Losing hope on this car. Not sure what to do with engine and trans.

So I bought this 1972 Ford Maverick Grabber, has a 1965 289 block in it, been bored .030 over, a long as time ago, and a C4. It's now becoming a money pit, and I never should have kept a build list with how much money I have into the car so far. To those that want to hear and help me through my current crisis and past endeavors, contine reading. For those of you who just don't care, my questions are under the "Now What".

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So here's from the top:
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- Purchased this car a year ago, $2400, thought it was a good deal, it isn't... Drove it 120 miles home, steering was junk, held to the pitman arm with a damn hose clamp, engine ran terribly, didn't stop worth a damn, and what I thought was a high stall converter was actually the transmission slipping...

- Cowl leaks, water... great. No garage, so have to put towels under the foot pedals... Pull up the carpets, and the floor pans are rusted to hell, no holes, but thin, looked good underneath the car when I went to buy it. Like every other vehicle I've ever bought, I begin to have buyer's remorse.

- Fast forward a bit, put some wilwood front discs, new rear brakes, and complete new front suspension in. Then also converted the v belt to serpentine belt, to work with the new p/s pump.

- Thought I'd spiffy up the engine and put a new intake and carb on it, and some aluminum valve covers.

- Did some interior stuff, rewired the lights, put a 3 row radiator in the car, etc.

- Car runs and drives, needs and alignment, decide to drop the trans fluid, and replace the filter. Oil burnt beyond believe, more metal in the pan than oil. Great...

- Pull engine and trans, and buy a "good" C4 from facebook for $100, figure if it's bad that's what the junkyard would charge me anyways, as it came with a flywheel, torque converter, and yoke. Trans was said to have been "rebuilt". Guess rebuilds consist of new input and output seals... Damn thing has the original dipstick tube plug (from the factory) in the pan... Weary of it, has slight silvery oil in the bottom of the pan. Whatever, put a new filter in it, and gasket, and moved on to resealing the engine.

- Pulled the pan off to re seal, and the bottom of the pan was lined with an 1/8" or so of just silver oil... cool. Car has good 25 psi oil pressure at idle when warm, none of the rods has signs of overheating/spun bearing, and the cross hatching on the cylinder walls was basically gone. So chalk it up to just wear and tear of the cylinder walls... You know, because I already purchased a new intake for it, valve covers, HEI distributor, carb., etc.

- Screw it, put it back together and slammed it into the car. $200 in fluids, and $100 in gaskets/filters later, and she's driving again. 1st and 2nd gear work, 3rd gear flare shifts like none other... great.

- Engine starts ticking, and exhaust is having a weird fluttering/"brrrrr" noise it. Brand new HEI dist., and plug wires, spark plugs looked good from when I had the motor out. The exhaust flutter was present before, which is why I put in an HEI, which seemed to cure it. Guess not. Shut it off, come back, and the flutter and ticking is gone. Drive it around, pulls hard all the way to 5k rpm in 1st and 2nd, of course 3rd flare shifts, and have to let off to let it grab. Also the oil leak was not the pan, but was the timing cover... oil all over, underneath the car, in the engine bay, on the engine, and on the transmission, which I had spent hours cleaning....

- Well, screw it. Now I'm at a loss as to what to do. Obviously engine and transmission need rebuilt. Trans for the flare shift, and engine because of possible lifters going flat, or an exhaust valve hanging up/not seating fully, or a broken valve spring, causing the fluttering/brrr noise, and because the engine is pretty worn.

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Now What
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- I'm at a loss as to what to do. Engine and transmission need rebuilt, after countless hours and dollars put into the damn things.

- Part of me wants to give up.

- Part of me just wants to drop big bucks that I don't have to spare (saving to buy a house) into the car. Crites headers, 408w, broader performance C4, MSD Ignition, and a 9" ford.

- The other part of me says to just rebuild the transmission, and go get a used 302, that will probably have the same problems as the 289 does.

Any Opinions?

 

Here's what I have for a shopping list for the C4 rebuild. Should be good for 600hp or so. Depending on the motor would decide if I'm buying the hardened input shaft or not. As it's easy to change if I put a higher horse motor into it. Would also purchase a RMVB later on, as that's easy to change.

Please say something if you have any opinions on my trans build.



Now for the motor, I was thinking of just a Scat 408w roating assembly: https://www.jegs.com/i/Scat/942/1-47355/10002/-1

Then I'd choke that with some stock, maybe ported, 351w heads, with the stock valves, just regrind the seats. Would be using a roller/efi block. Probably a performer rpm intake. And some cam.

Later on would stuff some Afr 205 style heads on the car.

 

Friend, do not spend another dime on other components of your car until you address all the rust issues including the cowl leak and floor pans.

It is decision time now, either fix the rust or dump the car for what you can get out of it as a whole or parts.

 

as far as the cowl...a bottle of water poured into it before you bought the car would have fixed that.
you want a street car...fix the cowl first...
if a drag car...get use to it, there will always be something to fix...

 

with a leaking cowl you paid way too much to start with...
shine a light into the cowl opening, may be that there are leaves up above the tophat that are wicking water into the floor board. I bought a parts car once that had a leaking cowl...cheap. after finding that was the problem I cleaned the leaves out and sold it for three times what I paid for it.

 

how much of the work can you do?
as for the $673 plus tax in parts...I can get a C-4 built with the good parts for less than that...

 

I agree with Frank, I just had a C4 rebuilt, Blue clutches, kevlar bands, shift kit. cost me $450.00. Also the flaring issue probably wont go away even after a rebuild. Unless you are going for the rat rod look i would fix the rust issues first or at least at the same time as motor and trans upgrades.
Never add up your reciept,s ...LOL In the 8 years i'v had the Maverick, 3 motors, 2 tranies, torque converters,carbs excetra,excetra I have spent around $18,000

 

Interesting, I used to fix 3rd gear flair in C4 with a $29 rebuild kit from Sears.

