[Jetfixr320]

Lou,

Any updates?

Jet

 

[Arabian454]

Lou,

Any updates?

Jet

Hey Jet, haven't been on the site it a long time, life got busy!!

But Comet is sitting in my shop in its final coat of surfacer all it needs is wet sanded and paint. Been picking at it, finished dash and got it painted. Started with sound deadening and I'm sure some other stuff.

Transferred pictures to photobucket and then photbucket changed their policy have some photos other places and will post some pictures later this evening.

Got to meet Dennis this past fall at my local drag strip, which was cool!

Lou

 

[RAGGAREN]

good to see you back Lou...
figured you gave up on us.....

i have been redirecting everyone over to
Postimage.org ? free image hosting / image upload
free and you can share pictures as much as you wish...:grin2:

looking forward to some updates.... :smile2:

 

[Arabian454]

good to see you back Lou...
figured you gave up on us.....

i have been redirecting everyone over to
Postimage.org ? free image hosting / image upload
free and you can share pictures as much as you wish...:grin2:

looking forward to some updates.... :smile2:

More along the lines of giving up on the Comet for awhile. Late 2015 son and his wife had first child, a boy, our first grandchild. Then spring 2016 son graduated med school, bought house and started residency 9 hours away moving them, traveling etc took up most of my free time for awhile. Then took some big projects at shop, life was busy. Projects are done, going to see son next sat for a week or so. Then when I get back plan on getting back to the Comet.

Thanks for the link I just uploaded some pictures, get some time tomorrow I will post some updates.

Lou

 

[Arabian454]

Ok, loaded some pictures. All major panels are done, fitted, gaps are all done, and car is in it final coats of primer/surfacer. All ready for final wet sanding and paint. A few updated pictures of car in final primer with all panels and gaps done.







While car is sitting waiting for me to come up with the money for paint I have been doing what I can to the smaller stuff, such as dash, sound deadening, hood pins, engine compartment etc.

First I worked on finishing the gauge panel part of the dash.





I made a small box on the backside of dash to hide a couple switch's and a power point for cell phone, navigation, what ever. Helps keep the clean smooth look on face of dash that I am going for.

Next I made the glove box panel and end cap. Here are all the pieces mounted in car.



Still going for the clean, smooth look I didn't want the glove box release button showing. Figure if I could hide it the dash would look much cleaner.

Wasn't too hard, I made a lever/fulcrum bracket to mount on the back of the glove box cover panel. The top part of the lever rests on the original button and the bottom part of lever will have a opening in the bottom to access it, when lever is pulled it will release button and open glove box door.

Parts I gathered to make fulcrum.



Picture of lever/fulcrum



Mounted to new glove box cover.



To keep everything tight and keep it from rattling, the pivot rod goes into rubber grommets and both ends of the lever have rubber caps. This actually snugged up everything to the point I didn't need to use any springs and nothing rattles

Picture of dash from the bottom, where you can see the openings for the switches and glove box release.



One of the things that I love about doing cars. Is one thing always leads to another. With the new dash done I didn't like how the bottom of old dash was. The ignition switch was too high, didn't like how the heater controls stuck out, and really didn't see a need to keep original cig lighter hole, wiper switch and headlight switch hole. Esp since I had a place for hidden switches and cig lighter/power point.

So I eliminated the holes for the H/L switch, wiper switch and cig lighter. Moved the hole for the ignition switch lower, and recessed/frenched? in the heater controls. Which helps with the smooth look.

Picture of bottom of dash roughed in.



Picture of dash with bodywork done, in primer, ready for paint.



Couple pictures of dash painted.





Went back and forth between gloss paint and satin paint for the top of the dash. Worried the gloss would throw reflections from light thru windshield. But liked gloss. Went with gloss because if I do have to change it because of reflecting, it will be easier to change to satin, and I like gloss lol.

Pictures of gauge panel painted with gauges and indicator lights sitting in place.



Glove box panel painted.



Pieces are all wrapped and in boxes for now. Still have sound deadening, wiring, and some other things to do before I can assemble dash.


Lou

 

[dennis112]

Good to see you posting pics of your work again Lou. Your work is always Topnotch.

