My Maverick in Popular Hot Rodding

[GrabberGT]

Finally received my PHR in the mail. Seems like Im always the last to get my copy. I knew it was coming and that I'd be in it but the joy I found in actually opening it up and seeing the 2 page photo and article is 2nd to... well a bunch of things but still very exciting. Im very pleased with the write up (less the "ghetto fabulous" comment) and photos. They really can work magic now days with those things LOL. I feel like I've been given the call-up to the big leagues. LOL. Thanks PHR for featuring the little guys.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-p39QYGExZ-w/Ue1MEFB4JhI/AAAAAAAACHQ/mjgxbEFJzxA/w1358-h764-no/IMG_20130722_101251_834.jpg


Now available on line. http://www.popularhotrodding.com/features/1309_1972_ford_maverick/













https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ea31lL9HNhWnb9sxRw-AWdgoLngLzwL098C7VS1Z74k=w312-h207-p-no

[Code510]

Awesome! Congrats on the write up. Well deserved indeed.

Gotta frame that one and put it on the wall! :thumbsup:

[Tony_SS]

Looks great.... congrats, I always love when people do something a little different.

[Rybar]

Congrats man, it looks awesome :thumbsup:

[Imp]

Congratulations on the write up.I was reading the article today,time for a frame:y0!:

[MODO Innovations]

Congratulations Chris!! That is awesome. Nice car for those who haven't seen it in person.

[tones2SS]

Congrats! Nice looking car you got there.

[coolwelder62]

Congrat's on the Print.I love these Maverick's.Would mind havin one for my next build.(If I could find a perfect rust free/perfect shape) for a Quick dance.!!!!

[Track Junky]

Great looking car. Congrats!!

[Gaslight]

Very cool. Have always loved the Mavericks. Love the color also.

Jake

[WSSix]

Congrats! I'll try and check it out next time I'm at the store.

[tmadden]

As a fellow FTW alum.
I'm Standing and applauding!!!!!!

[Ripped]

Gorgeous car. and congratulations!

[WSSix]

Checked it out today at the grocery store. Car looks great in there! Rod's Camaro is in there too. Pretty good issue overall I though. Congrats again!

[GrabberGT]

Thanks for all the props guys. It means a lot to be recognized. The car is not nearly as nice as the pics make it out to be but as the article stats, its a running mock up and I drive it like it is. Maybe someday I'll do a complete documented rebuild on it to clean it up and fix some learning errors made along the way.

Checked it out today at the grocery store. Car looks great in there! Rod's Camaro is in there too. Pretty good issue overall I though. Congrats again!

I also checked Rodneys article out. I've been a fan of his work for a while. Im surprised he didnt write it himself being the accomplished writer he is. If you are not aware, he is a contributing columnist on Bangshift.com. He provides a great perspective on the every day guys experience in our hobby.

[Wissing72]

Congrats! I got the mag. a couple weeks ago and read it. Great write up and the car looks great.

[ALLBOTTLEMONTE]

Fr500 Rims Looks Good

[kttrucks]

Love the Mavericks! Congrats on the article, I just read through it. Hope to see it out somewhere sometime.

KT.

[GrabberGT]

Love the Mavericks! Congrats on the article, I just read through it. Hope to see it out somewhere sometime.

KT.

Honored you liked the Mav. You're welcome to see it anytime you want. Just send the Search and Restore Rig over. Call it a special on "How NOT to build a car" as we go thru and correct all my mistakes. LOL Cant wait to see the Rolling Thunder thrash episode.

[intocarss]

Congrats, I like it...looks like a Vega!!!

[GrabberGT]

Congrats, I like it...looks like a Vega!!!

At least its not another Camaro. :poke: :twak:


A little background on the "Its not a Vega!!!!" I took the car to its first Goodguys with my Dad a couple years ago. Everything was going well until Chad took notice of the car and decided he wanted to compare it to the Vega. My Dad being a long time fan of the Maverick decided he needed to teach Chad a history lesson on which came first... Dad still hasnt gotten over that argument. Hasnt really liked Chad ever since. LOL.

For the record, the car gets called many things, Vega, Mustang, CAMARO, POS (I use it frequently)... but the only one that really bothers me is... PINTO

[Rod P]

At least its not another Camaro. :poke: :twak:




nice Pinto, :relax: ha ha ha ha ha congrats on the ink Chris!

[Sonar Chief]

At least its not another Camaro. :poke: :twak:

For the record, the car gets called many things, Vega, Mustang, CAMARO, POS (I use it frequently)... but the only one that really bothers me is... PINTO


CONGRATS on the ink!!!

[LOPEZWERKS]

Just saw your car in my electronic copy of Popular Hot Rodding. Here's a pic. Nice car and great build.

[GoolsbyCustoms]

Really cool car , enjoyed he article

[Chassisworks]

What, this old thing? Yeah, it's pretty snazzy. Looks like that TCP front suspension is keeping you pointed in the right direction. Congrats again, Chris!


