72 Mercury Comet GT in Germany

Sounds sweet, very quiet inside at that speed.

 

yeah, it's the people behind me who always complain

 

here's some more impressions of today - a little cruise i went on with fellow members from a german mustang forum:

 

Sounds great; makes me wish I had a manaul box at times. Nothing sounds like the man box IMO. How does the car handle at 110mph? Never had mine anywhere nr 110.

 

I hit 90 ONCE. It was scary. It had plenty more but it was too shaky and the steering wheel was too loose.

 

i go 80 - 90 on the autobahn any day. thats about the usual travel speed over here.

car handles fine up to 100. stock suspension, kyb shocks, readjusted steering box.

over 100, things get a little shaky. you can easily feel the suspension wasn't made for speeds like this. flew past a truck the other day - when the side winds hit me after passing it, i had real problems controlling the car...

 

It was fun watching the windshield wipers getting a bit light in the video.

For higher speeds with these cars, a front spoiler will help a lot. The air the piles up under the car starts lifting the front end.

I had a 71 Torino, that at 110-120, you could give the steering wheel 1/2 turn before the car started changing direction. Steering input was more of a suggestion rather than an actual command.... and this was a car that likely weighed another 700 lbs more than my Comets. A front spoiler made a huge difference there.

 

jeff, i have a shelby spoiler lying around and was happy to see the other thread how to mount it. will go in this weekend

here's another video from yesterday:

 

i finally was able to use the lc-1 to tune my carb. what a great tool this is...

results are as follows:
347 ci stroker engine
10.5:1 compression
E303 camshaft
ProComp 190cc intake runner aluminum heads
MSD 6A ignition
timing 13°, 36° all in at 3000 rpm


Holley 1850, 63 primary jets, 25 squirter, orange in 1st cam
RPM VAC AFR
800 15 14
1000 16 13
1500 17 14
2000 17 17
2500 20 17
3000 16 20

Holley 1850, 66 primary jets, 31 squirter, orange in 1st cam
800 15 14
2500 17 12
3000 17 12
3500 18 14
4000 12 13
4500 11 13

i was doing this with a friend. we saw the mixture got pretty lean on the first run, so we jetted a little higher. i think 65 jets would be optimal, as the carb is a little rich in the lower rpm band. judging by the vac numbers, secondaries kick in somewhere above 3500 rpm.

doing the second run i was amazed how much power the engine puts out after everything is dialed in. with 4500 rpm in 4th i was doing 125 mph! i think i should be afraid now

 

Tody, looking at your vac numbers in accel that carbs way to small for your combo if. Your trying to get power and some milage from it start looking at the 4160 series 750cfm

 

the numbers were taken not in hard accel, but driving the car at a steady speed on a flat road. would that change your recommendation? i was thinking about using the 670 street avenger

 

it's been a while since i posted some updates. had to tweak the car here and there, i guess that's usual for a full restoration by a first timer like me.

driver side door glass had dropped due to the front plastic bolt not being fully seated - fixed.
lost my reverse gear as the clip from the hurst pit pack flew off - fixed with an old clip i had lying around.
mounted toporanger's export brace and noticed immediate improvement in handling. the shock towers had to be pushed quite a bit to make it fit. i guess that changed the wheel alignment, need to have that checked.

still on my to-do-list:
some head bolts are leaking coolant. as long as i can reach them i'll try to get them out one by one and put teflon sealant on them.
have the nissan kyb shocks waiting to be installed.
still have the shelby front spoiler lying around.
found a fairly new and cheap 670 street avenger carb.

front suspension will be a big project to come. the front end lifts itself up and makes handling a severe issue - at highwayspeeds above 100mph
i just acquired opentracker roller spring perches and will rebuild my uca's with roller bearings. for the lca's, poly bushings should be sufficient. haven't decided what to do with the strut rods yet.
when rebuilding the uca's, i'll try to remove some width to get the shelby drop done. this should be sufficient for a street suspension...

 

if it weren't for bad luck...

will pull the engine next weekend. tried to fix the coolant leak, but the first lower head stud in the driver side won't hold torque anymore.
but while i'm at it, i might as well pull the heads and look for any hints to the still very high oil consumption.

 

When I lived in Stuttgart, I had to use DHL or Armed Forces Pacific for smaller items. DHL charged me $2,100.00 for 750 lbs, then I found a former military member who had gone into the shipping business himself in Nurnberg and used his services to move items through Customs as well. Although a rough calculation, I probably had spent a 1/3 of the cost in shipping alone. Adds up fast when companies know you are overseas and either send you less than desirable quality or the wrong parts. Both painful and costly - not to mention time on the telephone late at night due to time zones.

+1 on the undertaking; a larger job than I'd have time for! GREAT JOB Tody!!!

Russ is right on the carb size - you are leaving potential out...

Consider taking your car to Peter Schropp http://www.schropp-fahrzeugtechnik.de/ He's one of my best friends and knows the Ford product. He also has a brand-new set of 3:08s that I left with him to get your rpms down on the autobahn - if you are so inclined.

 

yeah, schropp is working together with dr-mustang.de, the biggest us car community over here. he's pretty well known for his work on newer stangs.

but i think he won't be able to resurrect this engine. fresh 347 stroker, only 3500 miles on the rebuild. couldn't believe my eyes when we pulled the engine and the heads today. cell phone photos only, will take better ones tomorrow:

pulled the plugs first, all dark and sooty. cylinder 1 on top right:


passenger side head:


matches the block:


pretty much the same on the other side:



closeup of the combustion chambers:
1-2:

3-4:

5-6:

7-8:


i stared in disbelief at the cylinder walls. rough wear on each and every one of them, doesn't come out too well on the pictures:




let me state that i kept an eye on oil level and oil pressure. the engine never ran dry or too hot. if you read through this thread you see that i complained about an oil burning problem right from the beginning when i noticed this the first long drive. i'm at my wit's end, and i guess i will have to start with a fresh block. if the cylinder walls look like this, i guess i'm in for a set of new pistons as well. i fear they won't look any better than this.

now that sucks.