72' Grabber Restoration with Sub-Projects

Seems right to me. It has lots of good info on a popular topic. Very helpful.

 

Roger, Hi! Was there any reason why you choose to use the chemicals over a glass beader to clean up the seat tracks? I will be tackeling this shortly and I do have access to a beader. I hate to use chemicals unless there is a better reason over the glass beader. LMK , Thanks ... Bob

 

Getting the glass bead out of the tracks will be a problem - If you don't get it all out then it won't slide properly. The glass bead will also damage the bearings.

 

Hi Bob, I agree with Paul that glass beads and other media blasting will risk getting media embedded into the bearings....that's why I went with chemicals on the tracks. The chemicals also work well on many of the small parts (parts that fit in a 5 gal bucket) that you want to get down to bare metal, with no rust.

I suppose the various media blasting methods are better for most other areas, when restoring....and I plan on using media blasting, when I'm able to do the body of my car.

 

High Back Comfortweave Buckets Finished - pic heavy

* This is a previous post that I am adding to my Project Thread:

Original thread with comments here:
http://www.maverick.to/mmb/showthread.php?t=81521

I received my Seat Covers back from Fred Carello Upholstery...
The Best Master Upholsterer in the United States (IMHO), a couple of days ago..
....and I went ahead and installed the Covers on the Front Buckets last night. I'll do the back seat later.

Here are a bunch of pictures that I took outside in the sun....so everyone can see how they really look.
I'm happy with the quality...Fred's craftmanship is incredible!!!...inside and out.
I was literally speechless and stunned, when I unpackaged the covers from him, and saw how SPECTACULAR
his work is.

As soon as I can, I will update my project thread with a writup on the details of how to install the covers.
One thing's for sure...took me alot longer to carefully install them, compared to taking the old ones off.

 

* This is a previous post, from the results of my Brazillian Inspired Integral Tachometer, that I also wanted to add to my project thread:

***The original thread on the first Modifications that were done, is here:
http://www.maverick.to/mmb/showthread.php?t=81768

***If you want to do the modification yourself, and order just an Overlay only, the order
thread is located here: (But just PM Me)
http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=83655

The Newly Updated Instructions for doing this Modification yourself, is located here in the Technical Article:
http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?p=987831#post987831


* Update: I can do these conversions for others, depending on my real job's schedule. I have said in the past, in my main conversion thread, that "I am not doing these conversion at this time for others" , but I can no longer edit those old posts...

...So PM me if you do not want to do this conversion yourself, and I will let you know how my schedule is looking

...Also...the Tach Pointer can be shortened...and ALL the gauge needles can be touched up very close to the Factory color, like pictured in my smaller signature picture at the bottom of this post. I can also re-create the "Red Speedometer Lines", that came ONLY on the 1970 Maverick Speedometers.

For placing orders, or questions...please PM me.

For shipping information, in case you have me do this Modification for you, check the Parts Sub-Forum Order Thread, with detailed shipping info here:
http://www.maverick.to/mmb/showthread.php?p=847758
-------------



The first samples of the Brazillian Tachometer Overlays have arrived and look great and fit perfect!

By the way...GREAT JOB DREW!

I had a company in Arizona take my drawing, and they drafted a Vectored drawing from it, and then had a specialized graphics company in Chicago make the 3 color Overlays. This was way more difficult to find the right company to do this than I thought.



I just recieved these a couple of weeks ago, and have been travelling so much with work, that I have not had time to be on here much, but I have been working in the background on getting setup to do these for others that don't want to do it themselves, and for those that want to just buy the overlays. I will have prices soon....but I do have the 2 extras pictured that I could sell sooner. The batch of 100 should be in in a couple of weeks. Drew: you can be the first to buy one of the 2 samples I have, and I will have to reread this thread to see who would be fair to offer the other one to. These were more expensive to have made, so I'm thinking $ 25 plus shipping for the overlays only.

