the space of the backing plate for the parking brake.



Didn't get any pics but I pulled the crossmember for the Mumford link setup and opened up the existing notch for some clearance to the back of the rear end housing. The car has a Currie "Hot Rod" style housing in it and the crossmember is made for the "notch back" style housing. This was allowing the rear end to contact that crossmember. Another example of a lot of really nice aftermarket parts that are not well matched and don't play well with each other.



Also removed the poly trans mount and replaced it with a factory style Ford rubber mount. Fabbed a 1" aluminum spacer as the factory mount is shorter than the poly one. Made a big difference in the noise transfer. It says specifically in the installation instructions to run the rubber mount. I see why now.

After measuring the angles and an at length discussion with Tremec I ordered a TKX to replace the TKO. I measured at the bell housing and the engine/trans is 5.1° down. Tremec says this is causing the front of the trans to not be properly lubricated not to mention the bad driveline angle. The smaller case of the TKX will allow for more tunnel clearance so I can get the rear of the trans higher without chopping the tunnel out of a done car. Raising the back of the trans will help with some issues farther forward with header and oil pan to sway bar clearance.

I'll report back after the trans swap.

[TerryH432]

Taking a couple of weeks to get a bunch of projects done on the Maverick.

Biggest is swapping the Tremec TKO for the TKX. The TKO is just to tight in the '69.5 tunnel. Tremec says we are starving the front of the trans because we can't get it any higher than 5.1° down. The TKX should solve that without cutting the tunnel...I hope.

Moving the Lokar parking brake handle and installing the E-Stop electric parking brake actuator to run the Wilwood parking brakes to free up space in the tunnel for the driveshaft. Still trying to figure out where to put the unit. Not much room for anything under the car. Perhaps in the trunk. Perhaps on the back seat braces. Beats me at this point.

Installing 3 point seat belts. Still need to figure out the mounting for the retractor. Dread cutting a hole in the perfect headliner for the pivot.

Rerouting the fuel and brake lines to get them away from the tunnel. Still scratching my head on the route for this stuff also. The car has all RRS suspension including the 3 link rear with a torque arm so there's a bunch of stuff in the way.

Pulling the door and quarter glasses and getting all the glass tinted. Thankful for a friend that has a mobile tint business so he'll be doing it in my shop.

I'll be shooting some video of the processes so I'll post them on the YouTube channel as I get them edited.

[TerryH432]

Well, I'm in the middle of all these projects. Waiting on new cables for the parking brake deal. Found a good spot for the E-stopp unit in the trunk right behind the rear seat. Interior all out and seat belts mounted. Waiting on the seats to be back in before committing to the factory mounting spot for the buckle side. TKO is out and I'm working on relocating the fuel lines and remounting the brake line going to the rear and the power wire for the fuel pump. TKX going in tomorrow.

Thought I'd do a little side by side comparison between the TKO and TKX. TKX is going to fit way better for sure.

[jaybee]

That transmission hoop inside the tunnel makes things pretty tough on all these old Fords. A lot of people cut through the hoop and call it good. I find it hard to believe something hasn't been compromised in the process. If the cars had strength to spare in that area the Mustang convertibles wouldn't have had underfloor pans and a plate to tie the sides of the tunnel together.

[TerryH432]

That transmission hoop inside the tunnel makes things pretty tough on all these old Fords. A lot of people cut through the hoop and call it good. I find it hard to believe something hasn't been compromised in the process. If the cars had strength to spare in that area the Mustang convertibles wouldn't have had underfloor pans and a plate to tie the sides of the tunnel together.

Agree. Thought I had a pic of it but apparently don't but they left the center of the band in this car and trimmed off the edges. They were searching for an acceptable compromise I suppose. No clue if the this car being a '69.5 with the smaller tunnel is a good thing or a bad thing with part of that band being removed. The torque arm has a sizeable crossmember bolted thru the floor with big backer plates right behind the transmission crossmember for the torque arm. I hope that would offer some additional structural support.

[TerryH432]

The TKX is in and wow is there a lot more room! Was able to get the tail up 5/8" with good clearance from where the TKO was when it was smashed against the tunnel. Rerouted and fabbed up all new fuel lines. Moved the fuel pump and filters and rewired. Redid the rear brake line and got it properly attached to the factory mounting spots. Removed the Lokar parking brake handle and in the midst of mounting the E-Stopp in the trunk. Pulled the rack and dropped it off at my front end guy to get the seals fixed so it'll stop pouring fluid. Working on getting the 3 point seatbelts in. Fixed and refinished the quarter interior trim and the kick panels. Also pulled the side glasses and got all the windows tinted. So we're moving right along. Unfortunately one fix caused another problem. The exhaust is against the torque arm crossmember as a result of how much the motor is rotated up from raising the tail shaft. Back to the exhaust shop sometime next week.

[TerryH432]

Making some headway on the list. Got the E-stopp installed. Looks like it's going to work out perfectly. Positioned it right behind the back seat in the trunk. Made cable routing fairly simple and the custom trunk floor fit right over it without any mods. Put the switch in the lower dash tray on the left side of the column.

[TerryH432]

Also got the 3 point belts installed. These cars only had lap belts. Was able to mount the retractors behind the quarter trim panels. Had to make some spacers on the lathe as the upper mounting point is only 3/8-18 instead of the normal 7/16-20.

[wfo guy]

Nothing like a little debugging to get to the end.

[TerryH432]

Nothing like a little debugging to get to the end.

A good bit of debugging was needed for sure. I think we're about to get it though.

[TerryH432]

Amongst the projects was finally getting the windows tinted. The passenger door glass that was in the car when I got it was badly scratched. Finally found a good replacement. I pulled the side and quarter glasses and my mobile tint buddy did the rest in the car at my shop. All ceramic tint. 20% on the side and back glasses. 70% on the windshield with a 20% band.