1972 Maverick Sprint

Update your progress on your various car projects.

Moderators: MostMint, wxo, Fred32v, Basement Paul, ttamrettus

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ttamrettus
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Post by ttamrettus »

i love it
Matt Sutter
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Post by Maverick »

markss327 wrote:WOW, Impressive fabrication work.
Hope ya find the headers you want.
Thanks. I'm reading on the Maverick Forum that Doug Thorley shorties work best on the Mavs. Didn't want those $10.50 Hedman's anyway. :wink: (sour grapes)
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Security System

Post by Maverick »

Anyone who wants to get to my project Maverick has to get past Ferdinand, the junk yard frog. :o He's one mean dude.


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wxo
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Post by wxo »

You may have a guard frog, but we have one too.

Meet three toed tree toad:




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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

Hmmm. I call this one "Tiny"

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Maverick
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Camaro Bucket Seats

Post by Maverick »

Picked the Camaro seats up at Spring Carlisle. Some of you know them well from pulling them around for half a day.

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Fred32V got the guy to sell them for $30 and I couldn't turn it down. Seller claimed they were '88 Mustang seats but a couple of people told me later they were Camarao seats. I think they're '88 Camaro seats. Some of the Maverick/Comet Forum guys think its sacrilege to put Cheby seats in a Mav but makes me no never mind. They're light, comfortable, a bargain and, as it turns out, they're going to fit just fine. Finally got around to setting them in the car. I think the style is appropriate to the Mav.

The standard Mav seats were bench seats and that's what I have in mine. Buckets were an option (maybe not in the Sprint?) but they're like hen's teeth now. Lots of $$$$ if you can find some. Just the tracks will fetch $100. Since the car has bench seats, the floor is only reinforced for seat mounts by the doors.

Luckily, the seats are good in all three dimensions (height, left/right, forward/back) using the bench seat front mounting holes (and reinforcement).

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Here's the seat all the way forward. I can hardly get myself in with the seat in this position.

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The seats are at a good angle (front/back rotation) with the rear, outside mount sitting on the floor. No spacers needed there.

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Those mounting holes are a little off from the Mav bench seat holes but reinforcing with some flat stock will be a piece of cake. The inside mounts need to be raised about an inch in front and an inch and a quarter in the backf. Think I'll weld some spacers to some flat stock and bolt the flat stock to the floor. I want the bucket seat mounts to be removable. I'll get everything set up then remove all fabrications, put in new carpet, and run with the Sprint bench seats till I'm ready to redo the buckets (and back seat) in sprint decor. I know an upholsterer that can get the original Sprint material.

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MostMint
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Post by MostMint »

I bet a few Maverick guys will be scratching their heads when they see the buckets in the right material in the car.

In the meantime you gonna sell the old seats? They might fetch some decent coin to help finance this little adventure.
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Post by Maverick »

MostMint wrote:I bet a few Maverick guys will be scratching their heads when they see the buckets in the right material in the car.

In the meantime you gonna sell the old seats? They might fetch some decent coin to help finance this little adventure.
I've been thinking I would save any good, standard parts I replace and only make changes that could be reversed with some wrenching. Part of the fun is in saving a pretty rare car. But, I'm starting to weaken on that rule as I do more to it. Thinking anyone who has a strong interest in strict originality would probably want a rust-free original anyway.

The seats have some small holes and are faded so they wouldn't bring a LOT of money. I donno. Something to thinnnnnnk about ...

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Post by Maverick »

I made some reinforcements today to mount the driver's Camaro bucket seat in the Sprint.

Since the car came with a bench seat, there is no reinforcement for seat mounts on the floors on the tunnel side. That's 1/8X2" flat stock, bent to fit the contours of the floor. Bolt heads are where the buckets will mount on that side. Notice the Camaro mounts land on top of the pads for the optional Maverick bucket seats.

