Maverick Four-Cylinder Engine Buildup - Half-Fast Grabber

Thanks to eBay, Josh scored a stainless steel header for $150 and bolted it into place. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for, but at this point, Josh concentrated heavily on his budget, which was $3,000.

Josh used an aluminum radiator for an early Mustang. It cost him $150, but it was one of the only brand new parts he purchased for the build. He then found a junkyard electric fan and wired it into the Turbo Coupe harness.

The intercooler for the Maverick came from a Ford F-series Super Duty pickup. Josh picked it out of the junk pile at his work, cut off the damaged area and paid $25 to have the homemade caps welded onto the end tanks. Obviously, the intercooler is huge and takes up the entire grille area, so Josh will wait until he fits the grille and bumper to see how much needs to be trimmed for a good fit.

When building a turbo system, you'll need to determine the angles needed for inlet tubing; so you don't waste a ton of money on piping and couplers. After doing his homework, Josh found what he needed and it worked out perfectly.

Without the nitrous, the 2,725-pound Maverick has run an 8.00 at 88 mph with a 1.86-second 60-foot in the 1/8-mile. Josh drove it to the track, turned the boost up to 26 pounds and didn't break any parts. He leaves the line at 6,500rpm and goes through the lights at the top of Third gear.

With the engine complete and most of the bugs worked out, Josh has been driving his Maverick everyday, on a 35-mile (each way) commute to work. So far, he averages 29 mpg, and those are certainly not the easiest of miles.

Just when you thought a 250,000-mile four-cylinder engine had all it could take, Josh took it to the next level. He installed a 75-shot of nitrous with a Holley/NOS Sniper kit to help the turbo spool a little quicker off the line-he plans to use it strictly on the dragstrip.