PHASE2

[lavron]

I thought maybe it was time to start a new build thread on my Comet with the original one well over 100 pages it has been near impossible for me to find stuff I am looking for, and you know the build thread is more for me than anyone so I can keep track of what I have done and used and built over the years, some of the reasoning behind those modifications. So some here will be redundant and repeats from the original build thread but hopefully more organized. For my sake and others May take me a while to round up everything I want from the original build thread because it is such an expansive thread .I can see this is going to be a job from just getting to this point

[lavron]

I guess the first thing I want to talk about is doing this project on a low budget, I think there may be guys out there not considering working on their Comets because they just don’t have or want to spend a bunch of cash on a hobby basically, I know because I was one of them,and still am I am willing to wait for a deal, or use less than perfect parts to fix and make useable , it does not mean that I won’t have some budget busters along the way because there are certain things I want, and will be on the car and I can’t or am unwilling to settle for anything else. But other guys won’t have those things like I do also some of build is unusual enough there would be more budget friendly alternatives , as an example building the 250 six is not super budget minded a small block V8 would be more budget friendly and most likely the engine most guys would want and not an inline six but that is what I wanted so I build one as budget friendly as I can because I enjoy doing stuff like that and this is my hobby

[lavron]

why I chose to build a 250 six the whole idea came about because I have been wanting to put a 5 speed in the Comet forever I was researching putting the T5 on a 200 wth adapters etc when I found the 250 shared a small block bell housing pattern, I could bolt a T5 directly to a 250, no adapters just the correct bell housing One missstep I made was buying the stuff to convert the V6 T5 over to a V8 input shaft making my transmission cost more because ultimately I used the longer V6 inpu# shaft, I bought my T5 from a guy in Springfield off of Craigslist it was actually 2 T5sone out of jaTurbo 4 cylTbirdthe other he had advertised as a parts case for the 4 cyl T5 that he had acidently dropped on a bolt sticking out of his trailer and knocked a hole in it I really was not interested in the 4 cyl. Trans because the gearing was all too low, but used it for mock-up.the V6 T5 was out of 96 V6Mustang, I opened it up and the gears all looked new in it I bought both transmissions for $250and wished I had not spent $150 on the replacement shaft kit and bearing set with steel retainer and installed it and then took it back out and put the original V6 shaft back in because when I went to buy a bell housing the V8 bells were around $150 but the less popular V6 bells were $50also the 6 cylinder bell housings used 160?toothtooth flywheel instead of the 158 tooth V8 flywheel that was super expensive in zero balance which is what the I-6 requires after a week, no leaks in the air ride from further back, maybe I can start this car on the first try when the time comes

Today was near a perfect day to paint POR15, warm and humid, they aren't lying when they say the more humid the faster it dries. I have a POR15 engine paint kit I bought a few years ago, almost cost $60, it doesn't look like they sell them anymore, it came with everything; 8degreaser, metal prep, POR15 base coat, engine enamel, POR thinner and even brushes, rubber gloves and a mask. Not sure what the thinner is for, maybe to mix for spraying, I didn't use it.

First thing this morning I used the wire wheel to strip most of the blue paint back off the block, I wasn't super aggressive with it so it left some paint on there but scuffed most of it up, I finished it by Scotch-Brite and a wire brush to reach the spots the wheel wouldn't go, then I degreased everything and etched it with the metal prep, after what seemed like forever I got everything completely dry by blowing it off with compressed air (good weather to paint POR15 bad weather to dry out a wet engine) I went ahead and masked off some things I didn't want to get paint on and brushed on a coat of POR15, then I went and ate breakfast

You only have a certain window of time to topcoat, where there is just a drag to the surface, so not fully dry, it was about right when I got back out to the shed, I painted the engine enamel on and it was a little tough to tell if I was getting full coverage because I was painting black on black, I think I got it all. The engine enamel dried to the touch super fast too but says let it dry 24 hours before messing with it (I didn't ) and to not start the engine for at least 4 days, I think I am safe there.


So much for me saying it would be satin black, it is pretty shiny, I like it, it looks good with the aluminum silver, kinda thinking about painting the valve cover back all silver again, like bead-blasted aluminum, there is so much black there, but then again the intake adapter will be aluminum and maybe the air cleaner(s), I think I will try again to order a black distributor cap and keep the blue one as a spare.yes I am that picky

As You can see I stuck some stuff back on the motor, I think some of it can now be mounted permanently.

Ready to finish the timing gear set and get all the covers bolted on the front, the 3G alternator came today and fits the bracket perfectly, maybe for once I won't have to modify something I should have some other parts trickling in over the next week.

See Ya,
Mike