65 Comet with 390

The Era of The Square Body Racing Comets
lavron
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by lavron »

loman wrote:I was able to massage the Mazda Protege fans to fit on the radiator and clear the water pump and the water pump electric motor.
That's cool, the only reason I mention the Contour fans is everything I have read people say they are super powerful. Of course I am planning to change my core support to accommodate a wider radiator (fox body) because I can get a thinner (3/4" core), dual core, that should be near the size of the Contour fans and hopefully thin enough to fit in front of my water pump. I think at local JY there is some Grandas and LTDs maybe some T-Birds from the correct era and I was hoping to cut the center out of the core support from one of them and graft it in, then I could use the AC condenser from a fox body as well and just bolt it in.

This is a list of cars I have to choose from (Lou gets credit for this find) for a core support, I have no idea if what I am talking about is even feasible I need to go look and measure first;

Ford Thunderbird 1980-1988 (200ci Straight 6-cylinder, 255ci V8, 302ci V8)
Ford LTD 1983-1986 (all motors)
Ford Granada 1975-1982 (Needs Hose Adapter)
Ford Granada 1981-1982 (all motors)
Ford Futura/Fairmont 1980-1983 (all motors including turbo models)
Ford Mustang 1979-1993 (all motors)
Lincoln Zephyr 1980-1983 (all motors)
Licoln Versailles 1977-1980 (Needs Hose Adapter)
Lincoln Continental 1982-1987 (all motors)
Lincoln Mark VII 1984-1992 (302 ci V8)
Mercury Marquis 1983 (140ci Straight 4-cylinder, 200ci straight 6-cylinder, 232ci V6)
Mercury Marquis 1984 (140ci Straight 4-cylinder, 232ci V6)
Mercury Marquis 1985 (140ci Straight 4-cylinder, 232ci V6, 323ci V8)
Mercury Marquis 1986 (140ci Straight 4-cylinder, 232ci V6)
Mercury Cougar/XR7 1980-1988 (all motors)
Mercury Capro 1980-1986 (all motors including turbo models)
Mercury Monarch 1975-1980 (Needs Hose Adapter)

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
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loman
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by loman »

We'll the 390 finally came to life this weekend. It had a misfire and was making a popping noise that I believe is from the Craig's list distributor that I bought. We tried a couple msd boxes, msd and stock coil and nothing fixed it. We finally stuck a stock points style distributor in and it sounded noticeably better and no more popping. It was good to put the car down on the ground and drive it up and down the driveway a couple times. It made us feel like we got something accomplished. We have a bunch of little things to do yet but at least it is running.
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popscomet
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by popscomet »

that's why it was for sale on craig's list...….my son just received his money refund for a alumn raceing head he bought and was mis-represented ,he had to take it to a head rebuilder and they had to make a video of it being tested and show the flaws and write a legal document stating it was bad and suffering {as in warped} from being to hot...the whole ordeal took a couple of mo's,,,but in the end he got his purchase price back,,he did have to pay return shipping,,,,,
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loman
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

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I have a good used spare rotor and pickup from the black car that should work. I just need to buy a new cap then we will try it again. There isn't really nothing else to go bad that I see. If that doesn't fix it, we will have to come up with plan B which might be to run points for a while until we are ready to take to track and even then points won't really hurt while we are sorting things out.
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loman
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by loman »

The new cap seemed to fix the popping issue. However a couple of other issues have surfaced. The used radiator has sprung a leak. It looks like it should be repairable. It's funny there used to be lots of radiator repair shops around. Now there is only 1 that I know of that is nearby. Times have changed.
The other issue is an electrical one. The tach is acting erratically. It's fine for a bit than the needle jumps all around and goes full scale and back. Also the shift light goes on and off randomly. This is all happening at idle or just off idle. Then last night I noticed when the shift light go on and off, I could watch my electric water pump motor go on and off.
We will eventually get it sorted out, but 2 steps forward, 1 step back.
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loman
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by loman »

