70's pro stock maverick

seems lately that the trendy thing is vintage hot rods, whether it be a rat rod or a traditional hot rod or gasser or what not. i started thinkin about a 70's pro stock themed maverick. i've been doin some diggin but can't seem to come up with any details about the old pro stockers like tire sizes, suspension set ups,transmissions, were the rear ends narrowed? stuff like that. i know early seventies ran small blocks for awhile then nhra switched back to the big blocks but thats about it. anybody out there know anything about these cars or where to find info

 

There's a pro stock forum with all that info, let me dig around to find the link.

 

All the Maverick Pro Stocks were big blocks with the exception of the Gapp & Roush 4-door, which ran a Cleveland. The first ones used 427 SOHC motors, then switched to Boss 429's (some switched back).

They still retained the shock towers, but they were highly modified, Some of them actually had the upper shock mounts inside the wheelwells. Some used Australian Ford RHD steering boxes mounted to the outside of the frame rail for header clearance. Another mod was mounted the brake master cylinder on passenger compartment side of the firewall.Most cars sat nearly level with large diameter front tires. Rear ends were narrowed and many teams used heavier dana 60 rears instead of the 9-inch Ford.

All used the Ford Toploader 4-speed, until the Lenco came out in the mid seventies.

These cars were modified, stock unibody vehicles. Some were acid dipped with a few fiberglass parts. The tube chassis cars hit the scene around '73. Even the first Pinto Pro Stocks were unibody cars.

 

thanks a bunch

 

Well, all Maverick Pro-Stockers used BB's with the exception of Gapp&Roush 4dr Maverick, can't think of anyone that used a SB. Most guys running Mavericks used the 427/Boss 429/SOHC 427.
Most ran top loader "crash boxes" (I have one that was used in my B/SM Maverick during the late 70's and early 80's before the class was disbanded), all the rear ends were narrowed and most used a ladder bar type of arrangement. I can't remember the size of the rear tires but pretty sure they were 15x30x12's or 15x31x13's. All were tubbed. As I remember most had 29/30" tall front tires but a lot of them sat nose down with a very loose frontend.
My current Maverick runs 15X31x13 rears with 15x28.5" fronts. Here is a picture of my Maverick in 79 at Fremont Drag Strip wearing 15x29x10.5's in the rear and 15x30's in the front.

 

ok i was thinking don nicholson ran a cleveland but that was in his pinto not the maverick. i may be able to duplicate the look but no way is a boss 9 or sohc 427 in the budget. . i noticed on some of the old pro stockers that the rear tires don't tuck up inside the fender wells, they are sorta flush and the rear fenders look to be cut unlike todays cars, although some are up inside as well

 

Kaase Makes some more affordable Boss 429 heads that you can bolt onto a regular 429/460 block.

They're only $5,000

http://www.jonkaaseracingengines.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=219

 

Dyno Don's first Pro-Stock was the Cougar that I had pictured above and I believe that was a 427.
Most Pro-Stock cars were tubbed although some of the very early ones like Don's Cougar I believe had been mini-tubbed. Some of the very early cars may have had the tires flush with the quarter panels, but NHRA specified that the original finish............read lips..............must remain. If you look at my Maverick which is tubbed, you see that it doesn't totally look like a factory car if you look at it from the front of the fender well..........but it is pretty close. You couldn't just cut the fender out and run it that way, NHRA would not allow any outward modification to the body.
Depending on what type of suspension you had really dictated if the tire was tucked up inside or not.

 

My friend Jimmy happens to have a '70 Maverick Pro Stock. Shortly after this Maverick was purchased it was converted to a NHRA Pro Stock. A '69 Boss 302 service block with 13 to 1 compression with '70 Boss heads and '69 intake. The heads were built by Bud Moore himself. A .630 lift cam and a Doug Nash 5-speed transmission, he shifts at 8000 rpm. The Maverick front suspension was replaced with a Torsion Bar Suspension from a new '71 Plymouth Duster with a Pinto rack & pinion steering. The steering column is a steel cable to clear the headers. The narrowed Detroit locker 9" ratio is 6.00:1 He swapped the Doug Nash transmission to a C6 back in the early 90's...and the paint job. The first pic was back in the day, 2nd pic about 2 years ago.

 

man that thing sounds ferocious in that video

 

Several others used clevelands in pro stock- I used one. Most were not as well know as others. I will dig through years of pics. to find some. Several of us ran doug nash 5 speeds/ converted to 4 speeds. The horsepower to weight factor worked well with a cleveland, till they refactored it*

 

Dyno Don and Fast Eddie received the only two factory-built '69 Boss 429 powered Cougars. Eddie updated his to '70 sheet metal. Neither of the cars were competative.

 

The 428 worked well in the cougar for DYNO.That was a deal with COKE> He told us that the HEMI car just would not hook and transfer like he would have liked it to. It was still one wicked cat. He stole the show at South Carolina one night in unofficial trim weight.

 

Now you can own one of the more famous one's.......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford...1419273?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2315e89489

 

What a Beauty... and just down the road from me too...lol