What did you do to your Maverick or Comet today

Just waiting for the motor to come out of the machine shop, for the Powerglide to come back from Mike's. The third member looks so good I will just replace the pinion seal myself and put some new axle bearings on along with new seals................have rebuilt the CRS water pump, have the new MSD distributor.......................within the next couple of weeks I should be able to put everthing together and hit the tail end of this season's racing........................"That's my story and I'm sticking to it"!

 

Got a ealry start today checked the fluids, checked and edited my timing curve , filled up the 20 gallon tank with the finest 87 octane swill (68.00) stopped by walmart picked up some things for around the house. Then came home and chilled till a good buddy came by and we rode around and put some miles on it probly close to 100 in total ended up pulling some more timing cause I was getting some detonation at light cruise fixed that and we discussed my next project car and the plans for the mav. The gear, sound deadner, and tank made a huge drivability differance! a large time was had by all

 

Drove it to work

 

Got the back seat area cleaned and painted. Happy times!!!!!!
Next doors and dash.
Any ideas how to paint the heater control pannel? All help is welcomed.

 

Got the BFG Radial TAs mounted on the chrome Cragar SS 15X7s. Tried to put the wheels on the car but Summit gave me the wrong wheel locks. They're sending the right ones but they probably won't be here till Thurs/Fri. Guess I won't be driving the car this week.

 

Redone the alignment while it was slow, changed the front lug nuts

 

I highly recommend ONLY using Cragar lugnuts (if you haven't already). The aftermarket ones are short and using a socket will scratch the wheels.

 

Thanks for the tip. Guess Summit agrees with you -- that's what they sent. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CRR-27723-4/

I noticed right away that I couldn't use my impact socket because it hit the wheel. The original Ford lug wrench and my regular 1/2 drive SK socket BOTH contact the wheel. Wheels are not uniform, the SK socket hits the wheel on most lug nuts when its only part way on but went all the way on one. Think I'll look for a strong spark plug socket and see if that will work. Spark plug socket will only go on part way and, if its strong enough, I think it will avoid any contact with the wheels. Hope I can get the lugs torqued without breaking a spark plug socket.

Is this a new problem or has getting a socket on Cragar lug nuts always been an issue. Wonder if the wheels are different now. Never owned any aftermarket wheels before. I'll check again, but I'm sure the washers are seated correctly.

 

Got the oil pump and oil pan gaskets torqued down, and set the lifters and dogbones in...

 

On the way home from a car show on Saturday I noticed the Comet wasn't running right. It sounded like it wasn't running on all cylinders, was idling a bit rough and lost a lot of its pep. After work today took it over to my brother who is the genius behind my restoration and had him look at it, since I don't have that set of mechanical genes, I only know when something doesn't seem right.

After eliminating all of the possibilities one by one; check the timing - OK, check for fouled plugs or bad wires - found two iffy ones and replaced them; checked the compression on spark plug #6 since it didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference if we disconnected it from the distributor cap - compression was only 60. My brother said it was time to take the valve cover off and see what was going on - there it was broken rocker arm! replaced the rocker arm and she has never run better. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride home from my brother's house tonight. The ole Comet is purring once again with that little throaty growl.

 

I should have added that: YES....use a spark plug socket. It works perfect as it is thin enough to clear the wheel. Keep one in the car in case you have a flat.

 

OK!!! Thanks. :Handshake I'll get one with the 13/16" hex on the end and use the original lug wrench as the handle.

I expect a lot of Cragars get messed up by impact wrenches. Glad I took the tires and wheels in the back of the Explorer to the tire shop for mounting and balancing and am putting them on the Maverick myself.

 

I have thin walled plug sockets from Mac tools for small plug tubes. If you have a hard time finding a quality plug socket that fits you might want to try the Mac ones. Real strong,designed for tight access. I've put my 1/2" gun on mine and havent cracked it yet. You wont find a thinner,stronger one than Mac. Tried Snap On thin wall and they are too thick for our new tubes.

 

Found the Mac plug socket on ebay and bought it. I don't usually spend that much on my tools but in this case its OK. Don't want to mess up the wheels and don't want to be stranded with a broken socket. Thanks for the recommendation. Just what I needed.

 

You could also put a nut or washers inside your present socket, so that it won't bottom out on the wheels.