So, without further ado...

Looks like you found yourself a great deal. Congrats!

 

And I have finally seen the all-elusive Ebay!Comet. At the risk of sounding like Tony the tiger, she's GREAT!!! :bananaman

Body's solid, still need to jack her up to see the full underside but hopefully that'll be just as great. The pictures I have of her are somewhat misleading as they seem grey when she's actually a very faded blue (although yes, grey in places where it was primered). One problem I already see, he had the interior of the hood and engine bay painted with a nice epoxy-ish coating but rust is starting to leak through already - apparently he didn't have it treated prior to spraying that stuff. :16suspect

The seats are still in good condition although the vinyl on the front ones is cracking; is there any way to fix that?

I drove her and for an automatic she shifts like an absolute dream! No jerking whenever it goes into a different gear, but she has some trouble on the initial get-going that I'll detail in a sec.

I bought a new thermostat for her (160*) and I'm getting the cooling system flushed tomorrow so hopefully that'll make her a bit better. I'm thinking, since she tends to overheat, to also get cooler spark plugs (the kid didn't know what kind they were and hadn't changed them since owning the car) and see if that does any good. I'm hoping it's not a head or head gasket that's causing her to overheat, I'll check the little things first before I get to the bigger stuff.

The main problem she has is that when she initially starts moving forward you can NOT floor her or she'll threaten to stall, or will if you try to push the issue. You have to ease her forward initially, but once she gets past 15 or so mph she's good to go and is quite the sporty little car. I'm hoping it's a simple fix of a carburetor (which I still haven't checked to see if it's a Motorcraft or a Holley, still haven't brought her home ). I'm also figuring that since I'm lacking a place to really store her right now (I can't keep her where I'm at now since there's no room in the driveway and according to the community rules you can't park on the street) it might be easier to just buy myself a 2bbl Edelbrock and put that on rather than rebuilding the old one. I just don't have the place to work on it. *sigh*

Anyway, back to the problem at hand (besides the overheating), she goes fine if you ease her out but whenever you try to put the pedal to the metal on liftoff she tries to, or does, stall. Add that to the fact that the engine overheats and I've got nowhere to really work on her at the moment other than outside a friends' house or in the parking lot down the way from where I'm staying currently (one can only stay with parents for so long before going bonkers anyway), and the initial stuff might take longer than I'd originally thought/hoped. *sigh*

Lots of sighing. *sigh* Seeing as how this has gotten entirely too long I'm just going to summarize: I GOT MY CAR!!!! :bananaman :bananaman

 

as long as you dont have to bust open the bottom end of that engine everything else should be pretty simple to fix and tune. you mentioned something about it drifting to one side, how'd that work out? before you shell out for a new card see what the junkyards have .well what ever all the lillte problems are you still got a hellova deal. first thing id do after i got it running would be a set of headers, but thats just me good luck!

 

Congrats on an excellent deal!

 

Congrats! Sounds like you need to put a rebuild kit in the carb.

 

HEE!!!!!! She's home, she's home!!!

...of course she's promptly going to leave again because my parents, who I'm staying with for a few weeks, simply will NOT let her sit in the driveway. (Dunno if it's a "Jones'" thing due to the neighborhood they live in or they're just worried that I'll leave her here...a valid concern) But SHE'S HOME!!

I had the cooling system flushed (icky!) and changed the thermostat to a 160* but she still overheated on the way here. *sigh* It wasn't even a long drive, and still fairly nice out (at most lower 80s, NOTHING like the heat to come), so now I'm starting to worry a bit more. I'm going to try to find a fan shroud for the fan I've got and hopefully that'll help out a bit.

Oh, and get this!! I wondered why she constantly overheated before? Well, one reason could be that the overflow pipe was leading to absolutely nothing!!! Seems that whoever sprayed the interior of the engine compartment "forgot" to put back the overflow reservoir and coolant has just been overflowing straight to the ground. Now I gotta find one of those which shouldn't be too hard, all I need is the reservoir and some brackets to hold it in place. Don't care about car continuity. *shrug*

Wanna work on her, wanna clean her, wanna polish her.... AARGH!!! And no place to do it locally except for a grocery parking lot.

Newtoford: She does indeed drift a bit, but I've driven worse. What worries me is that when I apply the brakes with any amount of force she swerves a bit to one side or another; I thought it was just one side but it seems to go both directions. I'll have to check that for sure, but I'm going to Les Schwab Tires tomorrow to have them check my brakes, struts, shocks, etc so I'll ask them. (unless anyone else has a clue?)

 

All 3 of the Mavs/Comets I have owned had a clogged radiator. One of them was so bad it could not be cleaned. Take the radiator out and have it cleaned at a radiator shop before you worry about anything else. Mine doesn't have an overflow bottle either....never did. I used a Dr. Pepper bottle for the overflow on my 71 E200. It fit perfect jammed between the battery and the fender.

 

Congratulations! I know how it feels to finally get a new purchase home where you can stare at it and think about how it's going to be in the future!

Just some comments that may help:

Fan shroud: The key to a functioning one is to have it positioned so when you look straight down on it, half the fan blade is covered by the shroud and half is sticking out. Also the shroud should be tight against the the radiator with no gaps.

As far as your overflow is concerned, these cars never had an overflow resevoir. The tube attached to the neck of the radiator and was routed along the edge to the ground. You stated that you had the cooling system flushed, yet it still overheats. You might try to flush it again but this time remove the freeze plugs in the side of the block. This can be a fairly involved process but will yield superior results.

Just some suggestions for ya to chew on. Good luck!

