Hi I am new to this forum and have just recently gotten into Mavericks. I am going to look at a 1970 tommorow (saterday). It is a 200cid I-6 3 speed on the floor which seems to be in nice condition. The reason I am getting this car is to build a bracket screamer. I have one of the first 351 4v cleveland motors out of a mustang that I am going to build and I want to put a 4-speed manual in it also. I was wondering how feasable this is and also what rear end the 70's came with. Am I going to have to swap it out for a ford 9"? Thanks in advance. -Andrew
to the board well if it has an 8 inch rear you should be ok ...however depends on how much power you goin for....8 inchs are VERY strong but if your goin to put tons in the engine might as well make the drive line as tuff also but good luck eddie
I plan on doing a close to stock rebuild (300 hp and 400 tq) but adding a full roller valvetrain, pretty radical cam, port and polish job, and a couple other minor things. So I am hoping for 350-400 hp and maybe 450 or so tq. so hopefull the rearend can handle that? Any recomendations for a stout 4-spd that will fit these car nicely?
top loader....yeah your 8 inch should be fine , put some gears in there an you will be good to go, they have 28 spline axles so there strong...make sure though its an 8 inch , it may have a 7.5 you can tell by the 7.5 has a cover that comes off w/o the pumpkin like the new mustangs have bolts around the outside... the 8 inch looks like a 9 inch kinda except its oval instead of round eddie
I wouldn't start with a 70 myself. They have a lot of little issues to deal with when doing such a swap. Smaller trans tunnel than any other year. 4 lug, light duty suspension, brakes, and rear end. No tower reinforcement. (Not a must, but nice to have with such an engine) The manual tranny stuff will be useless to a V8 engine, except pedals. The car also has the need of all the V8 swap parts, on top of everything else. Your best bet will either be a V8 car with auto, then you just drop in your 351, convert to 4 speed and go. OR A V8 car with 3 speed would be perfect, but is the most expensive entry option. If you want to start with a 6 cyl car, the 75-77 bodies would be best. They all came with reinforced towers, 5 lugs, 8" rears (I have found them weak, but some like them.), most have disc brakes, strong suspension, plenty of trans tunnel, etc... I converted a 75 V8/auto Maverick to 4 speed, then later 351c. I used the same 300hp 70 model engine. That was a very good year for Clevelands. If your engine is stock bore, you have a really good thing there. Good luck Dave
I know I shall be blasted for this... :evilsmile but if you want a consistant bracket car without a lot of $$$ put into it, I would by-pass the 3rd pedal and run a automatic. As mentioned by Dave....anything other than a 70' would make it easier and cheaper.
Blast! Actually, you are so right! I didn't even think about it, but if you want to do any serious bracket racing, you NEED consistent. More-so than fast. Any good bracket car is an auto. Human shifts are way too inconsistent. Dave
yup agreed...dont get me wrong i love rowing my own boat ...however with the maverick i have now...its a bracket car and i stayed with automatic, i lot of my friends ask me why not put a 4,5,6 spd in there...consistantly is the key and with a stick to much that could happen.... but i do like the sound of a cleveland and a 4 spd purr hey its your car and this is my .02
An 8" rear would last a little longer behind an auto trans as well. You will want to go to a 9" eventually, but with a slush-box, you won't have to do it right away. Get a strong 351 in there and start powershifting a toploader, an 8" will be toast before you know it.
I absolutely agree that an auto is going to be MUCH more consistant but I am a die-hard manual fan. I feel there are a couple more advantages to a stick than an auto but that is just my personal opinon. Alot of the driving will be street(where a stick is almost essential in my mind) but I would like to do bracket strip on some weekends. As far as the 1970 not being a good candidate thanks for the advice. I kinda figured that seeing they only came with the 6's which would make an eight swap more difficult. I have heard that the swap from auto to manual is alomost impossible. Any pointers on that? Maybe some advice as to how to do it? The easiest way? Thanks again for your help guys! -Andrew
Take out the steering column and remove the entire pedal assembly. Put a manual tranny pedal set in, bolt the column back up. Converting to a manual will be easier than putting headers and exhaust on your 351! The hard part is finding all the stuff to do it. Actually it's not too hard to find, you just need to shop around. You can probably locate 3 sets of conversion parts today, but they will all want a fortune. You'll find 10 sets before you find one reasonably priced. Good luck Dave
I do beg to differ here. Especially for a bracket car a 70 is a good choice. I compared the shock tower bracing on my 70 to my 73 and I don't see much if any real difference. If you are going to run an automatic there is plenty of room. They did make 5 lug 8in cars in 70. No they didn't make V-8s but every thing bolts in for the V-8 except for the V-8 tranny mount. I have Hooker 6901s I've had 5 70s and I would much rather have a small bumper car and convert to V-8 than convert a big bumper to a small bumper car. I put late model disc bakes on there and they do have a different ball joint but all I did was put the later ball joint in. Right now I just have 1 69.5(if thats what you want to call them) a 72 and 2 73s but my heart is always in the 70 first and foremost. If I was you I would grab it.
