I have had this car for 13 years now. I got it from my uncle who was the second owner of the car, which came from Florida. Ive had fox body mustangs, I have had chevys, but, for some reason, the ol maverick never got any attention from me until 2 years ago. I guess, I had something instore for it, but at the time, I had no clue on what I really wanted to do. I hate it when other hot rodders and restoration critics have no respect for the maverick, I often read in a largely published hot rodding magazine, poke fun at when a maverick hits a headline, I want these persons to know, that Mavericks are cars too, and in my opinion, a very underestimated car with a long popular history. So for those of you who know of what I speak, this is my Maverick, and hear it roar! My 69.5 began life sold in Jacksonville Florida, Dark blue metallic, with a 200ci 6 cyl with a C4 transmission. Had AC, no power steering or power brakes. The original owner sold it to my uncle in 1986 which he had put it away in a barn, up until I recieved it. My cousin and I had gone to see him to retrive his 66 Dodge Coronet 500, and I had spotted a car under a tarp with about 3 inches of dust on it. After having almost asthima attack pulling the tarp off, there she was!! I took to that Maverick like water to a duck. So a few conversations later with my uncle, it was loaded on my trailer and headed for home. My dad seen me pull in the driveway, and shook his head,,, said not another project car is it?? I said, yeah, looks that way,,,, But thats where the Maverick takes another unexpected storage period. .......... Back then, I was busy making mistakes in life, so things took to a back burner till I finally decided that I had to straighten up and fly right, So,,,,, here we are 13 years later with a new vision, and still, that ol Ford Maverick sitting now in the back yard with a huge tarp over it. It was still there after all this time, and yet, all the other cars I had in the past were gone forever. 2 years ago, I took the Maverick to the home shop, and started working on it. Amazingly, it was still in very solid condition, floors and trunk were good, just a tad of rust on the lower quarter panels, but that's bout it for rust damage. So with a good body to start with, I began to see it come together in my mind,, just had the problem of how to get it where I wanted to go. I wanted something that is classic hot rod, big engine, nice clean paint, wide 60's on the back,,, small car with alot of big features that never had it to begin with. I started by removing the 6 cyl and tranny, lots of hours of cleaning, and sanding, fixing the front end, which just was out of alignment, brakes, which needed all new parts, parts to when the time came, it could go down the road and be able to stop, and go without any problems. Thankfully, the car came apart without arguement!!! Not one broke off bolt! So, after I got most of the body to be in shape enough to drive it, I had to put it aside for another 6 -9 months. In that time, I had a nice 88 T-bird, with a SEFI, speed density 5.0 with AOD. I loved driving the T-bird, good power, always ran when I needed it, it had reliability. But, the body had 218K on it, and showed its age, so I took the EFI 5.0 out of the T-bird, and swapped it down snugly into the Maverick's engine bay. At the time, I had a carb on the 5.0, it ran enough to move the car around, (least it could move under its own power ya know) That was a great day when I first moved it. Alot of time talking to Rick Book, and a gentleman "Bluegrass" on this site, seeing their cars in photo's made think that thats what I want too. Sequential Electronic Fuel Injected 5.0 under the hood. Many hours spent getting the information to do the swap, many conversations with the guys who have been there before, they gave me the confidence to git r done!! Or well, another chapter,,,,,,, lol I stripped the T-birds wiring harness, and built a harness from the OEM harness. Thats a job and a half now!! But, one wire at a time, I soon had a harness. I had the whole EFI setup on our kitchen table, I have a 13.8 power inverter, and I hooked it up right then and there and bench tested it. After a change in one wire, It was working right there on the table!! My wife said, OK! its working, now git that off my kitchen table!!! HAHAHAHA!!! The harness isnt as pretty as I planned, but soon, I will sit down and refit it, but its all in the car, and I have had it running and amazingly, the check engine light I installed in the harness, goes out when its running so everything is a workin,, so