The Full resto update, new pictures inside

Welp, today got a lot done. the shop previously stripped the front end, and degreased the engine bay for me.

Today, I went to the shop to yank the drivetrain. Surprise, He let me use the lift. Serious props to Mark and Ed from stangwerks for letting me use that, as I was solo today, yet managed to yank the entire drivetrain in under 5 hours. (first time for me doing this to a maverick)

I learned several things.

1. I'm used to working on a fox mustang, which are much, much, much, MUCH easier for yanking drivetrains.

2. I re-learned how much I hate the lack of space between the spark plug/exhaust manifold and the shock tower. Hell, I couldn't even pull two bolts per side on the exhaust manifolds because the shock tower is in the way, how nuts is that??

3. I'm used to yanking the engine/trans out in the same pop on my fox stangs. Saves GOBS of time. I tried that with the maverick, and very quickly learned that wasn't gonna happen. wish I knew that from the getgo, would have saved me some time.

Anyhow, it's out.

Next step, they are going to prep the engine bay even more. I'm going over there this week-ish to finish stripping 100% the engine bay of EVERYTHING, then I'm gutting the interior, even the dash.

Car is coming along fantastic, and I'm getting very excited. I'm very nervous about the work ahead of me, but I'll enjoy it.

final decision: I've decided to go with body color in the engine bay, not black (grabber blue), and the engine block black, with nice chrome/aluminum everywhere.

I've also got a lead on a set of gt40 heads I may run instead of the ported e7's I have.

as well, I've decided on who is going to do my interior, so just as soon as I yank it out, it'll be going in for a redo.

more pics to come in a week or two or three.

 

Wow, I can't believe the nice condition the body appears to be in. Magazines like Car Craft always preach the benefits of heading southwest to buy a good car to start with, but it still blows me away to see something without a ton of holes, scars, and jagged edges. Looks like it is going to be a nice car! I like your decision to keep the engine bay body color..it will look great.

 

It's not much of an issue to get the engine and trans in one shot, just takes some finesse with the chain. I did it in my garage, alone, with a cherry picker and one jack. Glad to see you're coming along.

 

if you search my user name, you'll see my other progress threads. ALL bodywork on the 1/4/s and roof have already been done. there was "some" rust, right behind the rear wheels in the corners, the corners were rusted out. However, that's it. No rust at all in the under carriage, cowl, whatever. Car is in fantastic shape. Fender rails straight as an arrow, no major front enders ever in it's history.

there are some large holes in the shock towers i'm not very happy about, I believe they were punched there to access the grease fittings. It looks horrible, and hope they'll patch those holes up.

this is a TON of work, and they sure as hell make it look easy on tv.

also, worth mentioning, most know, but we're the original owners of the car. It's been a So cal car from day one, purchased in Hollywood california. It lived a few years in proximity to the beach, and that's where I suspect the rusted corners came from.

other than that, it was driven 20 years straight into the early 90's as a daily driver before retirement, and was never ever to my knoweledge a garage kept car. Indeed a true testament to the rust free climate over here.

 

Ya, it is a ton of work to get a body nice. I will check out your other threads to see what you started with, compare it to the salt encrusted barnacles I have seen for sale around my area

 

Looks like your in for the long haul... It took only about three years to put my drive train back in after I took them out . Looks like you are going to be moving on this with some quickness.

 

I always pull the complete engine with manifolds and transmission, as an assembly. Not sure why you had so much trouble.

 

Just as a reference. The next time you do an engine R&R, leave the manifolds on like mavaholic said. Just unbolt the exhaust from the manifolds. Most of the time it's rusted on (maybe not in sunny cali though), at which point I just cut it off. Then get one of these engine leveler setups. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2200206/6 It's an absolute life saver for a one man job. Also take out the AC condeser and the strut braces. That would have helped some too.

 

" Get-er-Done"
in and out with the motor and trans together is the only way .
hope you are bagging and tagging the bolts and screws .
keep the pics. coming...frank...

 

WTG, Jeremy!

 

all of the bolts are thrown into the back of the bronco along with the drivetrain.

not worried about it, the most important bolts are the x member bolts and bell bolts, and those are obvious. Just about everything else I intend on replacing.


I guess I'm just not used to the smaller clearances. The bell was hanging on the suspension, and they didn't have a leveler there.

additionally, I've got a custom dual exhaust, and found that the way the pipes were bent, it was very hard to get a socket up there, so I removed the manifolds at the heads, and unbolted the exhaust at the rear end, which allowed the exhaust to hang down, then I had access to the manifold bolts.

re assembly will be fun, I just don't want to use stock manifolds this time,.

question, are shorty headers for these cars the same length as those stock manifolds, or am I going to have to get my exhaust resized if I install shorty headers?

 

looks like you got a lot done jeremy. good luck. looking forward to the progress.

 

verry nice! i have a 76 comet gt clone with small bumpers! my engine bay is blaked out and ready for an 86 5.0 with an holly street dominator intake! all i have to do is light body work only one fender and floor pan. and interer then the suspension stuff.
and my car is ready for vista orange paint

 

Two days, tops

 

na good work takes time! plus i have some wireing isues if i could work on it every day it would be in the paint shop by the end of the month! but i work 4-12 p.m. for the air force!