Building my 65 Comet

[saSSoman8810]

I guess this will be the start of my build on a 65 Caliente that had been in a shed in south Ga. For many years. I had been trying to buy this car from a friend and he kept saying no until about 2 years ago he said if i would come down his shop and swap the frame on his Malibu that was rusted out for a frame that he had purchased and restored.
So my wife and I hooked the car trailer to our motor home and drove to his shop and 5 days later we were headed north with the Comet.
We moved it to a shop in north Ga. I had to clean out 40 years of hoarding out of that shop before I could even get the car in the building.
I finally got the shop somewhat useable, but there was electrical issues. Then my heart problems started . So after a year of dealing with that and having a Tavar valve procedure. Which I highly recommend. I got started on the car.
I realized that this was not going to work with my wife and i both working at aa golf course in Athens, Tn and trying to get anything done on the car.
We finally found a house with a big enough shop. We were actually looking for a building and just live in our motor home.
Emough history. Let's get started. I had originally planned on building an altered wheelbase A/FX car to run with the southeast gassers, but finances have dictated that I am going to build a streetable straight axle Gasser that I can run some SNDR events go to the Hot Rod reunion and still drive to local car shows and maybe some drag and drive events.
For all of you restoration purists out there. Sorry this my car and I'm building it to suit me. I will sell you all of the stock trim if you need it.
I already sold Big Dan the bumpers, all of the Caliente trim is in good shape . I am welding up the holes and going slick sided.
I will be posting pictures of the build. Some of the stuff is already done like the floor pan replace and the straight axle install. I know this is long winded, but I wanted to give you the back story on the car and who I am. Which is a 74 year old car builder who swears to his wife . This will be my last build I promise.

[Caveman49]

Sounds like it’s going to be a fun build. That’s the way to do it, like you want it. I’m not a purist either when it comes to building my ride. Enjoy the time and the build, Happy New Year.

[SASSY]

Happy about 2/3 things after reading your first post. I'm not an altered wheel base fan so there's that but I believe these cars were built to be modded so looking forward to following your build. To read someone sarcastically say at 74 "this will be my last build I promise" is exciting!

[Jims65cyclone]

This will be my last build I promise.

Yeah, yeah.
Looking forward to following your build.

Jim

[saSSoman8810]

Some of you guys may have seen my 65 wagon I built for SEGA super stock. Health reasons and financial issues forced me to sell the car before I got it sorted out. I would never sold the car, but I was out of work due to my heart issues.
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[saSSoman8810]

Started raising the fender openings 3 inches. Wanted to Keep the basic shape of the wheel well but higher. More of a Gasser look without a big circle.
didn't want to take away the body line that makes these cars look so good. Still have body work to do on the fenderwells so don't think hey are going to look like that
Also got my Calvert rear spring sliders. I have already moved the front spring mount in 3 inches for tire clearance.

[saSSoman8810]

widened my wheel tubs 3 inches.

[bigdan]

Looking good! That's alot of work that usually goes unnoticed but is definitely worth it in the end. Looks clean

Dan

[saSSoman8810]

Nothing too exciting about repairing a bad repair from the past .I have been cutting out and making a new drip rail for the trunk . The rail was brazed over the old rusted metal so I had 3 layers of crap to take out . Since I couldn't find a suitable donor car to cut parts out I am having to make each piece.
Have to have some place for the trunk gasket to go to try and not let this happen again.
I did get my subframe connectors welded in and tied to the new front spring pockets. Having moved the pockets to the inside of the frame for tire clearance I figured I should tie everything together.

[Caveman49]

Lots of work, don’t know if I could get that deep into one again, but you’re dealing with it. I did some drip rails years back on a 64 Nova, but had a donor car, made it much easier.
Like your roller jackstands, how are they working out for you?

[saSSoman8810]

I really like the heavy duty jackstands I bought from Harbor Freight. Along with the tire dollies it allows me to move the car around the shop by myself.
The jack stands fit down in the dollies perfectly and are very stable. I made a set of wooden blocks for my floor jack to roll up on and can raise the car high enough to roll a Transmission under the car and not have to slide the trans under the car and then wrestle the trans up on the jack.
A few years ago Advance Auto parts was clearancing their motorcycle jacks brand new for 10 bucks . I use it for transmission installs and I made a plate that holds 9 inch Ford center sections.

[SASSY]

Man! Great idea,,, now if I hadn't given away that motorcycle jack to my neighbour.

[saSSoman8810]

Removing more bad body work. Why would someone take the time to build a patch and braze it in place and not cut out the old rusted panel and then spread roofing tar on the inside to try and hide it when it would have been quicker and easier to make the patch. Cut out the rust and have a good repair.

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[Caveman49]

Wow, I’ve seen some crazy stuff done on body repair, and admit, done some myself years ago, but never roofing tar

What you going to treat the underside with, I’m still looking for something to use under the fenders and wheel wells. Been spraying Picklex20 on the outside sheet to preserve it until I can lay down some primer. As long as the metal stays out of the weather it does a great job. I put some on the hood last year around March (haven’t had the time, or made the time, to prime it yet). Still looks like nice clean raw metal.

All the best with the build.

[saSSoman8810]

I always use weld through primer on the backside of my metal . I am going to paint the inside of my trunk panels with bed liner paint . It's cheap and durable. Plus when sprayed on it looks good. I am not doing a restoration and it is going to be a street driven drag and drive car. Plus a nostalgic gasser.