Welp. I been on these forums for a few years now. Newish to this one still. But never made a thread just for my cars build. I’m already pretty far into it and I wish I would have started one from the beginning but can’t so I’m going to just post a bunch of pictures of my car over the years from day one until now and I will update from this thread on instead of just making new threads about random issues.
It’s an XR7 c code 2v c4 trans 2.79 rear diff. built on July 23 1967 in Dearborn Michigan.
Bought it as a complete car for $500 bucks that I saved up myself at age 15. The guy wanted $750 but needed the money. My stepdad was going to help me with the rest but as he was explaining the situation and how much I already had saved up the guy cut him off and said “you can have it for 500” before my stepdad had time to add that he was willing to help with the rest. haha. We purchased it from the origional owners son. His father bought it new in 67 from Hollywood dealership and in his older age was losing his eye site and parked in a hollywood parking garage everyday at work hitting concrete pillars which explains the caved in doors. It was parked sometime in 1980’s and sat until I came along in 2005 and dragged it away.
It came with a center console with the clock in the center. I took it out and am saving it because I would like to keep it with the car. I just have a thing for no center consol cars. Can’t really do anything with it besides tell the time and have a hard time fitting a nice stereo in it. I wanted a DIN head unit a hump hugger console with cup holders and a ratchet shifter. Maybe later I will redo the center console. But for now it’s not really my thing.
Iv’e put a 4 barrel carb on it and new intake. The motor is completely rebuilt. C4 has been rebuilt with a shift kit. Soon I want to upgrade to AOD and at least 3:55 rear diff gears and aluminum heads. Thats my goal for now. Suspension is done and steering is done. Anyway. pics start from the minute I brought her home as my first car. Worked on it for an hour until we got her runnin. Drove it around the block, parked it, and started taking it apart starting with smog! ha
enjoy.
Ok I think thats enough photos for now. I know there are huge gaps inbetween some of the pics. I lost some pictures of when I had her completely stripped and what not.
And now people can stop bugging me about changing my air cleaner as I now have the sexiest air cleaer I’ve ever seen:) My step dad is in a lot of the pictures. He really helped me and taught me a lot about cars over the years. All the work has been done by me and my stepdad besides the help of a few friends here and there, tire mounting and alignment, the motor machine work, and the transmission rebuild.
anyway,
Here is how my car sits as of now.
Looked like a real solid candidate with next to no rust. But whoever tried parking in the too narrow of a parking spot crushing both doors, should be shot. LOL!
How did you go about fixing the doors, replace or repair?
Yeah I was really lucky to find this car especially right here in the city I live and at the right time. It was like we were ment for each other haha.
I don’t know why someone would do that to this car! I think the owner just didn’t have another way of getting to work. I know he loved the car he took it back to the dealership regularly for maintenance. It’s missing a lot of the service coupons from that owners manual.
The doors are still very rough but most of it came out with a 2x4 and mallet and a lot of massaging with body hammers. I’m still thinking about getting new doors because no matter what I do I’m going to need a lot of bondo to make those doors look good again.
Well, I’m more of a muscle car kind of guy and the origional lime frost green just isn’t aggressive enough for me. Here’s a pic thats pretty close to what I’m looking for. Other than all the GTE stuff I want my car to look something like this. Black hood scoop and stripe from the center of the grille. Possibly hood pins for looks. Maybe the eliminator spoiler. Might be a slightly different green (though I like the Augusta green) but we will see what happens when I’m a little closer to paint.
Haven’t had much time or space to work on my car in the last few weeks. My roommate bought a second project car which is taking my spot in the drive way. His house so the cougar got kicked to the curb. But I have been driving it for the last few months. But, I’m broke again so i finally went a picked up my other daily driver (91 saturn).Man I hate driving that thing. No power what so ever. Bright red. Sticking out like a sore thumb. It’s just temporary though friday I will get my check and will be able to afford gas and be back in the cougar.
Recently rebuilt the front calipers and the brakes are so much better. I was going to rebuilt the distribution block and proportioning valve but didnt get to so hope to tackle that this weekend.
Also got a new 600 cfm Holley carb to go on it since my edelbrock is giving me troubles (or at least I think). Will find out soon. I have an off idle surge I can’t get rid of. It comes and goes too. Going to try the Holley and see what happens. The edelbrock is 500cfm which may be too low. Will try to keep posting.
Coug67 I missed this thread when you first posted the pictures. Your car has come a long way. Looking good so far. I like the Augusta green with the black GTE type stripe and hood scoop. Hood pins are cool also, use something like XR7G pins. Just a thought. Keep up the good work.
Steven
Thanks for the comments guys.
Progress report:
I’ve been having problems with off idle surging. When I try to take off slow to save gas It would surge or stutter. Tried everything on my carb recommended from edelbrock and adjusted all my timing and what not.
