So what is the trick to swap out a brake light switch on a 71 Comet GT 302? I have no brake lights. I crawled up under the dash to peer around. I can barely see the switch. What's the trick? Hire a midget?
A buddy replaced mine less than a year ago. I couldn't do it because of a double fusion back surgery I unfortunately had, but I did watch him. I think the trick was having enough light to see and just being flexible enough to move around in such a small space. He actually got it out and the new one in pretty easily.
This is one of those things you do without looking...you have to feel for it. If you have a clutch pedal...disconnect the pushrod from the clutch fork and then the pedal will stay on the floor and be out of the way. The drawing below shows the pin on the wrong side but you get the idea
Oh baby. I'm with RedGrabber---not have had the back surgery's but at 61 I do not bend like I did when I was 17. I'm thinking, since I am refurbing this Comet, of pulling the front seats. The carpet can be swapped out at the same time. Laying my big fat ass on my back, getting my equally as big hands up under that dash. Swap out the switch. They used to call us Corn Fed Whiteboys.....I call it cheeseburgers and beer.... OK, so I get the hands up there to do a swap. I see one of RTHOMAS' magnificent diagrams. BTW, the toploader is ready to be installed. Trans is in good shape. The shift rods and levers are in. The shifter was from a guy who sells retro-1966 Mustang stuff. Next is to pull the trans, swap out the clutch and throwout. I am researching the best throwout bearing on the market so this will be the last--final--forever and ever--clutch this car will get.
I installed mine last spring when I did the disc swap, seat all the way back, on my knees peering up under dash... No at 64 it ain't easy but I still manage...
I raise mine up on the lift high enough to see under the dash, that puts it where I can just reach under and guess at it...
I would assume while my big hands are feeling up my steering column to swap out the brake light switch, I should replace the ignition switch at the same time. It has been in the car since it left STL in Oct of 71. Also yesterday, the starter solenoid stuck on. I just put a new one on that car. But bought it from a lower end parts store. I had installed Pertronix to replace the points. WHen I fired up the engine the starter motor stuck on. I put in a new Standard Blue Streak solenoid but I am thinking the starter itself might need to be swapped out too. I bought the ignition switch which mounts on the column. I did one on my 80 F100 last summer. But this Comet is much tighter for room.
OK, got the brake light switch in, am still struggling with the locking pin......I am going to try to insert the locking pin today or this weekend. I can honestly state--the Pertronix unit I installed on the Comet 302 was one of the best swaps ever. The car starts almost instantly now. I drove the Comet yesterday for the first time in 26 years.....thump thump thump thump went the tires for a couple of blocks. Brakes pulled to the left then the right then sorta--kinda--leveled out. I need to adjust them. Lots of deja vu. Sort of a time warp. I never imagined I'd still own this car after all those years. AND driving it brought back some fun memories. I stomped on it in 2nd gear.....yeah baby. That light body with that warmed up 302 has some guts. I think it rounded out the tires in the rear in front of the old biddy's place down the street---with some rubber left on the pavement. Exhaust is loud with the open mufflers at the axle. I mean way loud. Those turbo mufflers are blown out. As soon as I get confident on the car itself I need to get it to the shop about 10 miles away to get the exhaust system rebuilt. After several miles I came back to the house. No oil leaks, no water leaks, no strange sounds--other than the car alarm on the Jeep-- tires flatted out and stopped thumping flat spots. I remember installing KYB's all the way around just before storage. They all are working. No leaks from any of the four. The SW manual temp gauge only went up to 160. I know it has a 180 thermostat in it. I used a laser pointer temp sensor on the intake. It was at 190. So it looks like the gauge will need to be swapped out. I did pull the AM-FM Ford radio out so I could see better down on the brake pedal, that will remain out. I want a late model radio installed over this factory model. Ebay might get a sale.
