Restoring a 70 Cougar.

[Lennyjoe]

And its taking up all of my gun funds.  Thats ok though, I'm enjoying it.  Got the car for free so I figured I'd start the restoration project.

Anyone got any parts for a Cougar?  How about 351 Cleveland engine parts?

The hardest part about this project is seeing guns for sale on THR that are on my short list.  Guns like a Springer Champion for $400.

[Silver Bullet]

I love those cars.

http://www.cougarclub.org/Cougars101/elim.shtml

Of course, there are quite a few cars from the late 60s I like.

[280plus]

I used to have a 71 mustang with a 351C 4 barrel  motor and a 4 speed tranny with a factory Hurst T Handle. (I loved that car but it was a real rust bucket so it had to go ) They (351Cs) are hard to come by but you might try "Mustangs Unlimited" in Manchester CT and they might be able to help you one way or another. FYI they aint cheap though. Do a search on them  something will probably come up.  I love those motors. Best American 8 cylinder ever made far as I'm concerned! The heads on the 351C 4V were "semi hemi / semi wedge" heads and the intake valves were 2.02" Dia. My Mustang moved right along!

[Lennyjoe]

The original motor that came in the car is gone.  The one that was in the car when I got it was a 72 351C by the numbers.  Also, the original motor was a 4V but the motor in it has 2V heads.  The 72 motor is bored 60 over and the crank is useless.  The seal runner on the crank had a chunk missing, was .030 over on the mains and .020 on the rods.  I picked up another shortblock from a bone yard for $150 and both motors are at the shop.  The .060 over is getting sonic checked to see how thin the walls are and the bone yard motor is getting prepped for rebuild.  

As for the body, its got some TLC needed but will come along fine.  Just wondering if any fellow APS folks had some stuff laying in the garage they wanted to get rid of.

[Silver Bullet]

I've got a LOT of stuff in my garage I want to get rid of , but none of it is car related.  

If this car has been in Arizona all this time, I suppose your rust is minimal.

[Lennyjoe]

Very minimal.  It took some beating under the old vinyl top but nothing that can't be cleaned up.  Now I need to find a decent paint shop.

[Stickjockey]

Someday I'm going to do one of these:



Just something about the old Struggle Buggy.

[Lennyjoe]

Here's what she looks like right now.  The engine block's are still in the shop.  Popps is gonna shoot the paint and i'm gonna put on the vinyl top.


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid185/pe3cd268f3bc8b6b5150bc1fd9a82a55d/f276c5f7.jpg