I also tracked down the correct Dark Orange/Red fluorescent paint for the Dial Pointer Needles...and plan to shorten the Tach Needle, and Restore all the pointers with the Paint. It matches the Factory color almost perfect. I haven't painted the pictured pointer yet.

I will get better pictures when I have time to complete my Installation soon, this is from my phone. Craig Selvey sold me a Factory Dark Charcoal Metallic Maverick Cluster Cover, and I am restoring that for better pics later.
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Vry nice work on those chairs Roger! I shud have sent mine to u. I have a little pucker in the rear of the frt seats where the seat back fastens. I shud have add a little padding of some kind in that area. It's not vry noticeable, but I know it's there. Other than that I am satisfied. Maybe one day I will take them out and add some.
Those gauges are vry nice. If I had not done mine early last yr I wud be in the market for someting on that order. I have the all white overlays /white Auto Meter tach and triple cluster.

 

Thank You Everett...for the nice compliments!

I hope I get to meet you, along with several others one day...at a roundup!

 

Those seats came out really nice.....

 

Thank You Frank! I wish my Maverick was as far along as yours!

Your Grabber will be cruising the Florida byways in no time at all!

 

Can you tell me, did you find plastic hinge covers for the seats somwhere? I'm currently having my 74 grabber front seats reupholstered and I either lost or never had two of the four of my orange plastic hinge covers for my seats. I need to find them! Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

The reproduction seat hinge covers are made by Daniel Carpenter Reproductions, and I purchased them from Ohio Mustang, because they have cheaper prices sometimes, compared to many of the other major suppliers. And if you back up a page...you will see pictures of my completed seats.

You will have to order the correct Orange Paint for plastic, from places like SEM Products, Dupli-Color or Eastwood, if you don't want the hinges to be Black color. Make sure to get the plastic prep spray, so the paint sticks properly.

I hope this helps!

 

Looks like your well on the way

 

Converting from Manual to Power Disc Brakes

Before sending the car off to be media blasted, I decided to do the Power Brake Conversion, so that I minimized the possibility of messing up the new paint job if I did this after paint. All of this mod will come right back off the car, and much more before media blasting.

I followed Craig Selvey's excellent Tech Article posted here:
http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=19107

Here is a picture of my manual Master Cylinder setup before I started:


Here's a picture of the original Manual Brake Proportioning Valve, Factory mounted sideways:



Here's a picture of the original Firewall Bracket for the Manual Brake Pedal Assembly. This is different than the Factory Bracket that comes with the Power Brake Setup on Mavericks/Comets. I had to Modify this bracket to make it work with the new setup, which was pretty easy:



Here's the Firewall Holes after modification. I drilled and hole punched them using a cardboard template that I made up:



Here I'm test fitting the Power Brake Pedal Assembly, with the modified Bracket made to fit the Power Brake Style. Notice the Power Brake Pedal wraps around the left side of the Steering Column. I disconneted most of my steering column, to be able to do this mod:



Here I am test fitting the Power Brake Booster/Master Cylinder Assembly. I tested the fit of the Power Brake style Shock Tower/Export Brace, but it is not pictured. This really works! It fit in there great!



And finally, here is the larger, vertically mounted, Power Brake Proportioning Valve, taken before I mounted it, which is a tight fit, but works great if you follow Craig's instructions.



Now I'm finally doing stuff that requires me to be laying upside down and a sore back while working on the car...LOL

 

I'm adding my Rim Blow Steering Wheel Restoration to my Project Thread:

Here's a link to the original Thread:
http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=96114

(* More info added in this project version of the post)

This is my last sub-project before getting into the main restoration of the Maverick. After this is complete, I am ready to start taking the Maverick apart, and have it sent to be media blasted.

Here is my Rim Blow Steering Wheel, almost completed, with a custom “Maverick Grabber” center cap still left to finish soon. I have been working on this, on and off, over the last several months. The custom decal that I drew up and had made, needs to be redone, with a smaller diameter, before I finish it out in it’s round case, and put a thick clear coating over it, and counter sink it into the center hole in the pad. I’m showing pictures of it anyway, with the wrong size decal laying on it. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, I will post some better ones when I finish the center cap.

