I love the fact that my 1961 Comet was all original. I have the original window sticker and bill of sale for the car with all of the options picked out in 1960! The in-line six 170 cc Thrift Power motor that was in the car was a $35.00 upgrade. It may have been an upgrade in power in 1961 but that 170 was not cutting it for me in today’s day and age! Don't get me wrong, the car would get up to freeway speeds but it just wasn't so quick to merge into traffic. My theory is, "life is too short to drive slow". My boyfriend, Matt at the Department of Customz, shares this mentality and had had told me that I could put the 302 from his model T into my Comet if and when my motor died.
Well as fate would have it, my Gita's 170 ceased to exist about a week after the Huffarama event in December 2010. For about three weeks prior the car had seemed to just “not be running well”. While trying to pinpoint the problem I did a tune up, changing the oil and the spark plugs. It kept loading up at red lights so I changed my carburetor. It still had issues. After I changed my points the car seemed to have a dramatic improvement but then on that early December morning I went to start my car up to go to work and...THUNK... I threw a rod!!!
That year Santa brought me just what I wanted! On Christmas I had not only a 302 with Mega 270 Isky Racing Cams but also a TransDapt C4 transmission with a manual valve body under the Christmas tree! (Thank you Santa Baby! aka Matt!) I will admit part of me was sad to see the 6 go just because I had gotten to know the motor over the past two years, but then I reminded myself about how I hated that motor when trying to merge into freeway traffic! Out with the old! In with the new!
The photo above is of me hooking the in-line 6 onto the engine hoist. Shortly after this I nervously hooked the 302 with the C4 attached to it and guided her across the shop and over the top of the gaping hole where my engine used to be!
Next I had to climb up on top of the car and do the splits on the cowl carefully making sure not to put too much pressure on my windshield. As Matt Means and an apprentice at the Department of Customz lowered the motor in I began walking up the transmission using my body weight to push it down and under. For a minute there I thought I was going to get sucked in! I hear that motor swaps take a while, but with Dept. of Customz professional help we were able to do it in just one day
This car is my daily driver so I had to make quick work of this motor swap and upgrade things like suspension as I went along. These performance parts may have fit right into my little Comet but she wasn’t built for such power so there are MANY items that need to be modified or replaced along the way.
Since the motor swap in December of last year I have installed a new Ford 8 inch rear end with posi traction, converting to five lug and installing new wheels and tires. I swamped the old water pump for an aluminum Edelbrock one. In March I finally beefed up the front suspension, with a 65 Mustang front end and Grenada disk brakes. There will be plenty more performance upgrades and minor repairs to read about down the road so stay tuned and watch this Comet get better and better than ever before!