1965 Mercury Comet Project

[Miss Daisy]

Hi Guys ...

I'm seeing light at the end of that tunnel for you Josh.

Roy, if you ever do get to the east coast you, Josh, and I can definitely talk Comets - three nice ones as different as they are nice! It has been my pleasure getting to know both of you!

Bob

[Miss Daisy]

WOW Josh, I just looked at Woody's project site and I see that black beauty all put together and backed out of the shop!!
Yea - Yea - Yea!

[Miss Daisy]

WITH Virginia plates ON it! Come on boy, quit keeping me in suspense! What's the status????

[gearheads78]

Car is looking great I have been following it from the beginning. As an armchair builder IMO the hardware store brass fittings stick out like a sore thumb.

[Krashyman]

WITH Virginia plates ON it! Come on boy, quit keeping me in suspense! What's the status????

Hi Bob. I just got back from Cincinnati -- took the whole family out to look at the Comet. It is reeeallly close, but I wasn't able to drive it because of a problem with a part in the transmission. The shop thinks they know what the problem is, and they'll be trying to get a new part quickly so things don't get bogged down now that we're near the end.

Also, we might change the exhaust. Right now, the exhaust dumps under the car right before the rear end (uses turndowns on both sides). This is because there are clearance issues on one side of the rear end (because of a stabilizer arm that is on that side). We're trying to figure out if we can work around the issue and have the exhaust run out the rear -- we already bought the tips, so it would be nice to use them. But, the turndowns might need to stay as is.

We were shooting for an end-of-March delivery date, but we need to wait and see on the tranmission issue. The exhaust issue won't slow things down. The car looks amazing in person, and I can't wait to get it.

Thanks,
Josh

[Krashyman]

Car is looking great I have been following it from the beginning. As an armchair builder IMO the hardware store brass fittings stick out like a sore thumb.

Hi Richard, thanks for following the project. You're talking about the fittings in the plumbing at the front of the engine bay? If so, is it just the color that you think doesn't go well with everything else (becuase everything else is stainless)? If so, any suggestions? Thanks, Josh

[gearheads78]

Hi Richard, thanks for following the project. You're talking about the fittings in the plumbing at the front of the engine bay? If so, is it just the color that you think doesn't go well with everything else (becuase everything else is stainless)? If so, any suggestions? Thanks, Josh

To me its both the brass and the style of fitting. The rest of the car is just too nice. Looks like something from the Home Depot plumbing dept. Just something as simple as siver Aeroquip or similar fittings would look 100X better IMO.

Please don't think I am knocking your car. I am a detail freak and it jumped out at me.

[Krashyman]

To me its both the brass and the style of fitting. The rest of the car is just too nice. Looks like something from the Home Depot plumbing dept. Just something as simple as siver Aeroquip or similar fittings would look 100X better IMO.

Please don't think I am knocking your car. I am a detail freak and it jumped out at me.

Hi Richard,

I didn't think you were knocking the car at all. As I've said from the beginning, I welcome all comments (including constructive criticism), and I think the car has become a better overall product because people have been willing to tell me what they think. Obviously, I don't always agree with all comments, but it never hurts to hear what people have to say.

As for what you said about the fittings, I actually agree. I know it took a lot of work by the shop to make that part of the plumbing work the way it should, and I was happy with the functional part of it (I hadn't focused on the aesthetic part). Now that you've pointed it out, I see what you're saying. I'm actually going to ask the shop about it and see if there is an easy way to change the fittings.

Thanks again for your input!

Best,
Josh

[Miss Daisy]

Thank's for the up-date Josh. I feel much better now that I've had a recent "fix"! lol
You have to be feeling like a seven year old kid waiting for Christmas!

My best to you and yours - tell your Dad I said hi.

Bob

[Miss Daisy]

?????

[Krashyman]

Hey Bob,

Thanks for checking in, and sorry I haven't posted for awhile.

Here's more detail on the problem with the transmission: Turns out that the hydraulic throwout bearing for the clutch was a bad part. The manufacturer of the part was good enough to step up and send a new part to the shop . . . it took awhile, but arrived last week and is being installed by the shop now.

The other thing that happened was installing the exhaust. We're using the Art Morrison Max G chassis, and the suspension in the rear has a panhard bar that runs at a diagonal from the frame at one side of the car down to the top of the rear end. This means that there are clearance issues with running the exhaust over the axle on that side of the rear end. Anyway, the initial solution was just to dump the exhaust before the rear end by using turndowns under the car. After some research, however, we decided that we really wanted to run the exhaust out from under the car and to use tailpipes (and we already had bought the tips). So, the shop called Art Morrison and found out that the panhard bar could be bent up to 22.2 degrees without affecting the geometry or harming its structural integrity. The shop was able to bend the bar only 16 degrees to get the clearance we needed, and the exhaust now runs up and over the axle on either side of the rear end (under the panhard bar on one side) and out the rear on both sides under the back bumper. All that's left to be done is to install the tips.

I've included a picture of the exhaust and the bar after it was bent. I've also included a couple of pictures of the car pulling out of the shop on its fateful first test run. All of these are on Woody's webiste (I took some additional pics when I was in Cincy, but have not downloaded them).

We should only be a couple of weeks away from the car being completely finished and delivered (assuming no more problems with testing), and I'll post again when I know more.

Thanks,
Josh

[novanutcase]

Lookin good!!

John

[Bryce]

nice comet

[Cometose]

Great to hear the loose ends are getting tied up, especially getting the pipes out the back. Look forward to lots of pics when it's done
and delivered and maybe a video of this badboy?!!

-Joe

[Krashyman]

Thanks all. Nice to see you're still around the site, Joe, hope all is well.

Here are some pics from yesterday's test day at the track. I wasn't there, but the shop said the Comet did pretty well. A couple of minor issues (some tire rub when there is a heavier load on board and some tuning issues), but nothing that can't be tweaked in short order. It's getting reeallly close!

[Cometose]

NICE!! Glad the shakedown resulted in only a few minor issues.
You sir must be getting extremely anxious, congrats on a mighty fine looking ride...and I'm sure it's gonna haul arse and handle just as well!

-Joe

[Miss Daisy]

Nothing short of BEAUTIFUL!!! Pant pant pant

Thanks all. Nice to see you're still around the site, Joe, hope all is well.

Here are some pics from yesterday's test day at the track. I wasn't there, but the shop said the Comet did pretty well. A couple of minor issues (some tire rub when there is a heavier load on board and some tuning issues), but nothing that can't be tweaked in short order. It's getting reeallly close!

[hechtrod]

Agreed, that's a beautiful car Krashy! I really like how it turned out. Now get some vid of the trackday up in here.

Any pics from the backside?

[Motown 454]

Josh the car looks great , glad to hear the test run went well. Its good to hear its only little tweeks needed.

[1971CHEVELLE]

Awesome car