A little update. It turns out the msd box is good. We ran new wires straight from the battery and that cleared all the electrical issues to the MSD box, tach, and water pump. I guess 59 year old factory wiring with lots of splices is not the way to go :roll: . We are having some oiling issues with the cheap rocker arm shafts we purchased. There are 5 rockers that don't put out much oil compared to the rest. We swapped rocker locations with ones that were oiling fine. And the oiling issue followed the rocker arm and not the rocker arm shaft. So we have a couple new rockers on the way.
The old used radiator we originally were going to use sprung a leak and the radiator shop said the core was junk and not worth repairing. So we purchased a new aluminum radiator. Crew chief is fabricating a new radiator mount and we will have to modify the fan setup a bit. The fans won't lay as nice on the new radiator but they will be functional.
Once these things are lined out, I think we are ready to put the front clip back on and tidy up a couple of loose ends and head to the track for an initial test run. Fingers crossed that this happens in August. Once the fenders are on I'll try to get a couple of pics of the engine bay.
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loman
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by loman »

Another update. We reinstalled the fenders, hood, grill, gravel shield, & bumper today. It looks like a car again. A lot of little things still need to be done, but its nice to see a complete car again.
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Jims65cyclone
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by Jims65cyclone »

"Cool" air cleaner. :lol: :lol: :roll:

Jim
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popscomet
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

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Jims65cyclone wrote:"Cool" air cleaner. :lol: :lol: :roll:

Jim
it's a better choke"""!!!
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loman
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by loman »

Cool Whip has been a sponsor of mine for a long time :lol:

Crew chief and me were talking yesterday and we didn't realize how many times this car has had major drivetrain change.
It started life out as 289 C4 with 8". Back in the 80's when crew chief got the car, he installed a 351 Cleveland, C6 and a 9"inch. He sold the drivetrain in the 90's and I got the car. I installed a 351 Windsor C6 with an 8" again. Then converted back to a C4. Now its got the 390 back to C6 with an 8" which I'm guessing in the next year will be converted to a 9" again. If this car could talk it would probably tell us to leave it alone. :)
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loman
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by loman »

What does everyone think of leaving the strut tower braces off of the car? Since I have the Crites kit installed, the front end is tied together with their bolt in crossmember. Also this car won't be on the street so it won't have to deal with stress from everyday driving. We will most likely put it back on because anything that helps stiffen we believe will make it better. We were just tossing ideas around such as a monte carlo bar. A friend of mine has a 65 Stang 289 track only car with the braces out but has a monte carlo bar. That car has been like that for 20+years with no problems. But when he first put the monte carlo bar in he had to use a porta power to spread the inner fenders out a bit to get it installed.
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poboyjo65
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by poboyjo65 »

having diagonals will help with flex at top of the box. a one piece bolt in export brace is stiff in all directions. & if you keep changing motors you can un bolt it to get it out of the way. car is looking good!! :D
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Export-Brace-P ... 1438.l2649
free shipping too!
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lavron
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by lavron »

poboyjo65 wrote:having diagonals will help with flex at top of the box.
I agree with that statement.

I made my own but bolt in as well, it is hard stuffing a skinny motor in my car :P :lol:

See Ya,
Mike
Mike's build thread
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13058
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popscomet
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by popscomet »

did a HOLMAN-MOODY comet have them??? I don't recall ever really noticeing….I was always in awe of the car in the 1st place to ever notice.....
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loman
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Re: 65 Comet with 390

Post by loman »

Another update. This past month we been doing hole shots in the driveway and the car kept cutting out. We finally figured out the issue. It was the MSD box. We thought it was cutting out but it was actually hitting the rev limiter. We had a 6000 chip in it so never thought that the car would be hitting rev limiter in driveway. As soon as i get on it, I have to get out of it because the driveway is short. I would stall it up to 3000 and nail it. When i would do this it sounded like it was cutting out just over 4000. Finally we removed the chip and bingo the car didn't miss no more. So I put a 3000 chip in. Brought the rpm's up and around 2300 it started cutting out. I then put a 5400 chip in and it would cut out around 3500. Then we put my 6000 chip in and it would cut out at 4300. We swapped MSD boxes and performed same test with chips and everything was correct and accurate as you would expect it to be. So after a month of fighting with swapping carbs distributors, timing, plug wires and everything else it ended up being the rev limiter circuit on MSD box. So we are now ready to take the 390 to the track in the next week or so.
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