1969 Mercury Cougar - Street rod to AutoX on a budget

[munche]

Owned the car since 2002 - bought a muscle car in my early 20s and worked on it a lot with my dad. Became more his hobby when he retired until he passed and has been a "Car show cruiser" for the last few years - hoping to get it out into Autocross and so I've done a handful of small updates lately to try to get it to handle more. Definitely don't have the budget to drop 10s of thousands of dollars going full IRS swap and new front end and twin turbo Coyote with a T56 but I thought some people might enjoy seeing my progress as I actually try to run the thing soon. I'd also appreciate any advice or lessons learned from any similar builds. I know my car has a long way to go but I want to actually get out there and start feeling what I like and don't like before I start throwing cash at big dollar parts.


Original:
1969 XR-7, originally a 351 2V car with FMX. Factory forest green leather interior and Light Ivy Yellow exterior


Engine:
408W stroker
AFR185 heads
Edelbrock RPM Air Gap Intake
Demon 750CFM carb
Hooker Long Tube headers
Comp 270H cam


Comparing to similar builds I should easily be over 400hp with this setup but I haven't actually taken it down to dyno.


Transmission is a built C4 and 3.70 rear gears in the factory 9" with 28 spline axles


Suspension:


The suspension is mostly stock-style but relatively fresh.
KYB Gas-A-Just shocks all around (probably replacing these soon)
Front suspension was rebuilt a few years ago with a MustangsPlus Grab A Trak kit: https://www.mustangsplus.com/1967-1968-1969-1970-Mustang-Front-Suspension-And-Sway-bar-Kit-Grab-A-Trak-R.html
Grab-A-Trak® 620 Performance Coil Springs, new Spring Perches, and the Grab-A-Trak® 1" front sway bar kit
Rear suspension is still factory style tired old leafs - potentially original


Brakes:
Factory front disc/rear drum setup


Anyhow here's some pics:

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My daily driver Focus ST and the Cougar taken on a cruise with pops before he passed
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Picture of the interior because why not
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Engine Shots
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First step was upgrading the old Radial T/As to Falken Azenis RT615k+. Went from 225/60/15 front 255/60/15 rear to 245/40/17 front 275/40/17 rear. Here's a side by side of the old BFGs (right) next to the new Falken (left). These are the fronts.

[Motoracer838]

Welcome to the madness...

I really like that the car has a family history and your doing basic mods to "sharpen the focus", can't wait to see more...

Joe

[andrewb70]

Good to see another Cougar here.

Andrew

[TEDDYGT350]

Nice cougar. If I were in your shoes I would consider the Street or Track front coil over suspension. It's not cheap but for the money it is probably the best performing. For the rear suspension I am not sure (I have a mustang) but you may want to talk to Mike Maier as he may be able to help.

[70CougarXr7]

Nice to see a 69 cougar ( beeing almost identical to a 70 i look forward to your progress!)

Greets

[munche]

Nice cougar. If I were in your shoes I would consider the Street or Track front coil over suspension. It's not cheap but for the money it is probably the best performing. For the rear suspension I am not sure (I have a mustang) but you may want to talk to Mike Maier as he may be able to help.

Street or Track is new to me, but I'll check them out, thanks.

There are a couple of guys that make a 4 link setup for the rear - Ridetech and TCI make a "bolt on" and Total Control Products has some stuff that lists the Cougar as an application.

As far as I can tell, the slightly longer wheelbase means rear leafs are different for the Cougar vs. the Mustang, but if you're ditching the leafs most other parts are a direct swap.

[andrewb70]

....

As far as I can tell, the slightly longer wheelbase means rear leafs are different for the Cougar vs. the Mustang, but if you're ditching the leafs most other parts are a direct swap.

Cougar specific rear 4 link kits are different than ones for the Mustang, due to the 3" longer wheel base. Front parts are interchangeable with Mustang parts.

Andrew

[69CougarXR7]

Only difference between your car and mine is mine had the factory 4V 351...

Will be following your progress..

Brian

[70CougarXr7]

Street or Track is new to me, but I'll check them out, thanks.

There are a couple of guys that make a 4 link setup for the rear - Ridetech and TCI make a "bolt on" and Total Control Products has some stuff that lists the Cougar as an application.

As far as I can tell, the slightly longer wheelbase means rear leafs are different for the Cougar vs. the Mustang, but if you're ditching the leafs most other parts are a direct swap.

