1964 Comet Caliente Convertible edging towards daily-driver status!

Pursuant to my goal of having this little gem on the road and usable by November, I've been busting my rump nearly every free moment. I got the engine in, hooked up and fired with little fan-fare. I primed the oil system, replaced the old fuel with fresh, static timed the distributor, and she roared to life with just a few cranks of the key. The open headers were pretty head-splitting inside the garage and made for quite a neighborhood nuisance during initial test runs.

I topped up all fluids, made a few neighborhood romps and then drove it 2 miles to the muffler shop for a complete new system of 2.25" pipe with dual magnaflows. Since then, I've put about 150 miles on her while tuning the Edelbrock Performer carb. I bought a jet and rod kit from Summit and have been playing with different combinations to achieve a good balance of power, transition and idle.

I replaced the dented rear bumper with a well-worn example from ebay that isn't dented. I found a clean grill on craigslist and installed it in place of the wavy original. I welded in a patch at the drivers quarter panel where a little rust had eaten away. 

I am presently working on freshening up the interior. Unfortunately as I write this I am held up waiting for a response from Dearborn Classics about a defective section of carpet that I can't use in the car...Hopefully they come through for me and ship out a replacement piece pronto...

                                 

                           Final iteration of the engine. Note the Monte-Carlo bar attached now for structure                                                                     reinforcement.