Lavron's '64 Build Thread

[lavron]

then I take a old regular bumper jack on the rear bumper and barely lift the body ,,just a couple of clicks...just kinda stretch the spring just a tad,,,but not near enough weight to be dangerous on the bumper jack,,,,,,sorta just tightening up slack

I can air my rear bags up all the way, if I remember right I had to air up the side I am removing and air down the opposite side and it makes the body lean a bit, they air up to 11" extended (shocks may limit some of the lift, that is why I am running SUV shocks on the back because they have a lot of stroke) and collapse down to 2", ride height is like 5.5"-6.5".

I think that I slimmed the outer lips down enough to get them out now without airing the tire down, they are harder to get in than out IIRC, I think the rear has to be high enough to sort of roll the wheel and tire under the car, I guess I will know more in a day or two I have to say with even the 14" wheels and small tires they were always hard to get off, but I guess I am not telling anything that people with these early Comets don't know I can't remember what I was running on there, they were Radial TAs 70 series tires, the ones on there now are 16" 60 series tires but they are not that much taller than the old ones, I think they are 26" tall tires.

I was airing them down, and at least once I unbolted the airbags and shocks and lowered the whole rear down to get them off, that was before the modifications to the wheel wells, I wanted to make them so I could get them off on the road if I had too, with onboard air a flat that semi held air would not be an issue a blowout would be but it would be easy to get off my spare is skinny and in between the front and rear tire sizes, at times I think a donut would be a good choice

See Ya,
Mike

[popscomet]

I forgot you bagged it.....pop

[power band]

I have to say with even the 14" wheels and small tires they were always hard to get off, but I guess I am not telling anything that people with these early Comets

The early car rear wheel arches are a real problem and the inner fender limits tire size also. Lifting the body is usually only way to get a wheel out. The archaic OEM 'bumper jack' (widowmaker) would work but not 'axle' bottle or scissor jacks.

have fun

... one solution:

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(inner wells pie-cut and expanded also)

[popscomet]

POP is not into cuttin up the body,,,not when you have as nice and rust free one as my comet

[power band]

.. no question there's no advantage hacking at good original steel, bigger tires may also be accommodated with stealthy Inner Wheelwell mods but still have to raise body to get a big tire off.

>another option, inner wells are 'Pie Cut' then filled and bonded to outer fender steel:
. .

have fun

[SASSY]

POP is not into cuttin up the body,,,not when you have as nice and rust free one as my comet

Agreed!
The 64s especially, with their multiple body lines flowing along the car.
A slightly narrowed rearend, tub and spring relocation work add quite a bit of room for up to 10 inch wheels.
Wheels and tires make a car more than anything else(imo)
and sizeing is so important.
But most of us have to deal with rust and lack of replacement panels, then what?
Fred

[lavron]

Mine are pretty thin, in the picture below around 1/2", my outer wells are trailer fenders so it is a near straight shot up from the top to bottom.



I agree that cutting a good set of quarters up is a bad thing, I, like most, didn't have that to worry about on the honey-do list today so might not get to test yet but ...

SHE LIVES AGAIN!!!!

I got the new starter on this morning, fired right up, the top post on the relay is not in the best shape, 2 or 3 new relays on the way (forgot how many I ordered) but not sure where they are, I ordered them before the starter and got it yesterday so sometime this week I would think today or tomorrow? It is easy to swap out at least.

Adding a bolt to the top starter hole worked good, I left the stud below, both use a 9/16" wrench and now there is a little turn room for the top one so much easier, I still had to lift the front of the car up and put the starter and nut on, one thing to note is it is getting harder to lay on the cold concrete and crawl around, I need a lift (might not be enough to convince my wife, certainly it has to be a safety and health issue )

See Ya,
Mike

[popscomet]

do what pop did when I bought my 2post lift many yrs ago,,,,walked in the door and hollard out,,,BABE,guess what I got you today ?? did the same thing when I bought her her first tractor,,,,she's the only woman I know who owns a lift and a tractor and a camper for the deer camp and so on,,,POP don't have nothing,,,I buy her everything,,,,,she even has her own welding machine,,the argon bottle is mine,,but I let her use it.....

