71 Mad Max Maverick

[TitanFox]

Story: So this is my first car a 1971 Ford Maverick Grabber. Originally was a 200inline with a c4 trans, had tan interior buckets seats and a sweet floor shifter. Needless to say the engine came out and a 351W was shoehorned in with the shock towers having to be cut back and some headers got "Adjusted" with a BFH. I originally wanted to redo all the suspension and make the car handle better and upgrade the brakes. There were not that many kits at the time for a Maverick so I thought i could just build a custom frame and suspension. Well I got a frame built and the body mounted then...... Our house burnt down with my Maverick inside so that sucked but I tried to save her the best I could with my garden hose until the fire department showed up, but I did get married to my wonderful wife that year so good things happened to. I always say best way to start a marriage is homeless. So the car sat for about 5years and I finally got the garage reset and checked the frame needless to say it got warped pretty bad, so this is the start of round 2?

Build: I wanted to keep the main body stock for the most part so everything had to fit within the stock fenders and wheel wells. My idea is to build a Madmax survival car, something that can take abuse and keep going and I wanted something unique and I've always loved the movies so why not right. Alot of this car is going to be overbuilt and I wanted easy of replacing parts so that mainly steered my choice in what parts to use. Now the engine doesn't follow that but I wanted something not done and I really wanted an inline 6 but I didn't want to make the car a crossbreed. Its still Ford so it counts right?

All the suspension and frame design is my own. The hubs and brakes are 5x4.75 Grand National hubs with 4piston calipers. All the suspension is made to be adjustable as much as I could. The frame this time has changed since the original design mainly for the drivetrain, Ride height is set at 6inch with a slight rake. Because of my hub and spindle choice I was forced into using corvette wheels for the offset and bolt pattern.

The List
Frame: Custom 2x3 .120wall tubing
Engine: BA Barra 4.0 Inline 6 Forged built engine shooting for 750rwhp
Trans: Tremec T-56 Strongest manual trans for the money
Axle: Ford 9inch with 31spline axles 4:10 gears
Suspension: Front: Double A-arm Rear: 3-Link with Torque link Locator: Watts Link

Suspension
The Front upper A-arms have slugged mounts and just standard circle track style arms. The lower arms will be custom made out of 1.25inch DOM with adjustable rodends debating on weather to do a true A arm vs a strut rod but haven't decided. Spindles are sweet manufacturing ford the grand national hubs. The Rear suspension will be a 3-Link, lower links made out of 2inch with johnny joints and standard bushing on the otherside. Top link can be solid but why when you can get a torque link which will also have a johnny joint and a std bushing. Im trying not to use hiems because I live on and around dirt roads and I dont know how much feedback they give. A watts link will locate the rear axle nothing really fancy there.

[egoman]

I think I may really enjoy this?

[JRANGER]

this could be super cool, look forward to seeing more

[jaybee]

This is going to be very cool. I'm fascinated by the Barra though I don't know much about it, and I'd very much like to have a Maverick.

[RMMiller]

Well that's a lot more interesting than my 347 powered Maverick! Cool build, looking forward to watching your progress.

[TitanFox]

The Barra so far seems to be a good platform, parts can fix all the problem areas, but it is expensive and I'll have to fabricate some parts. Its a really big engine though I dont think my stock hood will fit.

So a Tip for everyone, sometimes you can collect parts for so long they get discontinued These were the wheels I was planning on but I only had the money for 2 at the time. So I grabbed a cheaper set that are getting tires now.

[19,69camaro]

Looking good so far

[jaybee]

That's a very sturdy chassis.

[TitanFox]

So I got the rear suspension mocked up for the most part, the third link bracket will have to get trimmed down some but overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Still debating on the watts link layout for the time being. The front suspension is on hold until I get the engine back in so I can find a good mounting point for the strut rods to the frame that wont be in the way of anything. I'm planning on running the strut rods toward the rear of the car, but I have thought about switching them around to the front for space but I don't think it will be an issue.

[andrewb70]

Very cool build. Looking forward to updates.

Andrew

[Alwhite00]

Looks great so far. Looking forward to updates.

[Bulletpruf]

Great build! Loves me an early Maverick! In for updates!!!

[TitanFox]

Finished boxing in the front crossmember LCA mounts and started fitting the supports where the strut rods will mount up. Next part for the front is going to be getting the engine mounted up so I can make sure I can fit the exhaust through and what will have to get modified.

The rear axle and suspension is mostly tacked in, I'm trying to decide the watts link vs a panhard bar so we will see, got the rear truss mocked up for now depending on which I choose. I got the front and rear seats so I am going to extend the rear frame out now and make sure I can get the clearances I need and still make the rear seats fit. Also have to get shocked picked out so I can get Her off the frame table and sitting on the wheels.

[TitanFox]

After several days of wire mockup and test fitting I'm going to be changing the rear suspension up from a torque link upper to a torque arm setup. Reason mainly being packaging and I need a back seat for the kiddos. Really opens up the rear area and I will have plenty of space underneath for the torque arm. I have also Started the final setup of the front suspension, I've remade the front crossmember to fit correctly and almost finished up the mounting of the strut rods.

[TitanFox]

[TitanFox]

[andrewb70]

Looks like you are going with a torque arm set-up instead of the 3 link. Why the change?

Andrew

[TitanFox]

Mainly changing for packaging and rear seat space.

[egoman]

Mainly changing for packaging and rear seat space.

Very good reasoning. I chose a full 3 link with the idea that a back seat was unnecessary.

[TitanFox]