It is tight but functional. One lip was rolled flat years ago; poorly. The lip on the photo side was actually just trimmed back and rolled up a bit.
So I got a call from the machine shop today. While attempting to balance my crankshaft they discovered that things were never properly balanced to begin with. Even with the correct damper and flexplate the crank was still of by 100 grams. I'll have some 50oz parts for sale pretty soon. Ordered my new oil pan and pickup as well today. Took a fair amount of reading to be sure which pans are designed to clear the 4-bolt mains, even though I have 2-bolt 1/5 mains on my Dart block. I'm adding a few photos of the minitub work done. My requirement for this was minimal modifications to the backseat when complete and we accomplished this. Though I've been supremely happy with the unique tower chop we did a few years ago (see photos on page 1 of this thread) I have always wanted to do something more with the front end so the first steps were taken towards that.
Bonus photo of the last time I put everything together. I ran around without a hood for most of the year because I was SURE I couldn't make the air cleaner fit. One day I decided to check a drop base combined with a 1/4 plastic spacer. With a little trimming to clear the distributor it fit with 1/8" to spare.
Finally got her back home. Not going to do much between now and this fall with work and all. I threw the valance and chin spoiler back on to get a feel for the stance.
Have not updated this in a long time. I keep pace on facebook, but suffice to say: progress is slow. I finally wire brushed the entire floor, rust bullet'd, and painted everything. This was my first time using a spray gun, I have a lot to learn. I ended up trading out my external fuel pump system for a drop-in style from Tanks Inc. I don't think I would use their kit again, with the other competitive kits on the market now, but it did work well enough. I did this to not only get some clearance from the exhaust and rear end, but also to ensure I'll never have cavitation issues. With the "bump" in the floor of the Maverick, there is a TON of room to do this. I mocked up an oversize hat on top of my fuel cell just to test it out and still had room to spare. Most of my problems have been casualties of not planning ahead and dragging this build out for so long. I installed the brake line tabs on the axle tubes, not realizing that it would get in the way of the exhaust at full compression, so I had to cut those off and move them. I borrowed the bench-mount Eastwood flare tool from a buddy and used that to flare some of my brake and hard fuel lines. I also mounted my FPR behind where the washer tank mounts. No finished photos of the fuel lines yet, but I have hard lines running from the torque box pass through all the way to the area near where the rear leaf spring hanger was. And lastly - the builder who did my headers shut his shop down to work for another company, then moved onto yet another company. Back when he did my headers, he had a guy working for him that did most of my exhaust work. I did not check plug clearances until now and boy was I in for a surprise: Even with lowpro sockets, offset wrenches, etc I cannot get on #2, and I certainly won't be able to put a plug wire on it. He has agreed to fix it, but since doesn't have his own space, it'll be some time before that happens.