Pic courtesy Bangshift.com

[GrabberGT]

What, this old thing? Yeah, it's pretty snazzy. Looks like that TCP front suspension is keeping you pointed in the right direction. Congrats again, Chris!


Pic courtesy Bangshift.com

Ha! Love that pic. Goodguys is 1 month away and this time I have a larger sway bar.

[strtcar]

Looks like your at sema as well for optima street car challenge, congrats.

[chichirone]

Great article Chris! I enjoyed reading about the Maverick. Missed seeing you at GoodGuy's this past month as I couldn't make it. Have an awesome time at the OUSCI.

:thumbsup:

[FETorino]

Chris

It was great meeting you and your dad at SEMA.:thumbsup:

Hope the ride home was uneventful.

Why no build thread for your Maverick:headscratch:

:cheers:

[Matt@BOS]

I'm going to echo what Rob said. It was nice meeting you at SEMA. Major props for driving it out from Texas. For those on Lat-G who haven't seen the car, it is much nicer in person than any of the pictures on this site show. :thumbsup:

[GrabberGT]

Thanks guys. I had a great trip. Seeing the mountains for the first time was quite an experience. It was a pleasure meeting all of you. I wish I could have made it out to the Lat-G party.

The OUSCI was a lot of fun. I had never been on a track before and was incredibly nervous. Once out there, it wasnt so bad. I was having a good time chasing Brian Finch around. He must have been afraid of the Mav though as he kept trying to get away from me. Luckily, I had the guy in the Lincoln helping me out by sitting in front of him to keep him from getting too far. LOL. When it was my turn to make my hot laps, it became clear that I was grossly underpowered. There was a Shelby mustang that started behind me that was catching up quick on my last hot lap. I could hold him off on the curves but was loosing in the straits. Later on, while talking to some of the others, I found I was down a good 40mph in those sections. I need more power.

The autocross was deceptively simple. Nothing too unusual about the course but man was it slick. I had the hardest time getting any traction. It didnt help that I had installed new coil overs with a different spring rate only days before leaving for Vegas. I had no time what so ever to get used to them much less know how the handling was going to change from what I am used to. Britt was on hand in the Ridetech booth so I asked him for a base performance setup for my car. It felt alright but still waaaay different.

Up to this point, I havent yet embarrassed myself or the Mav by doing anything stupid like having an off-track excursion, stalling on the start line, breaking down in the middle of the autocross... but it was coming. I made my first pass at the speed stop. first and second gear on the strait and back into first on the slalom. I kept bouncing off the rev limiter though so the next run I'd leave it in 2nd. I was doing really well and thought I've be in for a 19 sec run until the end. I came into the box WAY too hot and locked it up sideways. In the process I managed to also knock over the flag guy at the end. I couldnt apologize enough to the guy. I was soo shooken up, I made my last run more of a parade lap. To make it worse, photos of the incident are now showing up.:bang:

Despite my poor times and embarrassing near disastrous run in the speed stop, I still consider my OUSCI experience a triumph. I drove 1200 miles, raced and was leaving under its own power. What a blast!

We left that evening and decided to go have a steak dinner to celebrate. On our way down the interstate, we got hit with the strong sent of fuel in the cabin. we quickly shut off the fuel pump and come to a stop. Popped open the hood to find fuel had sprayed all over the engine bay and even filled up the valley under my intake. We're lucky the hole car didnt instantly go up in flames. It seams the seal in my fuel pressure regulator decided to let go allowing fuel to spray out the unused vacuum reference port. Fuel was coming out of there strong enough to spray clear of there radiator support in front of the car. We ended up getting a tow back to the hotel so we could trouble shoot in the morning.

The next morning I get up and start looking for the problem. I expected to find my return line had some obstruction that caused it to blow fuel passed the seal in the regulator but found nothing of the sort. Took the regulator apart and found nothing broken. Put it back together again and ran the fuel pump and no leaks. Odd. The seal randomly decided to give up. To prevent future disaster, we ran to the Pep Boys and picked up some vacuum line. We ran the line to the port and then to a vacuum source on the throttle body. At least now, if it fails again, it'll just flood out the motor.

Its 9 am and we're on the road home. I have my Dad with me and life couldnt be better. We make it to Albuquerque that night and get up a 3 am the next morning to do it all over again. About 150 miles west of Amarillo, we're cruising along and all of a sudden the throttle sticks open. Again, I hit the fuel shut off switch so that we can coast to a stop. (So glad I installed that switch before leaving) We stop and think thru the process. Play with the pedal again and its freed itself up. We scratch our heads and decide to continue on. 20 miles later we pull off to get some breakfast and take a look at the throttle. While in the Sonic parking lot disaster strikes. We hear some rattling coming from the motor followed by smoke and a cloud of steam from the exhaust. We quickly shut the fuel and the car off thinking, this is it, the car is burning down around us. We get out, and nope. No fire. Seeing water drip out of the tailpipe though makes us think its a blown head gasket. I open the hood to find its much worse. The air cleaner and hold down nut is laying off to the side. Then I see it. The air cleaner stud had broken off at the base where it screws into the throttle body and fallen into the motor. If only we had popped the hood on the side of the road when the throttle stuck. Shows over, time to call the wrecker.

