Brand new 1965 Comet

[poboyjo65]

1. YEP that's an adjustment
2.probably a million 302s in comets & falcons. nothing wrong with that.
3.You can roll the car & count the turns of the driveshaft to one full turn of the tires. It's probably a 300 or 280:1 .
4.Maybe a rev lights &/or neutral safety switch?
5.tail pipes to the rear will be much quieter inside the car, & wont blow dust everywhere
6.anything I flood, I hold it on the floor until it cranks, never let up on the pedal in between trys or you give it another squirt, When it cranks hold it down until it winds up good, then rev it up a few times to clean it out good. Give your float bowls a good whack or 2 with a screwdriver-handle, floats might be sticking a little, & it makes you feel like you tried!

[ants875]

4) reverse lights, sticks don't have a neutral safety switch they have a clutch interlock switch, which is mounted on the clutch pedal.

Ant

[anoNY42]

Thanks for the help guys, it's really appreciated.

[Lou's Comet]

1). Before you adjust the E-brake cable, make sure your rear brakes are adjusted correctly first! If your rear brakes are out of adjustment the E-brake will also be affected. Plus it wouldn't be a bad idea to check over the rear brakes anyhow,

Lou

[anoNY42]

1). Before you adjust the E-brake cable, make sure your rear brakes are adjusted correctly first! If your rear brakes are out of adjustment the E-brake will also be affected. Plus it wouldn't be a bad idea to check over the rear brakes anyhow

Does that just involve jacking up the rear and making sure the rear wheels don't turn with the pedal applied, or is there a better test to see how well they stop while driving?

[Lou's Comet]

1). Before you adjust the E-brake cable, make sure your rear brakes are adjusted correctly first! If your rear brakes are out of adjustment the E-brake will also be affected. Plus it wouldn't be a bad idea to check over the rear brakes anyhow

Does that just involve jacking up the rear and making sure the rear wheels don't turn with the pedal applied, or is there a better test to see how well they stop while driving?

Little more to it, there are opening in the bottom of the brake backing plates to adjust rear brakes, should have oval rubber plugs (some have thin steel covers) in them at about 6 o'clock that you need to remove. After removing the plugs you can use a adjusting tool to spin the adjuster to adjust the brakes. I adjust them till they start to drag. Good chance they are frozen tho.

If you jack up the rear of the car and spin the wheels should give you a idea if they need adjusted. If they spin very free probably need adjusted. Plus see how far you need to press down on pedal before they stop. If you need a lot of pedal travel before they stop again probably need adjusted.

Me , myself I would pull the rear wheels then pull the drums and check everything, the adjusters could be frozen, shoes could be worn, springs could be broke, etc. etc. this way you can make sure everything is right. Once drums are off I would pull the adjusters clean them and put a little lube on the threads. Put them back on and reinstall the drums. Then adjust them up till I got some drag on the drum when spinning it by hand.

Once you have the rear brakes adjusted properly then see if you still need to adjust e-brake cables.

Lou

[anoNY42]

Oh I pulled the drums, the shoes look ok, that's why I figure I need to adjust the parking brake cable. When I pull the cable it grabs the drum so that I can not turn it, but the car still rolls down the driveway with the cable pulled (and it's only a very slight incline).

I will try the brake adjustment first before I fiddle with the cable, though. That way I can be sure my brakes are actually working on the road.

[anoNY42]

Alright, I adjusted my rear brakes tighter with the adjuster in the drum and the parking brake holds better, at least on the slight incline of my driveway. I was still able to get it rolling by pushing with my leg out of the open door, so it's not enough to hold the car on a hill, but closer...

[poboyjo65]

Did you adjust the parking brake cable too? They will hold better forward than backward.(maybe if you backed in may hold better.) Also if the shoes ever had fluid or gear oil on them they wont ever work as good as they should.

Sometimes the shoes get glazed over, you can scuff them & drums with fine sand paper will help for a while.

[lavron]

I believe the e-brake only applies a single shoe on each side and they work better rolling forward

See Ya,
Mike

[popscomet]

tighten the shoes up more and or adjust the cable..under the car right above the tranny tailshft will be a union where both cables from each rear brk attachs with the cable from the hand brk handle under the dash comes down and attachs in the middle,,it needs to shortened to take up slack from years of use and it has been stretched more then likely,,,,,,,make sure all your parts move freely inside the drum,,,I have taken some light oil and sprayed on the cables from the union back to each drum and on the handle parts under the dash......this is just a couple of thimgs that may help you....pop

[anoNY42]

Thanks for the help, guys.

I did only test it rolling backwards down my driveway, so I will try it again going forwards before I mess with anything. If it is still not tight enough I believe I will adjust the parking cable itself since the brakes themselves seem tight enough (I can spin the drum around by hand about one turn before it stops).

[Groover]

I believe the e-brake only applies a single shoe on each side and they work better rolling forward

See Ya,
Mike

Believe that is correct as well. The cable pulls a lever that pushes the front shoe toward the drum. Mine will always keep the car from rolling forward, but more than once I have backed out of the garage with the e-brake still on... only to catch it when I tried to go forward.

[anoNY42]

"Automatic climate control (cabin temp self adjusts to match exterior climate)" (Quoting Groover's signature)

I need something like that. Since I don't have insulation or carpet yet, my car gets much hotter than the surrounding climate (and I am in Florida, which is a double-bonus!)

[Comechero65]

Ford e-brakes never did work very well in reverse. they hold good going forward but barely do anything in revese, that's why you can usually back up with it set but not go forward. Just inherent in the design.
Ron