I've wanted a Maverick for as long as I can remember. I think what started it all was a story my dad told me when I was a kid. I'll give you the cliff notes version.... (This was in the late 70's) My uncle had a 72 Nova, cammed out, and pumped up. He was running a 350 with all the goodies and it made a lot of horsepower. At this time he still had the stock gears in the rear end, which were pretty high, typical stock highway gears. So one day, my dad and my uncle are driving on the freeway, minding their own business, thinking they're the shit driving around in the Nova. And then a little car pulled alongside them on the freeway. They hadn't seen many of these littlle cars on the road, and they thought that the guy must be joking when he pulled up beside them. My dad happened to notice a few decals on the side of this Maverick sporting the words "Boss 302." By that time, it was already too late. They both jumped on it, both cars were screaming. They were doing about 65-70 mph when they started racing on the freeway, so my uncle had the advantage with his high gears. The race didn't last long. The maverick pulled away like a bat out of hell, it wasn't even close. In fact, my dad says it's the worst beating he's ever seen a car take. From that day on I was curious about Mavericks. So when I got more into cars when I was around 16, I started looking around online. The first two sites I looked at were Maverick.to and fordmaverick.com (RIP). I fell in love with how these cars looked when they were fixed up. I had seen a few around town and I really liked their look, but when they are fixed up, it's a whole different ballgame. I decided right then that I had to have one. I wanted to "restore" one, put a big engine in it, a big rear end, a manual tranny, huge tires, and dual exhaust. Well the day has come. I found a maverick, on the classifieds of this site (the first maverick website that I looked at). I went and looked at it and it was in great condition. No bondo or rust holes, very straight body. I told the lady right then and there that I would buy it, but I needed to come back with some tools to get it running. It turns out the car hadn't been run in 5 years. After a new battery, some tweaking of the points and plugs, rewiring the starter solenoid, 3 hours of time, and about a gallon of rusty water coming out of the tailpipe, I was driving my mav home. It's a 71 with a 200 straight 6. The interior needs some work, but most of it is there and in good condition. Body is straight and engine runs great now. Anyways, I'm reading up on everyones mods that they have done to their mavs, and am deciding what I want to do. I think I'm gonna go with a 351, not sure whether or I want a Windsor or Cleveland, if you have any advice it would be great. I have been told that the very large main bearings in the windsor make it a poor high-reving engine. I've also been told that the Cleveland would be a better choice for a high reving application, but that performance heads and other parts are very rare for these engines. Anyone know for sure?
Heh Just like any guy can remember his first experience with a woman i bet he can remember his first car better ... Mine was a 1973 Grabber, But before you all start to drool, It was a result of a rear-end collision, The trunk was so messed up i took one of the rear seat belts and mounted it on the trunk to act as a latch lol ... i think i paid $200.00 bucks for it in 1984 ... But man it was fast !!! I never ran it for times but i sure did win alot of money at school... My bud had a maverick I6 at the time wasnt too fast but man did it look cool ... I love mavericks ... what i like best is that you dont ever see them around ... When finished my Mav will be the best ...
Welcome to the fold and best of luck with your project. One of the great things about these cars are their versatility to do just about anything that you want to. You are basically right about the Cleveland vs. Windsor mills. I have an old friend that's a Ford performance freak and he confirms the problems with the Clevelands. When you find them, they're very expensive and parts are, in fact, a bit more of a challenge to get. A lot of owners have had great luck with the 302 as they are versatile to modify and a real powerhouse, to say nothing about the availability of anything you can want for them. I'd advise you to contact CometGT1974 via maverickcomet.com. He has a '74 Comet with a 302 that he modified, keeping it street legal, that is a real impressive machine. There's a Viper down in N. Carolina that has to live down being destroyed by it.
To save yourself a gang of work and little problems, 302 stroker to 347 cu in would make near 375 hp + without to much effort and end up being lighter to. You will here talk of the 347 burning oil etc but that has all been solved if you get the good kit or short block built. The good kits now have offset wrist pins to solve the piston scuff problems and a shorter rod to get the pin out of the oil ring area. The 4 cu in difference in size is more than made up by the difference in weight and you get the benifits of a roller cam by using a 5 liter base engine. Then it is all a drop in with v8 supporting parts.
vipers I totally believe that. With mavericks being so light, the power to weight ratio is really something special. If you put about 350 or more horsepower to the wheels and keep your mav relatively light, and can get enough traction, it should beat a viper no problem. My original plan was to use a 351 W and stroke it out to close to 400 CI. I know the engine has very large main bearings (larger than a big block chevy), and that it isn't a good high revving motor, but I don't think I'd be reving super high anyways, maybe a 6500-7000 redline. Anyways....my goal is to get between 400-450 hp to the rear wheels. I agree that the 302 would be the cheapest, and the easiest, but I just don't think that kind of horsepower can be attained without using a blower. I don't mind modifying the shock towers and beefing up the frame if I know how to do it right (I'm learning) .
