I am about to start my first Maverick build and I would appreciate some input on a couple of questions. My Maverick is a 1977, 2 door, 302, C-4 with a 8 inch rear end and 2.79 gears. It is a rust free Arizona car and I mention this because I live in Ontario Canada and ALL the Maverick's up here have just rusted away long ago. Very few Maverick's around and that is why I want to do this car. I have a 1989 - 5.0 - roller motor - bored .020, new pistons, rings, roller rockers, hardened push rods, B303 cam, Trick Flow "twisted wedge" aluminum cyl. heads, aluminum intake with 600 cfm Holly carb. I had this motor in a 83 Mustang with a T-5 set up. I want to use this motor with an automatic transmission. I am old and tired of shifting gears. My questions are - transmission - rebuilt AOD or C-4? - shift kit? - convertor - stall speed? - rear end gears that will work well with each transmission in the stock 8 inch housing? It will be a street driver, but a good looking one with paint, wheels & tires that will also have some giddy up. Since buying my Maverick and joining this forum, I have learned a lot and have seen some great builds. Any info as to my build would be greatly appreciated. Thanks John
My two cents, focusing on "It will be a street driver": Transmission: depends on how much driving you want to do at 70-80 MPH. If very little, I'd use the light weight and bolt-in C4. If a lot, you'll want the AOD, assuming your engine is happy around 2000 RPM. Converter: If your engine idles well at 700 RPM or below, I'd use a stock converter and avoid heating issues. Rear end: I'd use 3.00 Traction Lok if you go C4. When I was thinking about putting an AOD in my street driver I was thinking 3.55 Traction Lok based on comments I read here. If you'll have tall tires, maybe higher ratios. I say Traction Lok because with that engine in the Maverick you'll get a lot of one wheel peel with an open rear end. All that is based on what I want in a street driver and, therefore, the trade-offs I'd make for comfort, MPG, and performance. Yours could be quite different. Maybe if you post your priorities you'll get some advice more suited to what you want.
I leave the engine as is, use the C-4 but change the rear gear to 3.40's. If you go with the AOD, then go to something like 3.70's in the rear. Leave the converter alone, you'll have plenty deep enough gear with what I recommend here to not need a stall converter on the street. You didn't specify what "aluminum" intake you have though, that's something that will affect the bottomend too, if it's a single plane. If it's a dual plane it should be a high rise dual plane, not something like the Performer 289 or a stock Ford intake.
If you care about highway RPMs, use one of the online RPM/speed calculators for the tires you will run. My car with 3.00 rear and 235 60 15 tires is turning 3200 RPM a lot of the time on the Interstates at 70-80 MPH. Personally, I wouldn't want it spinning any higher when cruising. You have the advantage of having driven with that engine so you know what RPMs make it happy. Mine likes 2000-3000 RPM.
