77 Maverick build (slopoke)

Ok fellas. I have been on this forum about 4 years now and have not posted much. Mainly because its very intimidating to see all of the amazing cars and extremely talented people that call this forum home. I think I have finally come to terms with that, and I'm ready to start my build thread. I hope ya'll enjoy what you see and i cant wait to hear your input. I'll start off with a little bit of background. I bought my Maverick about 4 years ago in Leesville LA. My fiance and I lived there while she was stationed at Fort Polk. She had driven past this car a hundred times and i think she fell in love with it. She came home one day and told me about this "REALLY COOL NOVA... OR CHEVELLE". I was in the market for another American muscle car after closing the Honda tuning chapter of my life (I built some very fast Honda's but nothing can compare to the feel of a rear wheel drive monster. Its just a more complete driving experience!) Anyway, so we went to check it out. I remember pulling up to the mechanic shop/ used car lot where it was parked and and she exclaimed "THERE IT IS" "COOL HUH?" Yes baby, its awesome, 'but that's not a Nova or Chevelle. That's a Ford Maverick sweetie. "a Ford what?" To say the least i was underwhelmed but i could still see something very special in this "Nova". Long story short, they wanted $6000 (too steep for me at the time) so we went on our way. Well i was new to the area and needed a job so i put in my resume at that very shop a few days later and was offered the job the next day. After a couple months the car still hadn't sold so i plopped a couple grand on my bosses desk and drove her home that evening (the car, not my boss). So that's the story. Ill get to the good stuff now. This is what she looked like when i bought her.

The paint looked pretty good when i bought her, but it deteriorated quickly. 302 w/351 heads, Edelbrock cam and intake, C4, a/c did not work due to the infamous plastic crumble. Same goes for most of the interior and gauges. The body had more rust than I thought because the previous owner was very good with fiberglass. But now i know how to catch it. Oh and long tube headers with and straight pipes that dumped about 36 inches after the collector. And HUGE bumpers.

 

Im short on pictures because i did some of this stuff years ago. I put on a set of 2004 17 in Mustang wheels (40th anniversary). Lowered the rear with the correct size shackles and trimmed the front springs a bit. Also did a bumper tuck. That held me over for a little while but im still swapping the bumbers. Oh, and i built a billet grill.(painted black) Don't worry, I cut those exhaust tips shorter and re-installed. These head light assemblies have the turn signal integrated into the lower part of the housing. The turn signal is not super bright but they work just fine. I even flagged down a police officer( a buddy) to get his opinion.

 

Next thing on the list was to fix up the interior . As i stated previously, the former owner was pretty good with fiberglass and he "fixed" the floor pan on the passenger side and i did not notice until i pulled the carpet to replace.. To my amazement, the cowl is in great condition so I'm stumped as to how the floor pan got to this state. At some point somebody cut a hole in the transmission tunnel, then screwed a plate over the hole, then bolted the b&m shifter to the plate... I'm not sure what happened all I know is I had to fix it. i also had to fab my own pan because i was not able to source one in decent condition. Once fixed, I seam sealed and rhino lined. The seats are 67 Mustang if i remember correctly, that I re-foamed and recovered with the CJponyparts kit. I also built mounting points for the seats. For the trunk i just built a platform and covered with carpet.

 

Now that's what I call pictures! Looking good slopoke! Where did you get the door panels? Is the drivers door panel different from the passenger?

 

I found a grabber hood in a junk yard here in San Antonio. I'm assuming the only reason it was still there was because it had been crushed by a tree... or a deer... or something. I figured i could find a use for it or at least sell the inserts so i bought it for 20 bucks. once i got it home i realized that the scoops were the only part undamaged. So this is one of my science projects going on right now while my 351w is being built. Merging the grabber scoops with the regular hood. tell me what you think. I'm sure someone has tried it.

 

Thanks Mel Moeller! The panels are original but painted black. Blue interior is not quite my style. Panels are the same, the handle is just missing on the passenger door in that photo.

 

Hopefully tomorrow evening Ill have time to post the suspension and engine bay upgrades

 

Car looks great, keep the pics comming

 

I had my 8" rear end built with 355 gears and a mini-spool. It should hold up fine but i will have wheel chirp in the corners. I built a set of CALTRAC copies and replaced all rear suspension bushings and shocks, rebuilt the drums and painted it all.

 

The front suspension and steering is the performance kit from Laurelmountainmustang. with a 7/8 swaybar, gas adjust shocks and 1" lowering springs. All I'm missing is the center-link on back order. I converted it to manual steering aswell. I wish I had done a rack and pinion but its too late now... maybe a few years down the road.

 

Im currently working on about a hundred different parts of my maverick right now and not many aspects are totally finished. the next thing I'll show you are the subframe connectors and frame reinforcements. Once the drive shaft is back in and i can figure the travel, I'll build the x-brace. On a side note, i realize that my car is not a race car and probably never will be. Most of these modifications were made out of shear boredom while my engine is being built. if anything this is just good practice and will keep my skills up until i can open a shop of my own. I also realize that the tube diameter is a little small but i believe (i could be wrong lol) that any subframe connector is better than no SFC. Given that it is structurally sound and doesn't compromise the integrity. I also don"t want to add an excessive amount of weight to the car with only a mild engine, but on the plus side i lost a lot of weight with the bumper swap.

 

Well, I think I'll show ya'll the engine bay modifications next. The car had been smacked pretty good at some point on the front driver side. Fender was not original and the radiator core support and fender apron were wrinkled pretty good. Thought i would take care of this while the engine was out. One thing leads to another and next thing you know, towers are notched, paint stripped, battery tray rust fixed, shock tower and most other seams welded up, and i built a removable radiator core support (I still need to clean up some of the welds) . Side note: Every few days, I swept up all the paint/dirt/grease and whatever else was stuck to that engine bay and weighed it. 25 LBS OF GUNK!!! Oh, and that scoop is not actually mounted to the roof, it just kinda ended up there.

 

The core support looks cool, are you planning on sheet metal on either side of the rad?

 

I was thinking about something along those lines but I want It to remain removable. As it sits right now, its way stiffer than the original core support

 

Looks awesome! Keep up good work.