Engine Swaps Just a note on your plans, the 351 swap has been done a bunch of times by people on this board. Mavman can give you full details and pics on shock tower cuts etc. His was a 393ci version, the biggest problem was headers. Running Victor heads, the headers had to be made to fit and then then shoe horned in the engine bay, UGH. Nasty clearance problems, of course he was running a powerglide with JW bellhousing also which is fatter than the C4. More clearance problems, but did end up with a workable set of 1 3/4 tubes. Anything smaller would strangle the HP and torque of the beast. Extensive block mods are the norm for the stroker crank and rods. Finished product was a screamer at 6500rpm but after one season of drag racing it, a rod gave up and took the whole thing to the scrap pile. Going back with a stock stroke 351 and will use the same add ons. Actually the 393 only ran about 3/4 of a second faster than the old 302 that was in it, but that is another story in itself. The beauty of being a gearhead is always wanting to try something different, so go for whatever suits your fancy. Right now I am thinking about trying one of the old Busch series V6's that were sold at auction a few years back(cheap too) in Memphis. Have a 4dr Mav that is a perfect canidate. Either way you go, have fun and enjoy the project, deep pockets are also a plus as with any hobby like ours. Keep us posted on your progress
ET's What times did he post with the 302 and the stroked 351? Also, can you attain enough traction without going to tubs and huge slicks? I really want to keep my backseat in my car intact.
302 vs 351 The 302 bored .030 with 10.5 CR and roller cam, also RPM heads ran 7.20's in 1/8th mile on 28x10.5 MT tires with no alterations to the fenders etc. Those times were also with a C4 trans. The 393 ran 6.80's on same tires and 1.82 powerglide, the torque was unbelievable but never ever got a good bite out of those 10.5's. Would haze the tires almost the whole run and get a little squirrely at times. Some was track conditions but most was not enough tire, needed tubs and 14in rubber. Even went to a taller rear gear and a 1.76 glide and still smoked-um off the line every time. Convertor could have been softened up a bit but with the exsisting tire spin off the line, 60ft times were hurting anyway so that would have made it worse(maybe). Runs a 9in with cal tracs and 90/10 front shocks. In 9yrs he has won 6 pt championships and many top three in the top ten rankings. All with a 302 and C4, which by the way I have in my 78 Fairmont and just finished 7th in the points and 7th in overall points of all four classes. Sometimes we racer get greedy and want "More Power" but it sometimes backfires on us. The combinations of engine, trans, rear and chassis set-up must all work together for optimum performance. I think tubs and tires are in the future for the 351(still a torque monster) and most of all a MS II front end to get some room to work with. Check out some of the Australian drag sites and see what they do with 514's in there Mav's with C4's, they are awesome. If this is you going to be your first project, ease and lower costs taken into account, I would stick with a 302 based set-up and then see how things work out. You can always improve on the combo later on. Take your time and learn as you go, these guys on this site here are full of info and glad to help all in need. Good luck again.
As Dave has shown, traction is a bigger problem than a small engine. I run a daily driver Lincoln Mark 7 with 3.27 Trac Lok rear , AOD trans in a 3800 + lb car and have a problem with traction from a dead start. That is the real challenge to work on max. weight tranfer. The heavy cars have a problem also with getting good 60' times under 2. Last weekend at the Atlanta drag way, a Mark 7 won the super heavy shootout run with an Imapla, turned 11.6 and could hardly keep it out of the wall, all with a 306 cu in engine. So you see it's not all engine. If you can't git to the pavement , you no go well! Good luck with you endevor.
Got to thinking a little more about this. If I were you and know what I know about these things, I would go the other way and build a 289 to turn at least 8000 rpm and not have so much low end. You would get out of the hole quicker and then come on harder in the upper rpm range while the other guy is still trying to dig a hole at the starting line. It can work both ways.
. With a powerband that goes to 8000 RPM, the car would hit max horsepower at pretty rpms right, maybe ~7500 RPM. With a 289 revving that high, we'd be talking about some seroius horsepower here, over 400 if I am on the right track here. I think we'd still have a problem with traction even at the high speeds, let me know what you guys think. Maybe it won't be quite as bad because the car doesn't have to fight against dead weight sitting still as it starts out. This is totally a shot in the dark, but maybe as speed increases, inertia gets lower.
