Words: Tommy Parry
A San Diego resident, Bryant had exhausted a lot of what local drag racing had to offer. He’d grown bored with the local ⅛ mile drag racing and had to trek all the way north to Fontana for the closest ¼ mile track. After he attended a Good Guys show in 2012 and saw muscle cars ripping around cones at the autocross, he knew he had to give it a whirl.
He had a Comet he’d planned on building for that purpose, but when a friend mentioned he had a Ford Maverick for sale, Bryant’s plans changed. It had already enjoyed a vibrant life; it was a strong drag racer and had taken a few stabs at the Silver State Challenge. His friend, Mo, had built this car with Bryant and the two decided Bryant was the rightful heir.
So, without much hesitation, Bryant bought said Maverick, then took a novice autocross class the next month. To put it mildly, he now had an addiction to the sport.
Before Mo sold Bryant the Maverick, it had already been largely built. The motor, a 331, sports AFR 185 heads, roller rocker arms, rocker arm girdles, FMS aluminium valve covers, an Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake, a TFS Stage 2 roller cam and a Moroso T-sump oil pan—just to start the list. Hooker headers, a 3" Flow Tech X pipe, 2.5" Magnaflow mufflers, MSD blaster coil, a Holley 650 cfm carburetor and a K&N air filter round out the motor modifications.
That powerplant sends its 400 horsepower on to an aluminum flywheel, a dual-friction King Cobra clutch and a G Force T5 close-ratio transmission. From there, the thrust makes its way to an aluminum driveshaft, then through a Ford 9" nodular case with a 31-spline Torsen LSD before finally making its way to the Centerline wheels wrapped in 17” Nitto tires.
At the front, Varishock 2-way coilovers made this more a road course car than anything he’d been familiar with previously. An eight-point cage, already in place when he wrote the check, is an indication of how focused the car is. It also stiffens the chassis—not something to be overlooked with a car nearly 50 years old.
To keep the occupants upright with all the grip and stopping power available, he added a Kirkey driver’s seat for himself and a Corbeau passenger’s seat for a brave rider.
Naturally, Bryant began modifying the car once he rolled it into his shop, Current Auto Performance. First, he fitted a Maverick Man carbon hood for a little less weight over the front axle. Then came TCP control arms as well as Wilwood big brakes to further improve the car’s ability on the autocross.
The package was enough for an exhilarating first attempt at autocrossing with the car, though administering 400 horsepower around a tight and technical course such as this was not simple. Eventually, he managed to get the hang of it after a few spins, and set off searching for modifications to make it a better corner carver.
To help neutralize the car, Bryant chose to remove the rear bar entirely and remove the rear traction bar links. After a few more runs, he realized the limitations of his three-year-old Nittos and replaced them with Falkens, which he had properly aligned for his purposes. A custom panhard bar came after that, and soon he had the setup he was after.
These tweaks and plenty of seat time brought him quite close to the front of the pack by the end of his first season. While he was nearly ten seconds off the pace at the beginning, he was only a couple from it in the final events of the 2015 season. All it cost him was a bit of head scratching, a few embarrassing spins, and a blown gearset when his diff was starved of oil.
He decided to address the sluggish factory steering the following year. After a failed DIY attempt using an ‘80s Cavalier power steering setup, he installed a Borgeson power steering system and strengthened its response with a Pro Motorsports bumpsteer kit. The last addition shortens the length on the steering arm, thus quickening the steering. From the footage below, we can see just how little steering effort rotating this car requires.
As pleased as he was with the front end’s response, he naturally wanted more. After destroying the front air dam on a particularly bumpy course, he fabbed up his own splitter using plywood and scrap metal.
In the perennial search for more stick, he widened his footprint with a set of 18X10.5” wheels wrapped in 275-section RE71R tires. Only a set of mildly modified Heidts PRO-G drop spindles were needed to fit that rubber up front. While improving the sharp end of the Maverick, he added a set of Brembo brakes from a Mustang Cobra. With the added grip, the Borgeson power steering started to show its weaknesses, and once it failed, he replaced it with a Unisteer rack and pinion setup. Thus far, it’s served him well—he managed to come fourth overall in the highly contested SCCA CAM T class his second year autocrossing.
There’s no denying Bryant will continue refining this autocrosser as time goes on. Once it meets his exacting standards, he plans to run the Silver State Classic Challenge in the Grand Sport class, where he ought to be able to touch 160 miles an hour. He’s decided against forced induction for the moment, but he still has his sights set on some standing mile races. If it continues developing at the same rate it has, this uncommon Maverick will undoubtedly turn plenty of heads wherever it goes.
To keep tabs on Bryant’s development of this car, you can visit his build thread here.