My 1973 Maverick project

Hey everyone,

I haven't had too many posts here but have learned a lot by reading. I got this 1973 maverick on 4/06 for $2500. It was really well kept it look like and it's been in New Mexico weather. I have gotten started on a few things so I thought I would put it all up here along with pics from start to end.

The car is parked in my driveway and it has a tent that covers it so I can do the work on it. There is a 250cc engine in there that works. And there is a 302 block in the living room that just came back from the machine shop that is gonna be the replacement engine. It's gonna be a 331 stroker and I will be getting most parts from coast high performance in torrance, ca.

I just got the seats reupholstered. It cost me $450, I'll include pics and more detail. I bought 2002 front mustang seats instead of going with the stock bench.

I hope this will be interesting and fun. :bananaman

 

very cool


to the board

 

250cc? Man, that's a mighty small engine in there.

Sounds like a cool project. I'd be intrested in how the 2002 Mustang seats install goes.

 

welcome to the board~!

 

Thanks for the welcome!

So here are some pics of the car. There doesn't seem to be much rust or much damage but of course there is a little here and there.

As of now the interior is completely stripped (I'll get pictures soon) and only the dash is left it. I am gonna paint the inside panels. I recently purchased an air compressor, not the strongest I could have gotten but I think it might be ok for the painting the panels. I am gonna build a little paint booth indoors and that's where the painting of the panels will be done.

Next I'm gonna POR-15 the trunk, the interior, and in the end the engine compartment.

:bananaman :bananaman

 

Here are the pics of the 2002 mustang seats. Got them for $150 from ebay. Picked them up in south centeral LA and drove around that area until I found an upholstery place. The guy quoted me a price cheaper than anything I got over the phone. For the two front seats and the rear seat $450 in black vinyl. Got them back in a week.

I also got the door panels done for $125 (could have haggled, didn't feel like it). These were done to match the seats, see if you like it.
I actually bought new wood frames for the door panels cause I wasn't careful enough when taking them off so they cracked a little bit. The frame cost me I think only 30 dollars (ebay).

 

those seats and door panels look great~!

 

looks great keep the pictures coming

 

Nice Stuff, Can't wait to see more!!

 

Glad you started posting. As stated AWESOME seats, those will look great in your car. Keep the pics coming as you make any progress. What color are you thinking of for the outside?

 

Thanks!

So here's the thing. I can't decide between balck and maybe a gunmetal gray or charcoal or just any sort of dark gray. I'm going with a "midnight" theme. So I will definetly keep the chrome but want to limit it to only the bumpers. Gonna take all other chrome off. And I want the inside to be a mix of black (like the seats) and dark grey.

The plan is to do most of the body work myself and drive it out or hitch it out to 1 day paint for maybe a $1500 paint package.

Any opinions are HIGHLY welcome!

 

First of all, welcome! Very interesting project! I like how the seats turned out, I just hope they will fit the seat tracks...
I'm also a big fan of the "blackout" look - check out this pic http://www.maverick.to/mmb/attachment.php?attachmentid=16601
and I also like your idea of gunmetal grey as well. A nice dark charcoal metallic clearcoat would look great with black trim and black accents. Keep us posted!

 

So here are some pics of the engine.
I purchased the engine from a junk yard for $350. The guy said it was a 351, I didn't bother checking. He didn't say whether it was working or not but I took a gamble. First, it was a 302 from a 85 I think. Second, it had 2 sleeves. So after all the work of taking it apart I realized I had to scrap it. So I just ended up going with a machined 302 block from a 1995 engine.

I have a 331 stroker crank, rods and flat topped pistons. Nothing too fancy but I had the whole assembly balanced already ($150). The block, crank, piston, bearings, rods all came out to about $1600.

I paid another $3000 for the cam, cylinder heads, intake and timing and ARP bolts. I'll give more details about these later.

I have to chase the threads, install the crank and piston and rods, the cam and all the gaskets etc...

 

sounds like your really moving along on your project. good luck. keep the pictures coming.

 

Thanks Sam. That pic looks sick, I love it!

So today I tackled the rear panels. They were originally that granny brown color. In pretty decent shape. Used ajax and plenty of water. Wore gloves so as to not contaminate the suface with oil. I dried it using a T-shirt. I should have used tack cloth but I got lazy (hope the gods of paint will not punish me! )

I hung them on the wall in my ghetto fabulous spray booth. I used my 500 watt work lamps to help in the drying process.
1) Ajax, rinse, ajax rinse
2) dry with t-shirt and ideally tack cloth
3) 3 coats of bulldog adhesive spray in a can (5 minutes between coats)
4) SEM flexible coating, satin black several VERY light coats
5) let dry for 10 minutes and 3-5 more coats of the black paint (5 minutes btw coats)
6) then touch up until it looks even

Now, gonna let it sit overnight, give it a couple more coats and then use a matte or satin finish clear coat.

The second to last pic is after only a few coats. The last pic is after I finished a whole can on the two rear panels.