1965 Comet Caliente (little red)

[Groover]

Photos look great. Progress looks great. Driving a Comet any day of the year... sounds great!

Soft steering could be:

Alignment. These cars didn't have or can't accept a lot of positive Caster, so they tend to drive a little like a shopping cart. I don't know if the 65 has adjustable strut rods or not, but if you get some, you can add more positive caster and that will help. Also, if you toe is a little uneven, it tends to crawl around the road as you swap from side to side on the outside of the tires. Finally, because they don't have much positive caster, that rubber bushing in the idler arm is supposed to help bring the wheels to center and hold the road a bit. All in all, I'd start with alignment and see if you can find a place who will crank that caster positive to at least 1 or 2 degrees. Factory spec is closer to 0 (+- .5). there are a few threads on here about this subject (I probably started many of them, asking folks for the best settings).

[A/FX]

After making sure your alignment is correct make sure you experiment with tire pressure. These cars did not have radial tires when designed so you have “modified” the suspension when you went with this type of tire. I have found that with the combination I have I need 35psi in the front tires to cure some of the wondering, I run 32 in the rear. You will need to find waht works best with your set up.
Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Groover, Jim,
Folks,
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I will check/adjust tire pressure. My guess is that they are about 35 psi, as they just came from the tire shop.
The car was aligned in the last 6 months, with the old larger tires.
Probably as mentioned I just need to get used to it. When I climb into the 1932 dump truck, I have driven it enough that I know how it acts and I am fine with it now. For a while it was strange.
We have solved many of the little issues on the Comet as in the steering control valve rebuild, Also the exhaust leak, Tires size seem to be fine as far as clearance. Happy with the results so far.
Waiting for the title and registration to come back from the state. Should that stop me from driving it?? I dont think so!:)
I added a picture in my signature box. is that where you guys are putting your signature picture?

[Jims65cyclone]

All the pictures, including your sig pic look great. Adam is a good photographer. What is the tall thing that looks like a giant antenna on the passenger side of the car in the pics taken "in the wilds"? Almost looks like a guy wire, but there's no pole in the background.

By the way, the struts on a 65 are not adjustable. You have to get all the positive caster you can using shims unless you replace the struts with adjustable ones. Even then, though, there is a limit to how much caster you can add with them without putting the LCA bushings in a bind. Also, you said the car was recently aligned. Do you know if that was a full alignment, or just setting the toe-in? These things are a bear to align with shims, and there aren't many old school guys around anymore that know how to do it correctly. Did you check for any play in the upper/lower ball joints, tie rod ends and idler arm when you had it up on the lift? Any slop in the steering box?

Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
That thing in the pictures is the radio antenna. That thing is 7 feet long!!:) Adam even commented on the antenna!
He is a professional photographer so they should be pretty good!:)
I don't know about the alignment. But my guess is that as you mentioned there are not shops that do the work you mentioned.
Need much more driving time too.
I did not do a good job of evaluating the steering components for wear. But I can do that when our grandson Mike looks at the car. He is a mechanic at local Firestone shop in Erie. He doesn't see a lot of 59 year old cars so it will be a new experience for him too
The Comet starts and then stalls several times. We may be flooding it? It also didn't seem to be running real good. May need a tune up and some adjustments to carb??

[poboyjo65]

Melvins has the rubber ends for the sun visors;
https://www.parts123.com/parts123/dynde ... 1018aAACEB
I'd probably wait until something else pops up that you need to save on shipping. There is always something else

[Sugarmaker]

Johno,
yes a small item for sure! I see auto krafters have them also. I will check your link too. Roads are good but too busy with maple syrup to get the "lil red" Comet out today. Had to charge the battery.

[Jims65cyclone]

The next time you get it on the lift, raise it just an inch or so off the floor with the front suspension hanging free. Take a crowbar and place under each front tire and move it up and down. Watch for any slack motion in the upper and lower ball joints. They should be tight with no vertical motion in the joint. Raise the car up so the front tires are about chest high. Have your grandson grab each front tire at 3 and 9 o'clock and wiggle the wheel back and forth while you look for any looseness in the tie rod ends, pitman arm and idler arm. There should be no vertical motion of the idler arm. If so, the bushing on the frame-mounted end is worn.

Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Thank you! We will try to check that out on the steering component wear items and movement.
Lost in maple syrup process right now. But folks that have visited seem to like the "lil red" Comet!
Going to try to get it out for a drive as the roads are dry
Regards,
Chris and Cheryl

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Getting some detailing done on the Comet. Added the new cardboard pieces in the sides of the trunk.


Lubed the door latches, Adjusted the trunk latch to close easier. Repainted the drivers arm rest, For some reason the SEM paint did not stick and was flaking off when the plastic arm rest was pushed on. I probably did not clean it well prior to painting?

Ordered a BOSE speaker to blue tooth to my phone, to get some music for Cheryl and me while taking some rides. Also a cell phone holder that goes into the cigarette lighter. That should bring a little of todays technology into the Merc.

I took a ride down John's place to look at his 48 Ford
The Comet needs a bath bad!:)




Cheryl and I after a ride in "lil red".


While at Johns and the engine was warm, I pulled the air cleaner and sprayed some carb cleaner down the carb and around the exterior while John kept it running.
Anyone know what this extra lever is on the carb? Not hooked up just flopping back and forth. Did not see it in the manual?


Did a farmers tune up because it was not running well (missing) when going down the road. Sanded the points checked the cap, cleaned the rotor.
When we fired it up as a cold start. the choke worked and the car did not stall! Went for a short ride and it was running much better!


To finish off the evening our son Adam detailed the front grill emblem by removing a portion of the repro sticker that I got for this small project. I was going to paint the red and blue.






I was very happy with the results. We did not remove the Merc man head. I was afraid that it would have to be glued back on. Looked like it was peened over on the back side.

[A/FX]

Did you prep the arm rest before shooting the SEM paint? The surface must be surgically clean and prepared with this product:
https://semproducts.com/product/vinyl-prep/38343
The linkage on the carb maybe for the transmission kick down, I have had an early automatic trans in decades so this is just a guess.
Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim, Folks,
I did not surgically clean the armrest for the paint, so that is probably the issue. Mold lubes and fingers may have reduced the adhesion. We continue to learn. Thanks for the link. I will check that out too.

I did check the front tires and the pressure is at 36 psi. Getting more used to the steering. Will check the wear on the joints too.

Yes that extra lever on the left side of the carb could be a kick down for the trans. But it's not connected. So more investigating.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
I did pick up some steel angle iron for making seat frames. I have a design sketched out. Will do some prototyping next week. Too busy with making maple syrup this week.
Did get the dust off the Comet and cleaned the blue off the white letters.

[comethead]

What’s the number on the carb? I did a little poking around and it looks like your carb might be for a full size Ford with a throttle cable instead of linkage (the cable connected to that ball stud you’re not using). On those the kick down rod was attached directly to the carb, whereas a Comet had the kick down attached at the bell crank.

Joe

[pfleuret]

Mine came with these molded ABS trunk panels. Have looked around online cannot figure where they came from. Storage space behind.