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The square washers laying on the tunnel side reinforcement are spacers cut from 1/4X1.5" flat stock. I'll need about three on the front bolt and about five on the rear bolt to level the seat. I'll also put a few bolts thru the reinforcement and floor to secure it to the floor.

Front, outside mounting bolt goes in the existing, front bench seat mounting hole. You can probably just make out the hole for the rear, outside mounting bolt. Its just inside the new reinforcement. There's reinforcement under the floor for the bench seat mounts. Drilled a hole thru the floor and that reinforcement to secure the new reinforcement to the old reinforcement. Didn't bother to shape the outside reinforcement to the contour of the floor since it doesn't need any additional bolts to secure it to the floor.

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Front Bumper Rechromed by Tri-Cities

Post by Maverick »

At Carlisle I bought a rechromed rear bumper from Tri-City Plating and left a very rusty, bent front bumper to be rechromed. I was surprised they took the old one to work on. Just got it back. Its FLAWLESS!! Great outfit!!

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Here's what it looked like going in.

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Hood Repair

Post by Maverick »

(WXO let me know he had trouble knowing what he was looking at in the pics. I edited the post to describe the view orientations.)

The underside of the front of my hood frame is rusted out.

Looking at the front, underside of the hood.

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First law of rust dynamics: Its always worse than you think. Thought it was not thru the hood skin but, when I cleaned it up, there were holes thru the front lip.

Looking at the front of the upside-down hood.

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So, open up the fold on the front edge (special pliers from Eastwood), get the rusty remains of the frame out of the fold, slip a piece of sheet metal back in it's place, squeeze the fold back down (Eastwood crimping vice grips worked well), close up the pin holes with plug welds (WXO's MIG welder) to the new piece of sheet metal, and grind the excess off the welds.

Looking at the front of the upside-down hood.

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Next two picutures are Looking toward the front of the upside-down hood.

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Looking at the front of the upside-down hood.

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Now I have something to weld to when I replace the rusted areas of the frame. Got two pieces roughed in so far. But, tomorrow's another day.

Next two pictures are looking at the front, underside of the hood.

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Last edited by Maverick on Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Fred32v
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Post by Fred32v »

Another problem on the way to being solved. Keep on goin'!
I hate rust.
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GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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WXO Comes by to Help

Post by Maverick »

This morning I finished welding the driver's side of the hood (no additional pictures of that here) and put a patch on a rusty area on the undersde rear frame.

Rusty area cut out.
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Patch cut, shaped and Clecoed.

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Patch welde in.

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WXO came over to check out progress and try some welding. He did great! Wish I had some pictures of him but by the time I thought of it he was done.

We worked on the passenger front underside and front lip. Same drill as the (previous) driver's side. Open the fold on the front of the hood, remove the rusty parts of the frame from the fold, put new metal back in its place, squeeze the fold back on it, weld the new piece on the inside of the front lip and then plug weld the holes in the front.

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Then fab a replacement for the rusted out fram and weld it to the new piece inserted into the fold.

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Plug weld the holes in the front of the hood and grind the welds off smooth.

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One small piece to put on the end of the passenger, front, underside frame and the rough work will be done.
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GMJohnny
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Post by GMJohnny »

Sure seems like a lot of work removing rust!! Thank God for fiberglass!!
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Post by Maverick »

GMJohnny wrote:Sure seems like a lot of work removing rust!! Thank God for fiberglass!!
Yep, lots of work but also lots of fun IF YOU ENJOY IT. Not for everyone. I'm having a great time doing stuff I've never done before. Working on my Mav is my favorite thing to do. Well, maybe there's one or two things that are more fun ...

Its also fun sharing the progress on TireSmoke.org. The hood is the last piece of rust repair so I'll be moving on to other stuff. Yesterday I pulled the heater/ac unit from under the dash. That's a pretty big deal to pull from an assembled car so I need to ensure all the parts (heater core, evaporator, blower motor and controls, vacuum motors, ...) are good before I put it back in. Trying to decide if paint or engine work is next.
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