What is the Hardest Part to Remove on a Maverick

Spark plugs on a maverick are easy. Even with power brakes. It's a ten minute job if you have the right tools.

 

Yup, 15-20 at the most.

 

Ooo Ooo I know, I know......the shackle bolts after the have rusted up inside the rubber!!

 

They smoke the good stuff in California...

...and they grow it in Alabama!



My 351w with headers is a lot easier to reach the plugs on than my 302 with manifolds was. I think the exhaust makes all the difference. Headers make it easier but on a car with factory manifolds with factory lift plates on them, no tower mods and a full compliment of accessories it is a lot harder than it should be. I'm not saying it's a monstrous, wiper linkage type job, but it's pretty bad for a RWD V8 from the 70's.

 

Wiper motor

I finally got to the wiper motor part of my project. I don't know, but it looks pretty straight forward to me.

All I've done is remove everything from the car except for the wiper motor - you know, windshield, steering column, complete dash assembly, heater core, seats,.....everything!

I must agree with the comment made previously that Ford started with the wiper motor and built the car around it

 

I'm think the wiper motor was the 3rd thing. 1st thing was the wiper piviots/linkage, 2nd the wiper motor mount.

 

all helpful... i agree wiper motor is hard to remove.. luckily im at the point in my reassembly were the windows/dash/heaterunit/wiper/pretty much everything under the dash is out... lol any helpful steps on what goes in first?? haha

 

nahh... im pretty sure the goods are grown in Nor Cal

 

...the wiper motor.

 

I got a camera that shoots in 1080HD and a stopwatch on my phone, Let me borrow a set of heads so I can show you

I thought with manifolds it was a breeze, only the plug under the booster gave me problems. But the rest were a sinch.


I never got the whole plugs being an issue in 302 mavericks

This time i have set of headers, so i'm thinking it'll be easier. Because there puny 1 5/8" ones.

 

Did you have the factory lift plates on your manifolds?

I'm not saying it's some sort of a heinous ordeal, but a 10 minute job it ain't. Not on mine anyway. I don't know though. It's been a long time. I only did the plugs on the 302 one time, and that was when I first got the car. Perhaps if I did it today I'd say it was no big deal, but at the time it sure had me cussing.

 

I never rush when working on my car, but as my Comet came originally (302 with manifolds, stock shock towers, PS, A/C and non-power brakes), a spark plug change took 4 different wrench configurations, two skinned knuckles, above-average cussing and two entire beers.

With cut shock towers, 351W, headers, no comfort accessories, you use the same wrench until you get to the passenger side firewall plug, no skinned knuckles, minimal-to-no cussing, and only about 3/4 of one beer... much easier.

These are my standardized rating scales for automotive repair difficulty ... the respective number of skinned knuckles, cussing, and beers required to get it done.

 

No lift plates, but I can add some if you want. I really do wanna make a video,(also a carb video since its usually the First thing people have problems with. And lucky for me I have both 4bbl and 1bbl to play with)

It's a ten minute job if you use this little helper. (Swivel head one, not the two postion one)
When I first joined the board someone gave me the tip of using that. Made my first plug swap a breeze. And it was when I was 15 and I had never done a plug swap in my life.

 

Using specialized tools is cheating.




Seriously ... that does look really handy.

 

that one bolt....you know which one im talking about.