All right, well, I'm sick of everything under the hood in my Maverick, so everything must go! Well, emissions and A/C, at least. I'll probably end up pulling the power steering at some point too. Questions: My A/C compressor is run off of the same belt as my alternator (this is a 250) - which belt should I replace this with when I pull the compressor? I'm assuming I could just go down to the parts house and get an alternator belt for a non-AC car, but I'm just checkin'. Can I disconnect everything that the smog pump connects to? ... I know that I have more to ask, I just can't remember what at the moment. The Maverick turned into a headache when it kept dyin' on me, but I replaced the fuel pump and all seems fine. As an update, the Comet still isn't finished. The guy rebuilding my top-end broke my radiator inlet and I've got to get it down to a shop when I've got a day off (NEVER) to get 'er finished. As always, muchos gracias amigos. Steve
Also, finally got around to finding my vacuum leak.. There doesn't seem to be ANY carburetor base gasket on the thing. Anywhere I spray on the bottom of the carburetor revs up the engine (using carb cleaner.) So another question: more than likely, which base gasket should I get? Carb to spacer, carb to manifold? I'm still learning here, not even sure if I need to worry about a spacer..
the alt is mounted pretty low on my a/c comet under the compressor but on the non-ac maverick its at the top so the bellts are probably diffrent, also the comet has a double pully and the mav's is single. that dont mean you just cant run a belt to the crank. as long as everything is spinning youll be ok. p/s alt ant the water pump/fan
Any idea what length belt? Pretty much I just want to be able to walk into the parts house and tell them what belt I need. Knowing the shop over here.. it'd probably be easier just to ask for a powers steering belt and adjust the alternator accordingly.
And just to note, my '73 Comet has single pulleys and my '74 Maverick has double. The 73 is a V8 car, though.
Hi there. You need a gasket between any location where there is a metal to metal contact. Spacer to intake, carb to spacer etc. You dont really need the spacer unless you have a hypo motor or other gas problems. I would be interested in some of the A/C parts. Pm me if interested in disposing of the parts.Good luck. Ron
Once you have verified that everything is still lined up after removing the items. Take your old belt and wrap it around the pulleys mark it. Cut it to length and butt the ends together to make sure it is right. Make sure you alternator adjustment isn't at the outer limits. Now just take it to the auto parts store they will get the proper series by looking at the belt and measure it for length.
on an a/c 250 is the alternator bracket conected to the bottom of the a/c compressor? on my comet they look like one piece. i was thinking of using the low mounted a/c bracket off the comet on the maverick.
I'll either look at that tonight or the weekend. I work Saturday 10-4 and I'm hoping I can at least pull the emissions stuff while the sun is still up and then work at getting the AC gutted Sunday. And to daydreamer, I'm going to hold onto them for now, since I'm not sure if I'll be keeping the car too long. If I keep it I'll probably get rid of 'em.
I feel for you... I'm also in the process of getting rid of all the BS under the hood of my '73. It was also an A/C car with all the fancy bells and whistles that have long since died. Found out the hard way the A/C lines still had a slight charge in them... It's quite a job. I'm not touching any of the useless crap under the dash though until I put a new windshield in and swap the entire dash/wiring.
before i even got my maverick someone did a real claen job of getting rid of the polution pump, i just assumed they didnt have those in '76. it looks like you'll need a big bolt or something to plug up a hole in the exhaust manifold once the pump is removed. i really like how low and outo of the way the a/c alt bracket is, if i dont get the comet taged it will definatly be one of the parts swaped over to the mav
Well...I took out all EGR, carbon and vacuum canisters, all lines connected to those, pulled the AC etc. yanked out the power steering, the garbage can was quite full... It still runs, and much better, at that. The steering is a bit harder with manual gear box and center link. BUT...no leaking fluids on the floor. LOTS of space under the hood for centrifugal blowers, aftermarket A/C, Turbos, etc. Get rid of it all, and mess with the problem areas later. I have no regrets for throwing all of that crap away.
So I got all of the emissions stuff pulled (minus the now-plugged EGR valve). It was a terrible, terrible mess of splitters for vacuum lines, lines leading into themselves, lines leading nowhere, and a general headache. And boy, what a difference did it make. My vacuum leak is noticeably quieter (haven't gotten my base gasket yet) and now I can flick my steering wheel and drive sideways. Haven't been able to do that since my Comet went kaput. I didn't get to pull the AC, since family suddenly showed up and I lost the first half of my day, but I'm already seeing astronomical improvements. More questions: My valve cover is leaking oil, that'll be changed sometime this week, but my question is about the oil getting on the spark plugs. I can see that one of my leaks is forming puddles on the #6 plug. Could this cause smoking? There's a small electrical device that bolts into the driver-side of the block, I think it's an oil sending unit, but it is also leaking oil. I just want to make sure that's the right part before I go pick it up. As always, thanks a bunch guys. Steve
Oh yeah, I'm also considering taking the heads in for a valve job. While I'm there, what else would you guys recommend I have done? I've heard the '74 250 heads were a bit restricted.
