Ant's 65 Comet Build

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ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

So I finally got some time to work on my Comet and to post some pics of what I have done. I'll start with a couple pics of the car then some of the work.
so here's the car the way I got it.

A little history on it, I first spotted the car about a half hour from my house and it was for sale at the time I was not looking for a project so I told my wife's uncle about the car and he went right down and bought it. He's had a few Comet's and Falcons over the years (sorry about the "F" word there!!!) and he drove it around for a while then did a few things to it before he moved back to Montana where the car sat since he didn't have any place to work on it. He then did some trade with my Father-in-law who brought it back to Washington State where it sat some more, about another 3 years or so when I got the idea that I needed another car to build so here we go!!!

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CALIFORNIA CALIENTE
Posts: 5933
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:57 am
Location: Camarillo,California

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by CALIFORNIA CALIENTE »

Anthony;it looks pretty good in those pictures!!! ROY.
Real Racecars have 3 pedals
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ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

So as I mentioned the wife's uncle Jack did a few things to the car, some good some not so good. he bought new wheels good though he got 14" wheels. He changed the axle to get 5 lugs though he got an 8" that was from a 68 cougar which with the wheels he got the tires rubbed the quarters so that was the place I started. I went with an 8.8", I know there's a love hate relationship with many people on this axle but for me and my budget it makes sense. For about $250 I have disc brakes, 3.73:1 posi and that includes all new bearings in the axle. I got mine out of an explorer so they are 31 spline axle and should hold what I plan on throwing at it, so here's the process to make on fit.

As many of you know the axles are not equal length the passenger one is 3" longer then the drivers


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So after drilling out the plugs you press the tub out of the housing

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Then I cut 3" off the tube and pressed it back in and welded it up

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When I bought the axle from the Junk yard I got an extra driver's side axle which now fits the passenger side so it was a pretty easy fix and now the tires don't rub. I did have to move the leaf spring perches but that is not to big a deal.
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ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

Roy,

Thanks! its a pretty solid car, the driver's door is the worst part of the car but I got a real nice one from someone for a real bargain!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks again for that!!
Ant
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ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

So this week I pulled the seats and the carpet knowing I had to fix the front floor pan, someone had done a quick fix and didn't do such a hot job so I cut it back out and this is how I fixed it

Here's what it looked like once I removed the last guys patch
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Pretty solid considering its age

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Here's the other spot that I had to repair

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I started by coating the whole pan with POR-15

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Munssey
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Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by Munssey »

Hey now! You'll apologize for the F word but the C word gets no heartburn?! ;)

Looks like you're off to a good start. What's the long term plans with the build?

ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

since the rot ate through both layers of the floor pan I put it back together in layers to give it a factory look and strength

Here's the front section and bottom layer
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This is the biggest pan I had to make and my first time using a bead roller, I was happy with how close I got the ribs to the factory ones. Not perfect but looks good enough, I have used replacement pans on other cars and they don't match perfect either so I'm very happy with how these came out

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The next spot

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So just a little work left to do underneath the car and some fresh undercoating and it should be as good as new!! I got the passenger side done but forgot to take some pics of that side so I'll do that tomorrow.

Ant
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ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

Munssey wrote:Hey now! You'll apologize for the F word but the C word gets no heartburn?! ;)

Looks like you're off to a good start. What's the long term plans with the build?
I got a 91 HO 302 with the car, its got a new cam in it and I may do some aluminum heads as long as the bottom end is good. Now that I have the floor pans done I'll install my subframe connectors and then pull the 6 cyl out and begin fitting the v8 and the 5 speed I have. I'm still trying to pick a paint color, I really like the color Ford is using on their new cars they call it "Frosted Glass" pretty similar to the original color on the car. My dilemma is I have a gallon and a half of dodge's "deep water blue" that I was going to paint my 01' Ram, some jerk ran a stop sign and totaled the truck so now I have $700.00 worth of base coat so I'm thinking about using it on the Comet. We'll see. I have all new front suspension for it and just about everything that I need to get the 5.0 running and then I'll go from there.

