Will mustang shock towers work ??

Has anyone ever tried or used the repoped shock towers for mustangs, on the mavericks ? Did a search and found nothing. I heard that the front suspension was close to a 70's mustang (maybe?). I am hoping to fab up some shock towers like the Boss 429's. Maybe make some more room under the hood.

 

I know of folks that have used the entire 70 Stang front subframe.
This gives the Stang engine bay and was done to install a 460.
I don't know the answer to your question, but my first thought is yes.
I thought it would be neat to put a 70 Stang subframe and suspension, then fit with repop B429 towers.
Then a B429 or SOHC could be installed in a Maverick, and look totally stock!
The only thing is the front rims need more backspace to tuck them under the fenders.
Let us know what you find!
Dave

 

using a 351W in maverick ,will stock exhaute manifolds allow more room for clutch linkage for a toploader? for height ,what intake manifold can I run using a stock hood??

 

cant even say for sure that stock manifolds will work

id say do a hydroylic clutch or cable clutch

anything but air-gap , and victor Jr

but wieland , eldebrock performer , ford racing , anything like that would work with stock hood

 

I really like this idea , but would maverick fenders fit?

are mustangs longer in the front from firewall to core support?

 

I have a set of 1969 Cougar shock towers which are the same as Mustang big block. All 1969 and 1970 Cougars received the reinforced wraparound shock tower plates. Mustang and Cougar front suspensions and front clips are identical.

I would be happy to take measurements and post them for comparison.

 

Yeah measure them. That would be cool. I am going to measure up some towers off a real Boss and see if it is plausible. Worst case senario is that I screw up $120 in sheet medal. But if it works it would be awsome.

 

Hopefully after some measuring and comparison I should get a better picture of what will work. I do have the medal shop at my college at my disposal . I wonder if NPD would take the towers back after I have my fun with them . Before I really get any further with this, I don't think they make repops of boss 429 towers ... do they ? I have been looking but found nothing.

 

Yeah, fenders fit fine.
I have seen Mustang sheetmetal hung on a Maverick and I have seen the Stang engine bay under a Maverick with the Mav sheet metal.
The biggest thing is the width of the front end from disc to disc.
The tires are pushed out further on the Stang, so more backspace is needed on the front rims to tuck the tires under the Mav fenders.
Overall sheet metal width and such is the same.
On the engine bay length, I don't know exactly about firewall to rad support...
The Stang is longer in front of the rad support. However that is all sheetmetal and not structural.
I think the rails are same. The Mav I saw had a Mav rad support mounted. I am sure they had to mod it some...

 

It has been a while, but I am almost positive I have seen them OR have seen something announcing that they are coming soon.

 

i gotcha i like this idea ALOT

maybe in couple years when i get another mav i might just do that, that would cure the header problem for the W guys and get big tubes in there

or 429 or 460 for that matter

year one doesnt have anything listed in there catalog , so iam guessing no , BUT i would be surprised if they werent cause B9 are getting restored every day , i can see a market in them

 

I seriously doubt anyone would repop Boss 429 Shock towers as the originals were all did by hand. Very limited market with only 1359 cars built. And you would still need to reproduce the spindles and control arms to complete the package.

 

You have a point...
I know the spindles and such are unique to the B429, but didn't even think about the fact that the stock stuff would probably not work with the Boss towers.

The best bet would be to get the 70 towers and shave them before installing into the car.
All the SOHC and many 427 SO cars that were made by race teams, like Holman Moody and such, back in the day recieved shaved towers. It was a far more common mod before Mavericks and was just adapted to our cars.
All the original factory T-Bolt Fairlanes came with shaved towers.
I believe that is where the original idea came from.

 

In the early Pro-Stock years it was common practice to move the shock towers out like they did on the Boss 429 and shorten the a-arms. Cutting a section out and welding the a-arms back together doesn't seem like a good idea for a street car.

 

It sounds like the devil is in the details. So from what you guys are saying is that by modifying the shock towers I would be changing the geometry of the front suspension. Which in turn would require further modification to bring back into spec. Very disheartening. So I would have to have made or make my own control arms along with any of the other things I forgot. All I can think to say is holy shnikeys batman.