Can't afford a second car so I'm gonna build on!

I got tired of being out bid on ebay and went with those. I trashed mine years ago when I put the Grabber grille in. Never thought I'd put this grille back in but I actually like it better now.

Order my fuel cell yesterday...changed my mind about cutting the trunk floor out for a Mustang tank. I can use the Mustang tank in my 68 Mustang anyway so no loss.

Now that I'm back on this project, my plans for the next few months are to get the fuel cell in, replace the idler arm, tie rods, strut rods, frt shocks, new exhaust and finalize the parking brake set up.

Then I'll move to the interior replacing the heater core, all switches, cluster bulbs, carpet, outside door handles and get my bucket seats installed correctly.

Hopefully come spring I can start the body and paint work.

 

Got this in today. RCI Pro Street fuel cell. It has a flat bottom. Now I need to get a piece of sheet metal cut to replace where my old tank went and mount this to it. This one has the GM 0-90 ohm sending unit so I will add an aftermarket fuel gauge later. I'll also make a rear firewall behind the seat when I do the interior.

 

I also made a deal on a solid deck lid. Mine is fairly rusty at the lip from mouse pee. Gotta keep motivated!

 

Got all of the AN fittings and hose ordered to hook up the fuel cell. I'm going today to get a piece of 16 gauge sheet metal sheered to bolt in the trunk floor where the old tank went.

 

i was so interested i literally just read through this whole thread haha, great work man! it inspired me to continue working on my mav! i just bought new leaf springs, rear shocks, shackles, 3.55 gears, rear end rebuild kit etc! ready to finish up that rear end and make it new!..ish lol thanks for the inspiration!

 

The metal is going to need some trimming but this gives an idea of the set up. Got the strap metal to make the brackets at Lowes.

 

Gonna try to get in a full day of work on the Maverick today. First thing I wanted to do was test fit the trunk I got from 289_4spd. I hate to replace original parts of my car, but I think fixing all of the rust thru along the outer lip of mine (due to mouse pee) would have been trouble than it was worth plus it's a good chance more would come thru later.

Here's what the inner lip looked like. Not the worst but more rust than I wanted.



This trunk is nice. It only had one dent along the edge nearest the back window. I took the less violent route and used a block of wood and a c clamp to push it back in place. Then a couple pecks a hammer and dolly and it's good to go.



It fits ok so I may proceed with drilling the Grabber spoiler holes.



I think I drilled the old deck lid a little oversize for adjustability. They measure about 1 1/8" best I can tell.



Took a break to warm up some pizza for breakfast and hear a weird noise. Went back in the kitchen and the microwave was sparking and burning inside. Looks like I'm goona have to take a break to run and get a new one before I go any further.

 

Sparks on the inside usually means foil or metal inside the microwave that should not be there.

 

No it was just pizza. I took the pizza out and hit it again camera ready...it still blew sparks everywhere. It had been making a weird noise for about 3 months...figured it was on it's last leg. Just got home with a new one. I had to run to Lowe's to get a hole saw anyway.

The Grabber spoiler fit my old trunk fairly well so I measured, measured and measured again. The centerline of the holes are about 3 3/8" straight up from the lip of the trunk (measurement not following the body lines...just a straight up measurement). So measured and marked the new trunk. Drilled 4-1 1/8" holes...and the spoiler is close but not as good of a fit as I'd like.

Gonna have to break out a file and finess the holes a little, but I'll do that at a later date...I want to work on the gas tank today.

 

On to the fuel cell install. I had to trim a notch in the rt leading edge of the insert to clear a place in the trunk floor.





I marked where I wanted the cell to mount.



I used a vise, square and a bmfh to bend the cell mounting braces.





Sort of a mock up. A few things I need to tweak on but you get the idea.

 

Nice job on fabbing those brackets, the fuel cell should stay put...

 

It's the Mica plate, same thing happened with mine. I removed it and it worked fine. Ordered a replacement from Hungary since none of the hardware stores had them in stock.

 

The trunk filler got a coat of splatter paint. Turned out nice...the shadows are from the trees.

 

Getting pieces painted gradually, but I'm waiting on another fitting. Working on the vent tube tonight.

 

I did some reading about the different ways people vent fuel cells online last night. One thing kept coming up...fuel odor when the vehicle is parked in the garage or stored. I never thought about that but it is a valid point in my case since this car will be kept in the garage. So I'm going today and find some sort of shut off valve in use in the vent tube.

Another thing people bring up is the fact that the vent could use a filter on the end. Otherwise it's like a straw sucking up debris. Many of the drag racers use a K&N crankcase vent but I'm thinking a cheap inline fuel filter at the end of the vent would be fine on a fair weather street car.

One last thing, I noticed alot of guys use a loop in the vent. I read a lengthy discussion about that and most feel it's a bad idea because if fuel ever sloshes and gets in the vent, it will sit in the loop and restrict venting.