Hot Rods Southeast Gasser 65 Comet Super Stock Wagon

Well the front portion moves upward so they close together so no extra clamp needed and you want to rears to open up like this.

 

Yes I know I have Tri City springs on my Nova

 

Thanks for the tips. I am always willing to listen to someone. Even after 50 years of hot rods and race cars there is always another point of view worth paying attention.
It only took me 30 years to learn to pay attention. If I had of done that earlier in life I would have probably been a master machinist.
My dad had all of the equipment in his shop , but I wanted to be a baseball player. Well now I am not either one.
I have already added a crossmember to strengthen the floor board and be a top mount for the shocks. I need to get weight on the car to see how long to make the pinion snubber also I am going to put the motor and trans in the car so I can set the pinion angle.

 

The rain drove me inside this afternoon after I got off work. So to not waste any time I got the bellhousing on and got the fork pivot adjusted after pulling the transmission 3 times and then looking on the web and calling the Spec tech line .
I tried to get an air gap between the pressure plate and the throw out bearing and so I adjusted the pivot ball . The only way to adjust it is to pull the trans out . It just didn't look right so I go on the internet and find 2 different points of view. So I call Spec clutches ,the company that built my setup and asked their tech rep. The throw out bearing stays in contact with the pressure plate all the time. This is a clutch setup that is built for a Fox body Mustang and a cable clutch. These setups have many small tire mustangs in the 9's in the 1/4 on 275 radials and a T5 trans. So my 7 inch spec Hoosier's should work well with this combo.
It is very light pressure just enough to spin the bearing but not enough to make the clutch slip. So that's done and the trans is bolted up and the shifter got it's final adjustment.
I am ready to set the engine in the car . It will be Monday before I can get it done. It is supposed to rain all weekend and my solar garage has a roof leak. I will put my easy up over the car if Monday looks like rain.
I am going to measure the motor mounts back to the shifter so I can cut the trans tunnel before I put the whole thing in that way I can leave the shifter on and just take the handle off.

 

Looking good, was the shifter worth a crap?

 

It works. Thanks . I took it apart and cleaned it apart and cleaned it and sprayed it with dry silicone lube. I made the mistake of putting grease in a shifter once and it became a dirt magnet.
I have seen some pro racers back in the day take the boot off and pour motor oil on the shifter and then put the boot back on.
Do you like my Speedway shifter rods ? I shouldn't bend them. They sell them in various length's just order what you need and get some right hand and left hand thread heim joints.

 

Hard to see, but is the shifter just supported by two bolts? As long as they are, even if there are three, I'd be worried about them flexing when you shift hard.

 

Shift rods look great. My top loader setup has bent rods, not sure how much I like it.

 

Mike,

The engine and transmission look great. I can't wait to see it sitting in the car.

Steve

 

No there are three Grade 8 bolts inside of sleeves that are spacers. The same setup that I had with my inline shifter that was on my Morris Minor Gasser. They are in a triangle so the strength factor is better.
The spacers are needed to get the shifter out from the trans enough to line up with the shifter arms.
It will be part of my between race maintenance to check them for tightness. I installed them with a drop of Loctite to help.
It should be in the hole by Monday. I have to wait until I get another golf course check to buy my starter to see how it sounds.

 

As long as you're comfortable with it is all that matters. Myself, I'd have to weld some kind of gussets to each spacer, but I'm known to overbuild things!

 

Thanks for that tip! I too did the disassemble, clean and lubricate on an old Hurst shifter...but I used grease as the lube (looked like grease had been used previously). I'll take it apart one more time clean and re-lube with silicone spray. Again, thanks.

Oh yeah, nice thread. Yours is one that I watch with interest.

 

In applications that I'm concerned about lubricant attracting dirt I use overhead garage door lubricant spray. Its not supposed to attract dirt while lubricating the exposed overhead track/wheel assemblies on a garage door. Not sure its the best method but it works for me.

 

I wouldn't consider that "overbuilt" but I agree with you.
That shifter is really extended out there and regardless of the grade of bolts, I would suggest welding those spacers together with a piece/pieces of flat stock to help each bolt be supported by the others.
It might be fine on a street car but I predict that will be getting some abuse.

 

It will get 2 passes during qualifying and max 4 passes during eliminations per race.
Then it goes home for maintenance. I might consider building a support between the spacers.
I will look at it some more before I put it in the car. It never loosened up or was a problem for the guy I originally bought the transmission from . He ran it for years with an inline shifter with the same length spacers and bolts.
It won't get many street miles . Just to a local cruise-in once or twice per year.

