COMET CENTRAL

Groover wrote: then my 15 year old daughter says she hears a hiss coming from inside.

Maybe you can get your daughter to become a mechanic and you need another project car, father-daughter Comet of course.

Glad to hear you are getting it sorted and enjoying it.

See Ya,
Mike

I just read this from beginning to end. Brought back a few memories, as my car was a project that my dad and I worked on years ago. I'm really thankful that my dad helped me with it, and I know your son will cherish the memories you guys have made. Not only that, but having a some mechanical knowledge when you're young sure saves a lot of time and money if you can fix something yourself, rather than taking it to a shop!

poboyjo65 wrote:Cool that you found it. has it been like that from day one? Where was it leaking? a tee? on the booster?

My Tee had three ports. The big one out the center that goes to the brake booster, a little one in view that I usually put the gauge on... and then a mid sized one underneath that is completely hidden by the brake booster. The rubber cap on that last one was cracked. I think it actually disintegrated a bit when some brake fluid got on it. It wasn't that way from the start. I've had a smooth-ish running engine for much of the time (and that's the second brake booster anyway so the Tee got changed). The engine shudder only developed recently (around the time of PF). However I've never ever reached 20 inches of vacuum before and I suspect that was due to the carb gasket. Guessing the surfaces are not quite perfect but not bad enough to hear it leak and either I never sprayed that exact spot when checking, or maybe the paper gasket wicked up the carb cleaner when I sprayed it. Don't know, but the new combination got me where I am today which is running smooth. Idle is so low I'm going to have to put that stock 1964 PS idle up circuit back in because the PS can kill it in the parking lot now if I don't give it a little rev

popscomet wrote:GOOD ...how many times has a vac leak ever been mentioned??? or better yet have you wondered where it was at???......and a girl found it !!!!! that's the COOL PART later.....take care.......pop

I know, I know and I searched and searched and sprayed and sprayed carb cleaner everywhere, but never did find any leaks. I've wondered forever. And the crazy thing is all the more complex things I guessed when I couldn't find a small leak. Glad it's fixed now though.

And now this...

Never really been able to hear the radio well enough with the top down, and what's the point of driving with the top up. So this weekend I mocked up this setup.





This is pretty much the only place in a 64 convertible you can squeeze in speakers without cutting up anything original. I assume it would work in 65 as well (or any Comet that doesn't have below dash air conditioning).

I used cardboard because it was quick and easy to construct the baffle. If I like it (and so far I do) I may make one out of steel and it'll be a bit more permanent. From the seated position you can't see anything but at 70 mph you can hear the stereo loud and clear. 4 ohm speakers out of one of the many Subaru projects Maverick has going on. He's also doing a 70 Mustang Sport back now as well (anybody here an expert on the Cleveland?)

Anyway, driving just gets better and better. Comet-on folks.

Good idea Groover!
There's some underseat speakers by Custom Autosound as well. I got the deluxe nicer ones and they don't really fit under the seats

Joe

I did something similar, added two speakers to the panel on the rear wall of Comechero. Also fab'd the panel as rancheros never had a panel there. Also added a dual cone speaker to the normal dash speaker location. Once upon a time someone had cut speakers into the doors but I didn't want to butcher up new door panels to add them again.


Ron

comethead wrote:Good idea Groover!
There's some underseat speakers by Custom Autosound as well. I got the deluxe nicer ones and they don't really fit under the seats

Joe

Joe, I've seen those and thought about trying under the seat, but I'm thinking in the convertible with the extra seat box metal that when I sit on the seat, I'll surely "bottom out" on the speaker

There's barely room to slide anything under the seat now, and once it compresses it's almost right on top of the seat box.

Haven't updated this thread in a while, but that doesn't mean I'm not working on the car or having fun driving it.

Finally got the adjustable strut rods installed and a fresh alignment. Was able to get 4 degrees of caster and it drives much nicer. Not near as wobbly on the road. Bought the strut rods from Falcon parts. They are stock for a 63 Falcon. Guy told me I'd need the 63 bushings, but I tried those and they were too small. Used the 64 bushings I had and they work perfectly.



