Im ready to buy me a maverick and need some advice. What year is the best to buy, as far as parts being available etc etc. I plan on building a street car, i have a 425 HP 347 ci to drop in it. Will a maverick handle that horsepower without doing alot of things to it, as far as coil overs. How hard is the rear end to beef up on these cars? Are there aftermarket parts available for them. Im starting my research and thought this would be a good place to start. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Welcome to the board. You will find people with incredible knowledge here that can answer virtually any maverick question. There is a great coil over post that has been going on, look for that, has great pictures. The best maverick for you is one that is smog exempt v8 platform with minimum rust. All the Mav years are real similar, with the smog and interior appointments and bumpers being the biggest difference. In california anything from 73 or older is smog exempt. So if you have similar rules, that is what you want to look for. Starting off with a v8 powered car is always the easiest, so you won't have to change everything. 71 was the first year for a v8
The rear suspension will handl that kind of power providd you have a quality set of traction bars (i.e. CalTracs). A 9" rearend would be prefrable but an 8" rear will work also.
Tie, Welcome to the board. I am also putting a 347 c.i. in my '70 Grabber. I bought my rolling chassis with a "race ready" set-up (9" rear, 6 pt roll bar, sub-frames connectors, etc). Any year Maverick is a great car to put on the track because of their realitively light weight. One modification I'm doing, but isn't necessary, is to modify the shock towers to allow easy access to the header bolts and plugs. There are 'how-to' tech articles in the archives of this board on how to perform this change. There are many V8 Mav's out there that do NOT have this modification. Typically, they are street cars and do not require the plugs to be accessed as often nor do they need to have the larger tube headers (say 1-7/8"). As far as the year model, they are all pretty much alike. The 1970 Models only came with 6-cylinders though. If you buy a later model, look for one that came with the 302 as it will be easier to modify. I'm not saying pass on the '70 (or rare '69-1/2) they just require you to obtain the swap parts. I'd also check other sources for Mavericks already set up to handle 425+ horsepower. Fortunately for you, and unfortunately for the seller, you will be much better off buying one already prepped for racing - as you can typically buy the car for a fraction of what the parts and labor cost the seller. Good luck and keep us posted. Rick
New Maverick owner Tie, I agree with Rick and the others, this is by far the best place you can get Maverick/Comet advice! I have a CHP (Coast High Performance) 302 with a Weiand intake and Holley 650 cfm and managed to strip the pinion gear out of my '76 (to be fair, it had a pinhole leak in the axle shaft and ran dry!). I've ordered a Currie 9+ rear end for it (bolt-in, $2149 complete) to fix it up. On this "mild" combo I'm adding a BDS 6-71 "Jimmy" blower with SuperChiller cooler which *should* net me somewhere close to 540+hp. Really doesn't matter though, I'm setting up my "big bumper" Maverick strictly for street/show with maybe a run or two at the track for a grin. Oh, this is with power steering and A/C by the way ;^) If your going to run high horsepower then I'd strongly suggest subframe connectors to keep the body twist to a minimum. I have a set of Lakewood traction bars in my closet to be installed strictly for that "70's bad-boy look" for now. When Rick stops by maybe he can educate me on how these things *really* work. Other than that, get an MSD ignition and enjoy your ride! The Maverick crowd has been growing alot lately with disenchanted 'Stang owners! Welcome to the group and good luck with you project! Tracy '76 two-door "Pegasus"
