hi folks not to much into fords, nothing personal they just dont like me i think but i do like the grabbers so im gonna need some help helped my nephew pick out his first car today 71 grabber 250 six /auto the car is in pretty decent shape except lower qtrs, front lip of the grabber hood and pass floor pan i checked acouple of posts so far and found that the sheetmetal parts are kinda hard to come across so im gonna need some help in that dept also this car has the 4 lug aluminum slots with drum brakes we would like to upgrade this to the 5 lug and disc brakes ive heard that granadas and mavericks with 5 lug bp will interchange ive done my fare share of conversions of drum to disc on mopars and know what works with what but this maverick is something completly different almost feel like im cheating might have to park my dart around the corner thanks in advance Terry and his nephew Eric
hi nelson thanks for the reply my nephew will get the car this weds im pretty sure and i'll post some pics of it up here and some pics of the areas i will need to fix hopefully we can get this out of the pasture and down to the track
from Northeast Pennsylvania These cars have an uncanny tendency to bring people together and keep them together
Anything you need help on, post it on this board! Being that you are in GA, you are also surrounded by Maverick guys, we have a great group of guys here in GA that will help in any way we can. I'm right down I-85 from you in Suwanee. Feel free to come on down to our Dixie Maverick Stampede, even if you don't have a Maverick with you. Check the link in my signature for the details.
thanks guys i think we'll be going to the show ,.....does it also have a swap meet too? hopefully be able to drive the grabber there not sure yet also another question i have we have a set of old mustang gt rims turbine style 4 lug will these fit on the car without any problems? if so great if not might not be able to drive the grabber there yet nephew gonna be low on cash after the purchase of car also i've been reading the posts here and will a 302 bolt up to the 250 six trans im assuming that it is a c-4 and will the rear end hold up to it? besides the rust that the car has is there any other problems we should look out for with the grabber electrical, suspension,....etc etc also been hearing about a granada rear end that has disc brakes any special model 2dr,4dr, etc ill be looking for that
If I remember correctly...the fox 4 lug pattern is different from the mavs'(metric for one thing) Best thing is to try and stick one on the car once you have it.As for the granada 9"... they have the archaic integral parking brake calipers.big..heavy...and not a very good set up.You can mount crown vic/explorer disc brakes to 5 lug 8 inch housings.Speaking of which...you cant put 5 lug 8" axles into a 4 lug 8" housing.The 4 lug axles/tubes use smaller bearings.Check the tech articles I think Frank (71 gold) did a write up on the rear disc subject.As for things to look for on mavericks...problem areas are as followes... Cowl rot...causes floors to rot.(A/C cars only have one cowl vent on the passenger side) Non A/C cars have one on each side.They are notorious for rotting out. Bad windshield seal will also cause the floors to rot. Torque boxes are a problem area on rusty cars. Rear leaf spring rear shackle mounts on the frame rails have a tandancy to rot out. Cars with vinyl tops tend to have very little steel roof left once the vinyl top is removed.(Less likely in dry climates) Front suspensions tend to be used out by the time we get our hands on em. Fortunately...front suspension parts are pretty easy to come by new. Only thing I would tell you as far as front end parts is concerned is this: Dont use polyurethane bushings on the strut rods...the rods tend to snap since the urethane wont give like rubber bushings do.There is also a tech article outlining the mustang front end parts that interchange with the maverick. 68 to 73 upper and lower controll arms for one thing.There is more but... off the top of my head this is what I remember.Good luck with your project!!!
well we brought it home yesterday spent most of the day cleaning it up might do some more cleaning today and rebuilding the carb eric is really excited about his toy i took acouple pics of it will post them later today hopefully it dont start raining does anyone know of a good aluminum mag rim cleaner/polish? later Terry
jamie seeing how your within driving distance i was wondering if you had some parts a air cleaner and a plate that goes in between the carb and intake manifold for a 250 six also any leads on a five lug conversion would like to change over to disc all the wrecking yards around here have been raped of there granadas,monarchs, and v.8 mavericks i did manage to find a five lug rear end under a maverick possibly a 74 or newer looks to be a 8'' rear if so will the axles swap out or would i have to change it all? and another question on the rear panel with the black out would the tail light housings be black aswell ive been cleaning the paint of off these and polishing them would like to know if they are suposed to be black aswell thanks again Terry