COMET CENTRAL

Those Hedmans look just like the ones on my little 61 Falcon. They have a wicked sound with a 2 1/2" H pipe and fartmasters.

Well they're not gonna work (as-is anyway). Maybe due to the Shelby QS pitman arm, dunno. The interference is actually worse than the angle in that shot. I cut the "collector" off last night & am trying to figure out a way to turn it. Ideally it needs to turn towards the engine block, not go front or back.

Hmm, mine shoots back at about a 45. I small relief dent in the 2/2" pipe gives it enough swing. Stock pitman arm here though.

Rocket989 wrote:Well they're not gonna work (as-is anyway). Maybe due to the Shelby QS pitman arm, dunno. The interference is actually worse than the angle in that shot. I cut the "collector" off last night & am trying to figure out a way to turn it. Ideally it needs to turn towards the engine block, not go front or back.

Hey Rocket, I would place the collector exactly where you want it including steering at max interference and tack it there with something pull it out and start hackin,,

Thanks Fred - that's the plan...and I'm gonna have a backup plan too. Sucks when time AND money are at a premium but I want to get the Comet back on the road ASAP!!

Banged and beaten...started welding the collector back on. Now the tough part is to making a couple pieces that’ll bridge the gap outta 16-ga. 50/50.

Since the header thing slowed things down a bit I figured I'd work on the back seat. I got mounting brackets made and the rails on the seats trimmed for clearance. I'm working on placement which isn't as easy as it sounds. Compromise between leg room & making sure the seat occupants noggin will hit the headrests before the roof. I plopped in it (6' 2") and it's gotta be a fair bit forward. Gonna check with the kids in their boosters and make a final call. The likelihood of full-size adults back there is small (haha).

The other thing is I was going to omit the headrests since they'll further clutter the rearview (only one is in the pic) but IMO it's safer w/ them.

On a positive note, there's enough room on either side of the seat that I can build a tool box/ jack storage thing on one side & a cooler on the other! Not much room in the trunk with the fuel cell and spare (uh, when I get a unilug setup that'll work for both front & rear...).





And yes, the water in the pic is what I tossed on the seat foam when the grinder/ cut-off wheel mighta ignited it....

Lookin Good rock. A fire extinguisher would be handy on the driver side of that back seat.

Thanks John..it would. I’ve got one in a bracket between the front seats, but two ain’t a bad idea!! Do have sheetmetal plate from package tray to floor but I need to run a bead of hi-temp caulk where it meets the floor.

Looks good! It’s crazy how you run out of room quick with big ol modern seats

Ended-up doing Dougs YA's...bit of a PITA but they're in. Unlike most it seems, I did have to dimple DS tube 2 to clear tower center rib. That's pretty disappointing for $600 buck headers.

The trick was using an intake lift plate..doing myself & I don't have 3 hands to keep the motor from tilting AND get the header(s) in place. Loosened motor mounts and lifted 'til studs were about out of frame brackets & they pretty much stuffed right in...except for the necessary BFH'ing that is... Depending on the amount of shims in the rear UCA stud, I could see the needing to be trimmed also.

Thanks to Johno for the helpful advice!

Trans is in! At least bolted onto a crossmember...! I had to drill a new set of holes & trim the nose of the FalconParts crossmember (the trimming they will do depending on which auto trans you specify - I trimmed more...almost too much!) but most importantly the vertical spacing is right on. The eBay abomination was a little over 1-1/2"...WTF?!? The FalconParts piece was ~3-inches which netted a 5-degree angle on engine trans. That matches the rear's -5-degrees spot-on.

Going up:


Bolted-down...can see where I almost chopped too much off the nose of the crossmember:


Shot for folks wondering about clutch cable clearance with the YA Doug's headers...looks pretty dang tight:


Bit of relief that driveline angle seems GTG:


Even coated, I think I'll get a sleeve for the hydraulic line and speedo cable..they're pretty close.

I also mocked up some exhaust & it'll have to dip down a bit to clear the frame stubs of the trans crossmember (of course... ). Otherwise, I'll be slappin' 'er back together fast as I can. It'll be delayed with the Holiday's. Stinks cause I was hoping to get it cranked-up before it got really cold, but alas...!

Like button hit!

Thanks Stacey!! One inch closer is one inch closer!!

I got pissed at the mangled throttle bell crank (who knows what somebody did to the wretched thing over the years) and decided to fix it (to the extent you can...truly fixing it means replacing it with a cable IMO!!). Welded a new bottom on 'er & a fresh coat of Black!

Looks good!!