72 Mercury Comet GT in Germany

Sweet ! Had me grinning like a warthog with a ceramic ass !!! You have done well !!!

 

Finally, I'll be working on the Comet again. It's on a lift for an assessment of the situation.
Current plan of attack:

• Remove mechanical clutch linkage. Remove Hooker Headers. Remove Steering box.
• Install Borgeson steering box.
• Try to fit the Headman headers around it.
• See how I can fit a hydraulic slave cylinder. Running a T5 behind a 164tooth bell with an adapter. Current choice: Wilwood pull style slave cylinder.
• Complete hydraulic clutch with the kit from modern driveline.
• Complete the power steering setup, probably with a Ford pump and the matching hoses to the Borgeson box.
• While I'm changing out pulleys: Finally switch to an electric fan setup.
• Have an exhaust shop fit the headers to the existing exhaust system.

There'll surely be some problems along the way. I'll let you know

 

Sounds like a lot of work coming up but hey thats why we buy these cars. If there are no problems then you must be doing something wrong . LOL

 

I am curious why you are running a 164 tooth flywheel.
I have always had 157 tooth flywheels behind my 302 and 351 motors.
I am really trying to recall ... 157 tooth flywheel goes with an 11" clutch? Is that one bigger?

 

The bellhousing and flywheel came with the old toploader. Probably came from a 351ci engine.
Put a pricey Centerforce clutch on it.
Can't see me swapping out all these parts just to go with a 157 tooth bellhousing and a push style slave cylinder.
So these will stay...

 

157 tooth flywheels use 10 or 10 1/2" clutch
164 tooth flywheels can use larger 11" clutch
David

 

I have the modern driveline "adjustable" clutch master, it is a nice piece: http://mmb.maverick.to/attachments/2020-12-24-08-23-57-jpg.126845/

I saw this newer kit recently and thought it was really neat and addresses some of the geometry issues mine may have: https://www.moderndriveline.com/sho...maverick-75-81-granada-hyd-clutch-master-kit/

That setup takes up less space on the engine-bay side than mine does.

 

I have Borgeson box on my Comet about 8 years; had to get the positive caster to 3 deg. as the company states to get alignment where the car steering wheel would return to center after a turn. Also, before it would track properly.
I'm using Saginaw pump, had some sensitivity issues above 45mph, wound-up installing shims in the pressure side of the pump. Using Ford pump you may not have the sensitivity issue. I assume the pressure on Sag. pump is greater than Ford .

 

@xpsnake, that is the setup i used - i just got the larger size master. the centerforce clutch is pretty stiff, so i might need all the force i can get.
@mojo , i am aware of the issues you had and will keep them in mind when putting the car back together!

I went through my plan again yesterday, and bought a complete maverick front dress for the engine, used off ebay.
I thought I could use some parts I had left over from my bronco, but read on the differences between the passenger vs driver side inlet of the water pump, different heights and different belt routings. So a complete kit with all the maverick parts will come in handy, instead of buying overpriced billet aluminum pulleys later on.

The kit comes with a power steering cooler. Does anyone have a picture of it's stock mounting location? Couldn't find one on here, and the master parts catalog has no specific drawing for it...

 

Basically water pump inlet moved from passenger to driver side beginning 1970. Bracketry & pulleys can vary on both types. I dunno if Maverick used a cooler.

 

Thomas:
Here are a couple of pictures of where my OEM original power steering cooler was mounted, will give you a general idea of its location, only pictures I could find........take care!
David

 

first bump in the road... that ebay deal for the complete pulley/ps kit fell through. i was able to source individual pieces, though. some here in germany, some through ebay. i found that i already had the ps-pulley, that came mismatched with my bronco.

second bump in the road: i need a new water pump. old one was leaking through the weep hole, so i ordered a new one.

the electric fan with shroud for the champion cooling radiator is a nice unit, though. clears the water pump alright, as the center of the fan sits below the center of the water pump. will start wiring that tomorrow.

also, i measured the movement of the clutch fork at the stock location of the push rod. measures 1", so the pull cylinder with 1.38" throw is more than enough. the parts for the hydraulic clutch should all be here next weekend, so i'll remove the old z-bar assembly tomorrow.

pictures to follow.

 

Here's the situation in the front:


Shroud and fan installed and wired, with the exception of ignition, I'll grab that off the coil.
I put the switch in the thermostat housing. Running a 180° thermostat, the switch is 200° on, 185° off:


Partially removed the z-bar setup, but only the block side. The frame side is stuck somewhere between the steering box and the header.
I guess I'll take off the hood next weekend, for easier access. Then out with the master cylinder, so I can measure the steering column, rip the old steering box out, remove the driver side header, install the Borgeson box, install the hydraulic master - you get the idea.

Unfortunately, my master cylinder is nearly empty. I'm running DOT5, so the stuff in the inside of the rear right wheel is not gear oil, but probably brake fluid. Looks like I need to rebuild the caliper, as I have no other visible leaks on the hose, fitting or the bleeder screw.

 

Well, now we are getting somewhere....
Here's the front end of the engine, water pump back on, as well as the original nice soup bowl of a crank pulley:


I then went on to remove the complete exhaust. Getting the hooker headers out was a bitch, too...
But look how well everything fits! The Hedman 88300 fit like a glove and clear everything by a mile:




But sure again, a bump in the road - the steering coupler is not 11/16-36 but somewhat larger, I suspect 3/4-30, wrongly labelled. So I'll see where I can get the right part over here.

I'll take out the headers again tomorrow, knock off the black paint and use some high temp ceramic paint.
The clutch slave cylinder is here, maybe I have the time to fab a bracket for it.
But the rest of the modern driveline kit won't be here before next week.

 

Well, clearance was not as good as mentioned above - tightened the steering box today, it is very close to one of the pipes. May need some massaging there:


Put on the (wrong) coupler, just to see how close the box will get to the firewall. At the bottom, the coupler actually is inside the cab. The cover plate will need some cleareancing and I don't know how I will seal the cab yet:


I took out the heater box, as it has a cracked corner, where the mount to the cowl sits. I had a firewall insulation from way back then, and I tried to fit at least one side today - but nothing really lines up. Has anyone used it successfully?