1974 Mexican Maverick Restoration

it has been a long time since last update, but i was working on lots of details not even worth mentioning it but still stealing lot of time...

now i need to go into sheeptmetal replacement and welding alot of things, that i can go paint as soon as possible as my time left to paint is getting less and less...

the big points are the rear quarters, complete tailpanel, cowl and a few smaller patches...

the cowl already had been made by the shop i had the car as some might remember, but they made it that bad and did not weld well nice or protect the inside of the cowl, so it would rot right again and i dont want that.
so i have to open the cowl again, what will be very difficult because the spot welds are already out and are welded horribly with alot too much...

this is how it looked from the shop:



we started taking away the side parts which connect the cowl to the engine bay side walls.
we had a nice spot weld drill, but filled welds are not as easy to get out as sheetmetal spot welds...





we had to use some force so it ripped up the sheetmetal of the cowl top...
but it already had some rust holes in it and was thin...




other side drilled:


and off


to take the cowl top off there are waiting many bad welds, so i think ill not be able to get the top off and use it again...
might be best to cut it apart to even get it off






so there my big question:

who can send me a new cowl top and the two side metal parts???????????
i will not start take this off before i have a new top available

or maybe the better option: who sells me a complete new car and i just throw this rustbucket away!!! im really fed up...

so please help anyone!!

 

Man, I really do feel for you, been following your progress and all the problems you have been having and shops down there just ripping you off.....
too bad you where not closer, I would make you some sort of deal for my 74 Maverick LDO I have for sale:
http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=99293

You mentioned something about having to own a vehicle for certain amount of time before you could ship back to Euorpe? Good luck in whatever you decide......
David

 

dont give up on it youve done so much already you would be going backwards even if you got another car that was rust free

 

maybe you can get one from brazil? they're available as new parts there!

 

Isn't that just the bottom cowl? I looked at them last year. What a nice piece, but not worth the $1500+ to get one here to Canada.

I'm sure someone here on the board can get the OP a clean, rust-free cowl section and get it shipped to Texas so he can make arrangements to get it across the border into Mexico.

If the donor car spot welds were drilled from the bottom, I wonder if one could install both the top and bottom cowls at once, with the brackets still attached??? You could also spray some POR-15 inside the donor cowl before installation to seal it against further rust.

Good Luck, Braess!!

 

If you do get the cowl top off and then you find the main cowl/firewall section is too thin to weld back to ( as I had found on my own car), you can glue a cowl top back on with 3M panel adhesive

 

thanks alot all of you for your coments and help.

im looking with marco from "my mustang store" that he can cut me what i need to do the reapairs.
hope to get it quick so i can go on...

dyent: thanks, i am really fighting with lots of problems i did not expect and didnt wish to have.
id love to get another car, but 1 im already so far on this one, and 2, its right i need to have the numberplate at least half a year on my name to export it to europe easier.

but i would prefer to change to another car that is original and rustfree and do the changes again, than havin this frankenstein that after so much of work and money still wont be a perfect car, and never will.
thats what disturbs me on this, i can do whatever i want, it will only be a reapaired rust bucket...

but ill keep going, try to change all it needs and get it painted as soon as possible...

NOS parts from brazil would be great, but not in my reach nor budget...
so ill do it with cut parts from other cars. hopefully it will work

 

Wow

Hi bro..
I'm reading your thread. That's awesome.

Im from Mex. city.

My Mav has a lot of bondo, and hope to make work as clean as yours.

Suerte!

 

gracias!

trying to make my best.

but if i knew before i would have looked for a better base.

so if you want to do a restoration, look for a solid good car and put the money in new engine and suspension, and not in repair bondo covered holes...

i made some experience with mexican bondo cars and i dont think its worth it.

enjoy your car to drive and search a good rustfree roller to restore.
maybe better in the north or in usa, there you get a better car for less money and more original

saludos de puebla

 

little update:

made the new ishaft at work, this will propably be the best part of my car

made a special lower yoke to fit the steering gear.


calculated modulation, which gives splining angle and made a custom ishaft to the length i need.





only missing some zinc plating or spray paint to protect it...

