My '72 Grabber build thread

Thank you!

 

John, I think you should abandon the entire project and ship car and parts to me, I will pay shipping costs, sound like a deal ?

I really like it when people post progress info on the builds. Keep up the good work

 

The other day I installed the windage tray and oil pump. I also gave the block the second and final coat of paint. Next tasks will be to install the oil pan, temoprarily install cylinder heads, check piston to valve clearance and measure for pushrod length. That should keep me busy for a while. Hopefully I will have more progress pics by the end of this weekend.

 

OK, had some things to sort out with the valvetrain. Things are on order and should be here this week so I can finish that up. Meanwhile yesterday I sandblasted the headers and sprayed them with a coat of POR-20 heat paint. Hopefully this stuff works! OK, since I am waiting for valvesprings, I am doing some small projects that need to be done. Today I modified my drivers side motor mount. I drilled a 3/8' hole all the way through it and installed a 3/8" grade 8 allen head cap screw through the mount. This should reinforce the mount in case the rubber that holds the two halves together decides to give up. Then I had to cut a hole in the frame bracket with a holesaw to give clearance for the bolt head. Then I turned my attention to the engine again. I fitted the electric water pump to the engine and found out that the lower water neck almost hit the balancer and would have given me no room for the radiator hose. So I elongated all four mounting holes on the pump and rotated the pump counter clockwise just enough to move the water neck far enough from the balancer. Then I mounted the alternator. I found out that I'm going to have to get the spacers machined down so that the belt will be aligned. I made my own temporary spacers so that I could get the belt aligned and now I measured those spacers so that I know what size the good spacers need to be. After that is done I will need to make a bracket to support the outer part of the long alternator bolt. Fun day...NOT! But at least I accomplished something.

 

Good lookin' work ... especially the headers.

Thanks for posting the motor mount trick. I was planning on getting the mounts that are already set up, but seeing your pics help. Looks easy enough to do myself.

 

What mounts are you referring to? I haven't seen any solid type mounts for mavericks.

 

I think they are called Gorilla mounts, but I just searched Google and previous posts and am coming up empty-handed.

When I was posting a couple years ago, someone chimed in with a brand name ... can't find that now ...

EDIT ... wanted to clarify that they were not solid mounts, but like yours with the bolt.

 

I have some used motor mounts that have the bolt thru them.

There was also be an article in a future issue of the Maverick Comet Club International, Inc (MCCI) bi-monthly newsletter Shorthorns about how to make a conversion/modification to these types of mounts.

 

I finished up all of my valvetrain measurements and checks. I made a template for the front alternator support bracket and now I need to get a piece of metal to make it out of. I also installed the engine into the car this evening. Next will be putting the headers in place, installing the heads and bolting up the headers.

 

So little in that engine bay, yet it all says so much ... fresh paint, freshly machined block, electric water pump, high tech balancer, and big oil pan.

Looking for many good things to come here.

 

Awesome!!! Looks amazing.

 

Thanks guys. Stock balancer though. Will change that later down the road.

 

I was looking at the installation tool ... nice shiny aluminum ... and didn't have my glasses on. My doc also has me on NO COFFEE right now ... it's been tough ...

 

Are you going to put the heads on the engine while it's in the car? If so, do yourself a favor and pull the motor out to install them, in can be done in the car, but it's not very much fun to get the bolts torqued next to the shock towers....

 

Captain, in the last group of pics that's my crank pulley.
DDB, heads are going on in the car. It's much easier to get the headers into position that way. Tried it several times before I took the original motor out when I was fitting/mocking up everything. Plus I swapped heads several times on my other maverick in the car with heads studs and it wasn't much trouble.