Lou's 65 Comet Build

[poboyjo65]

Thanks guys!

John yea the little bumper to qtr brackets. I have seen pictures of them just don't know the dimensions.. I was going to make some. But haven't got that ambitious yet. They look like they are thicker steel, 3/16 - 1/4 "?

Lou

Na ,,they're thin> 1/16'' Lou they'll be a piece a cake for you to make I'm here to tell you. & most any you find will be pitted like these. the slots are 7/8'' long for the straight one & the angled one is 3/4'' long. piece is 1.5'' x 5 1/8'' long

I was wrong I only have one set,never have put them on the car. & at least one of them is bent. I think they get tweaked on removal most the time so the other one may need reshaping. But I have one extra front fender to rad support bracket.so had those mixed up. But Lou if you want this pitted set,with one bent I'll make me a new set.I was thinking of making a set out of SS so I dont have to paint it or worry about it rusting the quarter . I sand blast & cheap rattle can painted these so probably not nice enough for your car. Yea SS is what I wanted ,already had the little ss carriage bolts turned to match my bigger bumper bolts if I can track them down. chucked them up in a drill & turned them on a belt sander . would you believe that dern Ratical & Groover noticed them at PF gathering? cant get much past these ole boys up in them hills,except maybe a few mason jars of that mountain wine,they seem to get passed around quite a bit !

one idea is to bend the bent one flat,,trace it out & send you a stencil. it could simply be flipped to reverse the angled hole for the other side.

next idea is I could send you one of them to copy & me keep one to copy.

. tried to show where the bends start & orientation of the slots with the cloth tape measure

[Lou's Comet]

Thanks Tom.

John thanks for the pictures and dimensions. Going to be a huge help.

Lou

[Lou's Comet]

Been looking at this

https://www.flamingriver.com/steering-b ... 16:1-ratio

And thinking it will work on my Comet. I am changing the column to a tilt so I will have to cut the shaft on my original box and machine the end. Then probably going to want to rebuild it. So I was thinking of just getting the above one from flaming river.

Will it work on my Comet? My original was power so it is 16:1 and it has the 1" sector.

Thanks for any help or advice!!!

Lou

[poboyjo65]

Hech if you're gonna spend that why not get a borgesen 14:1 box?

[Joe Travers]

Hech if you're gonna spend that why not get a borgesen 14:1 box?

I was going to mention R&P but it just shot up 50% since the Summer

Joe

[Lou's Comet]

Hech if you're gonna spend that why not get a borgesen 14:1 box?

Thought about it. But really don't want a power steering pump. Not a fan on how they look in the engine compartment.

This may be something I regret later but pretty sure I and going with a manual steering box

Lou

[poboyjo65]

Hech if you're gonna spend that why not get a borgesen 14:1 box?

Meant to say borg 14:1 ''PS'' box. & if you are not wanting a pump/ belt cluttering up front, lotsa a guys going with an electric pump that could be hidden somewhere. I'm looking in to it because right now my ac needs to be on same belt as ps & I may have trouble with belt slippage with this set up. Lots of junkyard electric pumps are being used on the cheap or available new too.

You'd keep the sharp turning radius these cars come with but with probably about 1 turn less each way or 2 turns lock to lock less than manual. which is about what my older 16:1 borg ps box with shelby quick steer . Another plus is you can always upgrade with performance mustang suspension parts & the aftermarket is (or at least was before covid) strong & keeps evolving into better technology for early mustang suspensions , & lotsa bolt on stuff too.

You are already doing one of the drawbacks,fab time & parts expense of a borg ps box by getting an aftermarket collumn . I would recommend a rag,although another task,, to cut down on vibration,,,with its larger diameter you have to make a cover for it because it lands right in the firewall but it can be coupled for stock (sized) columns & a coupler will fit in side the column tube exiting the firewall normally . other drawback is if you use a z bar it was a pita to alter ,lots of trial & error. & header headaches, but those will come with all cars. & with PS you need to build in more caster but the results are worth it. & you already have the smaller steering wheel . before buying that manual box I have a few vids I wish you would watch ,I'll send them to you,,where you can see my hands & see if you want to keep working out both arms or turn with left palm & keep the right hand resting on the shifter ready to spring into to action.

yea you may regret it a little, but it wont be terrible . ya cant love what ya aint had.If you're not gonna drive it much, like shows & straight dragstrips a manual will be hunky dory. but if you plan to drive it much for fun I can say,with experience, & I'll guarantee you will never regret putting it on if you build in enough + caster to get good return to center. & none of the work is much of a step for a stepper like you Lou. the z bar gave me the biggest fit. but didnt want to replan ,get a cable or hydro except for the day or three on the z bar & headers it sure was on mind those days.

It is by far the most favorite thing I did to my car.

with it's lower ratio for less turning & the smaller wheel makes it feel even less distance/arm movement with a lot less effort than a manual box. the + caster gives it better road feel . bottom line,,,, more fun & enjoyable!!!

here is a quickie one turn video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLTP-uyy9qc

[Joe Travers]

I'm looking in to it because right now my ac needs to be on same belt as ps & I may have trouble with belt slippage with this set up.