[Joe Travers]

you may have to do what pop does to remove rear tires from my 66 f100...they are 8.5 wide x15 whls,,sitting in here can't recall tire size,,,,,I have to put a floor jack under rear end and just barely lift tire off grd,just barely,,,then I take a old regular bumper jack on the rear bumper and barely lift the body ,,just a couple of clicks...just kinda stretch the spring just a tad,,,but not near enough weight to be dangerous on the bumper jack,,,,,,sorta just tightening up slack

Roop was having big time trouble getting the rear tires from under his 202. Told him he didn't know the secret Comet trick

JT

[Joe Travers]

I am kinda happy this starter broke, it has been a chore and a half getting the old one off, things bolt-on easy when there is things like the header not installed

Jumping around a bit but just caught this one. Say you have some Mitsubishi going on there, Mike?
Looking at your e-brake post, too. My e-brake is non-functional due to the HEADERS.
They are a pain in the rear but I still love 'em.

JT

[lavron]

Say you have some Mitsubishi going on there, Mike?

Kinda Joe, stuffing 6 pipes down in there, collectors and the starter things get tight real quick, someday when I finally get a TIG and want something to practice on I may just redesign the header so I could eliminate the 3/4" spacers and give the starter a little more clearance (you can only do so much with that little space).

It is really good to have it starting again and I am going to imagine the starter is working better now and I am positive it clears the header more funny it sat for 20 years not being started and now I can hardly bear 3 days without firing it off You know I have to keep the condensation blown out of the pipes.

Looking at your e-brake post, too.

Mine are finally getting where they are working half-decent, takes a hefty pull but I can get it to not roll backwards on a hill now as long as it isn't too steep and so far I haven't pulled the end off of the factory cable, I just try and set it every time to hopefully getting everything broke in and self-adjusted, I use it to try and stop the car while rolling backwards because the Explorer e-brake self adjusts just like a drum brake but I adjusted them out until they were dragging and just left it so now they start activating just as I pull up on the lever, it might make them wear a bit but I think it will be ok, if you are running a regular rear drum brake a lever would work good but it doesn't look too original but I am pretty sure when someone looks at my car they will probably tell it is customized (maybe) I should have used an e-brake handle like on an old truck

See Ya,
Mike

[Joe Travers]

Say you have some Mitsubishi going on there, Mike?

Kinda Joe, stuffing 6 pipes down in there, collectors and the starter things get tight real quick

When this rain ever ends, I'll post my Mitsubishi mess for ya. The early cars are an inch narrower than yours' and there's a special place called the clutch and shifter linkage that's a royal pain with long tube headers.

JT

[lavron]

there's a special place called the clutch and shifter linkage that's a royal pain with long tube headers.

I don't even have anything on that side and went with a hydraulic clutch (may let my wife drive it sometime, she always complained the former clutch was too hard to push) plus the T5 has no shifter linkage, I wish the starter was on that side I guess I don't have much to complain about just two problem spots, the starter/header wanting to occupy the same place and the fan being so close to the radiator I can't even take the fan off without first removing the rad. (ok that is not entirely true but it is really hard to get off without scuffing the radiator fins all up, but now that it is I guess it doesn't matter )

See Ya,
Mike

[power band]

. ... don't even have anything on that side and went with a hydraulic clutc... plus the T5 has no shifter linkage

Small Block Sixers' - related to this, my Comet, a 1961 (200 / 3OTT now 250/T5) and my '63 Falcon 170 use original pushrod clutch setup with T5's 5spd OD behind 'Toploader' to T5 adapters intended for SBF applications. Both use Hooker Longtube Headers on the six. The Comet with straight six 250 cid has same FW, Clutch and BH as SBF's and all later sixes (@ '66 up) use 3 spd 'Toploader' 3.03 - same pattern as V8/4Spd. Simple mods achieve 5 spd and Overdrive capability that can wake up a well tuned or perfomance mod'd 'SBS'.

. .

[lavron]

Finally got a chance to replace that pesky rear tire I drilled the hole through, You can click the picture below and watch a video, it is not quite as informative as I wanted but my equipment did not cooperate, besides most fo you guys already know this stuff, so consider it entertainment watching me roll around on the floor fighting the tire off the rear of the car I di figure out how to get it off and on easier but of course the camera went dead during the process



Also I made a quick video talking about the e-brake lever modification placement;



Going to try and go out now and fix the fuel sender issue.

See Ya,
Mike