'73 Mercury Comet - new project in Poland

[buba6]

Hi and all the best from Poland!
I am a Muscle Car lover and always wanted to have one. Over last 3 years I have rebuild a 78 Vetta getting from this:

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ended up with this:

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it was a total frame off restauration, the base car was in a very bad conditio, as it turned out when after 2 months it arrived in Poland.

It turned out as a nice car, but totally couldn't drive it, the cornering was bad, handling even worse. The other thing is that I always wanted to have a blower sticking out of my hood and they look stupid in a Vetta :)

So one night, checking copart auctions I bought this beuty:

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So after it arrived to Poland, this time, it turned out it is even better than on the photos. Recently I have bought a set of heads and a weiand 174 blower with holey carb, etc. so I will be ready to fulfill my blower dream :) As you can see the car is prepared for drag racing, and as we do not have a single drag racing track in my country, but on the other hand I am located in the mountains with great roads, I need to rebuild the car in such a way that it will go fast around corners and kick some euro and japan racers ass. Spending lots of time onthis forum I have decided to go with:

http://rcmotorsportsinc.com/rc-106-complete-conventional-coil-spring-conversion/ or 107 kit for the front and

http://www.globalwest.net/1967-1968-1969-1970-1971-1972-1973-mustang-leaf-springs-bushings-shackles-global-west-suspension.html
Mustang road racing leafs classified as Cat5 leafs 1-1/4" drop - part # L-11CAT5 (http://www.globalwest.net/l-11cat5.html)

It looks like a good choice as for price to performance. I need to make good choices, as every thing I order in USA needs to be shiped to Poland, which takes 1 or 2 months and pay extra taxes and so on.

So what do you think about this setup? Or is this to much for a start, can I get good results in a cheeper way?

[Red67Mustang]

Welcome!
If you're really going to try and make the car handle, the rear leafs and stock front suspension geometry are definitely going to keep you from impressing the (to us) import crowd.

I've had great success with the 3-link from www.streetortrack.com Maybe it can be adapted to the Maverick/ Comet (which is fundamentally the same chassis as an early Mustang).

However, I think I've never seen a corner-carving car that had a blower sticking out if the hood. To me the two are incompatible.

[Knoxferatu]

I think you'll have great success moving forward with your plan as described. In fact, I think you might consider a more conservative approach to the front suspension. I believe another look at Global West will turn up a solution for both the front and rear. With your blower in place, rear wheel traction will surely be your biggest challenge. Please consider installing a good roll cage before burning up the curvy mountain roads in your supercharged Comet!

[buba6]

Yes, a roll cage is a must have! We will bild one for sure. I was thinking on using the stock set up for the front, not doing the Mach II conversion, but it looks like the rack and pinion style steering is a better choice.
The oryginal plan was to build a fast drag racer, but after dryving my Comet as is, I was a bit scared the way it handels, so I need to do something with this.

[buba6]

So we started working on the car, first parts, after 2 months arrived in Poland. Bellow some first pictures:

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[Dave B]

Looks like a pretty solid car. I was out in one of my Mavericks today...

[buba6]

As for the metal work, the car is in perfect conditio, zero rust, the body is just perfect!

[Nothingface5384]

ah.. not seeing a mercury comet anywhere, unless you installed a maverick grill/bumper on your comet?
other then that, cool cars!

[Nothingface5384]

btw, if you plan to do a rack in pinion install while keeping shocktowers/stock style control arms
it'll be cheaper to just do a rods and customs mustang II frontend kit versus buying upper/lower tubular control arms with coilovers/or shocks and springs and then UMI performance rack in pinion kit...comes out allot cheaper plus you get rid of the crappy strut rodS and shocktower delete is a plus too!

[Dave B]

btw, if you plan to do a rack in pinion install while keeping shocktowers/stock style control arms
it'll be cheaper to just do a rods and customs mustang II frontend kit versus buying upper/lower tubular control arms with coilovers/or shocks and springs and then UMI performance rack in pinion kit...comes out allot cheaper plus you get rid of the crappy strut rodS and shocktower delete is a plus too!

Unisteer now makes a Maverick/Comet kit. But still more expensive combined with decent suspension. Mustang II kits are so outdated, there is better out there.

[buba6]

I have decided to do the first step with updating what I have right now. So the plan for now is:
- work on the body, install a roll cage, braces, etc.
- do the engine
- rebuild my existing suspension in to a bearing option, build custom struts, install sway bar, do the shelby drop, etc. than we will see how it handles and decide for the next steps. I have a lot of tools and machines, so it is easier and cheaper for me to do some parts on my own.

[Nothingface5384]

Unisteer now makes a Maverick/Comet kit. But still more expensive combined with decent suspension. Mustang II kits are so outdated, there is better out there.

Yeah thats who I ment, I had umi performance on the brain for some reason

Failing to see what's better though

option 1: upgrade to tubular upper/lowers with choice of springs/shocks or coilovers/shockwaves
shelbydrop with TOPORANGER roadrace bellybar and HD export/monte bar.. ..loose cool HD roadrace belly bar if you go with unisteer rack..
either keep crappy power assist, switch to manual or unisteer R&P

option 2 upgrade to Fatman Fabrication kit/RRS/Gateway Performance which has strut/lower arm setup/coil overs with rack

option 3 RC M2 kit which has upper/lower control arms and R&P

[buba6]

Finally some progres on the build, worked on the heads.

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[Dave B]

Very Nice!

[buba6]

Did some work on the rear end. Sand blastet the housing and powder coaded it, installed new gears seal and bearings. Any tips what oil to use in it?

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[buba6]

Yupi, the roll cage is there! Ready for painting...

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[Bonehead]

You must be a real car guy to live that far away from the origins, pay that much more than anyone else and wait that long for parts and pieces to be delivered. I salute you! Good luck on the build and keep the pictures coming!

[CruizinKev]

nice! :twothumbs looks good so far!

[buba6]

Unfortunetly it turned out that the seal I have ordered for my rear end was a wrong one, some one switched tchem in the box and I have received the wrong one. So I need to order a new one, wait for it and this sets me back for another 3 weeks :/

[capri v8 driver]

It looks good!

Light car and a big engine makes it fast. I you want to turn it into a corner carver it may be a good idea to look into a late bmw 1 or 3 series suspension. You can find them pretty easy in Europe.


You must be a real car guy to live that far away from the origins, pay that much more than anyone else and wait that long for parts and pieces to be delivered. I salute you! Good luck on the build and keep the pictures coming!

Waiting for parts to come from the U.S and the higher cost are a problem for Europeans.

[buba6]

Had some time to work on the engine, cleaned the engine case, repainted it and put the new ICON pistons on the rods. Next week assembly time!

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