Hello fellow maverick owners! I'm new here on the forums and have a question. I'm thinking about upgrading my 1970 automatic base 2 door maverick in a few ways. As of right now it is completely stock with paint a 1/10 and interior a 6/10. I want to get your opinion on: 1. upgrading to power steering 2. swapping out the drum brakes to disc brakes 3. swapping the 170 inline six to a larger engine or drop in a ford ecoBoost engine as it will be a daily driver(whats the point in having a sweet car if you can't drive it?) I'm not looking to add a hood scoop or many external modification, mainly all internal as listed above. Sorta want a sleeper with decent mpg for long trips but don't know how i would feel putting in a new ecoBoost in a 1970 car. I've been driving this car for 2 years now, saved up a good lump of money and decided i'm willing to invest to make this car more safe and reliable.
Stock Mavericks/Comets are boring. They are not Mustangs or Camaros, which were exciting right from the factory. Why anyone would want a stock Maverick escapes me. I prefer the "Restomod" treatment, which updates the performance of the car but keeps everything tasteful.
The sleeper vibe is why I got involved with these cars. The power steering that came from the factory was more of a power assist system ... overboosted giving it too light of a feel, and they were prone to being a pain to keep working well. I got to the point where I would fix the return hose and mark my calendar for 6 months in the future to repair it again. EcoBoost .... That would be a lot of trouble to get it to work ... you would need an entirely re-engineered fuel system, and all of the computer controls, which are likely tied into the donor vehicle in ways that making all that work in your car (mainly bypassing a lot of features) would be a huge undertaking. In getting all that, you would probably have to get a wrecked brand new car and pirate all that stuff out of it. Also, you need to make sure that the oil pan is configured in a way that it would all fit the car and clear the steering, etc. I have serious doubts in this area. Swapping to front discs is the BEST thing you can do to that car. You are sharing the road with vehicles that stop so much better than the cars from 40 years ago. Rear discs, I would consider optional. They only do about 1/3 of the job stopping the car, and if you swap to a 5 bolt Mav rear, I believe that bigger drums come along for the ride. When I swapped to Granada discs, I installed an adjustable prop valve in there to be able to turn down the rear brakes a bit. They would lock up a bit early. Conversely, I don't think rear discs lock up as easily, and should have more ability to slow the car, so it's your call there. So, if the power steering isn't very good and motor fitment can be a problem, a good choice can be to change out the entire front suspension for a Mustang II-type kit ... big undertaking, but it gets rid of the shock towers, and you can get rack and pinion steering, etc. As far as motor goes, I would go with a small V8 and some kind of overdrive trans .... simple, and the car is light enough, that decent mileage is fairly easy. Being a 70, you don't have to go through smog inspection, right?
These cars didn't have P/S hose problems when new, mostly depends on proper routing and securing of the hoses... No it won't handle like a newer car but steering is adequate, I'm pleased with the original system that I rebuilt for my Comet... Turned out well enough that I'll be adding a system to my Fairlane(it's never had P/S)...
