Are shock towers those big roundish things on each side of the engine compartment? If they have been altered, can you fix that? I really think that car is beautiful and the guy is willing to negotiate on price. My husband is just really leary.
If this is the blue car you posted about,do the towers look to have been cut/welded on or do they look like they've been beaten by a sledgehammer?If they've been cut/welded they are probably ok,if they're beat out I'd say the front geometry is screwed up,which will make it "squirrely".I'd go for a test drive & see how squirrley it was.If it was a bit unpredictable(read:scary)I'd walk away.
Shock towers are those rounded chunks of steel coming up over the tires that has the shock mounted at the top of them. They get in the way of changing spark plugs, putting in bigger engines, etc. You can see them where the red shocks come up and the black braces all come together in this pic...
shock towers I talked with the guy and he is supposed to send pictures of under the hood. I will call tomorrow and ask for pictures of the towers and post a link. I think towers were most likely cut. but you never know. If it was a bad cut job can it be fixed and how much? :bananamanbanana inserted at the request of my daughter..
Unless they were cut really bad, they can be fixed easily. If cut badly, they can still be fixed, just not so easily. I really wouldn't worry about them. Damage to them is a worst-case-scenario...
Scooper, If that is your car in the underhood picture ... great job on the support bars, especially tying the shock towers also to the cross brace in front of the engine (export brace? in Mustangese ) Sabrina, If the shock towers are cut back and the job was done well, it really is a benefit. I have a 351 in my Comet now, and even with the larger engine, I can change my spark plugs in less time than I can finish one beer, and use the same wrench set-up on 7 of the plugs. With the 302 and stock shock towers, it was more like 3 beers, 4 wrench set-ups, fair amount of cussing, and one bloodied knuckle. Those are the 4 standards that I rate automotive hobby work by ... As long as the car still drives straight and if you are not doing an accurate restoration, cut shock towers are a good thing. Ford wasted about 3 inches of working room on each side of the engine.
I do believe we can get new shock towers,,, just looking to make sure these are truely Maverick/Comet,, and what years they are for,,, But we are making everything from the fire wall forward any ways,,, Joe
towers owner didn't state that they were cut , he stated that the front end was squirely and that the car has a 351w. that they were cut is my assumption