now i need to cut the steering culumn shaft and put on the yoke perfil in the right angle.
but i ran into a problem with the culumn.
the shaft slides in and out around 1", which im not sure where it comes from.
has it to be like this, that the rag joint could be assembled? or is it a malfunction? seems that the lower bearing is not original anymore...
anyone knows how it should be?
what would be the better position for the shaft when i cut it: in or out?
thanks for advice.



also brought all the door and window trim to polish and straightening.
also front and rear bumper for chroming.
all together will be around 300USD, which is surprisingly cheap here in mexico.
lets see how good it will be...



then i tried the headers outside of the car on the engine, and they fit alot better now to the crossmember. had to dent a few places slightly to get clearance. ready to get back in the car when painted...



plus ordered all new speedo gear stuff to replace the 96 electronic VSS.


and im checking with ROn Francis wiring for the new harness.
im planning on a access 24/7 and Ron is a great help to get it sorted out and aswers all my questions.
the only down is that the 530USD harness alone will not make it, so im at around 1000USD with all the fan controller, halogen lights, trunk relocation, backup lights stuff... pretty ****ing expensive!
will it be worth it?

 

some more advance:

i disassembled the upper column to see what i have and clean and grease it.
the top shaft is in a tube which is ok from position as fixed with the column outer parts, just at the bottom its moving around in the acordion tube as there seems to be some kind of center ring missing.
i have only some kind of horrible chewing gum inside and it doesnt center correctly.
so need to check whats missing and add it to center.
but for that ill have to cut open the welding points that hold the plate which holds the lower bearing.

then ill do something to secure the lower shaft at the outer position, that it cant slide in anymore.
and in this position ill cut it...






the chewing gum:


and clean, just missing the new cam plastic part...


then i cut open the cowl top to see as the cylinders look like as i will get a new cowl top soon.
as i remember the shop i had the car opened the cowl, cut out the rotten cylinders and welded a closed metal in and primed.
then i complained as i wanted to have the openings and they cut open and put in the cylinders from underneath and didnt seal or paint it inside the cowl.
i just couldt proove it, now i see it



and i made the water test and it didnot even pass. so no doubt ill have to redo that.


meanwhile im waiting my parts to arrive to repair cuarters and cowl i made the small bumper attaching nut conversion.
my car had a small bumper on it, but very badly made and in the screw position of the 74 bumper. they cut the bumper brackets very ugly to make it fit more or less.




now i do the big to small conversion from the tech articles (thanks to Fordmaster169!)




the only washers i found were not big enough, so i had a friend make me some 5mm thick ones to the diameter i needed




now do the welding and that should be done.
only need to repair the brackets or find some good used ones...
the only ones i found in mexico are worse than mine and cost 120 USD, so not an option...

 

also i started to check the seat track mecanisms the shop made, to see if ill have to improve something and to paint it as its rusting already as they left them raw steel...



some test fitting, just had to open the flanges a bit to make sure they still fit with a carpet on the floors.



they are made pretty overheavy but never mind



now cleaning with wire brush and painting to protect...

 

your u joints are out of phase. they should be 90 degrees from where they are now. it most likely wont be noticeable but it will have a pulse when turning.

 

what makes you say that?

i develop ishafts and steering columns for a living and calculated the modulation with my car specific coordinates. with this phasing of 79.4° i came down to 3% modulation from input steering wheel (constant =1) to steering gear (0.97 - 1.03)
unfortunately the modulation is not fast-on-center as i wanted it to be, but that wasnt possible with the yokes i had and the given steering gear angle.

this is the best that was possible with the coordinates, and all under 10% is for a normal person not noticeable, especially in an old car...

-> if i calculate modulation for 0° phasing as you say id be in 43.6% which would be alot!

 

well im far from an engineer. most of all of that went way over my head.
i say it from expereince. i know on drive shafts that will cause a big vibration. ive worked on a few cars with dual u-joint steering shafts that i have noticed a weird pulse feel in the steering and found it to have the u joints 90 degrees out like yours.
now i do understand with the drive shafts you need phasing because the engine trans and diff angels are the same so the u joints need to be in the same phase.
now with the steering column being at a different angle that the input shaft of the steering gear, i can see how the phasing will need to be different.

now as i type this i understand further the engineering that you have preformed here, and im now pretty sure that you most likely have it right. now im wondering about the cars that i have experienced the phasing problems with. ive gotten lucky on the few i have done to have no phasing feel.