ive got a very nasty looking upper control arm bushing, and my power steering unit is a total mess-maker. im not sure exactly where the leak(s) are coming from, but id like to just be without the power steering @ all. im a really poor guy. im too old and poor to even have this pet maverick. but i love the car, and will hang on to it forever. i need "cheap" advice. without sacrificing quality, i want to stay as cheap as i can. stock parts are fine, but if an improved part is available and doesnt cost much more, id take it. looking at all the bushings under the front end, i realize they all need to be dealt with, and might as well be dealt with @ once. but im hoping i can get this done relatively inexpensively. im talking ball joints, sway bar bushings, etc. my goal is $300. is this realistic? (including alignment, etc) also.. that darn power steering unit needs to go. ford had an awful design here. ive never seen one of those that gave you a good feel for the road, and did not leak. what have i got to do, and how much would it cost to remove the power steering unit, and etc from my car? the car is a 72 V8 thanks stu
do a search for american pony, they have a complete front end kit around $270 I believe. I'm attempting to go this route myself, it sounds like we have the same problems too. here's the post I was reading: http://www.maverick.to/mmb/showthread.php?t=8752&highlight=american+pony
I bought a power to manual steering conversion kit from CJ'S poney parts in Harrisburg Pa for around $120. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO JUST REMOVE THE PUMP AND HOSES AND DRIVE AROUND. DANGER The above kit workes great. I give it two thumbs up
Front end rebuild cost I spent about $350-375 for parts (and shipping). A piece here, a piece there. I bought some parts fom the Local NAPA but had to search around (Ebay & local parts stores) to find all the parts. Never do that again!!! I also replaced the upper spring cup(?) and the coil spring perch too. Go with one of those complete kits for a stang for less than $300. By the way; there's no way to lube the inner bushing on the upper control arm (it's metal on metal) once it's installed. Stang's have the same issue but I found a site that had the close fitting right angle grease fitting. They have rebuild kits too. Let me know if you want the info and I'll dig up the site name. RichK