Don't think you'll have a problem, John unless you use chrome or billet pulleys.
I have billet pulleys on alternator and P/S pump. The one on the alternator gives me fits before it warms up

Joe

[DesertRat]

Lou: I have been following along and I must say you are doing some of the finest finish work I have ever seen. Your car is going to be a spectacular one-off. I enjoy following the build so keep up the good work. What you are doing is inspiring me to do better on my build. I have been ironing out the metal and getting blocking primer on all my components, but I hope to be in color by next August.
Douglas

[Lou's Comet]

John,,, yea I have thought about it, and thought about it,,,,but still think I am going with a manual box. Really trying to keep the engine compartment clean/simple. If I decide I need power I would probably go with the electric, can hide that under dash.

Thanks for all the info!

Douglas.
Thanks for the compliments. Yea going to keep on it and hopefully be done beginning of year. Your build is going well too!!

Lou

[Lou's Comet]

Bouncing around a little on the build. Started organizing parts for the front end, steering and suspension.

Got out the new upper control arms and noticed the shaft's were not centered.



I measured from the inside of the bushing flange on the control arm to the center of the mounting bolt. Both control arms were off by about the same amount. On the same side.

Which would help my caster on one side but hurt it on the other side. Then was reading in the shop manual how they should be centered. And was going to center them in the control arms.
But then I remember John saying something about people sneaking a little bit more caster by having the shafts off center. So I adjusted/changed the shaft on one control arm to be the "mirror image" of the other one. So they are both off center but for opposite sides.



This should help get me a little more caster? They move free and don't think this will screw anything up, other than I need to drill holes in the shock towers so I can get to the rear grease fittings from engine compartment.

Need to get some hardware for the suspension but should be on soon.

I also did the Shelby drop and got roller perches and roller idler arm.

Lou

[poboyjo65]

LOu that is exactly what happened to me, mine was nearly hundred thou off on one side & close to center on the other. I dont know how you did it but I just pressed the bolts out of the shafts & turned the shaft a turn or so till it mirrored the other side,which was close to .1,,,ninety something thou,then pressed the bolts back in. seemed easier than messing with the end nuts. & had read were most new ones already had the grease groove cut in them,,,the other reason to take caps off

& on that hole your gonna drill, make it bigger than you think you need, like 1.5-2'' diameter. or maybe find some rubber plugs first & see whats available then drill to fit. I tried the hammering a dent in it but didnt get it right spot first try, alignments may change if you hit a big pothole or something. in my case I just guessed wrong were it needed to be. thought right then if I had it to do over I'd put a big ass hole there.
good reading here Lou about the moving the shafts, says not to go much past the .1 (hundred thousands, dont sound like much but gets a lot more exaggerated at the top ball joint .

https://dazecars.com/dazed/UCA.html
lotsa good tips in there. opentracker site was down but said new better one soon & they have a lot of good tips. unless you do it regular it's hard to remember all that stuff, I would suggest to anyone about to work on their old front end to read up ,research all the tech tips & innovations on both these sites . almost everything that gets upgrade for racing does wonders for the street too. & a guy thinks he dont need good handling at the strip, until he's almost wrecked,fishtailing at high speed ,when he's turning back & forth as fast as he can,trying not to hit the wall, both walls, again & again he might have second thoughts about the manual steering too when he's back in the pits ,still shakin. That can also happen leaving the sonic at night, with a fat buddy in there making one side get better traction. it's what I heard at least

[Lou's Comet]

Thanks John for the info!!

good reading here Lou about the moving the shafts, says not to go much past the .1 (hundred thousands, dont sound like much but gets a lot more exaggerated at the top ball joint .

Read this and thought Ruh-Roh....mine were offset like .2 I readjusted them to get close to .1.

I did the same as you and pressed out the bolts, turned the shaft and put the bolts back in.

As far as the holes for the rear grease fittings I was thinking 1.5". Really would like to do more of a oval than a circle but will look thru my draw of rubber plugs and see what I got. Not going to put holes for the front fittings. They would be visible under the hood and don't want that.

Going to get these and see if they work for the front.
https://opentrackerracing.com/shop/grea ... 3-mustang/

When I took the car apart I kept all the alignment shims in order. Left control arm front bolt shims in its own bag. Left control arm rear bolt shims in its own bag. Same for right side. Figured this may give me a starting point when it came time for reassembly.

To give me a starting point on where to drill the holes for the rear fitting access, I put couple layers of tape on the inner shock tower. Put the rear grease fitting in and mounted the control arm with the original shims in the original locations.



I then unscrewed the grease fitting till it left a mark on the tape.



This should give me a decent idea on where to drill the hole. Changing the alignment should only move the fitting horizontally. So the fitting should fall into the widest part of the drilled hole. I don't see anything that would move the fitting vertically unless I mounted the control arm up in the original holes instead of the Shelby drop holes. At least it is a starting point.

And maybe just use the extended grease fittings in the rear holes. See what happens at least it is progress!

Thanks again for the info!!!

Lou

[Caveman49]

Hey Lou, as so many others have said, fantastic work on your Comet. I ordered UCAs from John at OT, and they had those zerk fittings on them, one was broke during shipment and John had me another one sent within a week. The fittings are pretty close, they might work for you. Here’s a pic, box was beat up during shipping. Keep the build pics coming, very informative and helpful.

[Joe Travers]

Hey Lee,

What size are your 90 degree zerks? I have them installed in my car, think they're smaller than standard size in my ball joints.
Need to find my small gun w/ flexhose to get to the UCA fittings.

Joe