I have a 70' model. I think they make great condidates for bracket cars. Less wieght than later mavericks. They do not have staggard shocks but thats not a big deal. The V-8 trans (double hump)mount will go in with a little drilling/grinding. Trans tunnel is a tad smaller but not a huge deal with an auto. If going stick go tremec 5 speed and do a little sheetmetal rework. They had 30 perecent lighter frame rails and no door supports. So make sure you put some sub frames and a roll cage of you plan on going fast. In fact the early models are sought by many racers for the weight savings. Good luck
Good I like to hear the good things about the 70's body. The body on this one is in good shape but the interior is rough. Thats ok cause all I need is the body so I can sell the 200cid strait six 3 speed drivetrain for a little extra cash and was planning to get rid of the interior anyway. All they want for this car is 800 dollars so that makes it even more of a good car for me. Nice and cheap (budget bracket haha). I am going to check it out with a buddy tommarow and see if it has the potential that I am looking for. Could you guys give me some pointers on what to look for? Maybe a checklist to run over before I pull out the cash. Like rust prone areas, rear end id's so on and so forth. Thanks so much -Andrew
As you have been told the 70 Maverick has a narrower transmission tunnel. That is not really an issue if you are going to put in a four speed or a C4. The 351C is going to be a very tight fit and the torque it puts out will twist the car up the first time you rev that Cleveland and drop the clutch on it. You will need to reinforce the tower supports. If you are going to bust brackets at the local drag strip you need to have a car that runs within a tenth of a second each and every run. If you have very good reflexes and can consistantly shift three times exactly the same every run then you will only have to contend with broken u-joints, clutches and differential damage with a four speed manual. If you miss a shift you will have a lot more damage than a busted u-joint. With the automatic you can either put it in drive and let the transmission shift (at the exact same RPM every time all day long) or you can shift it manually and try to be as good at shifting as the tranny is. Shifting the auto manually is pretty easy if you have a shift light on your tach - when the light turns on - shift and I know some guys that are realy good at it but they aren't as consistant as the autoshifter is. A C4 can easily be built to handle the 400 or 500 HP that you want to build into that motor and live a respectable long life. The damage to u-joints is less and it is also a lot easier on the rear end. The mods to the car are going to be about the same whether you go with the 4 speed or the automatic. You already have the three pedals so you won't have that expense and removing the third pedal will cost a little time. You will have to get a rear end (the complete wheel to wheel rear end. You will have to get the V-8 front suspension components and the engine cross member and bolt on the mount supports. You should install more support for thos shock towers and there are a few different ways to do that - all of them have expense involved. You will have to have sub-frame connector welded in unless you can fabricate and weld them in place. You have to get the transmission (whether it is a C4 or a Top loader) a bell housing for the four speed, clutch, cover, scatter shield, lever kit and throw-out bearing. The C4 will come with a bell housing but you will have to get a higher stall speed converter (unless the racing tranny can be ordered with a converter to fit your application) and a good flex plate. What you do with your car and how you do it is up to you. You will get a lot of good advice from the guys here - even if they disagree it is still good advice. You are bulding a machine that will require a lot of maintenance. If you want to enjoy it make sure that what you build is what you want and then ask the best way to do it. That way you can get advice on how to do it your way and not arguements of what is the best way to get the lowest ETs. We can give you the facts and our opinions but you need to be sure to ask for the facts and then listen. Listen with an open but critical mind - no one is infalible and sometimes our facts get mixed up with our opinions. You need to tell when that happens so that you are working with just the facts. Build your car for you - you aren't after the fastest car on the track you are after a car that you have already built in your mind. Listen to what these guys tell you because you may not get the car of your dreams when you build it the way you think it should go. Some of us have 35 years and more in building metal monsters - some of us are as new to this game as you are. We all have learned what works and what doesn't FOR US. You might be different and you might not. That is why you have to decide the mistakes that you make. Lecture over! Have fun
