Adam's 67 Cougar

[Adam Smith]

I’m starting to make progress on my ’67 Cougar so it’s time to start a build thread. I bought the car as a roller in okay shape last fall. It had some rust around the rear wheel wells, around the rear window and a bit in the floor boards. Other than that, the car was fairly solid and mostly complete.
I come from a background in off road racing, but in December of 2014, I graduated and moved to Nebraska for work (Design Engineer at Speedway Motors). The off road scene around here is pretty minimal to say the least, and I’ve always loved 67/68 Cougars. So when I found one for sale just a few blocks up the road, I just had to buy it. This will be my first street car build, also my first real attempt at serious bodywork. With that said, I plan on doing all of the work myself with the possible exception of paint.
The goal for the car is to be a comfortable driver with the ability to take it to the track/autocross a few times a year and have some fun. It will have A/C, a decent stereo, comfortable seats, a mild ride height, and a modern drivetrain.
The front suspension will be very similar to the Speedway G-Comp Camaro front end (which should be available soon). The geometry and components will be the exact same, with changes being only to the framework and packaging. Out back it’s getting an adjustable 3 link with a Watt’s link on a 9” floater. Coil-overs on each corner of course. Oh, and a full frame

The car right after I picked it up.




Stripping and Pressure washing.


Front end cut off.




Some of the floor cut out.


Beginning of a frame.


Chromoly, fresh off the laser!


Front crossmember tacked in place.


Rear link brackets tacked in place.

[Adam Smith]

Iv'e started some of the patch work. The rear quarter patches are roughed in. They turned out pretty good for a desk jockey







The previous owner attempted to start patching the rear window area. I have a replacement panel ordered.

[RMMiller]

Nice! My brother has a 68 XR7, I'll have to give him the link so he can check this out.

[andrewb70]

Nice to see Cougars getting some love!

Andrew

[wfo guy]

Does Speedway have a laser cutter? I like where this is going.

[hardwork1]

I'm also building a 67 cougar. what are you planning on for motor? your frame setup is interesting I'd like to see more of it. Keep up the good work

[Dave B]

Sweet! Nice work!

[Adam Smith]

Does Speedway have a laser cutter? I like where this is going.

Two actually

[Adam Smith]

I'm also building a 67 cougar. what are you planning on for motor? your frame setup is interesting I'd like to see more of it. Keep up the good work

Motor will be a Coyote with plans for a supercharger down the road. I'm not sure if it will be the F150 version or a Mustang motor. If I can get a good deal on a wrecked mustang I'll use the motor and 6 Speed from the mustang. If I go the F150 route the money saved on the motor can go towards a T56 Magnum. The motor will also be set back quite a bit!

I got the rest of the front crossmember tacked in place today.




I also got some bracing welded in to keep this thing square. I still need a little more bracing before I cut the rest of the floor and rear frame rails out.

[egoman]

This is my formula. Will be following.

[Adam Smith]

I made a little progress over the weekend. I started by cutting out enough sheet metal to be able to roughly test fit the new frame in it's future home. With the width of the frame I was able to leave the factory rear frame rails in place. They will get cut out later but for now it should help keep everything nice and square


With the frame squared up and setting in place I built some jacking rails and got them tacked to the frame. Then the frame came back out for some more welding. These 1x2 jacking rails will eventually be welded to the rocker panel and run right along the pinch weld. The new floor will be roughly 1" higher that the stock floor pan.


I added a few gussets here and there and got the front and rear crossmembers fully welded.


Every now and then you lay down a bead that you just have to take a picture of!


These weren't my first choice of wheel and I'll probably get a little flack for them but they'll get me by for a while. I just couldn't pass up the deal when I found 18" x 10" wheels with the proper backspacing for $59.99 a piece and free shipping!!!!!!!


They won't look too bad!


Also picked up a bit of sheet metal.... lots of sheet metal work in my future!

[xsboost90]

nice -i have some American Muscle rims going on my mustang "for fitment" purposes but they will rock until i find some sweet forgelines or something. Cant beat them for the price!

[Adam Smith]

nice -i have some American Muscle rims going on my mustang "for fitment" purposes but they will rock until i find some sweet forgelines or something. Cant beat them for the price!

Exactly what my thoughts were. For the price they're almost worth it just for mock up.

[Bonehead]

Holy crap! Love the build! Keep those pictures coming.....wow.

[MichaelUser]

Holy crap! Love the build! Keep those pictures coming.....wow.

Yeah what ^^^^^ he said.

Great job.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Awesome work so far.

[Adam Smith]

Thanks For the compliments guys!

I've got a buyer lined up for my off road truck who hopes to have money for me in the next few weeks. If I can get it sold I'll be ordering parts like a crazy for while! It should be enough to cover most of the drivetrain and suspension. It's a bit nerve-racking right now doing all of this fab work without having the drivetrain yet. Luckily I've got pretty accurate cad models of the motor and suspension.

[Adam Smith]

The wife and I spent a week in Mexico and I am still waiting for payment for my truck so I haven't started ordering drivetrain parts yet. But I did manage to spend some time working on my inner wheel tubs. I contemplated buying some but in the end I decided to buy the tools and build my own. I've got a bead roller already, so I picked up a Woodward Fab Shrinker/Stretcher from work (part #4192500 if anybody is curious). I had never used one before, but I must say I was actually quite impressed at how well it worked.

If anybody is looking to get away, I highly recommend The Royal in Playa Del Carmen The service is top notch, the resort is amazing and the prices are pretty reasonable. They had a last minute cancellation and we were upgraded to a beach front room, no charge!



Here's a shot showing what 30 minutes on the shrinker can do to a flat piece of 18 Ga.


I built a 90 flange and spot welded it to the factory outer wheel tub.



Test fitting



Complete except for welding. I'll weld them in after I get the cage and rear suspension brackets welded in.

[68Formula]

This is going to be a great build! Love the early Cougars.

[xsboost90]

looks like i need a shrinker, stretcher, bead roller