Hello All. When I bought this car 3 years ago from the guy down the street (literally), it started and idled normally, i.e. choked for fast idle until warmed up, then kicked down to 7-800 range when warm. Time goes by and things break and whatnot...now it no longer kicks down to slow idle when warm. It's a Holley 1940, so I've been doing as much internet research as I can to fix it myself. From what I can tell, the most likely culprit is the choke bimetal spring...either worn out or not getting the manifold heat. Turns out the latter is my first issue, because although the carb has a "stove pipe" heat tube as you'd expect, IT'S NOT CONNECTED TO THE MANIFOLD. It's bent like it should be, touches the manifold in what I assumed was the right position, but after looking closer I realized it's just resting there....not connected to a manifold through-pipe or heat riser fitting or ANYTHING. In this pic, you can see the tube is just broken off at what would be the manifold end (yellow circle). I'm holding the tube with rubber shop gloves, and you can see the asbestos wrapping going up to the choke. So I figured no big deal, just look for the other broken end in the manifold and repair it. At first I thought maybe it's the tube sticking out of the vacuum block, circled in blue...but no, that's a standard vacuum outlet, flared not broken...so it's not that. Looking all over the manifold, I cannot find a hole or fitting for the heat tube anywhere....do you see anything? So Sherlock is now thinking this is NOT the original carb, the original probably had an electric choke and no heat tube, since there's no place for a heat tube....unless I'm missing something, and if so, PLEASE TELL ME.
I've already ordered the Dorman HELP Universal Choke stove kit, which has a sleeve that clamps to the manifold, and the heat tube runs from that to the carb. I'll at least try that, which should tell me whether or not the choke bimetal spring is still contracting/relaxing as it should...and if not, then I'll replace that too.
For the very short term, today I trimmed the choke stove pipe tube, then attached a little steel cone (a cake icing tip) to the open end; on the lookout for a larger cone/funnel, but trying this small one for now. Then I flared the tube end hole open more with a punch, 1) so the cone won't fall off, and 2) to let more hot air in. The pic is not great, but I positioned it hanging loose right above the exh manifold....hopefully enough hot air will funnel up into the tube and then to the choke to make it heat up and work right. Stay tuned...
AFAIK no Maverick used a electric choke, bi-metal coils rarely fail. I have the Dorman stove kit on my Fairlane, now has headers,
Good question...possibly not, it has been modified here and there by past owner(s). It works, but it does have a small leak somewhere, noisy until it warms up. Some day, either headers, or, a 302.
Are those alloy Magnum 500s on your Maverick? I'm in the phase of deciding on wheels; either 1) Torq Thrust D (they look great on Mustangs, not sure they'd look great on Maverick tho...) 2) Mopar 10-hole Steel Rallye wheels, or 3) Magnum 500s, alloy version made by Legendary Wheels, which is what yours look like near as I can tell from that angle.
They are 17 inch "Magnum" style wheels by American Racing. I previously had that style of wheel made by Circle Racing, but they were heavy, were warped from the factory, and would never balance. A total waste of $1800.00 . This car has been an evolution over the last half century. Had 14×4.50" with hubcaps from the factory. In high school, I put those cheap "modular" wheels, 14x6" black & chrome. After high school I put 14×7" Magnum 500s with trim rings on it. In 2007 I put chrome 15x7"/15x8" Magnums on it. Then in 2016 I graduated to the 17x7" / 17x8" polished aluminum style it has now...
Well, from what I can see they look great. Glad I asked, because I was looking at the Legendary Wheels Magnum 500 replicas, but I like the American Racing better, with a tiny bit less backspace. I like your wheels history. The Maverick has very large wheel wells, visually bigger than early Mustangs even (I haven't actually measured to compare, but they LOOK bigger)...so it's just crazy that Ford originally equipped them with tiny 14x4.5 wheels. Mavericks need at least 27" diameter wheel/tire to fill up those caverns. While your 17's look great, me I'm more "old school" I guess, I like that tall sidewall, so I'll go with 15's and 70-series tires.
27" is too much. I run 26" in the rear and 25" up front. Obviously you could go a bit more up front but my car is lowered, so I wanted plenty of clearance. Nothing wrong with 15s at all, other than it limits how big your brakes can be. But I agree that there needs to be some sidewall on any car that is driven on the street. It's so ridiculous that people put "rubber band" height sidewall tires on anything other than something that is driven on a perfectly surfaced race track. Even more ridiculous on trucks. They think it looks cool. Well it looks terrible and rides terrible. Hit a pot-hole and the tire and wheel get destroyed. Some old-school stuff is lame, but some of it actually makes sense...
I'm running 205/75 on 15" steelies now, mfr says overall diameter is 27.1"; I think they look great, but still a bit skinny. In the rear they clear the well by 1-1/2" both front and back, and that's after lowering with 1" blocks. In the front they clear as well; I plan to lower the front too, just haven't got to it yet. If I go with 225/70-15 in the rear, those are 27.4" od, so will still clear; fronts I'll probably go 215, just because parking lot steering is already a major workout just with 205's!
Is there a little hole in the exhaust manifold, about the same diameter as the inside of your heat tube? That was the norm before Ford went to electric chokes. The heat tube would commonly rot off at that point. Here's a basically free fix which won't be concours correct but works perfectly; Take the removable bead/link from a ball chain-style key chain. Pinch it slightly with a pliers or stretch it slightly with a small screwdriver in the split so that it is a tight fit in that hole. Push it halfway down, then push the end of the heat tube down over it. I've done that on multiple cars over the years, never had another problem.
Thanks for the DIY/hack, but I cannot find the hole in the manifold, I've looked and looked. I just ended up installing the Dorman universal kit, it seems to work OK, and was easy to install. This is not a concourse car anyway!
