I'm Dave, I am 44 and I have owned over 40 different vehicles in my life including these Fords: 65 Econoline Falcon Van 240, 67 Galaxie 500 fastback 390, 74 Mustang II 2.3, 77 Mercury Marquis 460, 76 Econoline 350 351 I have a 70 Maverick that currently has no motor and I am doing research on what I want to put in it. Last year my 22 year old son bought a 65 Falcon. It had been in a barn for 8 years in Lakeland. My son, my dad, and I have spent the last year rebuilding the Falcon and it is really coming together nicely. His Falcon only had 58K miles on it so, we kept the 170, Ford advertised 30mpg (when no one cared!) We took it to National Cylinder Head in Orlando and Fred bored the block .040 over and installed new pistons, rods, rings, and crank. we upgraded to a 250 big log head from 77 bronco fresh from machine shop, DUI distributor, Weber DGV 32/36-2BBL carb, fuel pump, tank, lines, fuel pressure regulator, rebuilt our Cruise-o-Matic C4. We added afront sway bar, new shocks up front and new coil-over shocks in the rear. Thrush Magnum glasspack muffler. Converted front brakes to discs and dual chamber master cylinder and added portioning valve. 2008 PT Cruiser bucket seats, 250 watt Kenwood stereo, 200 watt amp, Bazooka bass tube, Sony 6x9's. We got most of our guidance from the Classic Inlines website and Poppa Randy(my Dad). We haven't put it on a dyno, but we think we are getting 125-130 hp out of a motor that came from the factory with 105 hp in 1965. Check out our pics on Ford Muscle Forums, our screen name is 65FalconSix. I had so much fun building his, I had to have another old car. I traded a 1992 Chevy S10 2wd reg cab, short bed 2.8 V6 5 speed with 247K miles on it that was a daily driver with some cool mods for my Maverick. what I got for my S10 trade: 1970 Maverick with blown up 250 "Falcon"six from a 1977 Bronco, C4 Auto, 8 inch rear, and I think it has a 2.7x rear gear. maybe 2.73 or 2.75. it needs about 40 dime sized rust holes repaired here and there and a drivers side front floor pan, but the body is pretty straight and all the glass is good. Now I have a little green monster sitting in my garage waiting for the build to start. This is what I think would be a good set up for my Maverick: 88-up 302 roller block, Edelbrock intake, 500 cfm 4 bbl, DUI distributor, 81-91 AOD trans, 8.8 posi rear with 3.55 gears and disc brakes, headers & dual Flowmaster 40's, electric fan, LOTS OF CHROME! I am NOT building a dragster! I am building a car to take a lap of America. Driveability, cornering and some reasonable level of fuel efficiency are important. I will upgrade to front disc brakes before it goes on the road the first mile. I don't want any computer, ecm, or even an ignition box..SIMPLE is my #1 rule( thats why the DUI dizzy...1 wire and go) I think I found the perfect donor car: an 89 crown vic with 302, AOD, 8.8 3.55 on craigslist running and driving with 121K miles and no title for $400. Any suggestions, or any problems with my build ideas? I'll post pics when I figure out this site, it's different from S10 forum , and ford muscle forum.
from Atlantic Canada! There is TONS of information on this site regarding 5.0L Roller engine swaps and all the tiny little quirks associated with doing so. The "Search" function in the upper right corner will be your friend! Make sure to start a Project Thread to keep everyone up-to-date with your progress. Your car looks cool! I love those greens!!
oops! I just noticed a typo on my screen name.. it's supposed to be 70GreenMonster, not 71, oh well not important...
from a fellow 1970 owner in Northeast Pennsylvania I was looking for a 65 Falcon to put my Cleveland in when I found my Maverick instead
The day I brought it home, still on the u-haul trailer. View attachment 96410 The motor in pieces in the bed of my truck. View attachment 96411
Always good to see another Florida member .... I am from the Tampa area. Sounds like you have a ton of Fords in your history too. Sounds like you are on the right track motor wise. Stick with a 302-based motor. For a donor, you also might consider a 96- to early 97 Explorer with 5.0 motor and the early GT40 heads if you don't want to go aftermarket. Very important to stay away from mid-97 and beyond GT40-P heads because the plug angle will make headers impossible. Another reason for the Explorer is that it comes with an 8.8 and 3:55 or 3:73 gears, 31 spline axles, and usually are posi. They need to be narrowed, and there are several discussion here about that. The spring perches will need to be moved, too. Explorers are super-easy to find in junkyards here. They also have an overdrive automatic, but I think you may want an earlier one to avoid needing a computer to control it.
Welcome from Ocala,Fl. A word of caution, 70 mavs have a small trans tunnel so you may have to do some fab work to fit a AOD trans.