Finally I got my hands on a 600 cfm holley (used to have 500 cfm edelbrock) and solved the issue immidiately. My car even sounds like it runs smoother and better. And I have never taken off so smoothly especially at a slow pace. I haven’t even really dialed it in much and it’s better than my edelbrock ever was. There was a time of maybe 2 years or so where the car wasnt driven regularly and I’m aware that may have cause my carb to get out of whack or maybe clogged especially with the old air cleaner I had it didn’t do a very good job.
Either way even when my edelbrock was new it still didn’t run this smooth. I am now a true believer in Holley carburators. Or possibly I just needed a higher cfm. Either way the holly seems much more versitile than the edelbrock.
Now I need to find out where I have short in my wiring. 2 out of 3 times I tried to pull it in the driveway as soon as I hit the dip at the very bottom the motor just killed out. No sputters or anything it just cut off as if I turned the key. Thinking theres a loose wire under the dash that is exposed and when I hit a bump like that it grounds itself out and somehow kills my motor. At least thats where I’m going to start looking.
Also,
Remember to check your lug nuts 25 miles after taking a tire off and putting them back on. When I put the new carb on it solved the surge issue but I had a steady click coming from my drivers side every time the tire rotated. Pulled over and the wheel was a little loose. At first I thought that someone tried to steal my wheels but couldn’t get passed the keyed lock nut. But then I got my key to see how tight the locks were and 2 were tight but 2 were loose and 1 VERY loose. So I know no one tried to take them because if they were able to loosen up the locks then they would have taken the wheels. So that was a relief since at the moment the car is at my parents sitting until I have enought time to get over there and tune the carb up a little better and fix the electrical short. Didn’t want someone to come back and try to steal them again. But I don’t think I will have to worry about that. Just a rookie move on my part by not checking them.
Not much of anything going on with the car in the last month or so. Been working on getting a new apartment which just got approved. Been saving every dime and packing.
Anyway,
Found a picture I thought I’d put up. I picked it up at Famoso march meets at the drag races along with a couple vintage cougar hotrod magazines from 68 and 69.
Pretty cool. Cant wait to frame it and hang it up in my new apartment along with those vintage magazines. Looks a lot better in real life. A copy of a pencil sketch. I can never pass up anything to do with 67-70 Cougars.
Cool poster, There was a guy selling pencil sketches of cars at the Cruising the Coast in Mississippi a few years back that it reminds me of. I haven’t seen him since. SalD
Progress report:
Huge breakthrough with the cooling system. Up until today the radiator has always over flowed in hot weather. I made a redneck catch tank out of a water bottle and zip ties and it wasnt long until the bottle was over flowing after driving. Got ANOTHER new cap same 16 psi and BAM problem solved… Almost. I parked it and left her running to see if it would last sitting still. The temp climbed so high. Right under red and still no over flow. But why was it getting so hot without the fans kicking on???
Turned the car off and started checking wires when I heard a small pop. BINGO!!! Turned the key in the on position and my fans kicked on. The breaker had popped because it got too hot and turned off my fans. Dumb. Relocated the breaker for my fans in a cooler location and bingo! So now the cap is doing as it should and so are my fans. This is a glorious day in coug67 history. Been waiting for this day for quite some time. Drove her good and hard in 99 degree weather and not a drop on the pavement or a hair above half on the temp gauge HALLELUJAH!!!
Also control valve, ram, and dust boot for my power steering has been ordered and scheduled to be delivered Wednesday. That will complete my steering rebuild.
Next on the list New brake booster and to rebuild my proportioning/ distribution valve and then mechanically everything has been rebuilt or new on the car besides my grille stuff. Also need new leaf springs though and to roll my fender wells. Got a small gouge in the back tire from bottoming out. Bummer.
She’s gettin there boys.
Also taking her to my step grandpas shop to finish te body and paint soon.
Let’s see if I can finish her in a year:)
Thanks guys. I’m super stoked. I’ve replaced my radiator and upgraded to dual electric fans with shroud and finally it’s all paying off.
I love the stance of my car though it would be cool to have the front just a tid lower. But I don’t want to cut the coils any more until I get the new leaf springs in there. Don’t know if it’s going to kick the back up and put the front down a little or what. Cant stop thinking about driving this thing!!
Lots of body work to get done first. I will be doing it all and painting the car myself with my stepdad. My step dad grew up working for his dad restoring cars. His dads been restoring cars for over 30 years. maybe 40 I can’t remember right. He’s got the shop, the paint booth, a couple lifts. The works. He quit restoring cars for customers and is focusing on mainly selling shop shirts and rust chemicals.
There’s no doubt I will have one of the best paint jobs around and will get to tell people that I made at least a few passes with the paint gun myself.
I will be driving the coug up to his shop by the end of this month and will be making trips often to go work on it. I will be able to get a lot more done there. It’s a 2 hour drive near paso robles, ca. Awesome weather to work in compared to here.
