Thanks for bring this up. You possibly saved me a lot of grief down the road. I have a ’71 Maverick. I cut this reinforcing plate out of a ’74 and planned to weld it into my car. I will be using the TCP coil over system with their drop A arms. To get this to work will require some grinding and hammering on the reinforcement plate. Attached are some pictures of what I did to get the clearance. One photo is of the two plates back to back so that you can see how much needs to be ground off. I have them test fitted into the shock towers that I cut out of the car. I hope this helps anyone else contemplating this. Micah
Well, I think Ford would not have made up this 1/8" thick reinforcement plate and added more metal to the reinforcement plate on the other side of the tower if they had not found it necessary. I consider it an upgrade and will be welding it into my car. Micah
I had a '69 Mach 1 years ago that cracked where the control arms bolted through....Made a very loud clicking sound that drove me crazy
With any vehicle, once you start making changes to OEM design, all sorts of things can happen. The whole idea of installing the shelby drop was to get better handling, thus we tend to drive the vehicle much harder than it was originally designed for, so areas around the shock tower can crack. Especially when a car is 40 years old, metal fatigue, worn parts, weaken welds come into play and unless you are the original owner, or knows its complete history, who knows how hard it has been driven in the past. That is why there are many kits out there to reinforce the shock tower when installing the drop or beefing up other suspension components. Even with the 69/70 Boss Mustangs, kits where available to beef up the shock towers.. Ford engineers realized there could be an issue with the early Mav/Comets and I believe 1973 was when they first started installing both reinforce plate under the upper arm and the wrap around on lower half of the shock tower on the engine compartment side. I have seen these on 302's and even some 6 cylinder cars from Kansas plant, both my 73 and 74 Comets with 302 has them and like wise with your Maverick. With any new vehicle model release it takes a couple of years to work out the bugs and design upgrades are incorporated into following model years. One has to be aware that any upgrades to drivetrain, suspension etc., may require additional bracing to certain areas. How many times have you seen cars with beefed up motor and suspension where the rear shackles are about to pop through the trunk floor, because the frame rails are so rotted out, this is scary, dangerous and could kill someone...... Take the time to think things out, ask plenty of questions, do it right and be safe for everyone!
Has anyone seen a Maverick or Comet with a cracked shock tower? I have 2, 73's, one has the extra support, and one doesn't, both were built in Kansas. You'd think Ford would have had it figured out, since the were using this style front suspension since the early 60's.
My 1972 Grabber had a small crack in the shock tower near one of the UCA bolts. Had it welded up before paint.
Here is an old post with two members having issues with cracks. Dave B, even you chimed in: http://www.maverick.to/mmb/showthread.php?t=57166&highlight=shock+tower&page=2 http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=58320
I must be getting old, I don't even remember those....the first one looks like its more in the engine mount area.....I spend a fair bit of time around some Mustangs that are driven pretty hard, and none of them seem to suffer from shock tower problems, and they have newer Total Control suspensions, and systems like that, but in the end, it's all probably a good case for welding all the seams on the shock towers.
wow,that looks pretty serious! so i will check for cracks, weld all around the shocktower and pray it doesnt happen to me. the chance are pretty small if you think of 3 cars of so many built, but maybe there are alot more out there we dont know...
It it were mine I would just cut the reinforcing plate below where the UCA shaft needs to bolt on and just flatten that part to the shock tower. And weld in place. Then cut and bend the remainder of the plate down and weld back in place. The you will have the room needed and no strength will be lost. But that's me. Ron
agree, thats the way im going. ill bend or grind it to make space to put on the UCA with 1" drop. and ill weld up all the sheets around the shock tower and check for the cracks. i just wanted to see what already have been done and learn from the huge experience to see whats best to do. i learnt alot of things on top, but with the reinforcing plate i just have to see how i work around...
I bought my 70 Mav drag car and it has a 10 point cage in it.I added on both sides a curved bar running through the floor beside your foot and turned them into the frame behind both front tires.W/ a montecarlo bar tying the shock towers together this should be plenty strong.I`ve heard that a Mav without reinforcing the front frame area will crack your windshield on a car that does heavy wheelstands.
