Levi Zoesch Pro-Touring 69 Ford Maverick MEGA Build

Why do you want a pro-street car, they are kinda outta style, and a full race chassis isn't much fun on the street. Have you considered insurance? Around here it's tough to get insurance for a car with a roll bar. I had a friend with a tubed and tube Vega, you had to crawl into it, and it only fit two people..was noisy, hot, and uncomfortable.

 

I love the look and feel of them.

I am not gonna do a full drag Chassis

I am going to make the car comfortable as possible and going to use a similar members cage design ideas.

I just want a bad ass, innovative, savage maverick that will stop people in their tracks to look and admire. You see out of the box Mustang, and I want to change that. I want mavericks getting attention that the ground up crazy builds mud stains are getting.

We all see very nice mavericks, most are members. But you never really see outrageous builds, crazy ideas, innovative designs, and that's what iI want. I don't care how long it takes orhow much money iI have to spend.

I hate following in others foot steps, that's mainly why I fell in love with mavericks is because you never see them built nice. And when you do you actually appreciate the hard work and dedication it took to make it that way. Mustangs, and many different cars it feels like you go to a show or you see one driving you just say oh look another Mustang or camero, etc.

 

I just have to say that here in California Pro-Street is still going strong, but getting to Levi's point, I think what he wants is a cross between a real deal Pro-Street and a honest Pro-Touring car.
I thought that he was only going with a mini-tub and not going with huge 14"/16"(wide)x31(tall) tires but something more along the lines of 16"/17"(tall)x26 to 28(dia) tires.
The line between Pro-Street and Pro-Touring is.............at least for me very fine. A lot of Pro-Touring guys here in California take their cars to road courses like Willow Springs or Thunder Hill here in Northern California, and some of these have times coming close to GT classes in the SCCA....although wouldn't make tech because most don't a cage, fire suppression system or full 5 point harness.
I don't think Levi's car will look much like a Pro-Street but more like a Pro-Touring car..................I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

Sorry I missed the reply.
Center of gravity, moving the center or gravity down closer to the pavement and back towards the rear of the car, if only inches can mean the difference between coming into a corner at 100mph and either maintaining the speed at exit or even faster, say 130mph at exit........or coming into a corner at 100mph and leaving at 70mph.........it is that dramatic. It also aids in weight transfer.
The idea center of gravity in a 4 wheel rear drive car would be dead center between the centerline of the rear axle and the centerline of the front spindles............that's great in a perfect world, but it would take a years worth on engineering to make a Maverick a mid engine car. The real interesting thing to do would be to put the car on four scales, weigh each corner............and see how close you can get each corner to be the same by moving the engine/trans closer to the rear of the car, and at the same time down towards the road.
One thought just came to mind................sorry but after looking at your car on the stand/jig it just hit me. When you build the roll cage you really need to have the either on four wheels and tires on the ground or have the suspension loaded in some way to simulate it being on four tires with all of the body weight on the ground. You would not believe how much the body will flex...............just a piece of advice from someone who didn't do that.

One thing to keep in mind is that I'm not talking about moving the motor and trans back 2 feet..............I think it would take some calculating to really find the best placement fore and aft, and left and right, and that will depend on the wheel base..................I assume you will keep the 103", or will you stretch it more?????
You would need to fabricate a new type of mount, either coming off the side of the frame or you could use a motor plate in the front....which would
be pretty simple to build and you can even buy them with whatever dimensions you want.....again tying it to the front frame rails.
As for the C6 tail shaft being further back meaning a shorter drive shaft, that would be great, the shorter the shaft the less twist/lost motion in the shaft. I've seen some drag cars using 16" drive shafts..........nothing to worry about unless you are taking it off road.
Unless you brace the heck out of the body you are going to see some flex the way you have it one the stand/jig.......IMHO
Not sure what you meant by cutting the rocker by the front spring eye.

In the end it's your car and your money, and you know what you want and need. For me, two seats are enough because I don't want to or need to take anybody except my wife with me..................You build the car the way you want to..................as for taking a lot of time to build a car, I've also done this and at least for me my 4th year into the build I was just tired of working on the car...............actually let it sit for a year..........then
started again and finished it in less than 6months..................just a word from someone who has been there..........and I did this while I was a single father of two kids..........................take it for whatever it is worth.

 

Starting to remove the inner fender aprons






Took to my cousins house because he had tools, larger garage, and he was willing to help me out.





