It has been a while since I've posted anything! It's good to be Maverick-ing again! After letting my Maverick sit for the better part of the past 10 years, I am doing some work on 'er again. Among other things, I am exploring different exhaust options. I have a 351w in my Maverick, and have been running the Crites long tube headers. Yes, they fit, but I've grown tired of the collectors dragging over speed bumps, etc. I am aware of performance issues and arguments, but I'm not really worried about that at the moment. I'm more interested in exploring my options. I have tested fitting the original '72 302 manifolds on the motor. Believe it or not, with some grinding of the ridges on the passenger side manifold, they DO fit. All of my prior searching did not answer definitively whether they would fit or not. Now, they might fit for me because there are a couple things different with my car: to install the Crites headers I had to cut the center "rib" of the shock tower and weld in a plate. I also have lowered the upper control arm mounting points by 1 inch, so that puts the bolts in a different spot. Otherwise the shock towers are not shaved or anything. The next thing I want to know is if anyone has ever installed the Doug Thorley shorty headers on a Windsor motor in a Maverick/Comet. Before anyone lectures me about using the search button....I have done that and I have spent time Googling as well. I've been around the block a time or two searching for info. I've come across other people asking the same question, some people saying they were going to try it, but nothing as far as if it had been tried or not. The 302 manifold test was relatively easy and cheap (free, since I already had them), but the Doug Thorley headers are anything but cheap, so not something I want to get stuck with or sell at a loss if I can't use them. I sent an email to the Doug Thorley company directly several days ago, but it has been crickets from them since then. Does anybody out there have anything to add to my quest for info, or anything new to add about the 351w/Maverick/Header situation in general? Most of the posts I've come across are pretty old. I doubt there's much new to add...but one doesn't know sometimes until one asks... Mark
On my Comet the left Thorley header lightly rubs the steering box, I can't see any chance they would work on a 351.
Thanks for the reply, Tom! I forgot to mention my car has an RRS power rack and pinion in it, so no steering box anymore. I kinda doubt they fit anyway.... otherwise someone probably would have posted about it over the years. On the other hand, some have sworn that the 302 manifolds would never fit with a 351w between the shock towers, and I know they fit in my car...so I dunno...
