1965 Comet 202 project

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popscomet
Posts: 9689
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:19 pm
Location: Jacksonville, Arkansas

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by popscomet »

it is just us with a more refined taste prefer the '64s :P :lol:

See Ya,
Mike[/quote]
dad burn it,OL POP couldn't have said it better.......words spoken like that are like music to my old tired ears,so soothing,it makes a body want to just sit down and take the time to smell the roses,,,,,WELL PUT,RIGHT TO THE POINT....... :D 8) :wink: :!: pop and his little red 64....(after this post,am going out in the garage and give my comet a big HUG) :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: MERRY XMAS .... 8)
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pop/glenda

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ArkansasComet
Posts: 97
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2016 4:50 pm
Location: Arkansas

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by ArkansasComet »

Bought myself some early Christmas presents! Radio delete plate, V8 frame mounts & some good reference books...

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Last edited by ArkansasComet on Wed Jul 05, 2017 6:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built." - Henry Ford

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ArkansasComet
Posts: 97
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2016 4:50 pm
Location: Arkansas

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by ArkansasComet »

It's been a while since I had some spare time to work on my poor Comet, working full time while also helping run a small business is a good way to make sure you never have any free time! This Saturday I was finally able to get started on my quarter panel repair.

Here is what I started with:

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I decided to replace the quarter panels with some panels I found on eBay, of course after buying these I found a guy selling a few original panels for much cheaper but that is life! The panels I bought are new made copies & are not perfect but should get the job done. Here is a mock up of the new panel:

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I started by cutting away some of the old metal so I could fit the new panel up tight to the body, I left enough metal so that the new panel overlapped the original metal. This way I could cut both at the same time to make a nice seam when butt welding.

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Not much left of the fender well lip, at least I had less spot welds to drill out :)

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I started cutting in the front corner so I could add butt welding clamps to hold the replacement panel tighter to the body & added more clamps as I cut:

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Here is how it looked after trimming for the new panel

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I also started cutting out the old trunk extension & fitting the replacement piece:

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Old vs. new:

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I checked the fit of the new panel & marked the bottom-front of the panel where I needed to bend it to meet the top of the rocker panel:

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Adding the lip at the bottom-front of the new panel using my cheap Harbor Freight 30" break:

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Next I used my Harbor Freight shrinker to add a slight curve into the bend I just made (my brother's '54 Cadillac & my Dad's '71 Ford Capri are in the background):

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New panel clamped in place after adding the bend:

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Rocker panel seam:

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Starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel! I decided to hold off on welding the new quarter panel in until I figure out how I am going to do the inner wheel well. I also plan on moving the front of the wheel opening forward about an inch for some extra tire clearance so until I figure all of that out I wont start welding just yet.

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I also worked on the rear crossmember so I can get the replacement rear panel welded in. After a few hours of trying to straighten the rear crossmember I decided it will probably be easier to cut it out & fabricate a new one. That is next on my to-do list!

Here you can see how tweaked the crossmember is:

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I also added a new reference book to my collection, this will come in handy when I finally get to put this car back together!

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Last edited by ArkansasComet on Wed Jul 05, 2017 6:58 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built." - Henry Ford

Loner
Posts: 368
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:58 am
Location: Mariposa,CA

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by Loner »

Cool that you are saving that 65 I bet theres not many 202's left.
Just a suggestion If your going to cut out any more of the floor pan first weld in some cross braces to keep the car square.

Matt
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ArkansasComet
Posts: 97
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2016 4:50 pm
Location: Arkansas

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by ArkansasComet »

Thanks Matt, I will add bracing once I start cutting more of the floor, the holes that are there now were present when I bought the car. Thanks for the suggestion!
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"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built." - Henry Ford

popscomet
Posts: 9689
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:19 pm
Location: Jacksonville, Arkansas

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by popscomet »

MIGHTY FINE ,,MIGHTY FINE WORK,,,you've done good ! pop
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pop/glenda

Lou's Comet
Posts: 1539
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2011 8:56 pm
Location: Jeannette, Pa.

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by Lou's Comet »

Looks good Jim, some nice work! Don't know the last time I seen a 65 2 door post, gonna be a cool car.

The shrinker and stretcher are modified to use a foot pedal?? That's cool.

