After 10 Years, My Comet Is Now Road Worthy And Street Legal

[Comet Fever]

Last registered and safety inspected in 2001, my 1975 Comet is now back on the road legally.

I bought this car in October 2010 knowing it needed some work but had no idea what I was getting into. When I first looked at the car, heck I fiqured maybe 500 bucks and some labor to get her road worthy. Not the case. Now some history on her.

After meeting a gentleman in Mesquite, Tx to look at this car I found on Craigslist, I was told it was purchased at a estate sale some months back. The drivetrain was out of a 1966 Ford Mustang(200 sprint engine with C-4 tranny) and that I could have the original engine which was sitting in his garage. After inspection, this car was clean, almost rust free and did run. We started the car and the car run good but did not want to idle. The C-4 transmission was dripping fluid out the front of the bellhousing. It had a horrible exhaust leak and the shifter shifted backwards. The Mustang a had floor shifter while the Comet had column shift. I did find the rear U-joint was not seated correctly on rearend yoke.

Now my thinking was the front seal was leaking in the transmission, the carb could use a rebuilding. I could come up with some linkage for the transmission and the muffler shop could fix the exhaust leak. I actually drove this car home (about 30 miles). How this panned out.

After driving it home it was parked for about a week, I then got brave and pulled the transmission out, installed a new front seal and reinstalled transmission. I did this all in one day with only a floor jack to lift to reinstall transmission. I did find bolts, nuts, motor mounts, crossmember bolts loose, it appeared that drivetrain was seated in car and nuts and bolts only hand tightened. Of course I tightened all these up. The result, no change. Still dripping steady at front of bellhousing. I was disappointed to say the least. It took me about a month to get over this. I then decided to have the transmission rebuilt. Next step, carb.

I fiqured a good basic rebuild should do the trick. A simple Autolite 1100, I've rebuilt many carbs with much success including Autolite 1100s in the past. I purchased carb kit, a gallon of B-12 Chemtool to soak parts and some carb spray for hard to reach areas. After rebuild and install, the car ran real good and idled great. At this time I felt this part was over. Then it got cold. Not having a garage, I took a break from working on the car. I hate cold weather.

About 2 weeks later when it warmed up some I tried to start the car. It would not start, seemed to be out of gas. Finally sprayed starting fluid down carb throat and then she started but would not stay running. Must be out of gas. I put 2 gallons in her but she still would not stay running. Weird, heck she run great 2 weeks ago. Carb problems again? Heck, I'll just buy a rebuilt carb. Guess what, no Autolite rebuilt carbs available. I ended up buying a Carter carb for a 1973 model Maverick. Paid good money for it too. Thats OK, car should run great, it will be worth it.

The result, the car still would not start without starting fluid. It tried to stay running but would not. Must be fuel pump, yes I know I should have checked the fuel pump before buying a new carb, my bad!

After disconnecting fuel line at carb and turning engine over at solenoid outside of car, I found fuel trickling out of line. I then replaced fuel pump, no luck, same thing occured. I then started checking hoses and lord and behold, a rubber fuel line hose at the rear of the car was installed with new filter with no clamps and it was loose thus resulting in sucking air and very little fuel. 2 quick clamps and prime of carb and car started and stayed running, ran real good. Finally some success.

Back to the tranny, being that I was going to have the C-4 rebuilt, I fiqured I would have them switch the linkage to column shift like it should be, after calling around some, I decided to go with someone local even though I was going to pay more just in case there was a problem. This turned out to be a wise decision.

I once again pulled tranny, took it to have rebuilt, they did fix the linkage and I did pick it up 2 days later. I installed it. The result, now leaking out the back somewhere. Give me a break. The good news, it's under warranty. Frustrated and days later, I took the car to the transmission shop and they did fix it along with replacing tranny coolant lines for a mere 50 bucks. This is fine by me!

I only lack the exhaust leak, being a 1966 engine the outlet on the exhaust manifold is smaller than the original pipe. The muffler shop made a custom nipple with reducer. It worked great however one of the exhaust manifolds mounting ears had broken off in the past, it leaks in that area as of right now.
They did go ahead and inspect it.

I drove it to work today.

The moral of the story, patience is key and go the extra mile, it's worth it!



There are still many things I plan on doing to this car which I will post as I do them.

[maverick75]

Looks great! Big bumpers work on 4 doors

[kyle1972]

congrats on gettin the car running, looks good, its awesome to see other people driving 4 doors lol

[Comet Fever]

Thanks guys! Here is a pic of the dash area:



Next step is to see if I can get the small exhaust leak fixed, I have some ideas to try before I purchase another exhaust manifold.

I purchased this car because it was a 4-door. When you reach my age, you don't really like climbing out of the back of a 2-door car. I'm thinking of my friends and relatives who ride with me. I've already had many people ask me if I would sell the car.

The answer is NO!

[mavgrab302]

congrats, the car looks great... I love more doors....

[Comet Fever]

Because of the weather, mostly rain, I didn't do much work to the car this past weekend. I did buy some plugs, points, feeler guage and rotor to tune her. Gapped the plugs at .034 and installed them. I then opened up the distributor to find out that there was no points but electronic ignition. The guy I bought it from must have installed the distributor from the 250 engine with the Duraspark ignition.

Of course I'll take the electronic ignition over breaker points any day however I had to take the plugs back out and regap them to .045 and reinstall. I also removed the remainder of the AC hoses that was flopping around the engine bay. The factory AC had already been removed.

And something scary happened, while doing the tune up, I checked the oil, found it to be 2 quarts low, strange, I just checked the oil less than 50 miles ago. Could it really be using this much oil? Anyway I filled it back up and drove to the store and then noticed oil dripping from underneath. I opened the hood and the power steering pump which hasn't been mounted yet (I have to make a custom bracket for it) had rubbed a small hole in the oil filter causing the leak. I was in luck, a Autozone was right across the street, I bought another oil filter and 1 quart of oil and changed the oil filter right there in the parking lot with little mess.

Those aftermarket guages I have will be installed pretty quick as you can't trust idiot lights.

Needless to say, I drove home and got to work on that custom power steering bracket to get the pump somewhat mounted so it would not rub the oil filter anymore.

[Comet Fever]

More pics coming soon.

[josh thomas]

You looking to adopt another son?????

... talking about your sig lol

[Comet Fever]

Ha Ha Ha, Sorry, no more sons. 2 is enough.

[don graham]

Nice looking car. Congratulations. Go out and enjoy it.