New Maverick owner NE FL.

I was looking for a cool car to daily drive. I want something to look nice. I looked at a mustang and some cougars... well,I just started on my 72 maverick. It was a v8 power steering A/C car originally. right now its a fairly rust free roller with a pile of parts.

I am going to run the 17" cobra R wheels, this would require spacers. I've also been looking into a rear disc swap. What i have settled on is swapping in the 98 explorer 8.8. it is 60" wide, has 1.31' 31 spline axles, 3.73s L/S and disc brakes. This axle being 3" wider will let me run the cobra R wheels with no spacers on the back and it will be tougher funner than the 8" with a 3.00 gear.

I'm getting this rear out of the 98 5.0 explorer 2wd auto. I will also use this engine (GT40P heads etc) and tranny. The whole thing cost $800 running and driving but the front end is about to fall apart. The engine will get a cam and custom tune . I would like to find some tri-y headers if possible. This explorer was a police one so i don't know if there would be anything special about it.

I did set a spoiler trunk lid on it and am in the process of coming up with a way to put in some 67 cougar tail lights. I plan on a front spoiler when i find a place to get one.

My car came with 3 cars worth of bezels, lights, chrome, trunk lids and interior. I have lots of stuff i dont need. I thought about sandblasting something cool in some of the extra rear windows.

 

Congratulations on your discovery! beerchug:

 

looks like a cool project! keep us posted

 

from Ocala,Florida..........

 

Very Cool!! Keep us posted!

 

...from Maconga, U.S.A...

 

Welcome to the site!!!!! and good luck with your new project.....

 

Greetings ... you will make a lot of friends here. Best source of info for our cars.

Always good to see another Florida member. Frank and I are both in the Tampa Bay area.

Looks like a really clean car.

Two things to watch with using parts from the Explorer ...

1) The rear end has a heavy offset, the pumpkin is skewed to the passenger side. The motor is offset in them too. Most cars are set-up with an inch or so of offset,(side-to-side or up/down) and that is desirable. A driveshaft that is aimed straight from the trans to the rear would vibrate. The u-joints need a bit of side load to run smoothly, but you should not go too far away from straight either.

2) That 302 from the Explorer is excellent base material except the heads. Because it has the odd plug angle, you are going to have a very bad time finding headers. The factory "headers" on those are horrible too. The heads are desirable to someone that can make use of them, but in a Mav, the 96-early97 GT40 (without the "P") will work with regular 302 headers. Maybe you can trade someone?

The rest of the motor is an excellent choice. Roller cam, good internals ...

 

Thanks everyone.

I was kind of looking for an excuse for aluminum heads

I young, and am into 4x4s. This will be my first kinda hotrod car build. I have a lot to learn.

This weekend I am wheeling in SC and can't wait to get home to play with the car.

 

Good luck with your project. Keep posting pics.

 

from Northeast Pennsylvania

 

to the board...

 

Welcome from Panama City, Florida.......let me know if you need certain parts, I have a few, I had a Maverick that looked just like yours at one time, mine had a red pinstripe down the hood, it was a shell rebuild of the one I rolled over.

 

Welcome from Freeport, Fl.

It's good to know there's another Maverick that's not going to the crusher anytime soon. I also have a few extra parts, should you need anything.

Good luck

 

I picked up a 96 5.0 explorer (GT40 stuff) , auto , 31 spline 8.8 with disc, LS and 3.73 gears (the right width to run the 17x9 cobra R wheels with no spacers)

$800 ( has to be missing important bits in the wheel bearing on the front right)

5.0 explorer is fun to drive in the field.