Hi folks Great Board you have here! I just wanted to post a little something in regards to an old Dark Blue '77 4-Door Maverick I bought for $150.00 last fall. I never thought I'd ever turn a wrench on such an uncommon car like my Maverick till I ended up buying it from a friend, but this past fall and winter I've spent more time reviving this little car back into somewhat of its former glory. When I first saw the car it was sorta sad looking, you know,,dents and dings in EVERY panel (looks like someone walked on the roof and did swan dives onto the hood and decklid), a big deep dent in the passenger-rear door, 4 bald all-season radials, a little negative camber situation on the left front wheel, a power steering actuator that leaks a little, transmission dipstick tube with a crack at the base (underbody well lubed with mobil ATF now), tailpipe and muffler rusted off so the exhaust now dumps just before the rear axle, the old 200-I6 still purred like a kitten though, even though half the vacuum lines were either misrouted or cut and plugged at various points around the grungy, crusty engine bay. Anyway,,,I bought the car as winter transportation since I stored my 99 Dakota for the winter (its never seen snow) and I decided to get my butt in gear and get the old Mav' back in shape to survive another North Dakota winter. First off I did a compression check on the engine and found #6 Cylinder pushing only 50psi either wet or dry, SO,,,off came the Cyl. head and I found a burnt #6 intake valve, I had the head redone at a local machine shop and now all cylinders are pushing 150 psi when tested dry!,,,WHEW! and it ran even better after I re-did ALL the vacuum lines back to stock. Then I tackled the tranny leak and had the crack in the dipstick tube braised and cleaned up,,and stopped that leak. A few weeks later it was off the to the junk yard and there I scored a new hood and decklid, a hood prop rod (Mav' had a broomstick holding up the hood), a new lock cylinder for the trunk (the 8" common screwdriver trick just isnt cool in parking lots), new torsion bars for the trunk (A trunklid that smacks you in the back of the head hurts like h@ll), four "Ford Motor Company" Dogdish hubcaps (This Mav's wheels hadnt worn a hubcap in YEARS),,,,,,,,,,,,,,anyway the list goes on... and since then Ive done a ton of other things to the car even though I havent really decided if Im going to keep it very long, but every time I fix something it just makes me want to keep it even more. During the rebuild of the upper half of the engine I beadblasted all the parts I removed and repainted them back to factory colors so the engine bay looks like its practically new, I also replaced all four shocks and the ride is just awesome! Last night the starter decided to take a vacation and not crank the engine over, but the folowing morning it fired right up! (Wife was in the car when the starter wouldnt work,,hmmm,,,wierd, She learned to never cuss the Mav' for being ugly,,ha ha)... As of now I plan to do a ton of other things hopefully this weekend, I have a trunk full of parts ready to be installed,,New Rod and Main bearings (she's just starting to tap a little from the lower end when cold), Oil Pan gasket set, two new upper ball joints, two new rear brake cylinders with new brake shoes, and a rebuilt starter. PHEW! Should be a fun filled weekend..... Thanks for lettin me ramble about my little pal,,,,,this old car has given me her heart and soul all winter without so much as a hiccup (one time with the starter) and I feel I owe it to her,,,and maybe,,,just maybe, I'll be cruising around in the old Mav' NEXT winter too.... See you all later. Hope you folks have a nice day. Ken2002
I know the feeling Ken I've been trying to restore my 74 2 door for 5 years now. I seems like when ever I get some money saved up for her something on one of my other cars decides to take a crap so my Mav money goes for other projects. I think I've driven this poor Mav more than my truck in the salt this winter. It brakes my heart to take her out in the snow but, every time I asked her to go she fired up with no complants and marched on thru the snow to get me where I wanted to go. Maybe this summer I'll get to treat her to some new springs and things. Good luck with your 77 and If you need any help the guys and girl(s?) on this site are a bottomless pit of info. Russ
