COMET CENTRAL

This is the 390 that came in the car when I bought it. It's been pulled and sold.



BAM! You can see all the chopping and hacking the guy did so stick it in there.



Oh Yeah! A little patchwork to be done.



And the interior isn't horrible but it needs floor boards and some other stuff. I'll be rewiring it too.

Too bad that fat FE couldn't/didn't stay in there.

LR

I know. But it was too big. I know I could have made it fit and been okay, but I think I'll enjoy the smaller, lighter smallblock even more!

I agree the small block will be more fun.
Looking forward to your build/rebuild thread.
Fred

Thanks! So far I'm freaked out at the amount of stuff I need to do, mainly floorboard/rust repair!! But I'm taking it one step at a time and trying not to look to hard just yet at the big picture.

One piece and one project at a time... It's gonna be a very nice car..

Thanks RCMike!!

Create the finished product in your mind.
Make a plan.
Work the plan.
Don't stop!!!
Fred

So here is my first adventure into chopping up the car! This might sound dumb, but do I need to worry about cutting out too much of the floor at one time as far as strength goes? I mean there's not a whole lot structurally to the car to begin with, I dont want it to fold up in the middle or anything!!??

You'll be ok. It's when you remove the entire floor with the center hump that twisting starts to happen. You still have the full rockers and the center hump acting as supports.
Hey it looks like a good start!
I find that when I have a ton of stuff to do with a project and I feel under water I'll write everything down that needs doing. As I do a task Ill line through it on the list. It's a great motivator as the list gets smaller and everything's getting lined out.
Good luck!

Joe

Good idea! Thanks Joe! I did a little more rust removal today. I'm glad that I don't have to worry about the car collapsing on me just yet! I got enough removed on the passenger side that I can see down into the rear torque box? the area in front of the leaf spring. It's kinda cheesy back there, not much frame. But, it appears that I can run a piece of 2" square tubing from the inside of the rear to the outside of the front rail pretty much a straight shot. And then make the floor fit around it. A little more grinding and buying a welder, then I can start putting it back together! At least the one side...

I'm kinda toying with the idea of leaving the back seat out and putting a roll bar in, just for fun. Or maybe leave the back seat and still put a bar in.

Making a little headway on the car. Mostly gathering parts and working on the plan. I decided to make my own subframe connectors and floorpans. Keep in mind I'm not going for "looks". I want it to work and do the job.

So here is the passenger side. Not welded, just sitting there.



And here is the drivers side, havent started yet.



Plan is to make the patches for the drivers side tomorrow and weld everything sunday AND then I can start on wiring!! I've got a Centech harness already. Got an engine lined up, hopefully. I decided to just replace the upper and lower control arms and springs. Instead of bushings and ball joints. Plan on CSRP brakes and a hydraulic clutch kit from Modern driveline. Thats about as far as I've thought ahead.

You'll need to roll some beads in those floor pans for strength. Otherwise they will pop and make noise when you drive down the road.

I think I'm gonna put some bracing underneath to take care of that. Thanks!

A little update on the floors. My buddy Chris came over and welded up the passenger side! I had planned on buying a welder and learning to weld and doing it myself, but had to spend a bunch on my daily driver so no buying a welder. And I really want to get the floor done. Its kinda bumming me out.




Drivers side sometime this week hopefully. Then onto front end. I'm going to replace the control arms and springs. Then brakes, brakelines, wiring, shock towers, etc, etc.......