I ordered a total control rear coilover suspension.
Just arrived this week after beeing lost in transit for a few months....
When ordering you had to let them know it was for cougar or mustang.

Only extra part i see in the kit for the cougar is some sheet metal that has to be welded in the driveshaft tunnel to gain more space...
(not really sure were it has to go,only openend the boxy briefly to check that everything was in there).

Will start on it next week or the week after,will keep you posted about my experience with the total control product.

[munche]

I ordered a total control rear coilover suspension.
Just arrived this week after beeing lost in transit for a few months....
When ordering you had to let them know it was for cougar or mustang.

Only extra part i see in the kit for the cougar is some sheet metal that has to be welded in the driveshaft tunnel to gain more space...
(not really sure were it has to go,only openend the boxy briefly to check that everything was in there).

Will start on it next week or the week after,will keep you posted about my experience with the total control product.


Awesome, please do. I plan on running the stock gear for a while as I learn how the car handles so I've got some time to plan.

[70CougarXr7]

Started on the Total control rear coilover for my 70 cougar.

The extra sheet metal provided for a cougar (only cougar) has to be welded in the trunk.
The suspension cradle is sitting against the trunk,causing it to not fit properly with the rest of the chassis.

Cut out a piece of the trunk, weld the new sheet metal in place and you've got the space you need.

See picture,before and after :

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2018/08/67yxb5s-1.jpg
Cradle hitting the trunk

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2018/08/BukG1zC-1.jpg
Extra sheet metal in the kit

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2018/08/q12oH8A-1.jpg
After.

Not a true fit, needs some cutting and adjusting,but all in all an easy job.

Hope this helps.

Greets

[munche]

Started on the Total control rear coilover for my 70 cougar.

The extra sheet metal provided for a cougar (only cougar) has to be welded in the trunk.
The suspension cradle is sitting against the trunk,causing it to not fit properly with the rest of the chassis.

Cut out a piece of the trunk, weld the new sheet metal in place and you've got the space you need.

See picture,before and after :

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2018/08/67yxb5s-1.jpg
Cradle hitting the trunk

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2018/08/BukG1zC-1.jpg
Extra sheet metal in the kit

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2018/08/q12oH8A-1.jpg
After.

Not a true fit, needs some cutting and adjusting,but all in all an easy job.

Hope this helps.

Greets

This is fantastic, thanks! I am still debating between 4 link or doing a simpler leaf/panhard bar setup. the Maeir Racing folks sell a Cougar version of their Mustang kit for $1299 so it's tempting!

[munche]

Did a couple of small things before I hit the road on a work trip to get the car ready to baseline at the drag strip. Car's been running good just needed a couple of safety items to pass tech. First up was the battery hold down which was simple enough with a Scott Drake piece:
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So next up was taking care of the throttle return spring - the chintzy AutoZone unit couldn't run a dual spring so replaced it with a nice billet aluminum unit from summit:
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Unfortunately the new overhead style spring vs. under means now I have air cleaner clearance issues which should be easy enough to sort with a spacer - still have room under the scoop to go up. Not as easy to sort is during testing I found the carb was leaking like mad out of what looks like the accelerator pump diaphragm, so ordered a rebuilt kit from Demon and going to crack into that soon. 10 days til the next street legal drags and I want to get it out and baseline it!

[munche]

Oh yeah! I was reminded by the 68 Cougar thread where he swapped out his Cougar lights for the Shelby Mustang style lights. I also did not like the factory "old man style" lights, but did a much more budget friendly approach. The original taillights have lots of ugly chrome ribs like so:
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So part of the Eliminator package is blacking out all of the chrome which minimizes this effect. But a buddy of mine pioneered the idea of chopping the ribs out entirely, which gives you a big solid taillight look that reminds me a lot of the Challengers from the era. A couple hours with a dremel, sanding, then spraying the outer housing black and they look much more muscle-y:
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[biohzrd5335]

I'll be following. Have a 70 Cougar that I'm starting on soon.

[lxg44]

Look forward to seeing your progress!

Subscribed

[biohzrd5335]

I can say that thanks to the body of the cougar being wider than the mustang you can fit bigger meats under them.

18x10 295/30r18. Have about 3/8" clearance between the leafs, and 1 1/4 between unrolled quarters. Front hits the original upper control arm with no spacers.

[Tsaints1115]

Following