Customs Why is this car NOT a good choice?.

Hi everyone. I posted on here a few months ago a 1960 comet that I had picked up and had hopes of turning it into a streetable gasser but was told by some members on here that it was not a good choice of a car to do so. Since then, I have been pounding my head on the roof trying to figure out WHY I was told this and can NOT come up with a answer. I have been doing research, finding pics and still dont get it. Could I PLEASE get some feedback on this as I just dont understand why this car is not a good choice to do what im looking to do. PLEASE, ANY FEEDBACK WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED ON AN EXPLANATION.... Thanks.

 

There's no reason that I can think of. It's your car, you can do what ever you want to do with it, right?

Kevin

 

Put it in context and re-post your original statements.

 

What car? I dont see any pictures.

 

First mistake might have been trading the vette. That era is coming on stronger with collectors. OG Thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-1960-comet.1024424/

I would make a fun cheap cruiser out of it.

 

Like Rusty O toole posted in your other thread, the Comet is basically the same car as the Falcon. There have been lots of Falcon gassers built, look around and see if you get any ideas from them. Somebody on here has one with a Chevy engine and tilt front end.

If you stay with the stock suspension, later model Granada or Maverick disc brakes should bolt on, you'd need spindels and all. You'll probably need a narrowed rear unless you find a V8 Falcon 8" rear, they are plenty strong enough for the street. Some kind of frame connectors will be a must have, those unibody cars flex a lot anyway, and if you go messing with the suspension will flex even more.

Personally I'd just upgrade the front end to later discs, maybe lower it a bit, upgrade to a stronger rear, and drop a later 302/5.0 carbed engine with a 5 speed behind it and drive it. Be a lot better handling car than a jacked up straight axled gasser would be.

 

Your $$$, Time, Effort, If that floats your boat, Go for it ! Went and looked at pic's from your original post, IMO, looks like alot of Work, $$$ to me, do you have the skill's, tools, time ? The Place, you said, you have, Good Luck !

 

Have seen lots of comet and falcons as gassers! Can't come up with any reason not to build your comet, quit thinking about it and get to work! Send pictures


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The Comet,Falcon and the Fairlane were all basically built on the same platform ~ any of them can be built to emulate a gasser.

TINGLER built this Fairlane several years ago,

 

Build it and enjoy it. I get a lot of good information here and overall this is a great site but I've always thought that members here worry a little too much what others think about their ideas or projects. fortunately I've gotten old enough and grey enough to just do what I want to do and screw everyone who doesn't like it.

 

Is it a 4dr?

 

from his other thread:



I can think of several reasons why it's not a good choice, but you probably don't care about them...have fun!

 

My first response, "build it and prove them all wrong." Then I looked at your original thread: two guys not enthusiastic, several others very enthusiastic. I guess I just don't see the problem.

 

Needs alot of work body wise, but wud be an excellent gasser style car....

 

The first hurdle to get over in the early '60s FoMOCo compacts is the unit body construction. You can build a front stub along the same lines as a back halfed muscle car and it is doable. It is work. Unlike the GM counterpart the front stub does not unbolt, if it were me and I needed a car on a truck chassis I would just build a chassis for it and be done with it.

One can be built using the existing suspension and later model hubs to get away from the 4 bolt wheels. it would be an easier build if it were built along the lines of an early '60 NHRA car. Not really lifted, OEM type of suspension and good up lock shocks. But it wouldn't have that street beast look that you are probably after (@squirrel 's car is an exception here its an altered wheelbase car that he drives).

 

Do what you want,
From your statement in your other thread, it's going to be a street car that looks gasser esqe.

In my opinion such a car should refrain from associating with the historic form and term "gasser" because it usually has no intent of being such. Its a retro faction of the pro-street effort to emulate a pro stock race car. The next logical progression is "pro touring" which is your comfy long haul street cruiser pseudo race car.

Build for yourself not what might others happy.

 

Gassers suck. They are terrible to drive on the street and hiway, and can actually be unsafe, as in falling over on their side in a hard turn and being generally unstable in steering and braking. Lots of guys will say "I drove my gasser for years no problem" well if they did they drove it slow most of the time and not much fun doing it.

Also it is unnecessary. Gassers were built at a time when tires were primitive and jacking up the car was one way to get traction. The fad died out in the late sixties, as better tires came along. Today they would laugh you off the track because that style of car is so much slower than the new cars.

