My Son’s car needs help! Handling is horrible!

My son is in the army and is stationed at Ft.Bliss, El Paso, Tx area (poor guy). Anyway his only vehicle is a 75 Mav 4 Door/302.

I need to bring my son his car in a few weeks from the Springfield, Missouri area. ( 1000 miles! I think) That thing drives road crazy!!!! And feels incredibly bouncy and dangerous. I’d say it probably has the factory V6 springs in it. The suspension is all stock with new replacement shocks and tires and a recent alignment.

What can I do for very cheap and very quick that will make the most difference? I’ve read a bunch of posts on handling on here but most of the ones I saw were for track performance or autocross racing. I just need to not roll it on the way to Texas.

So should I add a bigger front sway bar and use the old one on the front in the rear? Add Econoline springs? Different front springs? I have a pick-n-pull about 30 miles up the road. If I can figure out what to get? Is the 620# mustang spring the best option in a pinch for the front or is there something less rough riding that will fit?

 

Also I bought a rebuild 302 from O’reilly’s a few months ago. I also bought a rebuilt factory 2bbl carb. I’ve had it tuned at a local shop that deals with na v8’s a lot but the motor just doesn’t have any power. Not like a 302 should. The shop I had tune it is assuming that the cam is maybe just not very radical. But I mean it’s far slower than any 70’s V8 car I ever remember driving. (Which probably is a good thing considering how poorly it handles. I can’t imagine how bad it would handle at high speeds.)

Also this car has the factory brakes and brake pedal. The brake pedal doesn’t appear to be adjustable. Should it be? The pedal sets way too far forward. It’s hard to get your foot on the pedal because it’s so high and close to the driver. Is there a way to adjust the pedal closer to the firewall?

 

I love the look of this car but I’m a tad nervous to drive it 1000 miles the way it drives currently.

 

I'd say first thing is to check everything on the suspension to make sure it's in good condition. A lot of it can be replaced pretty inexpensively.
--Ball joints.
--Tie rod ends.
--Strut rod bushings.
--Upper and lower control arm bushings.
--Idler arm bushings.
--Cracked leaf springs.
--Steering column rag joint.
--Sway bar end links and frame mount bushings.

If all those things are OK you may be feeling the effects of a unibody which was never as sturdy as a new car of today that has several decades of use on it. Even for just mixing in modern traffic an Export Brace and Monte Carlo Bar will help stiffen up any Falcon-chassis car a whole bunch.

Also crawl underneath just to be sure and make sure there isn't something critical to the unit body which hasn't departed to start its own little iron ore deposit on the road somewhere.

 

I doubt the shop would have aligned it if any of the steering components were loose.
You could try stiffer shocks like KYB Gas-A-Just (monotube). I also recommend polyurethane sway-bar bushings.
The front bar will not fit on the rear. Stiffer springs can make the ride harsh, and make the car sit too high. Is the rear sagging? If so, new leafsprings are available and are easy to replace.
In any case, you cannot expect a 44 year-old car to handle like modern cars without modifications.

The factory brake pedal push-rod is not adjustable, however you can buy an adjustable push-rod from various Mustang parts suppliers. I definitely recommend that, as I too hate a high brake pedal. Make sure you get a replacement retainer clip, as they break when you remove the old push-rod.

 

Thanks for the reply’s. Yeah I had the local Ford Dealer do the alignment. They said it aligned fine. But driving it at 65 it’s really all over the place on this small highway near the house I test drive it on. I’m not expecting a new car but it floats really bad over little hills and it feels like you could ditch it at any moment.

I’ll try the sway bar bushings for sure. Hopefully the local parts store will cart those.

I don’t mind swapping shocks if that would fix it. And it seems every post on suspension suggested a Monte Carlo bar. I’ve got metal to build a shock tower brace if that really makes that much difference. I’m a welder by trade so that may be one of the easier things to do. Is an “export brace” something different than a tower brace?

I suggest putting the front sway bar on the rear because several peoples suggested it in an old post I read on this site earlier.

What about the brake pedal? Any ideas?

 

As for your power (lack of) issue, we need more information. Does your car retain all the original emission controls? What type of exhaust system are you running? Sadly, in 1975, Mavericks were pretty anemic. Something like 122hp with a 302. A 4 barrel carb and free-flowing exhaust helps a lot. Increased ignition advance helps too.

 

Changing to an adjustable push-rod will solve your problem. There is no brake pedal that you can swap to improve the situation. What are you running for tires? While stiffening the chassis is a definite improvement, your problem sounds suspension related. Springs, bushings, and shocks. Got any pics of the car?

 

http://mustangsunlimited.com/Mustan...le-Brake-Pushrod-1965-1969-Mustang-Cougar.axd

 

Unfortunately the car is at the shop where they cleaned out the fuel tank, replaced the fuel filter, adjusted the carb and timing. I will post some pictures of it when I get it back probably Thursday.

I think most of the emissions junk has been disabled and removed.

The tires my son put on it are just cheap wal-mart tires on front and fairly wide “cobra” tires on the rear.

 

Thanks Larry. Will that pushrod fit a 75 Maverick you think?

I was just surprised there wasn’t some type of adjustment from the factory. I wasn’t worried about it since my son said he could live with it. But now that I’m going to be driving it for many hours I need to do something. He is a little shorter I guess.

 

Excessive pedal height is probably due to a mismatched part. Been there done that on Torinos.

Are these power brakes? I don't believe the adj rod fits those, but I have zero experience wit the Maverick power system.

 

Yeah, the adjustable rod is for non-power brakes.

 

I don’t believe it has power brakes. The pedal is very hard to push.

 

I installed the adjustable rod on my 73 and it lowered the pedal to where I wanted it to be. I had to experiment with the rod length some. You may have to install a new master cylinder as well because sometimes the rod can be quite difficult to remove without causing damage to the cylinder. Also you can research on this site about adding some positive caster to your front end alignment. The Ford dealer probably set it by factory specs. The KYB shocks Larry mentioned will help considerably with the handling. My wife's grandmother had a low mileage 1975 4 door Maverick in the early 80s and even back then the handling was less than desirable.