Hello guys, I have a 74 maverick Grabber, 302, power steering, A/C, disc brakes (if that matters for some reason). I am getting ready to pull the motor out of my maverick soon and I thought I would put some headers on it while it's out. Is there a specific kind I can get that will bolt up to the stock exhaust location. I seen where headman has them for a couple hundred bucks. The car is stock so I don't need anything fancy just a direct replacement that will make it sound a little better. Thanks for any help Simon from Ohio.
Here is my opinion: Unless you do other mods.....you will be frustrated with headers. There are also fitament issues, gaskets can eventually leak, and you will have to have the exhaust customized to fit. No header is a straight bolt in. I think you would be happier with the factory exhaust manifolds.
I remember when I came out and bought a hood for my car you were putting them on the Red one you had (or orange maybe) and you rolled that engine over like 4 or 5 times to get them to work. As a matter of fact that memory is what spawned this thread. I hoped I would get feedback from you.
It all depends on how you want it to sound. Turbo mufflers are not all that loud, and I would think you would like them if you heard them. My orange car has Magna-Flow mufflers and I like the sound of those...but they are a little louder than turbo mufflers. You should come to Washington, PA next week and then you could hear lots of mufflers and what they sound like on a Maverick.
I will try but it's short notice for my job. I like the sound but not more aggressive than my Maverick really is. On a different note I got the Rad and front of the motor off tonight including the A/C compressor, power steering pump and the vacuum lines. It's been 8 years since I changed a motor and the last one I did was a 5.0 90 mustang. I'm a little nervous. I hope I can get it back together right....
Gaskets will leak ? Yea, if you use the el cheapo paper gaskets that most headers (likely ALL) come with. Use soft copper or aluminum gaskets and you'll have zero leaks. As for them being a straight bolt in, Hedmans come close to doing just that. Mine did. Just had to jack up the drivers side to get it in place. The passenger side will fall out of the car with no bolts in place.
Weren't no stock headers with Mavericks. As for what muffler sounds the best, that's a matter of personal opinion. I like Dynomax turbos. Also like the turbo's on my car now, but don't recall the brand. I bought them purely based on price and what they had in stock at the local O'Reilly's. Some people like Flowmasters, I hate them.
for a not so aggressive sound but a nice kinda street machine or mild hot rod sound go with headman headers dual exhaust with magnaflow mufflers. if your motor is 100% stock a 2 1/2 inch exhaust will have a nice not too loud tone coming out the back if you run it that far. something to remember the further you runt eh pipe out the back the more time the sound has to dissipate before coming out the end of the pipe so the less noise it will produce. I have magnaflows on my comet gt and like them but then again I have a decent cam in the car and am not worried about the noise level. on my other comet I have cherry bomb glass packs coming directly off the header and a short piece of muffler pipe turning the sound out the side in front of the back wheels. now that car VERY loud BUT legal ......borderline.....legal that is