Hello, I am in the hunt for a maverick. (Hopefully will be picking up a 289 4 speed car here in a week). Anyway hoping to build a nice fun resto mod. Would like to have some tech help on this thing as this is my first old ford (Former Pontiac 10.5 tire racer) and man were pontiacs expensive to build. But my old car ran 8.50's. Looking for a fun street car. So I have some questions off the bat. 1) 331 or 347? benefits to either? I guess the 331 would spin more rpm...less torque (Which might be good considering it does not look like you can get alot of tire under the car 2) Transmission? has anyone put a t56 6 speed in one of these? Is the trans too big or will it fit. If will not fit any suggestions on a good manual? 3) Brakes? will newer style mustang cobra brakes fit...or is that a waste and just go aftermarket? 4) Fuel injection? how much of a pain would it be to retrofit mustang efi to this car or once again would it be easier to go aftermarket? 5) where does everyone go to get Maverick parts? Body, interior, stripes, carpet....stuff like that. 6) rear suspension? anybody do different suspension out back besides the leaf springs? well I know that was alot up front, but I am really excited about this build am actually going to look at a car today in my area. It is a 70 with a grabber hood 289 4 speed....out with the old and in with the new LOL!!!
Get a T-5 from a 90-93 mustang. They are rated for 300 ft lbs and they are only missing that .80 gear when compared to a t-56. That thing is almost 50 lbs heavier than the t-5 at 87 lbs. I am biased though because I got the t-5 thing going and I dont miss not having that 5th gear of the 6 speed. They both have a really close final drive t-5 = .68 and t56= .62/64. The 6 speed will put the shifter farther back but i think its just fine, and I cant saying anything about how easily the install would be but i was faced with the same exact question not long ago and this is the way I went. What you will love is just having a stickshift in your mav. This i can say for sure
From York, PA. Many of your questions have been answered in threads, just use the search button and poke around for awhile. After that, we're here to help. You'll see in my signature I'm partial to 70s and I've run 289s, 302s, 5.0s and 347s in it over the years.
Welcome! Maryland is a nice place to be. You will find the search tool very useful in your hunt. And if you can't find an answer, just ask and the people here will surely help you out.
Welcome to the madness!!! You have arrived at the center of the Maverick/Comet universe...Lots of knowledge and experience here to help you along...Enjoy!!!
thanks thanks everyone...appreciate the warm welcome...actually looked at the car today and will be making him an offer tomorrow..so we shall see...hopefully I can start on my vision lol. the car has drum brakes all the way around so I am guessing that is what I will be tackling 1st. Are most 289 2barrell or is there some performance to be had by going with 4 barrell setup untill I can get the new motor in the car? I know nothing about 289's
Welcome to the board. I think you are on the right track sticking with a 302-based stroker ... they fit a lot better than jumping up to a 351-based motor ... and I have 351W in mine right now. I will be pulling it out soon and if it needs much more than rings and bearings, I am really tempted to switch to a 331 myself. While the motor is out, trim back the shock towers. It is so much easier to work on it, even with the smaller motor. 289s were mostly 2 barrel carb motors, but the better ones came with 4 barrels. A 600 cfm will really wake it up. Good luck in the hunt.
From one Marylander to another. Welcome to the board. it looks like you just started posting here in the last week or so. What part of Maryland are you from? If I were buying a Maverick with a 289 already in it I would be in absolutely no hurry to get rid of it and put anything else in there. The 289 is the direct decendant of the 302 and there is LOTS and LOTS of aftermarket go fast parts and more that enough power to be had from a 289. I would absolutely slap a nice Holey 4 bbl carb on it right off the bat though. Get yourself a nice 600 - 650 double pumper with Mechanical secondaries if you want the most performance for the carb upgrade. If you want a little bit more performance (than the 2bbl) and to keep your gas mileage decent go with an Eldebrock 650 with Vaccum secondaries. I currently have the Elderbrock carb and intake with vaccuum secondaries and a 4 speed manual trans, mostly stock 302 and can very easily run in the low 15's in the 1/4 and still get 20 -22 MPG if I keep my foot out of it on the highway. I think the old 289's are a really sweet choice of engine in a Maverick just because they can make plenty of power, I think they turn up a better RPM range than the 302, they are easy to make horsepower and they are definetly different than the run of the mill 302 that EVERYONE has already in their Maverick. Let me know what part of Maryland you are from. Would love to talk to a fellow Maryland Mavericker.