Having said that, your Comet would make as good a gasser as any and better than most. It is a light weight, 2 door sedan with room for a V8. All good features if you want a strong, light, powerful car.

Best and easiest would be to keep the stock suspension and jack it up a few inches and run a 289 or 302 V8 or if you feel real ambitious, a 351. You would have the gasser look and a car that was not totally hopeless to drive. Since you already have a 289 I would go with that, if it runs decent or can be overhauled at reasonable cost.

Next would be the "show car" look with tube front axle, jacked up 2 feet higher than stock, with a huge supercharged V8. Such a car would be practically undriveable but would get some oo's and ahhh's from people who think they know about cars but actually know nothing.

 

Come on Russ tell us how you really feel......

 

You traded a corvette?


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Just do it. Who gives a crap what others view as a good choice. You choose what you like and build on it. If half of the engineers and designers cared with others thought we wouldn't have some of the cars we've all grown to love.


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Have you done anything on the car since June?

 

There is NOTHING wrong with doing that Comet into a Gasser style car. And I would straight axle it Long before I would jack up the stock suspension on a Falcon/Comet/Mustang - due to the suspension design, if you bring them up very far they get horrible control arm angles and terrible bump steer at that end of the wheel travel. I've talked to the guys that ran some of the famous Falcon Gasser and FX cars of the day with lifted stock suspension and they have told me those cars were pretty scary on a rough track. A straight axle with a Mild height is a perfectly good, driveable vehicle if you do your homework on the setup. There are Millions of JEEP's and similar stock vehicles on the road that drive just fine with a straight axle - not to mention EVERY Traditional Hot Rod. When done correctly they aren't unsafe and they aren't going to fall over in a turn. If you go to stupid heights, like the Street Freaks of the later 70's and 80's, yeah, you're going to have problems, but most REAL straight axle Gasser cars did NOT sit all that high - they just look that way when launching off the line.

 

Sometimes I feel like this is Facebook for hot rodders. Don't get me wrong, I love the HAMB but sometimes there's just too much if "what do you think?" or "do you like it?" kind of threads.
Build what you want out of that comet despite the many different opinions you will get. In my opinion it will make a great looking Gasser or altered wheelbase car.

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The main problem with these cars is the flimsy body shell. Designed and built for a small 6-cylinder motor, put a heavier/more powerful motor in them and body flex/cracking becomes a very real issue. The frame rails are the same gauge metal as the fenders... When Ford added a V8 to the Falcon/Comet line in '63, they beefed the V8 shell with much heavier gauge frame rails, rockers, shock towers, and added torques boxes connecting the frame rails to the rockers. Install a set of weld-in fabricated frame rails and you'll be fine.

 

I'm thinking I need to take Rusty for a ride, next time I'm up north with my altered wheelbase car.

 

I would enjoy that. I bet it goes like hell in a straight line, for 10 seconds or so.

I'm also prepared to race for pink slips, sight unseen, against my 1996 Crown Vic no matter how much HP you have - provided I can pick the roads.

 

Yup. This is why my '60 Falcon is getting about 175lbs. of extra metal, to meet my strength specifications, and SCCA safety specs.

You need to beef these up, even with a hopped-up 6, like I run.

 

You are being fed a line of crap. That will make a fine gasser, as long as you add strength to the suspension areas, and tie the subframes together.

This will likely fit in nicely, as you likely have some rust repair to do, being from the frozen land of Nador.

I drive a heavily structurally modified '60 Falcon, which is this car, without the tail fins, and a different roof. The tub is exactly the same. I can point you towards places that it will need work, and where you can get the parts, or how to make them, depending on your skill-level.

Mine is road-race/slalom oriented, but the mods will carry over.

If I still lived in Connecticut, this car would have been a gasser by the end of last summer, and there would not be any more questions to ask.

 

Like this?

This one has an Explorer 8.8 in the rear, full width.

 

Jeep Cherokee's (XJ) from 1984-2001, or whenever in there they still had 2WD versions, had a solid axle in the front, just like the 4x4 ones, only it was just a tube, no pumpkin.

Shown here, on a stand:

Cut off all of the brackets, and you have a gasser axle. I bought one a while ago, just to get the brackets. it was $50, complete, with the spindles, rotors and brakes, which are rather conveniently also the same bolt pattern as Ford..