far! The fuel pumps was the fun part on this swap, I did not want to cut up a new tank to put the intank high pressure pump inside, so I built an accumilator/fuel pump into one package, fed by a 7spi pump to a small tank like housing which holds inside a stock ford 40 psi pump. Hooked in the relay to run both pumps, ran high pressure hoses to the fuel rail, and a return to the tank, which has a line drilled and tapped and soldered into the filler spout in the trunk. I can mount the accumilator anywhere I choose, run the hoses and the wiring, and I had high pressure. I write this today, as the maverick is about to take its first road trip in 13 years, all the time, all the questions answered, Hopefully,, This old Ford will get some attention, but not from the guys with the lights on top of their cars ya know,,, LOL! Thanks to Rick Book, and Bluegrass, this burnout will be for you guys!! Chad In Indiana
You should try and make the Maverick Comet Club Internationlal (MCCI) Indiana Mini-Meet next Saturday: http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?p=261221#post261221
Congratulations on a MAJOR milestone, Chad! You've got MAD Electronic skills, more patience and perseverance than anyone I know. If my car was, in some minute way, an inspiriation, I'm glad to hear but - truth be told - I believe you would've gone EFI anyway. I have MUCH admiration for anyone that puts an EFI wiring harness on a kitchen table and "bench" tests it before putting it in the car. I also remember that one picture of the 400 punds of wire hanging out of your car when you were putting it all together. Pat yourself on the back as - YOU ARE DA MAN!
Well, it went down the road!! HAHAHAHA!!! I put about 25 miles on it, I wanted to go further, but the car had other plans,,,, First off, the C4 I have is OK, but not exactly gonna do what I want it to do. its very high rpm and needs an overdrive, Im looking to get fuel mileage out of it to run the highways. I think it needs to be adjusted, or simply rebuilt. The kickdown rod, I made adjustable, but not off the throttle. I took the original column shifter, and hooked it directly to the kickdown on the transmission. I can move the column shifter and control the kick down manually. Works good, but will take some getting used to. Ran good, drove good. But, lots of work still to do! Chad
Thank you! Just glad to see it going down the road!!! When I get the kickdown, "handle" figured out where to get it set,, Im looking for the best shift feel, and shift timing. When I had my t-bird with the AOD, it had that cable off the throttle, really it never worked right, so I tied the cable to where it shifted at 20-35-55mph,,, it shifted hard like it had a shift kit in it, it worked like clockwork,, no matter what, it shifted,, barked the tires sometimes,,, I figure the C4 may be able to do the same,,,, Once I blew a C4 apart because the kickdown did not let it shift, and when it did, it overpressurized the valve body in a spot and bout blew the pan off the tranny,,,,, if it dont work,, LOL,, I still have the AOD, and Im thinking bout putting it in,,, Is there places to find weather stripping,,, printed circuits for the guage panels, headliners and interior kits??? Yeah, I know of the JC Wittney catalogs, but those are kinda one size fits all kind of kits arent they? Chad
Yeah, for the most part, the EFI worked great! It stalled twice upon coming to a stop, next time I did, I put it down in low and slowly brought the rpm down for the computer to learn how to idle upon decelleration. After that, not a lick of trouble out the engine. Oh, Rick,, I live out in the country,, on a quiet country road,, I burned the tires off,, the span of 3 telephone poles!! I power braked it at first, but once it started spinning, did not need the brakes! Burnouts,, effortless! Thats when the tranny showed a few problems,, did not want to go into second,,, very soft, so I moved the kickdown lever, and helped it, but did not beat on it for the rest of the drive. Just drove it around to let the car learn,,,,,, Funny thing saying that,,, The car,, has to learn how to run,,, LOL!! And so far,, its on a good learning curve! Chad
congratulations. not sure i'd even try the efi route. try autokrafters for some of the parts. other parts, here or ebay.
Ha! Sounds like fun! I took the DiabloSport chip out of mine the other day to see what difference it made. Having a 75mm MAF and 36Lb injectors had the puter constantly trying to 'find' itself. At idle, the surge was enough to almost spin the tires! Ha! It sure was fun at WFO though!