'70 Maverick

[Vimes]

That is a pretty car.

[TerryH432]

That is a pretty car.

Thank you!

[TerryH432]

Here's our install and review video for converting to the 3 point retracting belts.



- - - Updated - - -

And the install and review video for the E-Stopp parking brake actuator.

[TerryH432]

Finally finishing up the strut tower brace project I started a good while back. These cars had factory supports from the firewall to the towers. Those were deleted when the car was built. The towers are notched. Guess they thought that was good enough. The guys at RRS suspension were pretty adamant that the car needed bracing so I fabbed up supports from the firewall to the towers and across the towers. Thankfully enough room to fit the swedged rods between the Sniper and the distributor. The swedged rods, heim joints, spacers and nuts for the rods from Speedway. Couple chunks of 1/4" 6061 off Amazon and a bunch of stainless bolts and such from my local bolt and screw supply.

[RMMiller]

It's looking good Terry!

[TerryH432]

It's looking good Terry!

Thank you! Been a little bit of a journey but I think we are winning!

[TerryH432]

Finally got around to making up some new plug wires. Not my favorite thing to do but 3 of the old ones were pretty toasty.

[TerryH432]

Playing in a world of high dollar custom wheels and 315's, here I am trying to make 255/45-17's work on the rear of our junk with the wheels we have. 17x8's with 4.5" backspacing is definitely not the right wheel for this car but here we are. 1/4" billet spacer and the 255's clear the inner wheelhouse and fill up the wheelwell opening better. Much happier with how this looks.







Heartbroken that I just couldn't make these 275/40-17's work with the wheels I have. Here next to the 245/45-17's that were on it.



Anyway, also have a bunch of stuff pulled and at one of my buddy's shops getting painted body color. Guess we'll see if this is a smart move or not in a few days.

[TitanFox]

Looking good. Are the fenders rolled?

[TerryH432]

Looking good. Are the fenders rolled?

Thanks! Fronts are stock. Rears have the lip trimmed. They're just about 1/4" or so from about 10 to 2. Lots of clearance still. I really wanted to run 1/2" spacers but the studs are not long enough. Not worth changing the studs for 1/4" more.

[TerryH432]

Parts are back from paint and on the car. I fabbed and polished the new spears on the now body color valve covers and air cleaner from aluminum interior molding I found on Ebay. Color matched the black headlight doors, hood molding, hood nostrils and hood striker bracket. Also smoothed out the texture on the black front spoiler and did it body color. Hood latch and striker redone with stainless steel paint. Super happy with how all this came out.

[TerryH432]

One more piece of the puzzle. I've hated the elcheapo Grant steering wheel since the minute I saw it. Been searching for something I like since day 1. Finally found this MPI wheel that I love. Got a great deal on it from the protouringstore.com.

[TerryH432]

On to the next weird issue with this car. The brakes have never seemed right. It stops but not like it should. Figured out that it has a 1 1/8" bore master on it. Called Wilwood and went over the brake components on the car. RRS stage 2 discs on the front with Wilwood Forged Dynapro discs on the rear. They suggested a 7/8" bore to match up with what I have. Still has the stock 5:1 pedal in it.

Changed that out today. Bought and adjustable pushrod kit. Had to cut 2" total off the rods and thread the rod in the master 1 1/4" more to get it dialed in. Took way too long to get the master bench bled but finally got everything swapped over. What an amazing difference. Nice to have brakes that work as they should now!

[TerryH432]

Couldn't resist these US Mags Ramblers. Liking the look on the Maverick. Pretty cool for cheap wheels.

[Dave B]

It’s looking good!

[TerryH432]

It’s looking good!

Thank you!

[TerryH432]

Well, it's been an interesting week. Started out with a total idiot move on my part. I was working under the hood and forgot that my pocket flashlight was laying on the air cleaner and shut the hood. Result was a pump knot outie that cracked the paint on both sides of the hood.



Sigh...

Thankfully my buddy and my ex painter when I was running a shop came to the rescue. The car had some existing chips on the left side of the hood and the left fender also had chips and what looked like an elbow dent that someone had tried to PDR and failed on the top when I bought it. I had touched up the chips already and planned to get all of this taken care of over the winter but apparently winter came early.



Big chip on the cowl fixed and in primer.



Everything repaired and ready to go in the booth.







Shot and color sanding under way.





Back together and polishing.



Everything back together and final polish on the new paint and a polish refresh underway at another buddy's detail shop.



https://youtube.com/shorts/QxoD1f26m...zoGCqwrPjP-IAw

The plus to all of this is it made the car much better overall. Still feel like a total idiot though. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[TerryH432]

And after 35 hours of blocking to 4000 grit and polishing.



Straight to the next show and got Best Paint.

[TerryH432]

Finally took a little time to do a walk around video of the Maverick. Brand new on our YouTube channel.

[TerryH432]

On to the next projects. The car does not like traffic and temps over 90. Even without running the A/C it's up around 220. I am determined to be able to drive anywhere, anytime and run the A/C. Been waiting for 2 months for these parts. Have the max cool Wizard radiator, shroud and brushless fan. Took 6 weeks bu that was expected. What wasn't exactly expected was the Vintage Air front runner that's been on backorder for 2 months. Finally got a tracking a couple days ago and began the disassembly.

FedEx dropped the front runner off today and I must say, it was worth the wait. what a super nice piece of engineering and parts. I chose the VA kit becasue it is much shorter than any other front drive for the small block Ford. They use a huge back plate that replaces the timing cover and everything bolts to that. They also use a mid 90's Explorer water pump which is also way shorter than the typical SBF pump.

I've been cleaning and touching up under the hood. Pulled the hood and the right fender to aid with the install and the rerouting of the A/C hoses and heater hose for the VA kit. I'm shooting video so will have that up once we get all these parts in and functioning.