John Fleck posts today about a New York Times story on how the Saudis are afraid that by squeezing demand for oil they are going to put themselfs out of buisness.

While they are reaping record profits, the Saudis are concerned that today’s record prices might eventually damp economic growth and lead to lower oil demand, as is already happening in the United States and other developed countries. The current prices are also making alternative fuels more viable, threatening the long-term prospects of the oil-based economy.

It’s not your imagination, gas prices are higher than they were in 1918 when adjusted for inflation. Unless Saudis significantly reduce the price of gas and keep it down, the path is set to lessen our need and maybe one day eliminate our need for oil as a means of transportation.

My truck gets 15 MPG (when I’m lucky) and the last time I filled it up it cost me $68. When gas was about $2.50 a gallon, I looked at getting a Honda scooter that gets about 80MPG. Considering my truck is already paid off, the break even costs didn’t work out for the scooter nor is it likely to still work out to purchase a more efficient vehicle (I need to redo the math for current gas prices and I will publish it later). I still want to reduce my expenditures on gas so I’m going to burn fat instead of oil.

Assuming the weather cooperates, i will start riding my bike to work next week. I’m also working on resurrecting Project Maverick (my long languishing project car) and it will be electric. Both of these things I wouldn’t have done if it wasn’t for the high price of gas. Apparently I’m not the only one reducing my use of oil, Exxon is selling off it’s retail gas business because it can’t make enough money off it.

Finally my point is that once people get into these habits they are not going to fall out. The movement against oil has already started and will counter the oil producers greed.

One of the things I never liked about the Maverick was it's instrumentation, or lack there of. Missing primarily is the tachometer, volts , water temp and oil pressure. Plus a few other gages that I might decide to add later.

The Instruments I have is the "Classic Series" by Classic Instruments. These 5 inch speedometer and tach fit perfectly into the space of the old instruments. They are all electric including the speedometer. I liked that better then having a cable run up from the tranny. Plus when I build the computer system for the car it will be able to track speed via the speedo.

From the pictures you can see that I kept most of the original mountings only modifying them to fit the new gages. I mad my one custom wiring harness so I can just plug the whole mess in when I'm ready.

Now, I just have to figure out a place to put the other gauges...

In or about 1992 I purchased (with my parents money) a 1972 Ford Maverick "Sprint" for $1200. I purchased it from a neighbor with about 60,000 miles on it and as I understand it had been driven by "a little old lady" who lived in California. It was great when I got it since it pretty much drove much like it probably did in 1972. However it wasn't long since I wore out much of the more giving components. Like anything rubber.

I've done several things to it over the years but it has mostly remained stock. Since I lived in Arizona at the time I had a expensive aluminum racing radiator installed. The original wasn't in great shape and it was almost as expensive to find a replacement that matched original specs.

In 1996 I moved to New Mexico and that spelled trouble for this car. Seeing as how the weather here is much more cooler, especially during the winter. On more than one occasion it couldn't even start because it couldn't get get to temperature. I remember on my first day of work (I had been here 1 day) it snowed. There was a slight hill in front of my apartment. I proceeded to drive like I normally would expect I couldn't get the darned thing started. Finally did get it started but as soon as I came to a stop it would die again. Then trying to drive down that hill was a mistake. Since all the weight of the car is on the front end I had no traction. I had to ditch it on a side street, walk back to my apartment and call my Cousin to come and get me.

After that I had nothing but problems. I think a lot of it was getting the carburetor tuned to the higher altitude. In 1997 I bought a Ford Ranger pick up since I needed something reliable. Since that time its been setting in my Garage in pieces.

This year I plan to get some work done on it. Specifically paint and body and the addition of a Mustang II front end with rack and pinion.

This article orginally appeared on fordmaverick.com.

The following info is partially from a email sent to me from a fellow Maverick Owner. I followed this same procedure and had no problems.

• The power booster/master cylinder assy
• The shock tower to firewall support
• The proportioning valve with brake lines

This is the "power" aspect of the whole job. The manual brake pedal mount will not work.

I have found that the spindles from a 1974 manual disc brake Maverick are a direct bolt-in. Simply undo the old ball joints, tie rod ends and rubber brake hoses, and bolt them right in place of the drum spindles.

