Father and Son Comet Project (with photos)

[STROKED]

JUST FOUND YOUR PIC'S, LOVE THE COLOR RED & WHITE..ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!, I CAN TELL BY THE PIC'S THAT SON OF YOUR'S IS MIGHTY HAPPY & PROUD OF HIS OLD MAN. I'LL BET YOUR PROUD OF HIM TOO, TAKE ALL THE TIME YOU NEED, HE'LL BE GROWN BEFORE YOU KNOW IT. HOPE YA'LL WILL KEEP US POSTED, GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN. STROKED...

[Groover]

Thanks Stroked. Not much going on that's photo worthy these days. Gas tank and radiator are in for refurb. Generator and Starter are done. Need to check the voltage regulator though. Son is working on the dash panel (got the wood grain from Mr G's but we're going to do our own chrome painting, and adhering the wood. Engine is at the machine shop. Body guy comes again on Saturday to look at the floor pans and such.

Big project I don't want to do is to rebuild the front suspension and brakes all around. But after that and the body work, it'll slowly start going back together. Still hoping to drive it by summer.

4 inches of snow expected tonight in the Shawnee Forrest so that seems a long way off right now.

[Groover]

Warm enough outside to paint today. Here are some engine pin-ups. She's not Christine, but she's coming back to life!

Before:


Cleaned:


Painted:

[riverbum]

nice work

[STROKED]

VERY NICE JOB, I'M SURE YOUR SON IS VERY HAPPY WITH THE OLD MAN!!!, KEEP IT COMING...STROKED...

[Groover]

Well things have been slow in recent weeks on this project, but we're still moving forward. Been doing lots of research on floor pans, rocker panels, inner rockers, etc. I think I've found a local body guy who can/will do the work for a reasonable price. I have found a source for the inner rockers (KP Automotive) which will save some time on fabrication.

Recovered from the previous broken rod bolt incident with all new rod bolts and correct torque specs We've completed the short block build but will not put the rest together until we get it out of the basement for fear of not being able to move it. No hurry to get the heads on anyway since the body work has to be completed before this can go in it.



Transmission has been gone through and is ready to go back in. We've picked up and painted the correct air cleaner (thank you Alan) and we have a line on the heat riser.

Cleaned out the gas tank (see my other post about undercoating - what do you recommend) and have the generator and starter rebuilt. My son has been working on the instrument cluster. He's actually quite skillfully coating the parts that are supposed to be chrome with aluminum tape. It looks very good.

Sadly it's already cruising weather here and we're nowhere close to driveable, but summer is long, so we'll keep at it.

Thanks to everybody who's been offering advice and details of their own projects. It helps keep us going.

[popscomet]

GROOVER--thank you for the pics that show your son,,thats what keeps most of us OLE POOTS going.SEEING him reminds me of my son yrs ago[he's 43,now]Every thing ya'll done so far looks good.don't rush it,,it'll come together sooner than ya think.I've been afather since i was 19....grand-pa at 40..the kids man thats what its all about. so thank you..POP

[popscomet]

[quote="popscomet"]GROOVER--thank you for the pics that show your son,,thats what keeps most of us OLE POOTS going.SEEING him reminds me of my son yrs ago[he's 43,now]Every thing ya'll done so far looks good.don't rush it,,it'll come together sooner than ya think.I've been afather since i was 19....grand-pa at 40..the kids man thats what its all about. so thank you..POP[/quote When my son was 10 yrs old,,,,we built him 1967 fs back mustang,289 4sp,,he still has it..we than built another 67 fs back,302 auto;power steering disc brks,gave it to my daughter at 14,,she's 40,,she still has it,right now my son-in-law is complty restoreing it. THEY DO ME PROUD,,as will your son,do you..POP

[Jim Clayton]

Pops , I'm up for adoption !!! Can you build me a Comet ??? JC

[popscomet]

Sure JC,first I gotta finish my comet clutch,change motors in my tow trk ,git my race car ready,help grand son on his modified,git back on my factory-five cobra and above all...... repack whl.brgs on my race car tr.plus I ....never-mind I'll just try.....AS for adoption...I might consider it only if you have good teeth.......pop

[jpet]

That looks like a lot of fun! Any progress over the weekend?

[Groover]

Jacked up Today



So we've got it up jacked up and ready to start removing the old rockers. Actually, we're going to add two more braces before we start (front and back) so it doesn't bow out during.

Never really planned to learn how to weld during this project, but that's what makes it interesting, right? Kids are so amazing, they think anything is possible.

"Let's just weld all that stuff up, Dad, and make it like new again!"

Guess it's time to cowboy up. Tomorrow we'll start grinding and cutting.

[popscomet]

A few yrs down the road-----you'll be thinking about all of this,,at his wedding or get that GRAND-BABY...VERY BEST OF LUCK TO y'll POP

[Groover]

So here's where we are and what we're up against.

Passenger side inside the rear wheel well looking inside the rockers:




Good news is that the underside of the trunk and rear frame rails all clean up nicely and don't appear to have any rust except for one area on the frame that will be comparatively easy to fix.



And here's the start of drilling out about 60 spot welds



Thank you who ever invented the spot weld cutter.

[Groover]

Much work and progress since our last post. We've fully removed the passenger inside rocker and cleaned up the outer rocker to receive the welds.





This week we've been beginning to fabricate new portions of the front right torque box. I think before it's all over we'll end up making the whole thing, but we're going to fit the inside rocker in first so we can build around it.





The boy's a natural with the grinder (I knew he would be)



Today we had a little welding contest to improve on the quality of our practice welds. Each of us got to make sample spot welds in scrap metal and the other got to try to rip them apart with the air chisel. The first few were pretty easy to break apart, but my son finally showed me his trick on his set that were indistructable.



In between we cleaned up the rear end and painted it with some farm implement black.



And here's our baby at sunset.



Meanwhile, we've also cleaned, painted and rebuilt all four brake drums and put the fronts back on. We've cleaned and repainted two wheels and had new tires put on the rims. And of course in every instance of "We" that involved grime and sweat, you can substitute "the boy"

I must say it was quite a moment in the shop today as we were each determined to bust apart each other's welds. When this project started, neither one of us had ever welded before and in fact, it was the furthest thing from my mind. Now we're making our own torque boxes.

I've always told the boy, we tend to fear the things we don't understand. Mark welding and body work off the list.