Good going! Ken, Keep up the enthusiasm! When I brought "Pegasus" home she fumigated the whole neighborhood with smoke and killed the mosquito population for miles around! (Houston). I didn't know it then, but EVERYTHING on mine had to be rebuilt or replaced. Some lucky scores at the junkyard yielded some parts, AutoKrafters for others, etc etc. After 4 years I've been offered no less than seven mustangs (title-for-title) for her. No thanks! I'll keep her! Apparently even the 'Stang crowd is growing to appreciate these cars, especially after the Editor In Chief of Hot Rod magazine said he'd rather have a ground-up Maverick over a Mustang! Stick with it, listen to the board, and before you know it you'll have a car that you won't part with, regardless of the $$$ Tracy
My ol' 77.... Pegasus & Russ..... Thanks for the words of encouragement, I guess Im not the only one out there with a less than perfect Maverick. Yeah, well even though she's not much of a head turner at the moment I'm sure if I decide to press on the way I'm headed then someday I'll get the chance to spray a fresh paint job on her. then maybe the wife wont be so prone to roll her eyes at the thought of taking a ride in her, ha ha! What kills me is the fact that other than the dents in her sheetmetal, there is VERY LITTLE RUST. The only rust Ive found it just two tiny holes behind the rear wheels on the lower/inner sides of the left and right trunk pockets, even the cowl vent area/hatboxes are just as rust free and solid as the day it rolled off the assembly line in 1977. the underbody of the car (although coated with old mobil ATF from the tranny leak a while back) is super solid, the car was undercoated with that old, thick, tarlike undercoating when it was new and 99% of it is still there doing its job of keeping the rust away, so for this old Maverick corrosion is NOT a problem Im proud to say. there is a fella that posted with ideas on how to remove dents from the roof of his Mav, and since someone walked on the roof of mine I have a few slight creases at the edges of the roof line over the windshield and the rear window where the dent was popped back out. Thats the task I'll probably tackle this summer, I figure If I can get these out with a hammer and dolly then the rest of the body should be a piece of cake.... AHHH,,,desisions,,,desisions,,,what I really need to do is get those upper balljoints done so I can get her front end aligned... PEGASUS,,,,what make and model Mav' do you own? Do you do all the work yourself? Which leads to my next question,,are you female??? If so,,ROCK ON!!,,,your welcome in my garage ANY-DAY!!!!!!! RUSS,,,,,,I feel your pain also, My wife drives a '91 Plymouth Sundance,,what a piece of Sh!t!! The car runs and drives, gets her to work everyday, but ive skinned my knuckles on that piece of crap waaay too many times. The thing still has a boatload of problems that need to be corrected if she plans to keep driving it much longer. But quite frankly, this car was NOT designed to be repaired by its owners in their own garages. I could go on and on about this glorified K-car, but its not worth it. The Mav' on the other hand, I'd open her hood and tinker under there ALL DAY if I needed to, its just so easy to get to the parts you need to fix or replace, and theres no computer trying to counteract every adjustment you make just to make the engine run the way IT wants it to run. Yup,,,Ive poured a few Mav' dollars into the Sundance,,but Im not letting it get much more. That suckers going up for auction as soon as it dies. Thanks guys and good night. Ken2002
hehehehe Easy Ken, "Tracy" is a moniker that my my mom stuck me with. She was expecting a girl (ultrasounds were not that sophisticated in 1965 I guess). Anyways, her child popped out with a pair and an unexpected appendage. "Pegasus" is the name of my '76 Mav 302, Sterling Gloss White with metallic blue pinstripes. Not painted mind you, but soon to be powder-coated. Keep up the good work on you Maverick. Once you clean her up then you'll have Mustang owners wanting you to trade (don't!). Tracy
Glad to hear you are having so much fun with your Maverick. They are great cars to play with. Even when things go mechcanically wrong they are a whole lot easier to fix than the computer operated cars of today. Thats the beauty of the Maverick. Easy to work on,easy on the eye, and darned reliable. My 76' Maverick starts no matter what the weather has in store. When we bought our 76' it had 24000 miles on it and a host of problems caused from years of neglect . A few new parts later and the old girl was running strong while my neighbors Chevys were coughing and sputtering along the side of the road. You are lucky to find one with so little rust. My husband and I own a restoration shop so we are quite familiar with the body repairs the Mavs and Comets eventuality need. Just about anything can be repaired. Hang on to your Mav, fix it up when it needs it and it will give you years of enjoyment.
