For some reason, I can't upload pictures, I don't see the "Albums & Pictures" setting, and I'm not in a position where I can resize and upload the pics I have. I'll post pictures whenever one of those situations changes. So, after years of false starts and missteps, I've finally started in on really getting my family Comet back up and running. It's a '73, two-door, 302. At the beginning of the summer, I dropped her off at the mechanic with the request to give her a full going over and tell me everything that's wrong, what's major and what's not. I'll fix what I can, I'll let them fix what I'm not comfortable with or don't have time to work on, and everything will be good. The list I got back was long, but mostly positive. Most of it's going to be simple, and most of it I can do myself. One U joint was badly worn, one was broken. The upper and lower ball joints need replaced. The idler and pitman arm need replaced. Heater hoses, vacuum lines, and power steering lines all need replace. Rear lights are entirely inoperable. Rebuild carburetor. Repack front wheel bearings. Heater fan doesn't blow and temperature slider is stuck. Change the brake fluid. Various oil leaks that need identified. I also know that I have seven "new" and one old spark plug, which I imagine isn't helping things. The big problem is that they ran a compression test on the engine. Seven cylinders passed, but the number 6 cylinder only pressurized to about 60 psi, instead of 100+. They told me that means I either need to rebuild or replace the engine. As I've grown more than a bit attached to this car, I feel a bit like she wouldn't be the same car if we swapped out the engine. I mean, the engine's kind of the heart and soul of a car, right? If you want to be sentimental about it, at least. Rebuilding is apparently going to be cheaper than replacing anyway, so at some point I need to do that. For now, though, I replaced the U joints on Friday, which went really smoothly, once we had the right tool for the job. As a bonus, the disturbingly loud clang that happened every time I shifted into reverse is gone now. Shocking what a difference non-broken parts make. ;-) Today, we replaced the driver side upper ball joint. It took a while for the parts to arrive and the light ran out on us before we could get to anything else. I'm pretty sure I can handle replacing the other three ball joints on my own, so that's a bonus. I've also got all the stuff I think I need to work on rewiring the lights in the trunk. That one's going to be an adventure, I think. I figure once I get the car mechanically sound and road legal, I'll start working on the cosmetic and body stuff. The rust in the pictures (that aren't there yet, but will be) is largely cosmetic. The back underside of both rear wheel wells (not sure what they're actually called) do have some deep rust issues that'll need addressing, but I'm not even sure where to start with those.
Looks like a solid car. Need to keep the Comet numbers up here . It took me a while to learn but another good tip is to click on the "new posts" link at the top. It searches all the latest updated threads...a real time saver.