During this part of the build, I was ONLY going to replace the inner fender aprons -- Until my work became more successful ($$ wise), and decided to do a Mustang II Front end. So, I had a friend of my cousins (who was def) hit the firewall, frame rails, and shock towers with a wire wheel to remove all the ugly




I had noticed that the corner of the cowl had been caved inwards to the point where I couldnt fix it by pulling it out, so I decided to cut the corner out? Which now I regret because I could have had a good cowl off of that other car. Nananan ugh..





Mind you, I have NEVER welded prior to doing this piece. I had to learn a lot -- Now I feel comfortable doing a stitch weld. I have ruined tons of stock metal practicing over the last year and half.





I cant find any other photos of this progress, but it did come out very good. A very very light skim coat of bondo it would never show that there was a repair there.

 

I decieded that it would be best to weld all the holes up in the firewall to replace stuff where I wanted things at, and also I was removing heat from the car, so had to fill that hole.

Man, I sucked at welding...





ANNNDDDDD the build comes to a stop.

I tore my shoulder very badly to where it limited me from doing anything other than letting it dangle like a limp stick of meat.

In Feb of 2013 I had shoulder surgery that required 5 pins, kevlar thread, and some stitching of torn tissues... DONT EVER DO IT-- it sucks!!!

The car was taken back to my house and stuffed in the garage. I would go outside and poke at it the best I could with what my shoulder would allow me. It was also probably good timing because of my $ issue at work. Things where starting to go downhill for me at work.

I moved into a new place Dec 2012 and the car was brought over and stuck inside the garage there where it sat until I'd say mid july.

In that meantime I had left my old company and started my own Marketing Company and teamed up with another company to follow my career.

My old company was paying me 100% commissions (about 24k a year) -- Where the company i teamed up with is paying my company over 130k a year. So there was a HUUUGEEE turn around for me and my family.

I started to work on the car again and dreaming of what I want/wanted to do to the car.

Post more pics later

 

One thing Id like to add (and show off )


I actually started ont he car again I believe in March just cleaning up the garage, figuring things out and what I needed ect..

I actually stopped working on the car in July for a few weeks to welcome my daughter



With my new company I also traveled roughly 30-40 days at a time all over the country for work, so that also prevented me from doing anything major. Id get to poke on the car a few days a month then be gone again.

This happened over the last 9 months of this year.

I am NOW home for at least 6-9 months with a contract I got for Central Washington which will allow me to be home and only travel for a 3-4 days at a time then back home.

So, for the last 3 weeks I have been home working on the car sitting around

BTW this is my daughter at 4 months now



She REALLLLLLLLY loved the taste of pumpkin -- When she lifted her head her entire face was orange from sucking on the brim of the pumpkin

ok, more pics later

 

I know exactly what you are talking about self taught welding skills

Really cool catch up article, Levi - not the shoulder part but the rest of it

 

Appreciate it! I have a LOT of pictures to show to my current process. It's gonna be awhile

But I do love comments, suggestions, critics, words of advice, previous experience on things I am doing/done to the car to either add value or fix it

 

Man you are on the road to having one bada$$ car!!!!! One word of advice, you probably should have drilled out all the spot welds on everything you cut out just in case you change your mind!

 

Thank you

I did that for a reason, so I COULDNT go back. Only forward NO REGRETS

 

I had purchased this car in Feb of 2012 and drove this car until august/sept of '12 when I was t-boned by a girl not paying attention and texting while she was driving.

The car was built for short track/drag. Had a 306 crate motor in it, with a T-5 trans. It ran mid 12's in 1/4

After getting in that wreck I had stripped the car to the shell, sold most of the parts and kept the 306 Crate for the maverick.

 

Cute pictures of your daughter and congratulations on the new job and nice compensation.................this should set you on your way to realizing your dream with the Maverick.
I am also self taught welder.................I do great with heavier metal, but 16/22 gauge is still hard.
Keep the pictures coming.................they are worth a thousand words

 

Pro-Street is making a comeback!!!! Are we talking fat-tire pro-street?

 

Gotta love Pro Street, not so much Pro Touring for me.

Here's my Falcon. Also a shot with the "new" right front fender, hood and front valance.





"Early" Pro Street Maverick tribute car, from the beginnings of Pro Stock. It shares space with the Falcon now.






Gotta have fun!
SPark