Projects 1965 Comet Caliente Convertible Project

Getting close to being done with the gas tank. I took way longer then I thought like most projects. I am happy with the outcome. The first picture is the 3<SUP>rd</SUP> iteration of the filler neck thru the body. It now mounts from the outside thru the body and seals any gas spillage from getting inside the trunk. The second picture shows the separation of the latch area from the expansion tank area. Some tar rope will be used to finish sealing around the filler tube. My hand is holding the access panel in place that allows the filler neck to be removed if needed. The third picture shows the back panel of the box the surrounds the expansion tank. Last pictures shows the rest of the box. It&#8217;s not quite finished but with some more welding, a few sheet metal screws and a generous amount seam sealer, anything having to do with the gas tank is now separated from the trunk and the interior of the car.

 

wow, that was a lot to read through, I didn't look through all of it, but good job. There is a lot of work done here, I am glad you have not abandoned the project and have kept with it! Is she still interested in driving it since it has been so long?

 

Thanks for looking thru build. We are still having a great time with it. Yes she is still interested and she bugs me every day about &#8220;When will it be done&#8221;.

 

Jeff;looks great!How does that old saying go,"Anything worth doing,is worth doing Right"!! I have NO DOUBT that when that Comet is ready for the road it WILL be sound and SAFE!!Most people would not take the time and effort to do what you and your Daughter have done!! ROY.

 

Well I am glad she is still into it, it will definitely be something you two will be proud of. What else is next on the list? It seems like you are getting towards the end game on it now that most of the hard stuff is done (floors, etc.)

 

Next on the list is head rests for the front seats, seat belts with shoulder harnesses front and back, modified seat covers to add gray inserts, then body work and paint (just tinted primer for now).

 

That's great. I will be looking forward to seeing more progress, keep it up!

 

Things have been going well. There hasn&#8217;t been much to show so I haven&#8217;t posted. I have been working on the seats and seat belts and finally finished them. I ended up using rear seat belts from a 95 Mustang Convertible and the front seat belts from an early Astro Van. It&#8217;s funny as I roamed the wrecking yard there are very few vehicles these days that have black seat belts. As for seat latches I couldn&#8217;t find anything to adapt so I made the latches for the back of the front seats. I know the head rests are not going to be something that anyone likes in fact I hate the look and so does my daughter but I want my daughters head to stay on her shoulders and in a rear end collision without head rests &#8230; well you get the picture. The head rests are removable so when showing the car they can be removed. I got started on the body work. I haven&#8217;t done this in 35 years. Now I remember why I&#8217;m not fond of the process. IT&#8217;S A LOT OF WORK!

 

Awesome progress!
The headrest don't look bad at all.

 

Jeff;looking good,and safe!!! I agree,BODY WORK*****S!!! ROY.

 

Sanding, sanding and more sanding that&#8217;s what we have been doing. I got the front bumper fill piece flattened after the previous owner used a mallet to accordion the ends to fit behind a 1966 bumper. Worked on the hood. There were at least 7 coats of paint on it. You can see the pile of paint on the ground under the hood. I will use paint remover to get the rest of the paint off.

 

Jeff;that is just nasty work,but it needs to be done!!! I told you that hood had A LOT of paint on it!!! ROY.

 

Roy,

You weren&#8217;t kidding, I found a white, a red, a brown, a dark green, a light green, a gray primer, a white and a red primer.

 

Jeff;YIKES,I knew it had A LOT of paint on it,just not that much!!!! How is the metal and condition oh the hood? ROY.

 

The condition is great. Thanks for the hood.

 

The holiday season sure has been busy but we have been getting a few things done on the Comet. You can probably guess what that is yes sanding and sanding and well you know sanding. Below are a few pictures. You can hardly tell that the right rear fender was replace sometime in its passed. We also got the head rests recovered over Thanksgiving with the help of my brother. Have a great Christmas and happy holidays.

 

Jeff;body work has got to be the worst part,but,it gets the BEST results after paint!! MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your Family!!! ROY.

 

I worked on the trunk lid which didn&#8217;t look that bad until after the first application of stripper (first picture). I realized it would have to be taken down to bare metal. As I got down to metal there was a spider web of rust all over the trunk lid under the paint. Sanding and an application of metal prep took care of that.