1. Unbolt the stock 2 bolt master cylinder, prop. valve, and any attached lines that will be in the way.
2. Undo the under dash tray or glove box panel from inside the car.
3. Remove the two 9/16" nuts that hold the plastic cover on the bottom of the column at the dashboard.
4. There will be two more exposed 9/16" bolts that will need to be removed. The column should be hanging free. The purpose of all of this is to get to the bolts that hold the pedal and the inner brace up under the dash.
5. Get all of the bolts out of the brace and remove it with the pedal.

Modification to recipient car:

1. You will need to make a paper or cardboard template from the back of the booster. There should be four mounting holes for the booster and one egg-shaped hole for the rod that actuates the brakes. (An easy way is to study the firewall on the donor car to get an idea of the holes that will need to be drilled).
2. To mount the prop. Valve, the two mounting holes may have to be enlarged, depending on the car.
3. Now figure what brake lines will have to be bent, shortened, etc..
4. I used a tubing cutter and a double flaring tool that I borrowed from a friend. PAY ATTENTION TO WHERE THE LINES CAME OFF OF THE DONOR CAR. You will need to know which lines off the master cyl. Go to which holes in the prop. Valve, and to which wheel they go from there.

This article orginally appeared on fordmaverick.com.

Below you can see the Vintage Air Mini system that I have first installed. It's basically a box with a heater core and condenser with a fan stuck on the side. The problem with this is there is no way to control whether you have inside or outside intake air. There were also no provision on these for floor heat. Connecting the defrosting ducts also was not that easy. The Air-tique system does not work with the stock controls. You will have to use the control systems that they have available. They range anywhere from state-of-the-art electronic controls to simple nobs. None of the control systems they provided fit well in the stock location. They work better in a center console or hanging off the bottom of the dash. I elected to go with the billet aluminum slider controls. This worked out well for me since I not only didn't like the location of the stock heater controls, but wanted to mound some gauges there.

I'm really looking for someone who has had some more experience with this stuff.

This article orginally appeared on fordmaverick.com.

"I drew plans for a cross member to mount the Rack where the stock linkages are. It is basically a U shaped thing with ussets. Very nice and sturdy, it slid perfectly between the frame rails where it bolted on. Cost me about $100 plus the rack and pinion unit and the die for shortening the tie rod ends took me for another hundred. Also made a neat little universal joint bearing to connect the column to the R&P. It worked great, except for one problem......"

He goes on to tell me how you need to get the correct R&P unit that steers in the correct direction. This bracket is designed for a rear mounting R&P unit. It mounts where the existing steering system is. This would be the easiest. Be sure that you get a R&P unit that is designed for the back or front. If you put a front mounting unit in the back the wheels will steer in the wrong direction. I believe this will work with a Mustang II R&P unit. These are the most common.

I also know of a person that used a lo-ratio unit out of a GM Celebrity Euro sport on a '70 Ranchero. Adapted instructions follow:

"It's the same set up. Belt sizes are very much universal. Pressure is important. Use a GM pump as close to OEM pressure as possible. R&P and pump from same car. Make or adapt bracket as needed. Mount pump as FORD OEM would . Hot rod companies also make pressure relief valves, to raise or lower pressure as needed. SAGINAW pumps work the best. just change the relief valve to match the R&P. SAGINAW is not just GM.

The Celebrity is a rear steer car. The Ranchero has a cross member that the lower control arms are mounted to. I adapted off of that. The cross member does not have to be very heavy, as long as there is NO side to side movement. Centerline of R&P must be the same as centerline of original drag/center link. Use OEM R&P mounting holes. This R&P does not have to be sandwiched between separate mounting ears, like OEM. bolted up against one side is ok.

Obviously you must remove all steering linkage, including OEM steering box. Inner tie rods on new R&P must be machined and rethreaded to use OEM adjusting sleeves and outer tie rods. Hot rod companies make hundreds of U-joints and shaft adapters. find the right ones for the OEM steering column, and the R&P. Join them with a length of steel rod. Hoses are easily custom made. Car can be aligned to OEM specs.

Test movement of everything in the driveway before driving it on the road. Remember keep it simple, do not over engineer, use as many OEM type parts as possible. If it ever fails or breaks, it will not be in the driveway.

I am working on a Ford Taurus unit. I haven't actually gotten the unit, but I did get the Steering column and was able to wire it up to the existing wiring with little problem. See '86 Ford Taurus steering column upgrade for more info on this end. When i get the unit and figure out how I'm going to do this I'll be sure to post it here.