Captain's Comet

Jeff.....I would put some bass blockers on those front speakers.

 

Yeah Craig,

That is a good suggestion. I'll just have to see how it all sounds when it is all together. This whole system is really heavily biased toward the rear speakers anyway, especially with the rear amp.

 

I like this idea Jeff. I have some 5.25's w/ remote tweeter options mounted in the kickpanel. I have been thinkin abt moving the tweeters to upper door panels "surface mt", but really don't want to cut holes there for flush mount.
Im going to try this method. I don't think I'll have the seperation I want, but that remains to be seen. Craig mentioned the bass blockers; I have crossover nets w/ my setup already so that shud'nt be an issue for me...

 

That would be an excellent place to put separate tweeters. For separation, you could mount them at opposing angles, aiming for the windshield pillars.

I did get this installed and it turned out to be a bit of a struggle. I bet that speaker is mounted to the dash before the whole dash gets installed in the car. Retro-fitting it was not fun. But it is in ... I just got a "refuse to lose" attitude and it got there... about an hour later than I thought it would.

 

I looked at the dash closely today - I have the heater box and dash vent out so I cud see what is involved in putting the spkr's there. It looks like u said the spkr were mounted B4 dash installation. It looks like more than I want to deal with. If I had the dash out for some reason I wud do it. I don't believe the benefit I might gain for the change wud be worth the trouble.

 

Everett....it is worth the effort. I highly recommend putting a new dash speaker in NOW while you have the AC box out.

 

Mojo,

An "easy" way to do it ( as if any of this is "easy" ) would be to unbolt the original speaker and make an insert plate that would attach using the two machine screws that held the speaker to the bracket. It would be more than big enough for two component tweeters and you can leave the speaker bracket installed as is.

 

Well, after months of letting the Comet sit, progress has begun again.

At the end of November, it became apparent that making it to the NPD Ocala Ford show in January wasn't going to happen. I had pounded on the car pretty hard for a long time and could have slapped it together, but I would rather do it right, and far too much detail work needed to happen.

I decided to take a break and tend to a lot of other things around here that really needed attention, especially my daily driver, a 98 Explorer Sport. It now has new springs, the stereo is the way I wanted it (third try), great-looking tires and wheels, and everything works on it now. I had to chase down three electrical gremlins, it certainly is low mileage (70K on the odometer), but it is still 13 years old.

On to the Comet ... I started putting the A/C gear back into place. Here is a center vent that I freshened up ...



The one on the top is the original 1972 vent that came with the car, that I painted circa 1994 or so. The one on the bottom is a later vent that was in about the same shape, but I disassembled and painted it. The foam that I used around the bottom is actually for home door jambs, and the sides will need to be shaved down a bit, but the thickness ought to be OK top and bottom.

I have the defroster vent in, and of course, it fought me around the new dash speakers. Everything in there is tight, but it ought to be OK.

I am glad to be moving on this again. Hard to believe how much time has passed.

 

I have not ever noticed a vent like the top one before. And yes, time passes wayy too fast.

 

I have that top vent in my 72 Mav as well. My 72 Comet had the lower one...

Let me know which one you like better. The slats seem loose when hot on the upper one. Really annoying when you're trying to get cool air in August...

 

It might be that the top vent was more of a 1971 item. My Comet is a very early 72, (1579th Mercury made at KC, probably first several hundred Comets made there), so it has some carry-over 71 parts.

 

My Mav is a very early 72, built 9/71. Comet is long gone so I couldn't verify that build date, but you're probably spot on.

 

Lots of distractions here, but finally made some progress on the Comet ...

The defroster ducts were in conflict with my spiffy new dash speaker set-up. Fortunately, minor trimming of a couple of flange areas fixed it.

That little bit of momentum even had me out in the garage at 5 AM ... ... that plus it was only 79 degrees ...

Got the dash plenum mounted up to the defroster vents and the newly-restored center vent. I ended up going with the later vent, it just looked so good cleaned up .... simpler-looking than the early one... one of those details that is OK to have in the background instead of forcing you to look at it.

Posted a thread in the tech section ... two different styles of factory air boxes shown ...

http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=80508

 

wow ... it feels good to see this ...

I have had one distraction here after another, some minor, some as big as they get. I have resolved to do at least one thing to the Comet per day, however minor.

It will be really nice when this big chunk finally launches itself off of my workbench...

Completed A/C heater box ...



New heater core and fan motor, new seals, and repaired drain. Spare parts borrowed from the other unit I had here... cowl seal, vacuum can for the fresh air flapper.

It has been infinitely valuable to have two units to work with here, for parts and reference. I took a lot of pics of this, but being able to look at the second one in person is so much better, and I didn't have that option until I was already halfway through all this.

The drains were broken off of both boxes that I have here. The later one even has a boss molded in to protect it ... didn't work, so, I replaced the fiberglass boss with the brass fitting that you see hanging off the end of the bench. It is threaded on one side and has a hose barb on the other. Drilled the box out a bit, and threaded that into the fiberglass, just like using a tap. Then, I coated it in two-part epoxy. Now I just have to remember to NEVER set the box down on it.

Just doing a little paint touch-up on the firewall and this goes in.

 

Spent an hour this morning digging out the expansion plug that I installed in the original drain hole. This was mummified under insulation and thermal barrier foil. Took a while to find it. Loosened it up and couldn't budge it. Finally took it apart, and victoriously pounded half of all the way through. Nice sound to hear as it fell to the floor.

It is not the big stuff ... it is the details that will wear you out.

Installed the original bushing after verifying that it will work with my new drain hose size due to the repaired box drain.