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Projects 64 Comet Build for Sema.....Its build time....

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Total Performance, Jan 10, 2011.

  1. Kustom.Falcon
    Joined: Nov 1, 2010
    Posts: 502

    Kustom.Falcon
    Member

  2. 30trad
    Joined: May 17, 2009
    Posts: 34

    30trad
    Member

     
  3. umassjj
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 45

    umassjj
    Member
    from MA

    echo...echo...echo



    [​IMG]
     
  4. ClearSpot
    Joined: Aug 20, 2009
    Posts: 941

    ClearSpot
    Member
    from Michigan

    Howz about a Happy Ending Total P ?
    Your leaving us right up on the edge!
    Good Luck,
    Myron_
     
  5. 30trad
    Joined: May 17, 2009
    Posts: 34

    30trad
    Member

    What has happened here it was a great thread but has just stopped dead? where you at?
     
  6. teddisnoke
    Joined: May 24, 2005
    Posts: 1,138

    teddisnoke
    Member
    from So Cal

    Aaron's probably up to his gills with finishing up the car for its debut!! "Bout this time last year, I know I was shittin bricks wondering if I'd pull off getting the Rocket to the show. Good luck, Aaron, and we are ALL pulling for you to get 'er done!! Can't wait to see you up there!!!

    Dale
     
  7. 30trad
    Joined: May 17, 2009
    Posts: 34

    30trad
    Member

    did this car ever get finished?
     
  8. Cyclone64
    Joined: Jan 3, 2011
    Posts: 22

    Cyclone64
    Member

    Hello everyone. I am restoring a 64 Caliente myself and my personel deadline to finish the car has come and gone. Hope TP finishes the build and shows us here the final product. Don't know if it made it to SEMA or not. Just following the cool build. Jim
     
  9. So, Did either of these two Comet's make it to SEMA - I didn't see either one!
     
  10. Paul_G
    Joined: May 14, 2009
    Posts: 71

    Paul_G
    Member

    Saw this picture on Bangshift.coms SEMA coverage (beautiful car):
     

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  11. FEDER
    Joined: Jan 5, 2003
    Posts: 1,270

    FEDER
    Member

    I also saw some pics at sema of the convert, Its a real stunning car for sure. Fed
     
  12. Django
    Joined: Nov 15, 2002
    Posts: 10,198

    Django
    Member
    from Chicago

    Yeah, Troy's convertible was super sexy. Didn't see the hardtop.
     
  13. 65COMET
    Joined: Apr 10, 2007
    Posts: 3,086

    65COMET
    Member

    The Total Performance 64 Comet build seems to have disappeared!!! Was hoping we would get to see a finished product by now. ROY.
     
  14. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    Hey guys! Firstly SEMA was a blast! I had one of the best and most productive shows I’ve had in quite a long time.
    I loved seeing the cars that my friends and HAMB buddies have been working so hard on!
    <O:p</O:p
    Troy’s Hollywood Hot Rods early Comet looked mind-blowing – It sat killer and really represented well at the show. Troy, it was great to see you and a pleasure to meet your sweetie, I’m stoked for you and her to enjoy the car. You have to shoot me the pics with the new wheels and tires when you get them slapped on. I’ll catcha later or see you at the Grand National.
    <O:p</O:p
    The Reybestos GTO was a very special car as well, I wasn’t able to talk to the guys at the event but hats off to the crew at Hot Rod Cassis and Cycle. The car was a great all-around performance and show worthy car! Great stuff.
    <O:p</O:p
    Cotati Speed Shop and my good friend Zane Cullen came through again with a really beautiful 27 Ford. I’ve said before that his attention to detail, visionary mind and super talented staff create some wonderful pieces that are sure to be iconic in the future. On the fun side he also brought a mid 60’s GMC truck that he has equip with Miller (his sponsor) welding equipment and all that would be necessary to be a mobile “road service” vehicle. Including the period correct finish!
    <O:p</O:p
    Secondly, I appreciate the support on the build and the words of encouragement! For those of you who know me and my tenacity know that I would never just let a project go. Though as I said earlier in the build; I will not sacrifice the quality of the build for just “showing up” and making the deadline. I was justified in that just looking around at the other beauties at the event, gotta go big or not go, it has to be right. Truthfully if all had gone well and according to plan we would be gloating now, buuut, were all car guys and know that’s not the way some things go. Also as I said earlier, the goal was 2011, and if we went into 2012 then that’s OK too. Remember, the shop is footing the bill for this build, not a customer. Not to mention we went from a shop full of employees to me and a part time skilled worker (Strike one, economy!). That really hurt. We started our retail store as well, a plan that was over a year in the making (thank God for family helping out) that took both time and money (Strike Two). And the unexpected bumps in the road on the project (Strike Three) such as the time frame, getting the car back from paint and having to redo the front unibody leaving three months to go, then with the front end sheet metal on the racks an unattended visitor knocked it onto the floor with realistically a month to go. Fenders, hood and all had to go back out to get stripped and reshot. Not to mention the rear suspension setup that was on again off again from a sponsor after we prototyped it for them to mass produce. They said it was in the mail for almost a month before they finally said it was not going to happen for this year’s show so they didn’t want to send it to us. Leaving us three weeks to custom fab, paint/coat and set up a new suspension setup. There are a few more things but I’m still going to write this thing up and bring you up to date so I’ll save it for then. Heavy Sigh…..Honestly, The same stuff that happens to all of us. We just put a crazy deadline on ourselves. What the hell, what doesn’t kill ya makes ya stronger and I’d do it again. Besides I’ve met a ton of new contacts and have a bunch of new good buddies from this one. And connections for the next build. Good stuff. There’s a lot more to add as well so stay tuned!
    <O:p</O:p
    The PSYCLONE lives! Stay tuned, I’ll get the updates up here shortly. It’s coming out killer!
    <O:p</O:p
    -Total Perf<O:p></O:p>
     