 

MY wife and I decided to take a night off from the car and go to a race at Knoxville Dragway.
It was an outlaw 10.5 race with some heads up index racing . I am interested in the 7.00 class.
It is something that I can run when I am not running Super Stock with the SEGA.
We got there and were surprised at how small the crowd there was and then the delays were terrible.
It seemed like they spent more time with track prep than actual racing and there was only one car that put anything on the track. Every time the radial cars got ready to run they had about a 20 minute delay to drag and spray the track. They only had about 10 radial cars and the rest index or dial in cars.
We got there at 4 pm and left at 9 pm because we were bored.
They still hadn't run a round of elimination's in the radial tire outlaw classes. Then the they had 4 car show for the nostalgic pro stocks . The announcer was terrible at building up the crowd .
Sometimes it would be 10 minutes of silence and then he would just call up the next class and not say much about anything of the cars and the drivers. We are used to going to the SEGA races where the announcer talks about the drivers and the cars and really lets you know what is going on .
Needless to say we were turned off by the experience. We paid 20 bucks to get in plus the drive to get there and the best part of the night was our stop at Sonic drive-in. where we treated ourselves to a Oreo cookie bits Blast.
Now I need to bust my butt working on the car today to work off those calories from the ice cream .

 

I am definitely biased, but the Southeast Gassers is the best racing association going. Best racing, best cars, best personalities, etc.

 

Do Knoxville Dragway a favor, send them an e-mail letting them know how you felt about it. You are well spoken and conveyed your thoughts well here. They can't make improvements without input from you, the spectator. Too many strips are losing the spectator battle and ending up closing.

 

I agree with Hangemhigh, at least send them an email.
I had a similar experience at Sacramento raceway a couple years back. I brought me, the wife, two daughters, my stepson and two of his cousins who had never been to the drags. (Yeah, a bunch of $$) They had a great variety of cars but long down times and no one at the mic explaining why we’re down, what’s coming up and what’s on the track. Not much of an impression on the “next generation”.
I emailed the track and actually got a call from the track manager. I stated my impression of the event and was very pleased with the response and concern. It turned out that the regular announcer wasn’t there and they didn’t have a suitable backup. I’m not sure it did any good but I felt like I did my part. I’m sure that in the course of putting on an event the promoter doesn’t always have time to look at the big picture but in this case they seemed to appreciate the input.
The wagon’s looking good!


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I will contact the track .
well I managed to get everything under the car welded up and then I got out my 12 dollar Tool Shed brand paint gun and shot the under side of the car with semi gloss black.
Waiting for the paint around the core support to dry so I can drop the motor and transmission in the car. It's looking like rain this afternoon so I may have to wait until in the morning.
I might just put the easy up together and try to get it done anyway. I am getting tired of delays.

 

It's on tires at least the back ones. I bounced it as hard as I could with no shocks and nothing hit so I guess it's good to go. Now I can measure and build my pinion snubber and figure out my rear shocks.
Loaded the motor into the car this morning . Working by myself as usual. so I wacked the the core support to get the motor to clear. I will make it a bolt in piece for easy motor swaps.

 

Working on a new crossmember for the transmission. Since this is a Mustang trans in a Comet everything is in the wrong place.
So I bolted up the shifter and mocked up the seat location to check out where the crossmember will run . It will probably wait until Thursday because I work tomorrow afternoon at the golf course. I hate to lose a day of working on the car ,but if I don't go work I can't buy parts.
I might try and get on with Amazon this fall after the racing season is over. They hire a lot of part time workers and pay them well. They start at around 18 bucks an hour and you can basically choose your schedule.

 

Got my transmission crossmember in Friday . Had to work yesterday and today so this is my first chance to post a picture.

 

A little lighter

 

Thanks. I even had a light under the car when I took it. Poor camera operator I guess.

 

I got my roller bearing coil spring mount kit . It is a pretty neat kit .It comes with 2 pre sized pieces of pipe, 4 roller bearings and all new mounting studs and nuts. Plus some washers to act a guide for your hole saw. It eliminate the rubber bushings on your coil spring mounts so your suspension doesn't bind when the car launches.
The kit comes from Daze cars. He is a very fast shipper and the kit cost $ 56.49. It took about 2 hours per side. Who would have thought skate board parts would end up on my Comet.

 

Well wish us luck. We have to pick up a uhaul car trailer this morning and drive to Fl. load my sister's car on the trailer and all of her stuff and then turn around and take her to Michigan and drop off the trailer and be back home in Athens by Sunday night.
Not a pleasure trip by any means. My brother is there to get my 99 year old mother and take her home with him. My sister has taken care of her for 8 years and told my brother it is his turn to step up and take care of her. I just hope she makes the trip alright back to his house in Michigan.
She really does not like his wife so that should be interesting dynamic at his house.
It will probably the last time I see my mom alive so not a fun trip by any means.

 

Have a save trip.

 

Mike, have a Great and safe trip (I don't envy you, lots of miles)! Treasure this time with your Mom, Carp.

 

My thoughts are with you. My dad turned 100 in May but our family could only do a drive by to celebrate his birthday due to restrictions in place at the retirement complex he lives in. Hopefully the trip goes OK and you can all get together in Michigan when your mom turns 100.