I wanted the wheel to have a custom look, with influences of the interior of my Maverick Grabber, so it is painted in two tones, including the “Dark Charcoal Metallic” that my Grabber had on the dash, and the other color is a special mix of deep Onyx Black. The paint was covered with 6 layers of clear coat, to give it a permanent, high gloss wet look. I’m still working on the center cap, and having the words “Grabber” added, in a variation of the Factory steer head emblem, in the original font, to give it an added custom touch.













(*It's hard to see...but the homemade Maverick center cap holder below/right,
has an aluminum croissant tube-end, from the grocery store, glued in the bottom...they fit perfect!...
...I was scrambling through our cupboard, looking for anything that would fit into the bottom,
and couldn't find anything....then when I opened the fridge....walah....there was a tube of
breakfast croissants waiting for breakfast...and so...without telling my wife...I popped
open the tube...put the dough in a ziplock and stashed it back in the fridge...and cut
and cleaned both aluminum end caps from the croissant tube

...I had to have something that was perfectly smooth and flat, to stick the decal to,
and also make it not leak, when the thick clear coating was poured on later):

(*And I could find only ONE piece of particular specialty pipe, in all the places I looked,
that had a piece the same diameter/thickness as the Factory Center Cap holders...and I still had to modify it)

(*The Factory Mustang Center Caps have the extra terraced layer, in order for it to counter-sink into
the pad, and not pull out. The Factory ones are just force-squeezed in very tightly, and they also have a tab on
the bottom, to keep the center cap centered in the pad)


I wanted to do the complete restoration myself, and the only part I did not do myself was the professional paint job. Everything else from start to finish, was done by me, including the crack repair, to priming the wheel with 2k Epoxy Primer, and detailing the rest of the wheel out.

I started the restoration of this wheel back in April, and it’s taking way more man-hours, and is more difficult than I realized it would be, but I am happy with it so far.

I won’t list the lengthy, itemized list of parts, supplies, and steps, that it took to see this steering wheel project through to this point, but if anyone wants more information, I would be happy to provide it.

The steering wheel started it’s life originally as a Ginger colored, Cougar wheel, and I restored it to the black colored style, used on the 1970 Mavericks, and 70’-73’ Mustangs.

Here is a photo of the wheel at the beginning of the restoration when I was filling in the cracks. It had a few of them around the perimeter of the wheel, and took a lot of elbow grease, along with some POR-15 Epoxy Putty, to fill them in.



I did everything from baking the original wheel in my oven, to straighten it, to a lot of sandpaper, and filing with a hack saw blade. I even had to trim some of the interior of the reproduction foam center pad, from Mustangs Unlimited, to get the pad to fit the wheel properly. The tolerances are still not as good as an original factory pad.

For the Rim Blow Switch, that surrounds the inside perimeter of the wheel, I used an improved reproduction style switch, that I noticed only honks the horn, if you squeeze it pretty hard.

For the custom “Maverick Grabber” Center Cap, I drafted up a custom variation on the Factory Maverick “Steerhead” emblem, and added the words “Grabber” to look like the original font. Reproducing the Ford Maverick Font for the "Grabber" letters, and making them follow the circular curve, proved to be time consuming...I worked on just that part for 2 months.

After calling at least 5 different places that told me it couldn't be done...I found a very nice graphics company in Washington state, ironically named Maverick Label, to produce the custom metal foil decal. I will be reordering some with the correct diameter, to fit my center cap housing, before I do the final coating. Thanks to Dan Hines for his excellent write up on how he coated his center cap.

Next, I feel sort of nervously excited, to start tearing my car down, and have the car media blasted for body work and paint. I don’t have a spare Maverick setting around, so I will be depending on all the great support in this forum in case I get lost and confused along the way, and forget how to put everything back together!
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Center Cap Finished

I received the correct size center cap decals, and went ahead and poured the thick, clear coating over the decal. I used Enviro-Tex Lite.

Here are some more pictures of the completed wheel, with the center cap: