Hey guys, as some of you know, I recently acquired a 76 mav. It's a 4 speed on the floor, 302 powerplant , 1 single exhaust , and I guess everything from the car it's stock, except for the audio (2 woofers and 2 12" subwoofers ). Now, I'm asking for some advice cause I don't want to keep it stock. It would be great if you could tell me some upgrades or modifications for the car, you know, the basic mechanical, electrical stuff that can be found on a junkyard or purchased with low buck. Maybe a mild improvement list could help too...hehe :evilsmile Thanks in advance
for the junkyard stuff, it would help if we knew where you were.headers and exhaust would be my first suggestion, but thats only super cheap if you have a welder and some skills. also, if you have a bench and want buckets you can get those fairly cheap at a yard as well.i guess it depends on where you want to take it. check out the picture galleries for ideas and let us know.
Welcome to the board,, it is not as stock as you think,, no 4 speeds on the floor were produced with the cars. Sounds like you have a car that has tons of potential. Dan
first thing i would do is check all the safety stuff, brakes, suspension, and do a good tuneup. then work on a cam, headers, carb, ignition, and distributor.after that you might think about some heads. and also a better set of rear gears and posi.
well, actually it's a bucket seat, I forgot to say it's a 2 door mav. As for where I live...I live in Mexico, so there are TONS of mavericks in junkyards(at least that's what I think). I'm 17 years old and haven't taken any course bout welding, so I think I will have to go to a shop for the headers and exhaust upgrades. I know some upgrades like putting a 9" rear axle to the car, front disks brakes from a granada and that kind of modifications. But I want to know another stuff like installing new headlights, I saw in the gallery a black mav (It said it was Corbin Johnson's mav) wich had updated headlights and not the nostalgia sealed beams. It would be awesome if you could make a list of basic but not so expensive upgrades. thanks in advance, again hehe
the 9 inch isnt so important, the 8 will hold up good.also you should already have disks on the front, but you can double check. like don said, check all your mechanical stuff is sound and strong. sounds like you already have a good starting point. if your paint is good, you may be ready to pump the engine a bit unless there are some cosmetic changes you really want to do. i know my first mav was an LDO so the hubcaps were my first upgrade.
I don't have any pictures right now, but the color is burnt faded cyan with some texture called cracks and bubbles lol. BTW, I hate the big bumpers, but that can wait, I want to get the technical done first and then the exterior. I will leave the car in a shop so they can give me a diagnostic of the car and then I'll tell'em to fix the broken things and upgrade the sh*tty stuff. This morning the car didn't start, I turned the key and heard a "THUNK" noise. My dad told me it was the alternator that wasn't functioning, I dunno BTW, do you have VIN registry finder here??? I'd like to know how my maverick came from the factory and what mods the last 2 owners made to the car.
I'm assuming its a Mexican Maverick. You could get a 4 speed in you Maverick, in Mexico, from the factory. I was always curious as to what transmission it was.
Hecho en México yep, it was made in Mexico. The car still has the instructions booklet in the glovebox and I found very interesting things, back then in the 70's, Ford of Mexico didn't sell Comets, but there was a "conversion" option for the Mavs that you could get from the factory or made at the dealeship to "convert" your maverick to a comet. I don't have too much information, but in the conversion pictures option there was a maverick with Comet tailights. I'll try to scan the booklet and upload some pictures. BTW, is there a thread on the forums with common mods???
Here they Are: Here you can see the comet tailights, and a comet hoodscoop, it's hard to see, but there is hehe. The third image has small rear bumpers, and the plate says 1976, I think dealerships made the bumper swap too. And the usual accesories:
That is too cool...like they say, you can learn something every day. I woulda had a hard time believing that bumper deal without seeing it. Thanks for sharing.
