1972 Maverick Sprint

[wxo]

I turn my back on you for a few days and the next thing I know you make some great progress on the Maverick. Lookin' great, Jim. Did you get the evaporator installed?

[Maverick]

I turn my back on you for a few days and the next thing I know you make some great progress on the Maverick. Lookin' great, Jim. Did you get the evaporator installed?

Not yet, but I did get the replacement blower motor. This one turns. I have all the parts to assemble the heater/AC unit and put it in place. Hope things slow down for you a little.

[Maverick]

Got the heater/AC (way) under dash unit ready to go back in. Its fairly difficult to take it out and put it back. Someone did it before and broke the top half of the case in a few places. Had to get a replacement top half of the case from a guy on the Maverick/Comet Forum.

Everything has been replaced, renewed, or check out. That's so I (hope I) never have to take it out again. New heater core and blower motor. First blower motor from Rock Auto wouldn't turn but they were good about replacing it. Evaporator was tested and renewed by Classic Auto Air in Tampa. All vacuum motors checked out OK. One wasn't making a full pull but a slight mod to the mount and its good. Had to re-attach one support bracket that was broken off.

Couple of nuts between the vacuum motor and its mount and it gave a full pull.







Now I gotta straighten the shop out a little so I can get WXO over for a play date and install it. Its a two-man job.

[wxo]

I'm surprised by the size of that unit. I think it's bigger than my HVAC unit in my home. It should be fun wrastling that thing back into place.

[Maverick]

I'm surprised by the size of that unit. I think it's bigger than my HVAC unit in my home. It should be fun wrastling that thing back into place.

Yeah, and when you get it in place, someone has to install the nuts on the front side of the firewall. This might be a two-brew, two-man job. I can't imagine doing that job with the front seat in place.

[Maverick]

Decided to delay putting the heater/AC unit in place till I got the many vacuum lines sorted out and electrical issues handled. Working under the dash is quite comfortable with the seats and heater/AC unit out.

There are about 10 vacuum lines for heater and AC stuff. I carefully labeled them with masking tape so I could get them back where they belong, BUT, my labels got covered with overspray and they aren't readable. Fortunately, the Ford service manual has a nice picture showing vacuum line routing. They're now relabeled.

Not much electrical is working. I think there must be a million corroded connectors. Gotta start at the battery and trace everything. Guess what DOES work. The "you left your key in the ignition" buzzer. AHHHHHH!!! Got that disabled by unplugging the "door open" switch. Only other thing I know is working is the wipers.

In the meantime, my complete set of pre-bent brake lines arrived. So, a happy detour to install them.






I really like these lines with a couple of exceptions. Didn't make sense to ship the long line to the rear axle in a 12' box the BENT IT IN A U!! Could have make it two pieces and used a couplilng. But, with WXO's tube bending tools, that U came out easily and just minor tweaking was necessary for the rest of the lines. I like the reproed wire wrap and I could NEVER have made lines fit like this if I were bending straight pieces.

Next detour was for an issue I wasn't aware of in the swap to the roller 302. The newer block is missing a boss and tapped hole for the column shift linkage. Went to install my shift linkage and it worked like crap 'cause the engine side mount wasn't there. Had me noodling for a while. Do I install a floor shifter? Could, but that presents its own set of isssues. Backup and neutral start switches are in the column and if you remove the shift lever things can slip and engage the steering wheel lock. Not a big deal -- just another issue to deal with. Then there's the steering column with a shift lever and shift indicator to do something with.

Could make a bracket to provide the engine side mount for the shift linkage. Decided to do what others have done and eliminate the convoluted shift linkage that requires enging-side support and replace it with a single rod from the steering column to the transmission shift lever. Fabbed the new shift lever from the two original levers.








Eliminated this piece of junk.




Now looks like this.




My plug wire looms and wire wrap arrived today so I have some more fun stuff to play with before I get at the electrical issues. Also gotta finish buffing some day when the mood hits me.

[MostMint]

Do you get the full range of gears with the reworked shift mechanism?

[Maverick]

Do you get the full range of gears with the reworked shift mechanism?

Yes, and the indicator on the steering column is correct too. That piece-of-crap thing (don't know what its called) that was eliminated had similar radii for the two rod connections -- travel of the output rod was similar to the travel of the input rod. The after-market shift lever on the transmission has a variety of holes to allow selection of the proper radius to get correct travel for the shift handle.

I have a floor shift kit. Maybe someday I'll install it but for now this will do.

[Maverick]

Or, I could have bought one of these if I'd known about them. http://www.jegs.com/i/Lokar/625/ACA-180 ... nAoddWxvvg

But, its cheaper and more fun to make your own.

[Maverick]

Installed the new evaporator and hung the drier loosely. Won't unseal the drier fittings till I get to the AC place. Plan to have an AC shop crimp the hose connections, evacuate and charge the system.



Couldn't find one of the windshield washer nozzles. I'm sure it'll turn up someday but, in the meantime, I found one locally. Picked up a washer hose kit incl the "F" fitting on ebay. Never saw that kit for sale before.



Got the engine close to being ready to start with hot wires to the distributor and starter solenoid. Gotta prime the oil system, add all the fluids, seal some vacuum ports, ...



