Opinions please....I know where I can get one of these for $200: (picture from web, actual rear end is more complete and stored indoors and has less rust) Rear suspension from a 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII with 85K miles complete wheel to wheel with shocks, brakes, etc. 3.73 gears Trac-lock Comes with 2 18" Cobra wheels too. ( I could probably get $100 for the wheels on CL) How difficult would it be to install one of these in a 1970 Maverick? What category does this kind of mod fall into? 1. More difficult than calculus, in chinese, while on nyquil...forget about it. 2. Possible, but not worth the amount of work and expense for the amount of performance gain. 3. Lots of work, a little expense, maybe worth it. 4. Not as hard or expensive as I think to install, great performance gain, do it! Has someone on this forum done this to their Maverick / Comet?
I'm building a grand touring car with a kind of European idea of performance and handling in mind. It has to love curves. Is my Maverick the wrong car to modify in this way?
I would crawl underneath a 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII and take as many measurements and pictures that you can and then look at what the rear frame area of a Maverick looks like in comparison - I can see building a cradle that would accept the rear suspension, like it was mounted in the Lincoln, but then mounting under a Maverick like a big adaptor - the top of the coil springs need to have a place to mount also - maybe a separate cross member for that - anything can fit in anything if you really want it to
It comes with the cradle that bolts to the Lincoln unibody floor. I was counting on having to reinforce some contact points under the floor for cradle anchor points, upper spring seats and upper shock mounts. I saw one good pic of a 2x6 steel C-beam used for a top rail. It looked strong. I think the Lincoln Mk.8 shares a chassis with the Mustang of the same year. If I read correctly, this is what a Cobra indie rear looks like also, The 70 Maverick (64-65 Falcon chassis) and Mk.8 (SN95 chassis?) floor pans shouldn't be too radically different in their general layout; both are 2 door, rear wheel drive, uni-body coupes with small trunks and little back seats. the overall width should be pretty close. It should be like trying to put a SN95 Mustang complete rear suspension in a Maverick.. it SHOULD have all of the same exact attachment points, since the standard Mk.8 suspension was a factory bolt on option for the top of the line Mustang....SHOULD..by logic....but these are cars so, who knows?!
here's one of many places I get lots of info: http://www.automobile-catalog.com/c...rick_2-door_sedan_200_six_cruise-o-matic.html and this one for the Lincoln: http://www.automobile-catalog.com/car/1993/1415420/lincoln_mark_viii.html
I wouldn't use the Maverick's sheet metal floor pans for mounting the suspension if there is any way to add cross members between the frame rails
This is the pic I saw: It looks like someone did some nice fab work to get this ready to install in something. Bolt that to cross rails you install on the underside?
I didn't realize it's the same assembly as the Mustang, I would have thought it would be wider. Take a look at this video starting at 8:10, they give an overview of how the are shoving an AWD Celica drive train into an old Mini. Might give you some ideas.
There was somebody on here a couple years ago that was putting T-Bird suspension with IRS under their Mav.
The 89 and up T-Bird and 93 and up MkVIII are totally different animals than the Mustang. The track width is significantly different and the mounting points on the unibody will need to be fabbed up to work with that subframe. You'd almost be better off with the back half of the car. All of the MK VIII's use air suspension that mount in that lower control arm and the upper portion is in the unibody.
lol.. I think the word "easier" wouldn't even come close to applying here. I think it may be "easier" to just install the Maverick body to that frame. In fact, there was a guy from Brazil around here at one point who was doing something similar to that. Mostly built and finished but never saw the true running end result. He actually had 2 of them with one already being fully completed for a customer , IIRC. Might search for that to get a better idea of the possibilities. Also consider that those setups are HEAVY so you'll gain here but lose over there in the process. On the plus side.. it won;t be as nose heavy after that type of swap.