  15. 65COMET
    Joined: Apr 10, 2007
    Posts: 3,086

    65COMET
    Member

    It is good to hear from you! Sorry about all the setbacks!The setbacks may have been a blessing as now you do not have to rush anything! Keep us informed. ROY.
     
  16. 30trad
    Joined: May 17, 2009
    Posts: 34

    30trad
    Member

    Yeh man firstly glad you are alive and well and that psysclone is still coming along. Looking forward to some updates,
     
  17. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    Alright then- Heres some more of what were doing!

    We had fabricated a triangulated four bar setup to run our shockwave style rear suspension on the car. Comets and Falcons (64-65) differ a tad from body style to body style and we had fabbed what we feel is a solution for the Falcon/Comet body styles with the exception of the Ranchero. We then sent it back to our sponsor partner only for them to tell us they wanted to wait on production. That part I talked about before.

    Time to rethink-



    So from there we had to get on the stick, we went down the road to Alston Chassisworks to get a canted 4-bar rear suspension featuring,
    We had to get this system for another build anyhow so we figured we might just give it a try. We drove up and grabbed one, came back placed it on the floor (picture of that to come, its here someplace) and then placed it in the car to see what it might take. We found that while it is an amazing kit, it is marketed as a universal and the guys didnt know how much floor would go bye-bye. We found it was going to be almost all of it from the rear floor pan to the bumper. The cross bracing for the bags and the sway bar were right in the way of the tank. Not a big deal but at this stage we knew this system was overkill for the car and we still had a shot of making the show. So we went and rethought out our options.

    Remeber the car is painted, we figured we had a rear suspension that was gonna bolt right in bofe things changed. Now this, tons of cutting was not an option.

    Below is a picture of the car with the tires and the car with so much paper on it that it be under the Christmas tree.

    Positive thing here was we were able to see just how much tire we could fit in this wheel opening with the housings cut out inside to the stock inner frame rail. The tire pictured is a 305 35/18. Im going to get a 45/18 or so to give her a bit more side wall. I didnt need anymore tire in there, it looks awesome. With that tire fitting with the unibody rails intact I realized that we might as well use the factory rails. Due to our original bar mounting locations this is a bigger tire than we were going to get originally. One more good thing due to me wanting to have a nice beefy stance.

    At this point we decided to due a semi homemade kit and call our friends the Horton's at Welder Series to get the parts I needed to get this baby sitting right and functional so I can drive the wheels off! Below is a pic of the Welder Series components spread out on the floor. These are top quality products that have the added bonus of letting us play with them to get them to be perfect for countless applications.

    Next I'll detail the install of the rear suspension.
     

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  18. That looks sweet!!!!! Love those back tires.
     
  19. 30trad
    Joined: May 17, 2009
    Posts: 34

    30trad
    Member

    man thats a lot of tire on a comet.. Its going to look killer
     
  20. WelderSeries
    Joined: Sep 20, 2007
    Posts: 768

    WelderSeries
    Alliance Vendor

    Nice! Thanks for the update.
     
  21. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    Thanks!I like the big meats on the back. That and the correct ride is gonna make this thing so agressive looking.

