I'm thinking of busting my '75 4d down to parade rest and building it back up again--the ultimate American adventure. I am looking for insight from anyone who's done the following: 1. I want to have really tight PS with no steering wheel wobble--besides going manual, what have people done to get tight, responsive PS? (Side question...how many PSI are in the pressure hose of the PS system?) 2. I'm thinking about replacing the whole dashboard with something '80s-ish. Anyone had any luck doing this, and with what? 3. A hood release on the inside, and gas pistons to open the hood--I know someone's done this...any tech articles or parts info? I guess that's it for now. Thanks for any info... Bests, Atzy.
Dashboard I know MavMark has just got done pulling his Maverick dashboard, and installed a dashboard from an early 80's Thunderbird. I know he does come on this board from time to time, but if you had some interest in this, you might want to goto his website www.maverickcomet.com . You can usually find him in the chat area of his website. I am thinking this is his second time doing this to a Maverick. Good luck with your project, and let us know how you make out if you decide to go this route or another.
Indeed, I have experience with both things that you are mentioning...I added a coil-over suspension from Total Control Products to tighten the steering and I put in a dash board from a 1980 Thunderbird that features a digital speedo, electronic gas gauge, automatic temperature control, trip computer, and automatic headlights. I have also added steering wheel cruise control, keyless entry(with power locks) and Electronic Fuel Injection. Kinda wacky by some people's standards, but I guess it is my dream Maverick in a way... I will have to get more detailed later..there are some pics on my website...in the meantime, if you have specific questions that you can think of, fire away
Here is a picture of the dash when it was still in my '77. I have since rebuilt it in my '72: I will have to take some more current pics and post them...
. I'm thinking about putting some gas shocks on my mav. I think it would be pretty simple to do it. All you have to do is figure out an angle that will work, buy the shocks, and figure out some type of bracket that will hold them on (or possibly just drill some holes). Looks like it will be pretty easy. I think the trick will be making it look good since the hinges are kinda in the way.
as for the gas shocks on the hood there was someone on ebay that was selling kits to put them on mustangII's, there was some sort of brackets that he had made, i hadn't seen them for a while though. mavmark, how tricky was it to mount that dash in your mav? did you have to custom make some brackets for it? im guesing since your doing it again that it wasn't to bad..
Interesting... Although I don't intend to do the transformation anytime soon, I greatly appreciate the continued input. MavMark, I E-mailed you more about the dashboard (looking for the article on your webpage) but I'm still curious how difficult it was and what the big snags would be. Going into the '72, will the handbrake fit in the Thunderbird dash? As for the coil-over suspension, what does that do and how complicated is it? The gas shock hood seems easy enough--does anyone see a problem with the gas shocks applying force against the hood release latch when closed? I love this board, Atzy.
Atzy1 not to sure what mark did on his parking brake but since it was first in his 77 I'd assume he is using the factory foot brake out of the 77( i know in 1977 anyway that the mav had switched to a foot brake instead of the hand brake)
Yeah, in the '72 I had to swap the hand brake for the foot brake out of the '77. I had to make a couple of modifications to make it work. I have not made an article about this whole dash swap as of yet...I have been so busy with the car and other stuff that I just have not had the time. I have been trying to post more of the pictures I have been taking, though. You can find them under |Pictures|--72 Project Maverick from the links on the left side of the page on my website. The coilover is a kit from Total Control Products that is intended for Mustangs and Cougars. It is basically bolt in and requires that you remove the upper and lower control arms and springs. I made another lengthy post about it on here somewhere..I will find it and post the link to it here so as not to be redundant *UPDATE*: Here is the link: http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3753 Now that I think about it, the coilover kit may not have really tightened my steering all that much from a "loose steering wheel" point of view...I also replaced all the steering components at the same time and that might have helped. Of course it is late again and I can't get into as much detail as I would like..I will take a look at your email and hopefully post more about the snags and complications when I get a chance...
. The gas shocks won't hurt the hood latch at all. The latch is made out of something like 1/8 steel and is very strong. You have a back-up catch too even if your primary latch somehow opens, which it won't unless you press the hood release.
While we're on the subject of hoods, I noticed the only bit of rust I had was around the hinge area. The sheet metal in that area isn't the beafiest of beafs. I took mine off (because I'm running a glass hood), but if I were to use the stock hood again, I'd definetly would've looked into replacing that entire area. I'd be concerned (on mine) about bending that area because the struts are only going to add to the amount of stress in that area. just me rambling.
. Replacing the whole area with what? I was thinking about changing the latch assembly too. I doin't like how the latch is bolted onto the hood. It seems like it would look cleaner if it was reversed and the pin was attached to the hood with the latch on the car itself.
So like... If you used the trunk latch and pin, then you could have a locking hood...right? Random question, Atzy.