Finally got longer carb stubs and the phenolic carb spacer installed to try to reduce the fuel percolation. Not sure I'll be able to test this result until next summer, but hoping for easier hot starts and less fuel smell in the garage afterward. I'm now running two paper gaskets then the original aluminum spacer (with the PCV port on the back), then two more paper gaskets, then the phenolic carb spacers, then two more paper gaskets then the carb.

The air cleaner still clears the hood, but the warm air intake heat riser from the exhaust manifold comes just short of fitting into the snorkel bottom. I don't think it will be a performance issues, but it will get me a deduction at concourse

Much of my previous carb/vacuum leak issue apparently was the result of my using a home made cork gasket on the bottom (between the spacer and the manifold). Apparently cork isn't a good material for a carb gasket. It gets misshaped pretty quickly under heat and allows vacuum leaks and apparently other problems. At any rate, I've moved to double stacked paper gaskets, but I still saw this when I took the carb off this time to add the phenolic spacer.



That reflection is fuel pooled in that manifold port under the carb spacer. It can't really go anywhere, but I'm not sure how it collects there? I guess hot fuel air mix getting sucked in under the gasket and then when it cools, it turns back to raw fuel. At any rate, once it's in there, not sure where it goes or how it gets out? I guess it gets sucked back into the manifold under WOT?

The paper gaskets looked fine when I took them off to check.



And just for fun, here is the under side of the spacer.



No photos, but I got tired of that embarrassing squeal every time I stopped at an intersection, so I replaced the front shoes, and when it still squealed I finally broke down and had the drums turned. No more squeal and a nice smooth stop.

I'm still driving her every day and have more than 30,000 miles since we got back on the road in 2012.

Next up, installing those new carpets I got for Christmas LAST YEAR

...and for those who are keeping track, I'm doing most of the Comet work solo these days, as Maverick is a junior in college now in SIU's Automotive Tech program. He's held title to five different cars this year, but it all started with this one.

Cool to hear about the things you are doing to the Comet.

And I have to tell you I think Maverick is a mighty fine lad and enjoyed meeting him and you last year at PF.

See Ya,
Mike

OL POP agrees 100% when it comes to MAVERICK,,,that is a stand up young man,!!! POP

Right-on!! So you used the std. '64 V8 strut rod bushings?? I thought the earlier strut rods were smaller in diameter, so you'd be stuck with the ones from FP (which by all accounts aren't great).

Shucks, if I can just re-use the ones I replaced w/ last years suspension redo or get another set of Moog '64 bushings the strut rod thing might move back up on the to-do list some!

If you have adjustable strut rods and the adjustment is ether side of center of the lower control arm there is binding on the lower control arm bushing. Later models had adjustable lower control arm pivots.
To control the binding on an early model lower control arms with a spherical bearing could be used instead of the rubber bushing. ( not a Heim bearing)
http://www.globalwest.net/1962-73comet.html

Rocket989 wrote:Right-on!! So you used the std. '64 V8 strut rod bushings?? I thought the earlier strut rods were smaller in diameter, so you'd be stuck with the ones from FP (which by all accounts aren't great).

Shucks, if I can just re-use the ones I replaced w/ last years suspension redo or get another set of Moog '64 bushings the strut rod thing might move back up on the to-do list some!

I thought the 63 strut rods were smaller diameter as well, but apparently not. FP sold me new bushings that were smaller. They seemed to have the same ID, but they were definitely smaller OD. When I put them on the washers swamped them. They worked for a while, but worked themselves lose pretty quickly and squeaked like crazy. I put the original 64 bushings back on and they seem to work fine. I'll get out there this weekend and measure a few things. Maybe take a photo or two.

Thanks Groover & good info A/FX...makes sense!! I probably should have percussion engineered the rear of the towers while everything was out...dunno how much room there’ll be for more.