    Total Perf-
     
  22. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    One of the main issues with the unibodies in these cars is they are completely bent up of galvanized. There great if you want to leave them alone, though if you want to weld to them then it poses the problem of contaminated welds and adhesion issues. Not the nicest looking welds. Not to mention it is toxic as hell. We were also concerned about the strenght of the this unibody frame rails supporting the weight of the car with the triangulated 4 bar.

    Our soulution was to clean the galvanized off as much as we could chemically as well as mechanically. Secondly we fabricated inner support structures for the framerails by laying thicker steel inside the rails to help with the weight bearing areas and strength. These areas hold the upper front supports and carry back to the sway bar and Shockwave / coil over support. during this time we ripped out the factory shock supports and cross member. We also formed a reinforcement for the lower torque box area, this is the area that holds the lower front bottom link. For this I took 2x4 inch DOM retangular tubing and cut it to suit our needs. It took a while but it fit perfect and will be very functional to disperse the weight and torque of the car. Here's some shots of the beginning of the process before the fine tuning.
     

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  23. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    These are the lower bar supports we made from 2x4 rectangular. These go in the torque box areas to support the lower 4 bar mount and the sub frame connectors.

    Total Perf-
     

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  24. umassjj
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 45

    umassjj
    Member
    from MA

    I'm still tuned in! Keep it coming!
     
  25. No_Respect
    Joined: Jul 27, 2005
    Posts: 1,172

    No_Respect
    Member
    from So-Cal

    Wow glad to see progress its hard when its just you fronting the bill... Keep it up!!!
     
  26. Chuckles Garage
    Joined: Jun 10, 2006
    Posts: 2,365

    Chuckles Garage
    Alliance Vendor

    This looks like it's coming along. Setbacks are no fun at all.....especially when its all on your shoulders and then someone else hoses you. Its true....what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger. I did a SEMA deadline 38 Chevy last year, STRESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

    You down for another round of team Strange Bird 2012? Hahah!
     
  27. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    Thanks for the kind words!

    Here's a few shots of us using the Welder Series parts and making them fit the proper dimensions for the Comets unibody. We had to chop quite a bit from the units and reform some of them extensively. But thats actually a plus with the Welder Series components. You have enought to do this and make it all custom to your application. Just remember to measure twice and cut once.

    Attached are some pics from quite awhile ago when we pulled out the rear suspension of the car and set the junk yard sourced Ford 9" in the car. We had to accomodate for the car being slammed and laying the driveshaft in the trans tunnel. So we offset the pumpkin and at the same time set the pinion angle so the universals will lubricate and move through the suspension travel angles correctly. More on that later.

    Also here is more pics of the inner frame supports rough welded in, again, welding on galvanized sucks. Make sure you clean it the best you can.

    Total Perf-
     

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  28. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    After the rear is set in there, and my "imaginary" lines from the trans to the third member are calculated we were able to establish where the mounting tabs on the frame boxing supports will be welded to hang the suspension. After that we found the angles that best worked for the car and started to trim the Welder Series components to fit. Sounds kinda easy but it really took awhile to make sure its right. You may have noticed the blue tape all over the car and floor. As well as all of the writing on the ground. Those are all measurements to get the car going down the road straight and the suspension to work correctly. Im old school in this respect. I do all of this off the lift or rack, this is done on the part of the shop floor that is laser straight and if there is a mistake than I know it was most likely mine, or........Matt's. Yeah, Matt's, thats the ticket.

    Anyway, here are the pics of me chopping up the awesome Welder Series components. Great stuff here guys and they are HAMBers, so they get it.

    Total Perf-
     

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  29. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    These are the bottom bar mounts that go from the frame area under the torque box area to the bottom of the rear end bracket. You can get these as pieces or as a prewelded unit, we actually went with pre-welded and then as usual we had to cut them apart, modify and reweld them. We cut a piece of the inside mounting area down and moved the mounting brackets in. Perfecto!

    Total Perf-
     

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  30. Total Performance
    Joined: Jan 4, 2011
    Posts: 1,496

    Total Performance
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    We got the brackets rough welded to the rear end and now Matt making sure the bars fit properly and the heat didnt mess up our measurements. Note the tabs on the top of the axle are mounted one facing front and one facing rear to help stabilize the load on the arms a well as ease movement. We welded the lower mounts and the upper mounts in stages about 3/4 inch at a time so we could avoid as much warpage as possible. Even then the remaining oil in the housing was smoking us out of the shop as it got hot. Thats why Matt is at by the door. Clean this better than Blake and I did and save your lungs.

    Also when your setting up your housing in the car make sure to set it at ride and your pinion is correct for your build, once you have that then tack on your brackets at 90 degrees floor. This way your shocks/coil overs/air ride will travel correctly, straight up and down.

    Total Perf-
     

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