Luckily, I added roadside assist with my Hagerty insurance days before leaving. It included 125 miles of towing. So lets see... thats 10ish miles used on Saturday night and now its 115 miles to Amarillo where the closest U-Haul and car rental place is. We get to the U-Haul and are lucky the tow driver is talented enough to drop the car onto the trailer for us. We call home to have a truck come pick us up and tow us home. 15hrs later, we make it home.

Besides the troubles, I had my Dad there to keep me company and out of trouble. Best trip ever... and now I have a reason to fix that under powered issue.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-EQbEm3BG3qs/UoPk79bxpGI/AAAAAAAACe8/-dlz60X0ndw/w1108-h623-no/IMG_20131106_095816_596.jpg

[Sieg]

Yuck! I hate stories like that. :shakehead:

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-qhLDwBM/0/XL/i-qhLDwBM-XL.jpg

http://sieg.smugmug.com/OUSCI-2013/i-JsGBHZs/0/XL/_MG_9065-XL.jpg

http://sieg.smugmug.com/OUSCI-2013/i-GRXkv29/0/XL/_MG_9960-XL.jpg

I didn't get you in the stop box incident but this might make you feel a little better:
http://sieg.smugmug.com/OUSCI-2013/i-9QXVF8G/0/XL/_MG_9718-XL.jpg

:unibrow:

[Chassisworks]

Chris - I'm glad you had a good time and made it home relatively intact. It wouldn't be an adventure without some hurdles on the road home!

Sieg - Mind if I post some of these to the TCP Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TotalControlProducts)page? Chris is running our front suspension and VariShock coilovers.

[GrabberGT]

And here is the carnage.

This is about 3" long.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-XNeEycTFbjM/UoQ5bmHBpqI/AAAAAAAAChY/l4xJjF3NzJg/w443-h788-no/IMG_20131113_170328_371.jpg

The piston and head tried their best to chew it up

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-64WK1gwgW2k/UoQ5frzdVxI/AAAAAAAAChg/L1Gz45KZTbo/w1108-h623-no/IMG_20131113_170048_603.jpg

... until something had to give. There is crack in the cylinder wall. I cant keep the water out long enough to snap a picture.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-62Yv0v-N9PA/UoQ5VVvcEhI/AAAAAAAAChQ/ZgGqS39Qfvk/w1108-h623-no/IMG_20131113_170153_619.jpg

So now we start saving up for that new motor. I've got my eyes on a small 363 from Shafiroff. :G-Dub:

[GrabberGT]

Thanks Sieg. I used this one on my Facebook page.

http://sieg.smugmug.com/OUSCI-2013/i-GRXkv29/0/XL/_MG_9960-XL.jpg

[Sieg]

Sieg - Mind if I post some of these to the TCP Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TotalControlProducts)page? Chris is running our front suspension and VariShock coilovers.
Carl it would be an honor. If you need larger images, pm me your email and I'll send you the links. :thumbsup:

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-7DXqZvD/0/L/i-7DXqZvD-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-RTHBqPQ/0/L/i-RTHBqPQ-L.jpg

Thanks Sieg. I used this one on my Facebook page.

Awesome!

Million dollar questions - What motor's going back in? How much hp does your car need to be respectable in that group?

[Jay Hilliard]

Major congrats on the mag article. Well done.

[GrabberGT]

Awesome!

Million dollar questions - What motor's going back in? How much hp does your car need to be respectable in that group?

Im not sure it needs too much more than it has now. I cant really expect to win with my budget and talent. A well built 347 pushing 450 hp and 400 ft/lb should be more than enough for my rookie driving. Thats a little more than the one I had. The car and driver are on the hefty side so getting it down to racing weight is key. Right now we are 3350. 3200 is not an unreasonable goal. That puts me in the Brian Hobaugh Camaro range. So... having half the talent, half the motor, and half the tire patch should get me about an 8th of the way up the competition scale right? LOL

I think I have the motor worked out. A budget rebuild with better heads and matching cam should get me another 50+ hp and trq. Now... How do I fit 315's up front?

[GrabberGT]

Major congrats on the mag article. Well done.


Thanks

[Bryce]

Now... How do I fit 315's up front?

:superhack:

do it!

[GrabberGT]

:superhack:

do it!

I just read that Mike Maier got 5th in Scottsdale with a 302. Thats one heck of an accomplishment. Gives me hope for my lesser HP budget build.

[Beebe]

Love the Blue and Black combo ! Looks Great

Beebe