Getting a little discouraged

Well. alot of new problems have been coming up on me with my mav...the muffler rusted off so its WAY too loud..the steering is acting up again..and now im lucky to even get it started..i have to mess with the idle every time i want to start the thing in the morning! i have been trying to find more 4 doors around here in oregon for parts cars. or even a better one. but its just not turning out for me. im not about to give up on it yet though but i still cant help feeling a bit discouraged in this mav hunt and trying to fix mine up. did you guys ever go throug the same thing? later guys
-james

 

You cannot buy a 27 year car for a few hundred bucks and expect it to be a carefree driver. I thing alot of young people make this mistake. Plus, if you need to depend on it for your daily driver just complicates matters. Also you got to realize if your not mechanically inclined, you need a friend who is or start taking classes. YOu will find out that the $500 brake job Midas charges, can be done yourself for $100 worth of parts. Your idling & starting problems probably means you need to rebuild the carb. If the steering is acting up, obviously you need to address that. You need a better description of the problem your having before we can make any recommendations. Brakes & steering are the 2 most important systems on a car. Anytime you buy a car, those should be the first things you check and/or rebuild. Then work on getting it running right. Lastly, make it look good. My advice for those that really want any classic car, is to already have a dependable driver and buy your dream car with the thought that you are going to invest alot of time working on it. Stick with it, then in 30 years, you will have some great old "remember when" stories like the rest of us old farts.

 

yes we have. all of us have to go get parts. i have $14,000+++ in mine and have driven 28,000 miles looking for parts. my wife said i have more in gas than i do in the mav. i told her i was going to put the disk brake front end under my 73' today. her and her eyes just rolled on out the door to work. these cars are like babies. you have to feed them, burp them and wipe their butts. they will grow up and make you proud one day...frank...

 

I got EXTREMELY discoured recently. I had that pos tbird that always broke down that was supposed to be my trans. car. I ditched it and decided my 17 old mustang gt could be my trans car again. Within 5 days, the rear wheel bearings went out (keep in mind this is my second baby I am also trying to restore), pulled the axles out and went through hell and back locating abearing puller. Axles were ground almost in half. Took 2 more weeks to locate axles online and have them shipped. 4 weeks later, car up on jacks the whole time, me borrowing peoples cars to get to work...I finally get the stang running again, new diff oil, new bearings and a wide smile. Car runs smoother than it has ever before.

Literally 3 days later suddenly the 5 speed becomes very difficult to put into gear...oh Sh%t what the F#ck now. (sorry). Something was up with the tranny. I got so pissed off there, I was seconds away from literally scrapping every car I had and starting off fresh.

The stang has been great to me, but 183k hard driven miles, it is ready for weekend use, not transportation use, and the same is true with 30 year old mavericks. I Just got burnt on working on the car all day every weekend to get to work the next mon.

Mavoholics advice is sound. You can avoid burnout, you just need to step back and take a break. I decided that I really did want my project cars, but the best way to restore them would be to not beat them into the ground every day. I went out and bought the MOST BASIC 4 cylinder pickup truck single cab that I could find. I settled with my first foreign car ever because I didn't want to ever have to worry about reliablity ever, so I can focus on my weekend projects. I got a 98 toyota tacoma on payments for only $233 a month with only 54k on the clock.

I would suggest going that route, because for me I realized that burnout is unavoidable when driving these older cars everyday, my passion is now renewed like it has never been before, and I don't have to worry about the car being up on jacks for days at a time.

edit: having a pickup truck has been the most useful thing ever, as I have been hauling maverick and mustang parts non stop--what could be better to aid your restoration(other than bill gates bank account)

 

I bought a rust free dent free 93 ranger with a 4cyl. 5 speed for $2500 cash.

Best investment I could ever make. I will never be without a truck again.

 

i agree with all the responces, i love my 90 bronco II, it has been great for daily trasportation, only thing that was killing me was i smashed it up back in september, so that put all my toys on hold even longer, well over $1200 and alot of down time from september to monday of this week when it was finnally road safe again. thank god my 77 granada held up for daily duty during that time, now it needs attention.. so got to take care of that and then maybe i can find my mav that's burried in the garage again... it is very discouraging, but thats where thease boards and the nice folks here are for, they help alot!!

 

hey badmav, do you manually have to attach that ford logo every time you post?? If so, you should put it as an avatar under your name...just an offbeat suggestion.

 

im a cyber dummy, im lucky i know how to ad the image lol!!!

 

thanx guys

yeah..im going to try and find a cheap daily driver soon..im just waiting for some money to come my way from my accident settlement. it will feel weird to not drive my mav though. well thanx for your support guys. i need it sometimes! later

 

see.. i KNEW my car needed work.. and lots of it.. almost done with the justs of it though.. got my b&m shifter in and the trannys goin in soon as me and my bud do his head gasket(i hate newer cars..) hate to put off my own car to work on somebody elses.. but he needs a job and hes living here with me.. soo.. yeah..

 

under my name would be cool, id appreaceate that if ya can... thanks stefan

 

having to mess with the "choke" to start it.... thats not aproblem?

if the cars cold u should have to. just like a lawn mower eh? haha

i know every morning i have to pull the choke out to start the bad boy.....

and yes my car is a daily driver. and if problems occur... im screwed until i fix them. hehe

 

Here's my 2 cents;

Anyone who gets an old car like a Maverick is going to have to put money into it. There's no getting around that.

So with that said, if a Maverick enthusiast is wise, they will get one that is mostly rust-free. It's just not worth the money and headaches to attempt to restore a rust-bucket. So find yourself a rust-free (there's always gonna be some behind the rear wheel openings, don't worry about that) Maverick/Comet, preferably one with a V-8 and only 2 doors.

As for the mechanical stuff (brakes, steering, etc.), just "suck-it-up", fix one thing at-a-time and be PATIENT...the worst thing you can do when restoring an old car is to get into a hurry. All it does is stress you out.

Restoring an old car is not for everyone, but the rewards are pretty cool, a sense of accomplishment, being able to drive around in a classic piece of nostalga, and the looks & compliments you get from others.

So hang in there and don't give up, unless you really don't like the car all that much anyway...