1967 Cougar build (over 700 pictures and videos)

[andrewb70]

Tom,

I have seen the fabric heat shrink for sale from several vendors. Do you mind sharing where you got yours and the brand?



Andrew

[Bob in St. Louis]

http://www.amazon.com/Techflex-Fabri.../dp/B0051H8ICE

[Fuelie Nova]

I got mine from Cable Organizer because they have fast shipping and sell in any quantity. Normally I deal with waytec but they only sell in 50 ft rolls.
Tom
http://www.cableorganizer.com/shrinkflex/

[andrewb70]

Thanks Guys.

One possible issue is that the smallest shrunk diameter is 1/4". For my coil harness I used 1/4" unshrunk tubing. I see all kinds of possible uses for this stuff!

Andrew

[Bob in St. Louis]

Here's a couple for ya;
Heat shrink:
http://www.parts-express.com/Search....itesearch=true

Techflex;
http://www.parts-express.com/cat/exp...-sleeving/2193

This Techflex isn't heat shrink, and you will need a hot knife to cut it(it will fray otherwise). But the lengths, diameters and colors are endless. If memory serves, you can have them make you a custom color. If, when you install it, you put an inch or so of heat shrink one end, draw the other end tight and heat shrink it, the Techflex will be as tight as skin, and as good as heat shrunk.

[Fuelie Nova]

Good links Bob
I tried the adaptor that goes into a hand held soldering iron for cutting and it works ok... I have found that I cut it with scissors and then carefully use a charcoal lighter to melt the ends to keep from fraying. It seemed to make a cleaner look.
Tom

[andrewb70]

Here's a couple for ya;
Heat shrink:
http://www.parts-express.com/Search....itesearch=true

Techflex;
http://www.parts-express.com/cat/exp...-sleeving/2193

This Techflex isn't heat shrink, and you will need a hot knife to cut it(it will fray otherwise). But the lengths, diameters and colors are endless. If memory serves, you can have them make you a custom color. If, when you install it, you put an inch or so of heat shrink one end, draw the other end tight and heat shrink it, the Techflex will be as tight as skin, and as good as heat shrunk.

Bob,

I used something very similar, that I got from McMaster Carr, on the injector harness. For all I know it is Techflex, but there was no branding on it.

Andrew

[Bob in St. Louis]

Roger that. Hope y'all find it useful. I do like the adhesive heat shrink, as it does help to hold everything together.

[andrewb70]

Not much progress as I am waiting on a few supplies to finish the odd side coil harness. I did have a chance to visit the car and take some pictures and measurements to plan out a few things. There are various sources that list the radiator core size, but that rarely equates to the exact external dimensions of the radiator, which is what I was looking for.

Here is the stock radiator:



I am quite certain that it is original from 1967 as there is pretty good build-up inside of it. Most sources will show this radiator as being 24" wide x 15" tall. This is the core size, with the actual dimensions being 25" x 21".

Off on the driver's side of the radiator is what appears to be the voltage regulator (won't be needed) and an octopus with vacuum line tentacles. Presumably this is for the headlight door activation.



The width of the frame rails is about 27" and this width will be the limiting factor in sourcing a new radiator.

Over on the passenger side, the limiting factor is actually the battery tray that sticks out past the frame rails. You can also see the gnarly scale build-up inside the radiator.



Over on the driver's side is also the old MSD 6200 box. Anyone need one?



After doing a bunch of reading and looking around at various radiators, I decide to go with an OEM aluminum radiator for a C4 Corvette.

C4 radiator.

I used this radiator in my LS powered RX7 and it worked great, even with the limited airflow in that chassis. With the open grill of the Cougar, I am confident that it will work just fine. The upside to this radiator is that it is readily available, cheap, and super light weight. It also has a built in trans cooler, but I won't need that. The other nice thing about this radiator is that the hose sizes are an exact match with the LS engine. This will make sourcing hoses a lot easier.

This radiator is also the right size for the fan that I am going to use. I am a big fan of OEM fans since they are designed to be quiet and flow a lot of air. The one I am going to use is from a C6 Corvette:

C6 fan

See the giant plug in the upper left corner? That plugs into one of these guys.

Corvette fan controller

This controller is essentially a solid state relay that will run the fan at variable speed. It takes a pwm signal from the ECU and will ramp up the fan speed based on temperature, vehicle speed, A/C activation, basically whatever you want to program. The Holley Dominator can be configured to provide this signal and the programming behind it. So no more loud fans!

