72 Mercury Comet GT in Germany

How did your Borgenson steering setup workout?
B4 doing the drive-train, have u considered a possible wheel tire balance issue? Not saying, the problem not in the train area - just inquiring about balance issue.
I had a vibration issues, driveshaft was bent and out of balance, another issue -- exhaust system contacting chassis somewhere. When I changed long tube headers for shorties -- high frequency vibes disappeared. Exhaust sys. issue was resolved simply by chance - had no idea it was the issue.

 

no work done on the borgeson yet... i need a plan of attack for the replacement of the clutch linkage, and i haven't found a decent solution yet.
i have considered a tire balance issue, especially as they are the old style torq trust wheels with washers and shank lug nuts, which no place over here could balance lug centric.
but judging from the frequency, it's driveshaft, not wheel. and by pressing the clutch and the vibration not disappearing i should have ruled out anything before the clutch. my engineer buddy from ford is also quite sure that the driveshaft is the culprit.

 

You stated 5th gear at 80 mph ... I was going to ask if it did it in fourth. Pushing in the clutch may rule that out, but you may want to try it. Also neutral with the clutch engaged.

Have you looked into centering rings for the wheels? They can take up the slack between the hub and wheel. Pretty much a must-have for front wheel drive cars running custom wheels.

I had a 70 -75 mph vibration once that ended up being a bent wheel. It would still balance which was what was so baffling. Above or below that speed it was fine, so it had me chasing driveshaft angles and motor and trans mounts for a while.

 

i'll take the wheels off my falcon van (see photo above) and try if it changes anything.

 

pulled the t5 today. tailshaft bushing is totally shot. yoke was running on copper, and has wear marks. transmission is back together with new bushing and seal.
will put a new yoke on the driveshaft, but will have to repair the t5 adapter plate first. stripped one of the bolt holes. coil insert should be here on saturday, so i might have the car back together this weekend.

 

i think my major driveline issues are solved. i can easily hit 110 mph now without fearing something will rattle loose.
the t5 adapter plate was fixed with a coil insert. it was not easy, but i was able to remove it without pulling the bell.

had a different issue today, stuck needle in the rear bowl. luckily the qft carbs come with sight glasses, so that was easy to diagnose.

all in all, this car still is an absolute blast to drive!

 

Well, here we are - roughly a year later in the midst of a pandemic...
As I figured the virus doesn't stick to rust or grease, I spend quite some time in the garage

The Comet is still on the road, I had a fellow German member pick up some parts from my NOS parts stash earlier this year.
I still did not install the Borgeson, but installed a unit in my Bronco. That was a very good upgrade, so I still consider it for the Comet.

Currently I'm debating a new set of leaf springs for the car. I have a set of JRS springs, which I bought new in 2010.
They were the ones with the wrong sized rear eye, but I resolved this issue. I found someone in Germany copying the Del-A-Lum Bushings, and he made a set of bushings for my car.
Still, it either sits too high in the front - or too low in the rear. I could level it by cutting the front coils, but the long tube headers are already hanging too low.
So I'm considering a new set from a different brand. Eaton ships internationally, but that would set me back $800...

Also, I need to do something in the front. Tires are touching the corner of the front valance in tight corners under load - a.k.a. drifting. Found that out during a driver training course.
Problem is that I needed to shim the upper control arm, as I couldn't get enough caster with the factory adjustments. So the driver side front wheel is sitting fairly forward in the wheel opening.

I'll post some updates as I go along!

 

Interested in following the Borg. install when you get around to it. I have it on my Comet since 2015. I have the Borg. supplied kit hoses, rag joint & Saginaw pump. I had to install shims in UCA's and pressure side of pump to get car driving properly.

 

As far as the Borgeson swap is concerned, I'll still have to plan some things ahead.
Will I keep the stock equalizer setup for the clutch? Should I switch to a Moderndriveline unit with a hydraulic throwout bearing?
And I need to figure pulleys and belts, too...

As far as my rear spring situation is concerned, I shopped around at rockauto a little.
From the description, the 74-77 shackles are 4", contrary to the early ones with 3.5". Maybe because of all the weight of the large bumpers?
Anyway, I bought a set and will see if it brings the ride height to where I want it.

 

It's possible the longer shackles were for a slight height adjustment. In addition to the impact test those bumpers also had to meet a certain height specification. The goal was for all cars to match up bumper to bumper on impact.

 

Looks like I‘m not going to find out. Order cancelled, item out of stock. Rare Parts manufactures a set, I‘ll have to look where I can find them with decent international shipping options.

 

Good to see the update and you having a good time with the car.
Have you seen the idea of taking an Econoline van rear main spring and using just the main leaf from that along with a few of the car leafs to make your own spring pack? It is still something that I would like to do here. It was discussed here pretty heavily years ago.

I always prefer more spring rate if you need more ride height instead of trying to accomplish it through longer shackles. The shackles you are talking about are only a half inch longer, so I don't think you would notice enough difference at the axle. Might be less than a 1/4 inch. Longer shackles almost always just means more slop in the whole rear setup, and will affect the handling is a very negative way.

More rear spring rate should help reduce understeer, too. I know my Comet really needs this. Usually, a handling improvement installed actually will have bigger gains at the other end of the car (i.e. bigger front sway bar should make a car less tail-happy, rear sway bar reduces understeer). I forget if you have a rear sway bar, but space around the rear axle is so tight on these cars, that usually complicates exhaust routing. An old school alternative to no rear sway bar is more rear spring rate. You can probably go up to a 1/3rd more spring rate than what came in these cars before it would get objectionable. These were sprung pretty soft.

 

Thanks for chiming in, Jeff.

I probably should have tried the NOS 6 cylinder springs before selling them, but now they are gone...
Currently, I have no used springs I could use leafs off of. I do have an Econoline, but I'd rather keep it driving

I have discussed the topic with my buddy who works at Fomoco. In charge of suspension system, so he should be a great help.
He also stated that the shackles should not make that much difference in ride height, so I might ditch this idea altogether.

We'll try to assess the whole situation next weekend and will also take into consideration the front driver side wheel.
The car does have a front and rear sway bar, where the rear is indeed a tight fit. But it's in there, and nothing is touching, so I think I'll keep it that way.

 

Not sure your Econoline is NEW enough .... the ones that were discussed were from the mid -70s on through 1990s I believe.

Cool that you have the rear sway bar and made it fit. Some leaf springs have more arch built into them, perhaps a spring shop could work with what you have.
More than anything, the rule should be to gain ride height, do it with changing the springs somehow.... no long shackles, no air shocks, no matter what we used to do 30+ years ago, LOL. Older and a little wiser now ...

 

There was a member who pie-cut the valance and moved it for similar reasons, I'll see if I can find the thread.

Edit: photos are long gone but you can get the idea
http://mmb.maverick.to/threads/17x10-wheels.79878/page-4#post-814683