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A 500hp 1973 Mercury Comet Quest For 10s

Mercury Comet Oil Pump
After chunking a few bearings, Tom solved his oiling problems with a high-volume pump, this Milodon windage tray, an 8-quart oil pan, and a Ford Racing restrictor kit.

Mercury Comet Springs
The Comp Cams beehive springs were originally designed to control hydraulic-roller-cammed big-block Chevys. Tom further reduced the chance of valve float with Comp titanium retainers. The 1.6:1 rockers are Comp Pro Magnums.

Mercury Comet Tooth Wheel
One reason for choosing a '93 Explorer engine was to employ the factory 36-1 tooth wheel as a budget crank trigger. The factory Ford pickup and wiring harness make life even easier.

Mercury Comet Intake Manifold
The intake manifold is a Weiand tunnel-ram base with a lid fabricated by Tom. He also used generic FAST fuel rails and bungs to complete the conversion to EFI. The throttle-body is an Accufab oval piece for a 4.6L Cobra.

Mercury Comet Efi
Tom employed 36 lb/hr FAST high-impedance injectors capable of flowing well in excess of 250 lb/hr of fuel, sufficient for over 500 hp and controlled by the FAST EFI computer.

Mercury Comet Distributor
Since he used a distributorless ignition system, Tom plugged the original distributor hole with the factory stub drive. The cam sensor is not used with the speed-density system but could easily be connected if Tom wanted to convert this package over to sequential fuel injection.

 
TEST 1
TEST 2
DIFFERENCE
RPM
TQ
HP
TQ
HP
TQ
HP
4,600 352 308 382 335 +30 +27
4,800 365 334 389 356 +24 +22
5,000 375 357 391 373 +16 +16
5,200 375 371 393 389 +18 +18
5,400 376 387 394 406 +18 +19
5,600 380 405 398 424 +18 +19
5,800 376 416 396 438 +20 +22
6,000 375 428 399 456 +24 +28
6,200 375 442 401 473 +26 +31
6,400 371 452 401 489 +30 +37
6,600 364 458 396 498 +32 +40
6,800 358 464 391 507 +33 +43
7,000 353 470 382 510 +29 +40
7,200 342 469 372 510 +30 +41
7,400 332 469 353 498 +21 +29
             
Peak 378 472 403 512    
Power/ci 1.23 1.54   1.31 1.67      

Mercury Comet Bent Valves
This is what happens when valvesprings break. Luckily, Tom avoided complete engine destruction, replacing one valve and stepping up to the beehive springs that are on the engine now.

Valve Intake Exhaust E/I
Lift      
0.050 32 24 75%
0.100 67 56 84%
0.200 145 114 79%
0.300 202 155 77%
0.400 230 174 76%
0.500 248 183 74%
0.600 265 185 70%
0.700 272 188 69%


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