GrabberGT Ev. 5

Hmm. LS in to a Mav... I have to say that I certainly wouldnt have an issue with it as long as it doesnt have GM, Corvette, Chevy or any of that other BS stamped on it. To me, its an intake, cam, and valve cover swap away from the motor Ford SHOULD HAVE evolved to. The Coyote is impressive and on the surface rather inexpensive. But when you factor in the front suspension swap, firewall and transmission tunnel mods, it gets $$$ real quick.

As far as updates to my car are concerned, I've got a bit of a list going...

Brake knock-back issue: I need to swap out my bearings in the rear to set-20 bearings and heavy duty bearing retainers. This sounds like a pretty easy and inexpensive swap but I've been informed by currie that my axles are likely not the correct diameter for those bearings. I'll have 2 choices, swap out axles or see if someone makes an adapter to make it work.

Panhard Bar Brace: My panhard bar only attaches to the passenger side frame rail thus allowing the mount to flex under hard cornering. I need to brace it by somehow tying it to the other frame rail as well. While doing this, I'll also make the phb adjustable in hight so I can play with my roll center... Or I may do away with the PHB and go with a Watts link. Depends on my wifes/banks mood at that point.

Rear exhaust: You cant just go around making changes to the rear suspension with out some collateral damage. I plan to move my mufflers to the rear of the car and, my neighbors just l-o-v-e how loud my car is at 7am when I leave for work (NOT), install tail pipe cutouts in the rear valance.

Exhaust x-pipe: Since Im playing with the exhaust, I may es well install some form of cross-over in my system. which one depends on how much space I have.

And if thats not enough... my steering rack leaks fluid so I'll have to see what I can do about that.

First event of the year will be Goodguys 3/11. I better get busy

 

Havent accomplished too much of my list this winter. Race season is coming on much too quickly and funds are scarce this year. I did manage to work on my brake knock-back issue though. As luck would have it, I already have Set-20 bearings but my bearing retainer plates that came with the Wilwood brake kit are super flimsy. (see photo below) In fact, they were bowed out on the one side that was leaking fluid. To fix this I purchased the Currie heavy duty plates they make for Wilwood brakes. These are twice as thick and fully surround the bearing. Unfortunately, these required that I buy new bearings and pay someone to install them. So much for saving money by already having the correct bearings.





I also worked on my exhaust problem a little. A huge issue I had with my exhaust was that it was resting on my torque arm cross member. This allowed the car to rattle a bit while cruising. So I removed the cross member and added C-channel cutouts for the exhaust to pass thru. Little did I know how much of a difference this was going to make...

I put the car back on the road and immediately realized the exhaust difference at start up. My exhaust now has a completely different tone from inside the car. It sounds much smoother and cleaner. Cruising around I notice much less cabin noise and drone. I can now cruise down the hwy at 80mph without the headache. On my fall trip to Biloxi last year, I recorded db's in the cabin with the windows rolled up at 89. I havent checked yet but it has to be much less now.

I took the car out for "donuts" to check the brake knock-back issue. Im happy to say that it is all but gone. I still have a little sponginess but its MUCH less now. For anyone wanting to get into autocross and road racing, I highly recommend doing the Currie heavy duty retainer and set-20 bearings. Even better would be to start with a full floater rear end. If starting from scratch, the price difference is negligible and you end up with a much better system.

The bad news... While out cruising the hwys appreciating the cars now smoother ride, I lost my clutch. The throwout bearing seized up. Despite the obvious trouble of having to pull the transmission to fix it (4 hour job just to pull it out), it may have ended up being a bit of a blessing. I've never liked my clutch in the car. Its always been notchie in the shifting. Shifting from gear to gear has always been a 2-step process. Pull it out of gear and then shift it into the next gear. Never has it been a smooth throw from one gear to the other. I've tried changing transmissions, a hydraulic throwout bearing, external slave cylinder, changing slave and master cylinder sizes, and then the countless hours of adjusting just trying to get it working smoothly. The only constant has been this Centerforce Dual Friction clutch. In talking with McCleod, they mentioned that that clutch with its counterweights has been known to cause those kind of issues. So now I'm getting to try a new clutch. I opted for the McCleod Super StreetPro for its power handling of 450hp/500 ft-lb. I suspect Im somewhere in that range with this motor. I've also been sitting on an aluminum flywheel for a couple years. I'll be installing that as well. It should help liven things up a little. Unfortunately, GoodGuys is next weekend and I'll have less than a week to break in the new clutch and flywheel. Clutch and flywheel should be balanced and ready to install Friday night or Saturday morning.