Had a problem yesterday when I went to install the drive shaft. The yoke would only go part way on the tail shaft of my rebuilt and beefed up C4 about 2" and then it would bind up. Was stopping just short of engaging the spline. Pulled the rear seal, pulled the trans mount cross member and lowered the rear of the engine and trans to try to see what it was binding on. Couldn't see anything unusual. The yoke slipped into the seal and into the bushing in the tail housing. No extra bolts laying around in there. Called the Broader Performand techie in Texas to see if he had any ideas. Wanted to remove the tail housing and get a good look at things but didn't know if I'd have a pile of gears and shafts on the garage floor. Techie assured me nothing bad would happen so back out I go to pull the housing. Once off, the problem was obvious. The yoke would slip into the 2" deep bushing but it would bind up before it made it all the way thru. I'm guessing they distorted the bushing when the replaced it. Broader Performance treated me well when I bought it and were responsive with I had a problem so I didn't ask them to replace the bushing. Just pulled the tail housing from my old (58K mile) C4, cleaned it and painted it, and installed it on the rebuilt tranny. I think that somewhat used bushing will be fine. Problem solved.

Sorry, no pictures of the transmission work. I was too busy trying to get it fixed before the trans shop closed last evening. We're headed to Michigan on Wednesday for our annual visit. Didn't want to go away for two weeks with THAT loose end.

We may turn the crank tomorrow and see if it fires. Got two batteries charging now. My son is coming for dinner on Sunday. If he's not working, he may come Saturday and stay over. Told WXO I'd let him know this evening if he should come and shoot a video. Looks promising.

[Maverick]

This morning I did some things to get the Windsor ready to start. Picked up a new 750 amp battery and five gallons of fresh gas. Five quarts of break-in oil in the crankcase and I'm ready to prime the oil pump and get some slipery moving thru the 302 HO. I've done it before with a 1/4" deep socket, long 1/4" drive extension, and 1/2" reversable drill. You just have to be careful with you're done priming to NOT knock the socket off the end of the extension. No problem -- "I've done it before". Got the oil surging thru the uncovered push rods and stopped before the oil spilled over the edge of the heads. No mess. Great.

Get that make shift pump primer out so the distributor can go in. CLINK, CLINK, CLUNK, the socket hits the bottom of the pan. Haven't screamed like a girl in a long time. Glad my wife didn't hear me. Oh, NO!!! Better call WXO. "Hey Walt, do you think its a problem to have a 1/4"drive 1/4" deep socket in the bottom of the oil pan?" "Nah". "Hopin' you'd say that. Sounds good to me. Think I'll have a sandwich. See ya after lunch".

Got the valve covers on and here comes WXO with his camera. WXO put a bypass on the heater hose fittings. I filled the crankcase and power steering reservoir. WXO removed the compresser belt, filled the radiator and plugged the vacuum ports. We reinstalled the distributor and wires.

Here's the video of the first attempt: (edit by WXO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nuHdJBro3s

After an initial backfire, timing adjustment, couple of spits out the carb, timing adjustment, we got it to turn enough to flash the timing light and know that the timing was now close enough. Pulled the sight plug on the primary bowl of the Holley and put some gas in. Ran a little more but wasn't getting much fuel.

Here's the second attempt: (edit by WXO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMi29voKDzc

We pulled the fuel line off the carb, applyed vacuum and gas ran freely thru the system to that point. With the fuel line and pump all primed, the fuel pump wouldn't put anything out the open line. WXO pulled the defective pump out and we quit. I'll pick up a new pump tomorrow.

But, I'm running out of time to do any more before we leave for Michigan early Wednesday. Got a lot of stuff to do to get ready. I'll get back to it in July. Have a "Happy 4th of July".

[Maverick]

WXO added a couple of links to videos in my previous post Thanks, WXO. Would have been more interesting IF IT HAD RUN!

Picked up another fuel pump today. My son was here for Father's Day and he wanted to put it on ang give it another go. We put it on but no go. This fuel pump problem really has me puzzled.

The first one that didn't work had what seemed like a good amount of force required to work the pump. Working the pump would blow air out the vent but seemed to create no vacuum on the input or pressure on the output line. Had no problem vacuuming a good amount of gas from the tank right thru the pump to the carb connection. It also had what looked like a good wear mark on the pump's arm like it was making good contact with the eccentric. Just didn't pump anything.

The second pump is really hard to pump by hand and has NO flow of air or gas thru it. The arrm matches tthe arm on the first pump. Installed this second pump and put the vacuum pump on the line where it attaches to the carb but could get nothing thru the pump, even while turning the engine with the starter. It holds a vacuum.
Not sure where to go from here. Take the second pump back? Guess I might as well, I'm pretty sure its bad. Maybe get a better quality pump from NAPA and try a THIRD time?

Suggestions are welcome. Probably won't do anything till we're back home in 2-3 weeks.

[Basement Paul]

I would try to make sure fuel comes out of the fuel line before the fuel pump, as maybe it's not the pump at all (line plugged). Do you have a way to pull the gas through the line in front of the pump?

-BP

[wxo]

Yesterday, before I removed the first fuel pump, we pulled the fuel line off the carb and pulled a vacuum on it with a mity-vac. Gas flowed freely from the tank and through the fuel pump and up to the carb. Then when I was removing the fuel pump, gas poured down my arm when the inlet hose was removed. In addition, Jim stated that he had previously used air pressure to blow the fuel line of debris. I don't see how it could be a clogged line.

[Maverick]

I would try to make sure fuel comes out of the fuel line before the fuel pump, as maybe it's not the pump at all (line plugged). Do you have a way to pull the gas through the line in front of the pump?

-BP

BP,

Thanks for the response.

Like WXO said, with the first pump installed we disconnected the line at the carb and applied a vacuum. GOOD flow all the wayfrom the tank to the carb. Problem is the pumps aren't pumping. Its either two bad pumps or the arms aren't being moved correctly by the eccentric. Right now I'm leaning toward returning the second pump to Advance Auto and picking up a better one at NAPA. If a third pump doesn't work, it's gotta be something with the eccentric.