 

[BrewBoy]

Beautiful work. Just thinking out loud here- wouldn't it be cool if the leading edges of the hood scoops matched the angle of the headlights?

 

[Arabian454]

Good to see you posting pics of your work again Lou. Your work is always Topnotch.

Thanks Dennis, sooner or later I will get her done! Just wish it would be sooner lol

Beautiful work. Just thinking out loud here- wouldn't it be cool if the leading edges of the hood scoops matched the angle of the headlights?

Thanks BrewBoy, not sure about the hood. Really wish I had the factory optional Cyclone hood.

Lou

 

[Arabian454]

One of the other things I needed to do before paint is the hood pins. Been going back and forth on whether I wanted hood pins for too long. I really like the clean look of no pins,,,but having experienced what can happen with out them as a driver and as a pass, plus not a fan of crites fiberglass quality I decided to go with pins.

First thought was to just replace the hood bumpers with pins. But that put the pins too far back for my liking and I really like having the bumpers to keep the hood adjusted.

First step was too position the pins where I liked them.



Made some measurements and taped the plates to the hood



Drilled the holes through top of hood. Instead of screws that loosen over time, strip out and such I wanted to bolt the plates on with nuts on the inside. Where I positioned the plates there was a rib on the underneath. So I decided to make a relief?? Area on the inner panel where I could fit a additional scuff plate to finish it somewhat, use nuts, and make it stronger.

I first made the fiberglass cups, they needed to be large enough to fit scuff plates inside. Found that the lid from a spray can of Tuff Stuff cleaner was the correct size. Took the lids, some fiberglass cloth, and resin/hardener. Sprayed the lids with mold release and made my cups.





Got a hole saw the correct size and drilled the holes into the inside hood panel.





Drilled the holes thru the cups and bolted them in place.



Then trimmed the cups to match the shape of the inner panel. Instead of using fiberglass resin to glu them in I used 3 m 08115 panel adhesive. Resin produces heat the adhesive doesn't. After all the hours I got into this hood I didn't want to risk any distorting with the heat.

Cups trimmed and glued in.



Since I moved the pins forward of the rad support I needed to make some mounts for the pins.





After making sure everything lined up and hood opened and closed with the pins in place I sprayed the underneath of the hood with two coats of epoxy



The reliefs look factory,,like they belong ther. After some flash time I spray couple coats of primer surface on the underneath of hood and it is now sitting ready for final wet sanding and paint.

Lou

 

[Randy Honkala]

One of the other things I needed to do before paint is the hood pins. Been going back and forth on whether I wanted hood pins for too long. I really like the clean look of no pins,,,but having experienced what can happen with out them as a driver and as a pass, plus not a fan of crites fiberglass quality I decided to go with pins.

First thought was to just replace the hood bumpers with pins. But that put the pins too far back for my liking and I really like having the bumpers to keep the hood adjusted.

First step was too position the pins where I liked them.



Made some measurements and taped the plates to the hood



Drilled the holes through top of hood. Instead of screws that loosen over time, strip out and such I wanted to bolt the plates on with nuts on the inside. Where I positioned the plates there was a rib on the underneath. So I decided to make a relief?? Area on the inner panel where I could fit a additional scuff plate to finish it somewhat, use nuts, and make it stronger.

I first made the fiberglass cups, they needed to be large enough to fit scuff plates inside. Found that the lid from a spray can of Tuff Stuff cleaner was the correct size. Took the lids, some fiberglass cloth, and resin/hardener. Sprayed the lids with mold release and made my cups.





Got a hole saw the correct size and drilled the holes into the inside hood panel.





Drilled the holes thru the cups and bolted them in place.



Then trimmed the cups to match the shape of the inner panel. Instead of using fiberglass resin to glu them in I used 3 m 08115 panel adhesive. Resin produces heat the adhesive doesn't. After all the hours I got into this hood I didn't want to risk any distorting with the heat.

Cups trimmed and glued in.



Since I moved the pins forward of the rad support I needed to make some mounts for the pins.





After making sure everything lined up and hood opened and closed with the pins in place I sprayed the underneath of the hood with two coats of epoxy



The reliefs look factory,,like they belong ther. After some flash time I spray couple coats of primer surface on the underneath of hood and it is now sitting ready for final wet sanding and paint.

Lou

Nicely done!