More to come.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

Not much to report, but I took a few pictures of the dash. The original gauges were replaced a long time ago with custom Stewart Warner gauges. The tach is mechanical, as is the speedo (of course), and we must have the all important vacuum gauge!



Over to the right are a bank of smaller gauges: oil pressure, water temp, fuel level, amps, and forget what the far right gauge is.



My original plan was to use all of the gauges and make them functional, but after seeing all of the sensors that the Holley Dominator has, it makes a lot of sense to just use one of the new Holley digital dash displays. I'll make a mount that clamps to the steering column and positions the dash right in front.

As any custom in the 70s, the stock radio was replaced by a groovy AM/FM 8 track HiFi!



I am going to keep the head unit there, but will see about installing an iPod dock inside where the tapes used to go, and have that going to a small amp and with a couple of speakers. Nothing crazy.

Andrew

[Bob in St. Louis]

Would be cool to use the 8-track hole as an iPod dock.
Yea....Awesome fab skills!

[andrewb70]

Would be cool to use the 8-track hole as an iPod dock.
Yea....Awesome fab skills!

This might be a nice winter project. I need to pull that unit out and see what the guts look like. There are all kinds of nifty docking parts that are available. Better yet, maybe I can just take an old 8 track tape and modify it as the dock!

Andrew

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yip, there ya go.
Would certainly be something different that isn't "mainstream".

Glad I could help you find ways to spend your time though. ;)

[1970 Boss]

Does anyone have a John "Cougar" Mellencamp 8 track tape?

[andrewb70]

Does anyone have a John "Cougar" Mellencamp 8 track tape?

Now that's clever!!!

Got a few more goodies today. I've been thinking about how I want to mount the fuel pressure sender, and I bought a couple of different adapters that will give me some flexibility. One option is to use a -6 female to -6 male adapter with a 1/8" NPT port. With this adapter I can just mount it to the fuel rail and be done with it:



Another option, and the one that I am leaning towards is to use this fitting:



I like the little bracket and I was thinking that I can mount this out of the way, under the car, inline with the fuel line. Earl's only makes it in blue, otherwise I would mount it on the fire wall. I will see how it all looks once the engine is installed.

Here is the C6 Corvette fan controller. It's rather large, but surprisingly light. As best as I can figure, this is a solid state relay that is made by Bosch. It should work with the Holley Dominator and allow me to program the fan to run via pwm.



I also picked up a little bling from Katech. I like to use the non-springloaded belt tensioner because I've had belt jumping issues in the past. This tensioner cured the problem so I just use them now.



I also picked up the Holley alternator bracket. It is a very nicely cast piece and looks very much like the Corvette bracket, except it takes the much less expensive truck style alternator, instead of the Corvette alternator. Smart of Holley to make this bracket.



I'll probably grind smooth the casting flash and give it a quick rattle can paint job. I did that on my GTO and it works great.



I also picked up a 130 amp alternator. I might paint the aluminum part of the case to match the bracket (and probably paint the water pump as well).



One problem area is behind the alternator where it interferes with the #1 coil. Holley includes a little off-set bracket, just for this, to move the coil over a little, but sadly it doesn't work with the round coils. No big deal, I will mod the bracket as needed to make it all work.



That's all for now.

Andrew

[Motown 454]

I wonder if that fan controller will work with the stand alone ECU with my LSA?

[andrewb70]

I wonder if that fan controller will work with the stand alone ECU with my LSA?

Yes. There is a big thread on lat-g, in the engine forum, that covers the details. There are wires to be added, and the tune needs to be changed, but it'll work.

Andrew

[Motown 454]

Thanks !

[feeble]

This might be a nice winter project. I need to pull that unit out and see what the guts look like. There are all kinds of nifty docking parts that are available. Better yet, maybe I can just take an old 8 track tape and modify it as the dock!

Andrew

Always wanted to try this for the Rube Goldberg-ness of it it:

Get one of these: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...apter&_sacat=0

and pair it with this: http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cassette-Adapters-/73835/i.html

How bad could it sound?

[RMMiller]

Always wanted to try this for the Rube Goldberg-ness of it it:

Get one of these: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...apter&_sacat=0

and pair it with this: http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cassette-Adapters-/73835/i.html

How bad could it sound?

I did just that in high school with my 66 Chevelle that had an 8 track. Used an 8 track to cassette adapter and then the tape adapter to a walkman just because the 8 track adapter ate the tapes!