After what I experienced with the trunk lid I saw that the doors and front fenders had some of the same issues so I took them to the media blaster. I finished the doors which were not too bad (after blasting) and I&#8217;m working on the last two pieces the front fenders which definitely have their issues. Rusted off mounting tabs, rust holes in the outer skin, a broken bolt in one of the thread inserts and the other treaded insert completely missing. It was nice to do some welding and get away from sanding for a while. Got that all fixed and onto filler (Picture 2).

Picture 3 is self-explanatory. Most of the living room is never used so it makes the perfect place for storing parts right next to the easy chair where you can relax and read parts catalogs and view instructional video on YouTube about body work and paint techniques.

 

Jeff;after almost 50 years,the body panels don't look too terrible!!! If you need trim fasteners try HILLCO Fastener Warehouse,7522 Park Ave.,Garden Grove,714-657-7442.I got a lot of my trim fasteners from them. ROY.

 

Roy,

Happy new year we made to another one. Thanks for the info on the fasteners. Garden grove is close enough that I could drive there. The body panels are in good condition considering their age and the car came from back east.

 

Jeff;Happy New Year to you and your Family!! Have you decided on a color yet? Interior color? I used a universal trim clip for the wide lower trim,only issue was you needed rear access as it uses a stud and nut to hold it in place.Hillco may have some different clips now,I did mine about 12-14 years ago!!! ROY.

 

Roy,

Well what we would like eventually is Lexus Graphite Gray. It has a nice metal flake in it. I&#8217;m not going to spray that but I will primer it. Just yesterday I stopped by the auto paint store which conveniently is about a mile from my house and got a quart of black and a quart of gray epoxy primer. I will mix them together to come up with a dark gray and that&#8217;s how it will be for a while. The paint store is great. It&#8217;s run and owned by a guy who has been doing it a long time. He has paint codes in his head and is very forth coming with help and information all of which I need since I never have painted a car before. The interior will be black and gray. Gray carpet, black seats, the steel parts of the interior will be the same gray as the exterior paint, black gage surround, some two tone covered pieces here and there and a black top.

 

Jeff;sounds good!! I'm lucky on paint supply shops too,one has been in the same building since the 50s,one of the same counter men too,plus two 'NEW' guys that are very helpful!! Good luck on painting!! ROY.

 

I have posted several times without posting pictures which I really don&#8217;t like to do so here are a few pictures of interior pieces. Just make believe that anything you see that is red will be dark gray. The seats will be black but the back inserts of the front seats will be gray (no picture of the seats yet). Carpet will be gray and the dash pad will be black. The last picture is of the head rest and rear arm rests. I have not decided if I am going to put the ash trays in the arm rests. It is the retro thing to do but I don&#8217;t want anyone smoking in the car or using it as a trash can.

 

Jeff;that interior is going to be good looking!! I like the idea of doing away with the ash trays in the rear arm rests,I plan on doing that on the wagon!! ROY.

 

Roy,

Thanks. My vote may get vetoed by the owner so as a compromise I will put them in and allow the door to open but replace the cup inside with a flat piece of metal blocking it off so nothing can be put in there. I was just told that the armrest on the front door is for the other door. I never thought about it but that makes sense. The pull handle in the front and the flat area to rest your arm towards the back.

 

I spent the weekend prepping for priming the car. I picked up the epoxy primer and supplies I ordered from the local paint shop then I went on a buying spree at harbor freight. It was fun but expensive. Paint prep supplies and below is a picture of the new addition. The compressor on the right I have had for 15 years and lately has been having heart attacks and seizing up. The new compressor will help a lot with the painting process plus this one is so much quieter. Spent most of Saturday shopping and moving stuff from the old compressor to the new and cleaning up the workshop. Sunday was more cleaning and clearing stuff out of the way in preparation for painting. I did get some sanding done on the convertible top frame until the neighbor came over and complained. One other disadvantage of living in SoCal. Everything is so close together.

 

Hope there is a water separator for the hose line in your new pile of stuff somewhere.

Edit maybe I missed one is that gold part at the top a separator?

 

Thanks for looking out for me. I&#8217;m new at painting so I need as much help as I can get. Yes that is a separator at the top. It has two, one for water and one for oil.

 

Still sanding. I sanded the convertible top frame which took an entire day and then painted it with Por 15. I also with a lot of effort got the clamps off the frame. I then polished them. The before and after picture is below. I am now working on sanding the wrecking yard wheels I got. I see why builder choose to buy new ones. Much less work. I think I am done with sanding after the wheels and then on to paint.