Hey guys and gals. I have been working on the Maverick the last two days with good intentions..........but it seems as though whatever I touch blows up. I drove about 40 miles over to a buddy's shop to perform the ignition conversion, along with the 2 bbl to 4 bbl swap. Total chaos from the first moment on. When I first pulled up at his shop, I noticed I was running a little hot. Not bad, but warmer than usual. When I got out, I heard a hissing sound and noticed coolant leaking under the car. I said no biggie, it's just a hose. Raised the hood, and about 14 inches of the radiator was split open at the top. Okay, not the ideal way to start out the day, but I'm in a good mood so I say we'll deal with it. Anyway, we pull the old 2bbl intake with no problems. We didn't have to remove the distributor to pull this off. Meanwhile my buddy is doing the points-to-electronic conversion. I get everything cleaned up for my gaskets, pull the T-stat housing off of the old intake and my buddy says that he'll mount it on the new Aluminum Holley. First bolt no problem. Second bolt----SNAP!! Now we get to drill it out. :bananaman So we got that straight. Went to mount the manifold. It wouldn't clear the dist. No biggie. We just pulled the distributor.......and the keeper fell off of the shaft that drives the oil pump.....and the shaft fell into the oil pan .......DO YOU GET WHY I'M FRUSTRATED?!?!? BAAAAAAD day. Ended up working on it until 2 in the morning, got it all put back together. Tried it......and it had jumped time. @#&#^@#@%&# Time for bed. I slept on my buddy's floor, got up went to class and came back to try it again. Only to find that the radiator that we put on to get me back to town was leaking also. So I soldered mine back up, and got it back on. FINALLY, after all of this, I got it cranked, and let me tell you- I wish I had kept my 2 bbl iron intake and motorcraft carb. This thing is weaker than it was!! And the soldering didn't hold very well on the radiator! I finally limped home, and missed my street. As I was backing into someone's driveway to turn around.......I BACKED INTO A LIGHTPOLE!! That's when I lost it.....I decided to sell it. Just get as far away from it as I could. But I came on home, got out to check it out, and no damage. First break I have gotten in awhile. So I guess I won't sell it, but I really need some encouragement to keep working on it. Sorry it's so long, I just had a bad day(s) and needed to vent. Ya'll take care...........Preston
I know how you feal ... every day . Keep you`r head up its gotta get better at one point or another at least thats what I tell myself .
preston, sorry you didn't enjoy ( bonding ) with your car. you sound like you have the "dan hines" curse. my yesterday was spent building up a new rad. t-stat and elect. fan unit for my 6cyl. mav., to find out i spent about $225 on all this stuff that was 1/2" too deep. good side is it fit my sons' 302 mav. perfect. my bad luck turned out to be his good luck. as he put it " one mans' trash is another mans' treasure ". hang in there it will get better ...frank...
Hang in there, Preston. Mr. Murphy loves to enforce his law on older cars especially. We all have days that we just want to hang it up and make it just go away. Still, your day was a bit more intense than many, I have to admit. I have the Guiness Book record for the "across the lawn wrench toss". The cars are still here. When things get like that..walk away for a while and come back when your mind is a bit clearer and the urge to take a match to it is lessened. When things keep going wrong in a progression, the worst thing you can do is to keep plugging ahead non-stop.
Preston, You mentioned that it was weak? Are you running a single plane manifold now? You mentioned a new Holley aluminum manifold. If it is a single plane, you are going to lose a lot of bottom end with a basically stock motor. The good thing about this is, how often do we repeat mistakes? It's a learning process. Make it a better week next week. Seth
These guys are right....I learned the lesson the hard way and it cost me a lot more time and $$$$. Best thing to do is walk away, it will be there tomorrow. And the good thing about walking away is that when you come back, all you have to do is fix the original problem......not the "new" one created when you should have taken a break+ the original problem..,......been there done that!
A "Murphy's Law" day for sure. We ALL have them Preston, everything looks better in the light of a new day
Just think of the stories you can tell your grandkids about the time you put on a 4bbl and distributor on your Maverick. Keep the Faith. Sometimes thing happen for reasons that aren't all that clear at the time. You can only lose if you give up and sell your car. Then someday you will remember the car you wish you had never given up on. Then all you have is a memory. Good Luck!
Preston,, I feel for ya dude. Yes, I have had many many days like you described. Man, they suck. Like others, just walk away from it. Go back to it when your brain is fresh. Have you put any timing in the motor? Advance it some and see what that does for you. I really feel like my Stallion hates me most of the time. I have cursed that car more times than you can even imagine. Still doin it though. To me its a way of life, I would not know anyother. Dan
I have had a murphy's law day everyday for the past 2 mths or so. I will never give up though. Mav is broken yet again so I will keep on hammering until I get her fixed again. Be a man ,better yet be a Mavericker Good Luck and I feel your pain.
Preston, If it was easy, everybody would do it and there would be no big deal about being a car guy, or most especially a Maverick guy. If you keep the right attitude, you will learn things at your young age that will help you more than you know as you age and take on more and greater responsibility. You will learn patience, persistency, tenacity, dilligence...all things that will help in running a business, raising a family, being a model citizen. Yep. With the proper perspectives, that blankety-bank car is going to help you more than you can realize. Keep that head up and keep pursuing your dream for that car.
Hey Preston. Reading your post made me feel SO much better. Thanks! I spent WAY too long the other day just putting plugs in mine (had to remove headers and grind the flanges). Hang in there, Pal. You'll eventually get it. And when you get the 4bbl tweaked, you won't regret it.
Well thanks for all of the kind words guys. It means a lot. I was just at the end of my rope. I slept good last night though, and called a radiator shop this morning. He's gonna do me a three core for 231.00 That's cheaper than the auto parts places. I also have a fan shroud to go on, so together, these 2 things should solve my cooling problems. As for the induction, I think I'm gonna have a friend of mine (Awesome Ford mechanic) tune the carb and timing. Maybe (hopefully) he can get more out of it. I went from the stock 2 bbl intake/carb to a Holley Aluminum Street Dominator with a Performer 650, and frankly I was expecting a decent increase in performance. Anyway..........so I guess the moral is I'm not gonna sell it, and hopefully by Tuesday it'll be running again. I did get another break by the way. I found out my headers aren't leaking........the machine shop that did the heads did not put the plugs in the back of the heads, and that was where the sound was coming from. I put plugs in, and it made a huge difference in sound quality. My exhaust is smooth?? I did not know. And I can now hear all of these rattles.........Never could hear them before. So once again folks, I appreciate ya'll's response. Take care and thanks! Preston
preston... all these setback are part of bonding with your maverick!!!!!you're gonna feel like a heel for all those threats to sell it once you get it screamin! kinda like a woman... you wanna kill 'em but making up is sooooo sweet. as far as wes having the tool tossing record... well i live about 400 miles from him and that 7/8 open end he can't find is in my garage... the bump on my head still swollen from where it hit me! (they say i never knew what hit me . now i know.)
