While on a Mustang II hunt, looking for a front clip, I have come across a few Pintos and Bobcats (sorry no tail lights LOL). What year Pinto/Bobcat front end is the same as the Mustang II? You get talking to some of these junk yard owners and all they keep saying is how much these Mustang II front ends are worth to them and their prices certainly reflect this. Then you look in the distance and see a lowly Pinto sitting among the trees out of the limelight. I think that I could get the Pinto stuff cheap.
The first pinto's have a odd ball joint, up to 1973. My opinion stay away from them as you will pay big bucks for the ball joints. Lower I think without looking! After 73---74 and up they are pretty much the same, not sure on width.
Pinto/bobcat should be 55 1/2 inches hub to hub. Maverick is 56 1/2 I believe. Go with the pinto front end. Just look for the big bumpers, or the first digit of the VIN. That should give you the year, unless the VIN was swapped out. One other thing I just remembered! I know for sure that the early models will work with a front sump. I'm not sure if they switched from a front sump to a rear sump on the later ones though. EDIT: After a little research it appears they're all front sump. The thing that made me scratch my head is that they're all front steer too. I guess I should have looked closer at my dad's car. Front sump with a rear steer would have made better sense to me. Oh well...
I say I'm looking for a Mustang II front clip but I'm mainly looking for the Mustang II crossmember. I'll have to re-work it in order to have the finished product match the Maverick width. If I can get an entire clip, I'll get all of the stock suspension pieces with it. I figured to use all of the old parts during building to make sure everything fits.
Did you make sure to check for 8" rears under those Pinto/Bobcats? They came with some desireable gear ratios that can plug right into any 8" rear. The Bobcat was also availble with limited slip! Even if you didn't need them, there are plenty of folks here that would like to know where they were or you could obtain them and sell them. On the front end, just get the big bumper front end. Will do the same thing as a Stang2 front end. Good luck Dave
I have a 9 inch in mine but I'll be happy to look under anything that I find just in case there is an 8 hiding there.
Just buy a Mustang II crossmember built to fit our cars. You will be much much happier! All the time and aggravation you'll save will be worth the extra money spent. With the engine already out you can install it in a day (I did mine). Mine's a Rod & Custom piece. Im still working on the engine bay so if you need pics let me know.