 

Huh... seeing as how I don't really want to lose much in the way of radiator fluid I may just jury-rig something as an overflow container. Shouldn't be hard, and might save it from losing fluids so fast.

The fan that I have for this car is much much different than what my daily driver's like; I want a shroud but does anyone have any pics of what they did with a stock set up? I wouldn't mind going the way of an electric fan but I don't have the skills or money right now even for junkyard parts (believe me, that sucks) so is there any way to just make up an easy/temporary fan shroud until I can figure out why she's overheating? I don't see any leaking around the engine to evidence a blown head gasket, and although the coolant before it was flushed looked like hot chocolate I'd kind of figured it was simple rust wear. Erg. Could my carburetor be causing hot running?

I also replaced the thermostat housing when I did the thermostat because wow, that thing was pitted and ugly inside. I want this car to be on the same status as a daily driver, but she can't be with her overheating. I'll worry cosmetics later...

Going to go price an Edelbrock 2bbl carb which I hope to replace the Holley 2bbl with. We'll have to see though, anyone know of someone wanting to sell a good one?

Thanks for the ideas and well-wishes guys, even with the initial problems I'm still stoked with her. She's just an all-around good car from the looks of it, and I'm hoping to get her going and eventually looking good soon!!

 

A fan shroud will help you. Makes more difference than you would think.
The carb is probably not causing your overheating.
The stalling is in your accellerator pump circuit.
Might be maladjusted, or have a hole in the diaphram.
Simple fix if you do some reading in a Holley manual.
Parts houses like Advance or A-Z have cheap overflow bottle kits.
Would mount nice and neat on the fender apron.
Check your lower radiator hose.
If it is soft and spongy feeling, and has no spring inside, it could be sucking shut when driving. If the hose has a spring in it, then it is good until it has a hole... No spring, and you need to keep an eye on it because the water pump will suck it shut.
Dave

 

I'll be on the lookout for a fan shroud. For now, however, she really isn't driveable because of the overheating issue, which SUCKS because she really REALLY is fun to drive!! I mean, she's not even running in peak condition and I can already feel the difference in power between her V8 and my V6 Acura!

The two stores I went to don't carry anything less in Edelbrock carbs than a 500cfm, which is a little more than I was looking for. I swear when I was still down in Mississippi there was a 2bbl for sale for around $250, and they said it was around 350cfm. Were they lying to me? On a bright note though a girl at Autozone gave me a local carb shop's number and said they would likely be able to find me whatever I needed. I'm going to call them tomorrow. :bananaman

I'm waiting until it's dark to pour some seafoam down my carburetor. I've had the stuff for a little while and figure now that I've got her I might as well see if it works. It just goes into the little vacuum hose beneath the air filter right?

Am not getting any support over buying this car thing, which sucks but it's actually really cool driving in a beater-ish car like her in such a ritzy area where all the cars are shiny and the same. She stands out (in some peoples' minds like a sore thumb ) and I like that about her. I gave her a wash and she came out fairly decent (well, as decent as she's gonna get).

Also, where do I get a gauge that tells me the exact temp her engine's at, and how do I wire it up? Has a DIY article been done on those around here yet, or is there a similar article anyone's seen?

I'm posting a lot here, but geez I'm just lovin' her!!!

 

wait i have an idea. u are living in cali. call pimp my ride! they will fix it and it wont cost u lol

 

"I had the cooling system flushed (icky!)"

how was this done? sometimes it has to be done a few times.
flush...refill and bring to operating temp.
flush...refill and bring to operating temp.
i also take the t-stat out untill i get it good and clean...
does it boil over, pop and crack how do you know it is overheating? sometimes a rad. will spit out a little fluid to adjust it's own running level.
with the cap off, can you see bubbles in the water with it running? if so that is a sign of a blown head gasket, cracked block or cracked head. .
chances are when you drain the rad. the water will still be "mud".
the suggestion to have the rad. cleaned at a rad. shop is good advice. just make sure the block and heater core is clean or the stuff will break loose and stop up the rad. again.
good luck and keep us posted on the progress.
not a mechanic "but did stay at the "round up" this weekend"
...frank...

 

i would drive the car on a few 10 mile trips to get everything loosened up.
a lot of things are sticking and rusted.

does the car have "drum" brakes on the front? if so this is common.
is this a place you can "trust"?
there are two things here...it is an old car and you are a lady.
a lot of places take advantage of both of these...
most brake places will tell you "you need brakes"
most tire places will tell you "you need tires"
a tire and brake place will tell you..."you need both"...
i am neither a brake man or a tire man "but i did stay at the round up" this weekend ...frank...

 

Alas, right now ten mile trips aren't possible with the overheating. And I really do think I need brakes. You should drive this baby, you gotta put it to the floor to do any real dent on braking! Yup she's drums all the way around, which is new to me because I'm used to at least half disc. I'll get to that soon though. And she was only flushed once which got a lot of crud out, and the thermostat/thermostat housing is all new. *sigh*

Craigsmav: One guy who was at the shop with me yesterday told me I should do that too!! It's a thought for sure, but it's just so cool for now driving a beater like her in a semi-snazzy area like this. She's extremely unique - I should take a picture of her in the grocery parking lot to give you an idea of what kinds of cars she's rubbing elbows with.

Gave her a dose of Seafoam, was entirely underwhelmed with her response. Not nearly as much smoke as I'd assumed would be the case, did I do it wrong? I poured down half the bottle into the carburetor's vacuum hose which didn't kill the engine, then shut it off and let it sit for 3 hours. When I started her up she ran a little rough but didn't billow out any smoke as badly as my Acura had when I'd done the same thing.