72 Mercury Comet GT in Germany

One thing off the list - it wasn't the rear caliper leaking, it was the axle shaft seal. Replaced that, everything should be good.
Got the engine running with open headers. No obvious leaks on the power steering and the supposedly rebuilt pump does not make any funny noises, for now I call this a win.
Cooling system has the heater core bypassed. It was leaking through the threads of the temp switch in the thermostat housing. I had not put in antifreeze yet, so it was easy to drain the system and seal the switch up with teflon tape.

Still, brakes and clutch need to be bled.

 

Like looking at your modification photos, Thomas - it must be a horror that everything is so tight

 

Well, everything tight but still with clearance is a LOT better than the old headers hitting almost everywhere
So in the end, the car should be a lot better than before!

 

Brakes are fully bled.
Clutch not so much, there is still air trapped in the system. Will try again this weekend!

 

Brakes had a leak at the distribution block. Turned out that the copper washer from the rebuild kit was ever so slightly too large in diameter so the front port would not seal. Replaced it with the old washer, now it's leak free.

Clutch is fully bled, too. Has a nice throw at the slave cylinder, and the clutch is fully disengaging.

Still too loud with just the headers on Will go to an exhaust shop to fab two new intermediate pipes on monday!

 

it's alive, sort of.

• bought a new p/s pump. the rebuilt one on there did not put out enough pressure in idle. borgeson works good with the new pump.
• while the heater box was out, i noticed an ever so slight leak on the heater core. had that fixed, heater box is back on.
• replaced the fan switch with a 195/210 unit, instead of the 185/200 which was on there. the 5° degree difference was not enough to switch the fan off, with the new one this actually works.

brakes will need to be bled again. pedal is a little too soft, with the DOT5 i use it sometimes can be a pain to get all the air out.
will give the car a good wash next weekend, and then it should be back on the road for a shakedown test of all the new things i put in!

 

It's back on the road. Drives like a whole new car, the Borgeson upgrade was well worth it.
There's a couple of things that need to be dialed in - need to recheck the alignment, pulls slightly to the left.
Also, the bracket for the clutch slave cylinder flexes a little, probably will make a new one out of thicker material.
Will need to find a way to adjust free travel at the clutch pedal.

I hope I get to drive it more this summer. Pretty rainy here in Germany, for weeks now.

 

What pump do you have? My car is out of service cuz pump leaking at pressure fitting, second Borg pump in 9 years. I have always had seepage at steering box pressure fitting. I'm taking pump and hose to local rebuilder this week, see if they can resolve resivior leak b4 I resort to buying another pump.
I'm interested in knowing your alignment spec's, once you get it all sorted out.

 

alignment specs........
https://opentrackerracing.com/technical/
David

 

@mojo : I'm using a new Lares 12101 Ford pump, off rockauto.
I didn't want to use the GM saginaw pump, and there are issues with used and rebuilt ford units not putting out enough pressure.
But with the new pump, I'm getting decent results. When idling at 750rpm, the power assist is a little low, but everything above is really good.

alignment specs are above in this thread somewhere.
roughly like @dyent stated - basically as much caster as possible.
somewhere around 3°, and I already had to put in shims on the driver side to get that much.

 

Thanks for reply, Tody! I also have low assist a low idle but my issue w/ Saginaw was to much sensitivity above 55mph and still a little sensitive at 70 on windy days, otherwise it works well.

Have you driven at highway speeds, if so, how was the experience.

 

Sure, took it to the Autobahn today. 160 km/h which translates to 100 mph with no issues.
I know the car is good for over 140 mph, but the traffic was too dense today.
But I will surely need to accommodate myself to the new steering before I try that out!

 

Wow, it's been some time since I updated this thread.
The Comet is still alive and doing well.

Still working on some minor issues, tweaking stuff every now and then.
Chasing a slight vibration in the drivetrain, for example.

I updated the collection of tools in my garage recently.
Was able to buy a calibration tool for my wheel alignment machine, as that started giving flunky results.
Got a good deal on a wheel balancing machine as well.

I run an older version of the Torq Thrust wheels, with the shank lug nuts. That makes it impossible to balance them lug centric with the adapter I have.
Still, it seems that some of the vibration is gone with new tires and a hub centric careful balance.
Planning to make my own adapter out of an old Mustang wheel hub to be able to balance lug centric. My machinist friend and me are working on it.

Also, I addressed the alignment again.
Results below, I'm happy. That's as much caster as possible, I used additional shims to get that much.
Camber will stay that way, as I run an Eccentric Eliminator kit, with 0.5° steps.
Car running much smoother now, making the autobahn even more fun at high speeds.

 

Looks and sounds good to me.. Many years ago when I was an alignment tech (and so called specialist by my shop where I was working), I did .5* + 0n the right side for road crown. If I measured what you show though, I wouldn't adjust it. I would however run 35psi on the pull/drift side and 32 on the other.
I chased a vibration on my Comet for a long time. It ended up being a bent slot mag wheel on the rear. That explained my seal leaking soon after changing it several times.

 

Are you running OE or R&P steering? How much shim spacers width to get 4d pos. caster?