Ant
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CALIFORNIA CALIENTE
Posts: 5933
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:57 am
Location: Camarillo,California

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by CALIFORNIA CALIENTE »

Ant;you are probably aware of the floor brace/5-speed interference issues,if not,the floor brace will be in the way of the shifter and rear of the trans.I did that conversion for a friend,we ended up trimming most of the brace out after he fought with me for months,he got a second opinion[which was fine with me] before we did it!!On the 8.8,check the welds on the axle tubes to the main housing,especially if you start driving it hard,they can twist and break the plug welds!! ROY.
Real Racecars have 3 pedals
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ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

CALIFORNIA CALIENTE wrote:Ant;you are probably aware of the floor brace/5-speed interference issues,if not,the floor brace will be in the way of the shifter and rear of the trans.I did that conversion for a friend,we ended up trimming most of the brace out after he fought with me for months,he got a second opinion[which was fine with me] before we did it!!On the 8.8,check the welds on the axle tubes to the main housing,especially if you start driving it hard,they can twist and break the plug welds!! ROY.
Roy,

Thanks for the input on the 5speed, I plan on cutting the brace out as you suggest how do you know if you have the trans up high enough?
On the axle I welded the one I shortened and plan on putting a couple beads on the other one when I put it up to do the sub-frame connectors. I meant to do it before I installed the axle and just forgot, guess I got a little excited to install it but not a big deal to fix.

Thanks again
Ant
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CALIFORNIA CALIENTE
Posts: 5933
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:57 am
Location: Camarillo,California

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by CALIFORNIA CALIENTE »

Anthony;I try to get the engine trans parallel with the frame,or as close to parallel as I can.On the car I helped build,the owner bought a trans mount that allowed it all to fit,the problem with it was it let the engine trans angle down.He did not want to cut the floor brace and the car had severe driveline vibration,so we tried shimming the rearend up at different angles,and down at different angles to change pinion angle,all that did was move the speed where the vibration came on!After the floor brace mods and making a new trans mount,the car is smooth through all speed ranges!!If you can,measure how the engine trans is mounted now,then try to copy that with the new pieces!!I cut the complete floor brace out of my Comet in 1973 to do a Toploader swap,the car did not fall apart or ruin the floors,that was years before I ever did the subframe connectors and roll bars,I put over 100,000 miles on the car before it became a full time Drag Car!! ROY.
Real Racecars have 3 pedals
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ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

The passenger side was not as bad as the driver's side was


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Here's what the floor pan looks like from the bottom after just a little bit of grinding, a little undercoating and it'll blend in pretty well.

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Got the passenger sub-frame connector welded in today, hope to do the driver's in the morning

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Hope this may give someone some ideas or at least some enjoyment watching a Comet get a new lease on life!!

Ant
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CALIFORNIA CALIENTE
Posts: 5933
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:57 am
Location: Camarillo,California

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by CALIFORNIA CALIENTE »

Anthony;those connectors will help,but I suggest you tie them into the floors in a few places. JMO , ROY.
Real Racecars have 3 pedals
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popscomet
Posts: 9689
Joined: Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:19 pm
Location: Jacksonville, Arkansas

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by popscomet »

Your doing some nice work ,in fact the whole car looks good to me,,you've done well ! :D 8) POP
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pop/glenda

ants875
Posts: 929
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am
Location: Chehalis, WA

Re: Ant's 65 Comet Build

Post by ants875 »

popscomet wrote:Your doing some nice work ,in fact the whole car looks good to me,,you've done well ! :D 8) POP
Pop,

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'm very happy with the car its really in great shape for its age. I have mentioned before that I restored a 1965 GTO convertible, I was talking to my brother who helped me do the metal work on that car and said how much better shape the Comet is in then the GTO and his reply was that the titanic is in better shape then my GTO was!!!! My point is this is going to be a lot more fun to build and drive!!

Ant
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