Couple years ago, I replaced the solenoid on my Comet cuz it would not crank. If I've done anything since don't remember. 49 years is familiar, bought my Cobra March 13 1973. In '17 I rebuilt the original front end and added factory power steering. Only parts not orig were upper ball joints(repl mid '70s). A few months later, rebuilt the carb & replaced heater core (no heat since '14-ish). Treated carb to a electric choke conversion. Also freshened engine paint & installed a set of Pertronix Flamethrower plug wires(plugs are at least 20+ years old, hidden Crane Hi-6 has no trouble firing them). Replaced orig headlamps & installed relays(also hidden). Lessee, '18 bought a new set of BF Goodrich & Magnum 500(Goodyears in sig pict had been on it since '92). In '20 I replaced the orig vacuum hose to brake booster(also orig) & air filter. Approx same time bought new "cups" for inside door releases, I've replaced one of those. Oh almost forgot, I rebuilt gas cap with a fresh rubber from another. I believe that was in '19. Since '19 I've lathered most of my affection on Fairlane, rebuilt it's frontend, inst P/S and disc brakes.
did some playing around with the front suspension today. I flipped a tie rod end and put on a longer set of end links and bushings. in theory it looks to have helped a lot. I'll pick up a tapered bit tomorrow and seat it.
Frank: You have to be careful drilling opposite end for taper, remember you are now drilling from the "small end" tapered hole to larger end, if you drill too much, then you will either lose the "tapered" fit, in which case the tie rod stud may just spin. If you do not drill enough, the tie rod stud may not engage into the hole enough and could snap off........ Also, you probably will loose some surface area, so you may not have as much contact between the stud/hole, which again could cause the stud to break and/or place more stress on the tie rod body. Tapered hole is really designed one way, if you try drilling out from opposite end, you may run into problems and end up looking for new spindle......... Do you have an old spindle or know someone near by who has one, at least you can experiment on that and not risk damaging your current spindle on Patches! David If you clean the stud/hole and then apply "Prussian Blue", you can compare the contact area of original taper with new one that you drill from opposite end to see if same or less (again try on used spindle........)
thanks David I also entertained the idea of drilling an angled hole in the spindle knuckle, threading it and putting in a ...(flat/pointed nose) set screw.
Frank: Perhaps something like this would work, I do not know if the specs/dimensions are the same as ours, but may be Harold can fabricate something up? Take care! https://www.ebay.com/itm/271399555286?hash=item3f30ac90d6:g:E5cAAOxydlFS-op-&vxp=mtr David note: I am pretty sure tapers are standard between manufacturers (Ford/GM etc. @ 7.15*), it might be worth the $10 to purchase one and experiment to see how it fits over your tie rod. From the listing, it probably is larger, but all you would have to do is slowly trim the sleeve (taper will stay the same), so that once it fits over your tie rod stud, measure the OD and it will give you the size to drill out the hole in your spindle. Our Mav/Comet taper has minor OD .545" and major OD .610" with .750" length, versus the adapter sleeve minor ID .660" and major ID .760" with same .750" length, so you would definitely have to trim down. Your drop spindles/Rod & Custom set up specs may be different than OEM.........
I have a 7* taper reamer I used when I installed the CPP subframe. You're welcome to borrow it for the cost of shipping or I'll sell it cheap.
thanks for the offer... I'm thinking my best route is to get the tapered sleeve with the correct taper, that requires drilling the hole out to 7/8".
trip today to Summit was a bust . they had tapered inserts for the big tie rod ends but no big tie rods to go with them... sooooo... off to Harold's shop tomorrow morning to turn them out on his mill...
put it all together with the old rack. thought I would do it there first to see if there would be any ill effects. everything seems great, took it for a spin and it tracked great. still has the growl...new rack install coming next. ...
What is the bar directly in front of anti-sway bar? Is that part of RC-107 system or something added for peace-of-mind. Looks like you have tie-rods figured out.