 

Sorry for all your problems .. I've been there along with a lot of other folks on here . I HAVE a C4 Transmission that I took out of my Daughters Maverick when I installed her 331 .. I bought a PA ( Performance Automatic) Tranny to put behind the stroker and I didn't feel comfortable putting a STOCK C4 back in the car. The C4
has been sitting on the floor of our shop for about 6 months now .( Inside where its out of the weather).
I'd sell it for $ 650.00 plus shipping if you're interested. Lemmeno.
Cometized
(Chip)

 

Wow, that's a lot of helpful information. For the sake of not overloading a thread, I'm going to try to reply to each of you in one reply. In advance, Thanks Everyone.

Hotrock
- My way of doing things is to get the car running and driving, and then do cosmetics. Believe me, I will not put off the rust, and daily it, and let it rust out some more. I will repair the rust after maybe two weeks of daily driving it, making sure everything is good to go. All this would be in the time frame of warm weather, as I do not have a garage. I understand where you're coming from though, but I also probably over exaggerated how bad the rust really is. Needs floor pans, and the cowl fixed. The body looks pretty nice, but does have a touch of bondo on the rear quarter. So if you know where to get floor pans, let me know!
- Forgot, the headliner needs replaced, so will have front windshield out to do the cowl repair.

71gold
- Sad thing is, I actually did do the water bottle trick. But the leak in the cowl is very small, just slowly drips. Honestly, I could probably fix it with some silicone. Thing is, I couldn't see any light through the cowl. I've been okay with the towel trick, soaks up all the water, even during heavy rain storms, so I haven't gotten the garden hose out to see where it's actually coming from. Looking up at the cowl vent I could't see any rust holes either.
- Yes I know I overpaid, for average prices, but around here there's no mavericks to be found. Either way, yes I overpaid, if I didn't think I overpaid, I wouldn't be "losing hope."
- I can do 100% of the work. I don't know even where to start with getting a C4 built somewhere else. I broader was the cheapest rebuild that I could find, and googling didn't really help, as every forum they're going with complete transmissions from like Performance Automatic, or Broader.
- Plus for my build that also included a hardened input shaft, and a c code servo. Both of which are not necessary, depending on motor.
- If you know where to buy floor pans to fix the rust, let me know.

BigDog41364
- All rust will be fixed relatively at the same time as the motor and transmission.
- I don't even know where to go to get a transmission rebuilt for that cheap. Only places around here that I know of are like, certified transmission.
- Why do you say that 3rd gear flare won't go away with a rebuild?
- About the lists, I think I'm done with them haha, it was fun when I built a rat rod. But man, you can build those for damn near nothing. Buy a cheap donor car, and a body, and you're done. Sell what's left of the donor car, and you're in it for nothing but fluids.

Krazy Comet
- I have thought of going with a cheap rebuild: https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...ansmission-deluxe-rebuild-kit-ks-13/5152984-P but I don't know. The car will eventually have a stroker motor in it, that's set in stone, and my thinking is to just get it done right the first time. But that thought is still on the burner I suppose.

COMETIZED
- I appreciate the offer, and not trying to be disrespectful, but buying yours for $650 + S&H would end up being more than just rebuilding mine.

 

There is a guy on Facebook who sells all types of sheet (new) metal for our cars. His name is Joe Bayura Jr. He has a list of all the parts he sells and prices. He is in/on the Maverick Comet Restoration page. His price seem fair and quality looks good. Hope this helps...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1636080899994495/permalink/2017472448522003/

 

Ah yes, I forgot about Joe. Remember looking at his Facebook page a year or so ago! Thank you!

 

It can be overwhelming to tally up all the necessary maintenance, problem fixes and upgrades. If we all bought these cars because they're cheap and trouble free we wouldn't even have forums like this one. Far from reality. You have to be passionate and keep in mind YOUR main motivation for owning antiques like these.

I too would be breaking the issues up and trying to rectify them one by one before tossing any more cash down the drain.

For the transmission. Adjust/tighten the intermediate band to see if it helps the flaring issue. As parts and bands wear they can take a different adjustment. A larger apply volume servo, I like the H's myself, can often help flares and really firm up shifts.

The engine. Most will be amazed at how long these little short stroke motors can run so long as they're fed air fuel and spark in reasonable proportions and oil stays away from coolant. Pull both valve covers and make sure there is no slop in the valvetrain adjustment. If excessive in any one spot then look at those particular lifters and lobes to see if they got wiped out.

Take each issue one at a time until verified it can be overcome. If not then reasses based on which issues remain. Bout all I have time for now.. keep your chin up and good luck with it!

 

Just personal experience on the flaring issue. The 75 c4 i originally had in the car had a severe flaring issue, 1-2 was about 300rpm 2-3 was 500rpm. I had the trannie rebuilt, blue clutches,Kevlar bands, new valve body, Afterwords the 1-2 went away but the 2- 3 stayed the same. I talked with some Ford guys at shows and herd the same thing from some of them, sometimes it just wont go away. I'm by no way saying it cant be fixed I'm just saying don't be surprised if it doesn't.

 

The 2nd to 3rd flair is due to the direct clutch slipping from wear, glazed steels or slow application(possibly accumulator).. Adjusting band(s)has zero to do with this issue. Bands control how reverse & 2nd gear apply.

Of course it's possible to over power the transmission's capability, but no C4 behind even a moderately modded engine should have a issue.