Updates to follow....

 

yes, keep us updated on the clutch issue. i am too fighting with a centerforce dual friction...

 

I can't believe how cheap and flimsy that retainer that came with Wildwood bakes especially for the price they charge. Makes you wonder how much other junk they are trying to pass off as the best.

 

I still have an issue with the clutch. The only other thing I think could be the problem are the synchros in the transmission. I had it built several years ago and should have had new synchros intsalled at the time but who knows.

 

You had mentioned shortening the torque arm, what length did you end up with?

 

I think I ended up right around 48" I dont recall nor do I have my notes.

 

Thanks, that helps. I plan on building one and that's where I was going to land just for the sake of packaging. At least I know I'm in the ball park!

 

I settled on this length because the numbers worked out but more so for ease of modification to the existing torque arm. For packaging I would have gone a little shorter to make more room for a cross over exhaust tube. I think anything as short as 42" would be fine. If possible, make your trailing arms as long and adjustable as you can. This will give you the most tuning options.

 

Got it, thanks for the input!

 

Hi Chris,

I am looking at doing a similar front suspension set up as you have done here on your car. starting off with the TCP coil-over system for mavericks specifically instead of the mustang as you have done. I have found that through already doing a front disc conversion on my 70' that a 70'-72' factory mustang disc setup and specifically the spindle are the same as a mav, so I was thinking of getting the mustang drop spindle from fatman which has a 2 1/2" drop instead of the maverick ones from fatman which only have a 2" drop and then pairing them with the 6 piston willwood caliper and 13" rotors like I see you have upgraded to. What are the problems you had fitting the brakes to your drop spindles as they say they need granada rotors and calipers from a camaro? Do you know or did you look into while you were going through this if fatman and/or willwood may make a part to put this system together as fatman says they sell the spindles with brake upgrades on their website? From what I read on this forum you had to have the piece machined for this, do you have any more info on that piece so I may be able to see what i'm getting myself into going this route? I would also like to ask you about your addco sway bar, the size you are using right now and if it was custom made as well as if it is possible to purchase this item? If you had to do a front suspension system again, would you change your current set up in any way or go the same route you did or possibly go complete IFS as mustang II/strut system or any other type I may be unaware of?

Sorry to bombard you with questions, but research is key!

thanks,
-Austin

 

I know you're not talking to me, but I'm pretty sure the Mustang spindles are not the same as Maverick/Comet/Granada.

 

They accepted the mav's stock balljoints and tie rod ends and were comparably the same, at least that's how it worked out for me. They are on it right now working no problem, but who knows, parts could have got changed around on the mustang i grabbed them off of over the years.

 

From what I remember, the only option was the Mustang drop spindle. It used an 11" Granada rotor and a chevy caliper mount. There are no big brake options available from wilwood or others for this spindle design. Even the early 70's Mustangs suffer this same issue. They are all based on the same spindle. I had access to a set of MII 13" brakes that I wanted to make work. I remembered seeing in PHR magazine the Wild Oats Mustang built by Pinkys Hot Rods. They used this same spindle. So I gave them a call. They told me that its not a problem to fab up a bracket to mount the brakes. I then called Fatman and inquired about the process. They gave me a price and I pulled the trigger.

The sway bar was a nightmare to get produced. The tragedy is captured in a thread somewhere on this msg board. It was a one-time build by ADCO and is no longer available.

While my suspension works very well, it does have some drawbacks (mostly price) I've factored in the sum of the parts (at retail) to be in the neighborhood of a "trully rust free, low mileage, one-owner, V8 Grabber" (including steering rack) LOL. If I had known I would end up this deep I would have found another option. But then again, in the name of performance, all options available would have ended up modified in one way or another. But it still would be half the invested cost of what I have now and the shock towers would be gone.

If you havent already found out, your other suspension choices are Global West, Street or Track (both are the same as TCP), AJE Strut suspension, and Rod and Custom MII style suspension. The later 2 are the more economical choices for achieving a complete suspension. (control arms, shocks, drop spindles, brakes, steering rack...)

No problem. My pleasure.

 

Thanks for all the info Chris, you've built an amazing maverick