Lou

tomb22
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Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by tomb22 »

Very nice work Jim. Thanks for all the pictures. Love to see the progression of your project.
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tomb's 65

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loman
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Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by loman »

Looks good! That patch panel looks like the same one I put on my project car. If it is, I know what you mean by not exactly right but when it is all that is available, you do what you got to do. I had someone trying to convince me to put Falcon quarters on my car. They kept saying most people will never know. I replied with I would know and that was enough. Even though my car will be far from perfect, I wanted as close to 65 Comet panels as I could get. Keep up the good work.
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comethead
Posts: 5692
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2003 7:44 pm
Location: Palmdale, CA

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by comethead »

That looks great!
2 door post cars are cool!! :D
1965 Caliente HT- 289/4 speed
1964 Falcon HT- track car- 302/4 speed
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lavron
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Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by lavron »

I commeted on this once and didn't seem to post :roll: but that is ok I will comment again :P

Love the work you are showing and the How-to, one day I will be doing something similar so every post like this helps greatly 8)

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
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ArkansasComet
Posts: 97
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2016 4:50 pm
Location: Arkansas

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by ArkansasComet »

Thanks for the compliments everyone, I am glad you are enjoying my progress as much as I am!
Lou's Comet wrote:Looks good Jim, some nice work! Don't know the last time I seen a 65 2 door post, gonna be a cool car.

The shrinker and stretcher are modified to use a foot pedal?? That's cool.

Lou
Thanks Lou! The shrinker/stretcher stand does make it a lot easier to use since both hands are free. I actually got the stand from HB too, it was $80 & I used a 20% off coupon to get it even cheaper, it was well worth it!

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loman wrote:Looks good! That patch panel looks like the same one I put on my project car. If it is, I know what you mean by not exactly right but when it is all that is available, you do what you got to do. I had someone trying to convince me to put Falcon quarters on my car. They kept saying most people will never know. I replied with I would know and that was enough. Even though my car will be far from perfect, I wanted as close to 65 Comet panels as I could get. Keep up the good work.
Thanks! I also thought about buying the Falcon quarters since that was all I could find at first, but I felt the same way about trying to keep it as original looking as possible. Of course the roll cage & other mods I plan on doing won't be original, but that's ok! haha
lavron wrote:I commeted on this once and didn't seem to post :roll: but that is ok I will comment again :P

Love the work you are showing and the How-to, one day I will be doing something similar so every post like this helps greatly 8)

See Ya,
Mike
Mike, since you are in Missouri, let me know if you ever need help & I'd love to come visit!
Last edited by ArkansasComet on Wed Jul 05, 2017 7:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built." - Henry Ford

lavron
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Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by lavron »

ArkansasComet wrote:Mike, since you are in Missouri, let me know if you ever need help & I'd love to come visit!
I have seriously considered having a 2 or 3 day Comet construction party and inviting everyone (Have posted that before) to see how much work/damage a bunch of Comet guys could do to one Comet in that time period, just not sure how hard it would be preparing for such a thing and who would want to do something like that, after all if you stuck a pin in the center of a US map you might hit my house or close to it.

It would probably take more planning and setting up and expense for such a thing as it would for me to just do my car myself, however it would be a lot more fun :D because there is nothing better than spending time with a bunch of Comet/car/Ford fanatics, then again that might cut into any work we might do :roll:

Certainly anyone is welcome to visit anytime they are in this part of the country especially if you come bearing gifts :P

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
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ArkansasComet
Posts: 97
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Location: Arkansas

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by ArkansasComet »

I had a pretty busy day today, starting with an employee rolling her car on her way to work this morning due to the rain & slick roads (luckily she is OK!). My brother & I towed her car home for her to save her the expense of a wrecker. After work & dinner I was able to squeeze some time in on the Comet. I have a noisy neighbor who likes to play loud music, so I combated that with some grinding noise in my shop :D

I decided to focus on the front doing some mods listed in the Boss 302 Chassis Modification book (posted previously), specifically the "spring tower reinforcing plate" modification listed on page 21, figure 27.

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Here is the template I started with after doing some measuring (driver side)

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Next I transferred the template onto some scrap metal I had lying around

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After checking the fitment I marked areas that needed more grinding, & kept repeating this step (probably 20+ times!) until the fit was good

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Then I repeated the same process on the passenger side

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Hopefully I'll have some time tomorrow to post more progress!
Last edited by ArkansasComet on Wed Jul 05, 2017 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built." - Henry Ford

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ArkansasComet
Posts: 97
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Location: Arkansas

Re: 1965 Comet 202 project

Post by ArkansasComet »

I found some old pictures of my first 202 & thought I'd share them. The picture quality is poor since these pics. were taken back around 2003 (before camera phones) so they are scanned pics.

This was the car I drove in high school, here it is parked with my friend John's Falcon & my friend Anthony's 1955 Ford Customline (he's the only one that still has his high school car)

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Pic. of the car when I first bought it

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After I did some paint & interior work:

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Had a nice running 1968 Mustang 302 & a C4 that I installed

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I added my own hood scoops

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This was it after I did the 5 lug suspension swap & repainted it primer grey with a flat black hood

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I wish I still had this car, it was in much better shape than the one I have now!
Last edited by ArkansasComet on Wed Jul 05, 2017 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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"Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built." - Henry Ford

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