Junkyard jewel Ken; got my Mav from a junkyard for $100. Needed nearly everything, from engine to rear. I bought a rusted up Comet and got a good engine, trans, rear end and a lot of other goodies, including disc brakes and interior. Right now, it is Grabber Green, and drives very well, just squeaks (upper control arm bushings shot), but gonna fix later. Hold onto the Mav, it is destined to be a classic that will be highly sought after, some day. And, welcome to the board. You are in great company! Earl
Great story Ken, BTW, the more you visit this site and realize that ANY question you have can/will be answered, you'll come to appreciate the good folks in the MCCI club. All are willing to help with advice and cautions, etc. Unlike other boards I visit for tech info, there are no personal attacks on one another or a show of disrespect. Even the young guns here seem to have a more mature approach to life than most others their age. Everyone who joins and stays here, are the creme de' la crem! On a related note, the other day when I was cutting a gaping hole in my engine bay to perform a 'shock tower delete', it occured to me that there was NO WAY IN HELL I could've had the courage to do that WITHOUT the help of these guys and their willingness to share the information on how to perform the task. I'm halfway through the project and have that 'great' feeling of accomplishment (or as we say in Texas, "I done cut a big hog in the ass!" ). Also, I'm sure there have been many great how-to's go to the grave with a sharp minded gear-head either by their unwillingness to share the information or the information simply wasn't documented. Another added benefit of this board is that all the information is documented and will probably never be lost. The guys here are actually pioneers of sharing great information that will be used long after we're all gone. 'Geez, sounds kinda morbid and sensationlized after I read it, but I believe it to be true. On that note, I'm gonna go call my mom and tell her I love her (sniff, sniff). Rick p.s. To everyone here who shares my feelings and AREN'T yet a member, why not show you're appreciation by joining the MCCI club. It's the best value going. You'd have to search a long time and buy lot's of books to get the information that's available to us here for free (or $20 a year if you feel so inclined). p.s.s. I do believe I have just <b>preached a sermon</b>, gave all non-MCCI members that <b>guilt feeling</b> and just <b><font color ="red"><BIG>PASSED OUT THE OFFERING PLATE!! </font color></BIG> ROFLMAO!! </b>
I understang the addiction that forms with these cars, why Ken has put so much into his. My mom bought our 72 302 2 dr new back in 72. She was gonna get the six cyl, but the dealer told her that was a bad idea if she wanted the A/C. Thank the salesman, she ordered it up with the v8, (if he had only told her that she needed a grabber) The 302 in that thing is amazing, my dad tells me stories of freeway onramp races where he would smoke the other car to the freeway, with my mom hanging on for dear life, and the other driver wondering what the hell just hit them,.. and how did a mav move like that. The thing ran for 20 years straight and just kept giving. She eventually gave in and bought a new car. I saved the car from the scrappers by telling her that it was mine, and to sign the pink over. I have kept the thing just limping, running on 6 cylinders, able to move it from spot to spot. The value I have placed on it is more than any other material possession in my life. The time has come, I have graduated from college (twice) and gotten a decent job. Keep those cars, they are so rare now it is amazing.
My ol' 77.... EARL,,,,,,,,,,,, Hey since you mentioned the squeeking upper control arms I have a question for you. See I had the same prob. after I installed the new shocks, my control arms started creaking and squeeking like crazy. I then discovered that buried beneath layers of old grease and grime were actual grease fittings that had been installed in the ends of the upper control arm pins. But what really has me wondering is the fact that a hole has been cut with an acetalene torch through the front and backside of the shock towers so that you can get a grease gun onto the control arm grease fittings. This had me wondering if the grease fitings were stock or were they installed at a later time to enable a mechanic to quiet the pesky squeeking bushings with just a shot of grease. But I felt a little better after a trip to the salvage yard where I found a few more Mav's and Comets with the exact same holes cut in the towers........any ideas? I hit the suckers with a lot of grease, and hit EVERY other fitting I could find under the car while I was at it, and the squeeks are still gone to this day,,,quiet as a mouse. Ken2002
I have exactly the hole you are talking about in my pass side shock tower, and have been slightly upset about that, have always wondered what it was for...seems to be for greasing eh?
As I'm going through the engine-bay resto, I intend to use a hole saw to at least round the torch-cut holes out in mine in an effort to make it 'look' a little more factory prepped. From what I've learned, it is ABSOLUTELY necessary to access the A-arms and lube them, no matter how ugly the appearance of the access holes. This mod not only quietens the squeeks, but also makes the car much safer on the highway (I would think). I was looking into buying the early Mustangs a while back and noticed they too have the exact same problem (same shotty flame-cut holes to allow the lubing of the A-arm pivots). Rick
NO! Don't cut anything from the shock towers! Guys, AutoKrafters sells a very cheap ($19.95 at last check) set of 90 degree grease fittings for the upper control arms! I had a horrible squeak on both sides, after 30 minutes of installing the new fittings, NO NOISE! Don't CUT anything. Just order these from AutoKrafters and be done with the wear. Regards, Tracy
Ken; my car doesn't have the holes for the greasing. The cars did not come with it. The 90* fitting kit is the best thing, and I intend to get one soon as I can. However, how do you get to the control arms to put them in, short of removing them altogether? I know they won't screw in without it. Any suggestions, let me know. I don't have a good place to disassemble the car. Thanks, Earl
Earl, The are pretty easy to put in (the grease fittings). Just remove the little hex-head "plugs" that are there now, thread in the "stud" and then screw the zerk fitting nipple into the stud. Since the clearance is pretty tight, they include a little tool to make it easier. Take my advice; before you put these in make sure you have a shop rag or something covering any holes where the fittings could fall into in case you drop it. I did this on one and had to have AK ship out another! Good luck! Tracy
