1967 Cougar build (over 700 pictures and videos)

[waid786]

T = .250" h = 1.50" w = .625"

Thanks

[waid786]

You're in luck. I'll have the car on a lift tomorrow. I didn't get the Yaris non-abs to work as planned, but it is working and providing variable assist based on vehicle speed.

Andrew

Andrew, how were you able to make it work ?

Did you post you findings somewhere ?

I am really interested in getting speed dependent power assist on my Falcon.

Thanks

[andrewb70]

I finally had an opportunity to make some mechanical changes. Due to life circumstances, I still do not have a garage, but the generosity of "car guys" never ceases to amaze me. I am currently in the Louisville area, and a car buddy in Jasper Indiana offered his shop and skills to make this possible (thanks @herblumpp!!!).

Since going with the shorter tires, the cruising RPM on the highway has been a little too high for my taste with the 4.33 gears. In edition to the gearing, I was getting really tired of the Detroit Locker clucking and chattering around corners. It's great at the drag strip, but given that this car lives on the street 99% of the time, a more street friendly differential was needed. A buddy of mine had a used 9" carrier sitting around so I bought it from him. It had a 3.25 gear and a clutch type differential. The gear wasn't optimal, but I decided to go with it.







We made some adjustments to the gear mesh and added a Strange aluminum Daytona pinion support and a CV pinion yoke from The Driveshaft Shop. This way I have two complete carriers that I can swap back and forth if I wanted to in the future.

Got the car up on the lift and saw this:



That's the life of a daily driver. Pulled the driveshaft...



The axles...



Then the old carrier...



Then installed the new carrier...





The 3.25 gear is a little tall. On the highway it is a little over 1700 RPM @ 75 MPH. The engine doesn't seem to complain, especially with the mild cam, but you can tell that it really wants to be closer to 2000 RPM to be happy. The gears also whine like crazy. I was expecting this, but was hoping the whine wouldn't be so loud.

The biggest improvement was the clutch style differential. This makes driving on the street a lot smoother.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

The second part of the update was to install tailpipes in the exhaust system. My buddy was talking about building them from scratch, but then I saw that Flowmaster makes tailpipes for the 67-70 Cougars (PN 15807). These are 2.5" diameter, like the rest of the exhaust system, and I figured they would save a ton of time.

Having the car on the lift makes fitting the pipes a lot easier. I kept the original Hooker V304 stainless mufflers.





To make exhaust disassembly easier down the road, we added some Jegs brand v-band clamps. These were not super expensive and have an internal locking lip to keep both halves aligned. The v-bands were rotated out of the way in the final installation.





The end of the tailpipes got some turndowns and the pipes were tucked up and behind the rear valance. I also painted the tailpipes black, which makes them basically invisible when looking at the car from the rear. Even in this picture they are hard to spot...



The end result is a bit of a mixed bag. I was expecting the exhaust to get a little quieter, but that didn't happen. The exhaust note got deeper and but not quieter. I am probably getting too old, because I want it quieter, especially on the highway. I think the next addition might be a H-pipe, and if that doesn't do it, I may consider either adding two bullet style mufflers ahead of the Hooker mufflers, or going with a Super Turbo style muffler.

Andrew
@projectgattato

[andrewb70]

Short video of the new exhaust

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5VMRRjJyE0/

[andrewb70]

So....this happened yesterday morning. I was not hurt at all, but the same can't be said for the Cougar. I am pretty bummed out...





Be safe out there and never forget that these old cars are death traps.

Andrew

[chunger]

Wow! What happened? Someone sideswiped you?

Thank goodness you are safe and nobody was hurt!

[eville]

Glad you're safe! Looks like someone hit you?

[Bob in St. Louis]

Nnoooo!!!!!
Glad you're safe though.
What happened?

[SSLance]

Man, you BARELY missed that guardrail!! Could have been so much worse. Glad you are alright.

[langleylad]

Come on Andrew , we gotta know what happened ! Glad you're ok but I'm sure your underwear aren't .

[ryeguy2006a]

Damn... Sorry man but glad you are ok.

[andrewb70]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the kind words. It's a bummer, for sure.

I really don't want to go into details. Suffice it to say that the other driver got a citation and admitted fault. The issue is that I only have liability insurance on the Cougar. His insurance company is going to low ball me on the value of the car, that's a given.

Andrew

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the kind words. It's a bummer, for sure.

I really don't want to go into details. Suffice it to say that the other driver got a citation and admitted fault. The issue is that I only have liability insurance on the Cougar. His insurance company is going to low ball me on the value of the car, that's a given.

Andrew

Oh yea, no doubt.. that's a "worthless" car in their eyes. Just have them prove cost of parts alone, and that, in and of itself might help your case with value.
That's not to mention labor.
Unfortunately, the "patena" in their eyes might work against you. Had you had some $10,000 paint job, that's a whole nother argument.

[andrewb70]

Oh yea, no doubt.. that's a "worthless" car in their eyes. Just have them prove cost of parts alone, and that, in and of itself might help your case with value.
That's not to mention labor.
Unfortunately, the "patena" in their eyes might work against you. Had you had some $10,000 paint job, that's a whole nother argument.

The build is documented with 800 pictures...that will definitely help!

[Bob in St. Louis]

That's a very good point. But regarding the cost of that sheetmetal back there, that insurance company won't have the passion "us guys" have with your journey here.
Please keep us updated as things happen.
Rock on man, best wishes!

[grambo]

first off, I am so sorry your cougar got smashed. I would cry and mine isn't even on the road yet. I am very aware of how difficult it is to find parts for 67-68 cougars, (as I am building one) but in my many hours or research and networking I have made some connections, and I know a guy in Idaho who has three parts cars and would sell you a new quarter for a extremely reasonable price, this also seems like a good time to mini tub and maybe replace the drum brakes. I guess what I am saying is this isn't the end of the car, it looks very fixable, it may be just the next chapter in it's life. this could be the perfect time to upgrade some parts. but morn first weld later. more than anything I am glad you are not hurt.

[andrewb70]

That's a very good point. But regarding the cost of that sheetmetal back there, that insurance company won't have the passion "us guys" have with your journey here.
Please keep us updated as things happen.
Rock on man, best wishes!

Thanks Bob. I will post updates as they come. I already filed a claim with the other driver's insurance company and they are supposed to call me tomorrow.

first off, I am so sorry your cougar got smashed. I would cry and mine isn't even on the road yet. I am very aware of how difficult it is to find parts for 67-68 cougars, (as I am building one) but in my many hours or research and networking I have made some connections, and I know a guy in Idaho who has three parts cars and would sell you a new quarter for a extremely reasonable price, this also seems like a good time to mini tub and maybe replace the drum brakes. I guess what I am saying is this isn't the end of the car, it looks very fixable, it may be just the next chapter in it's life. this could be the perfect time to upgrade some parts. but morn first weld later. more than anything I am glad you are not hurt.

I really appreciate this! I will get in touch once I figure out what I am ultimately going to do. In the short term, the priority is to get it driving. I am going to call a body shop tomorrow and see if they will look at it and if they have ideas on how to pull the fender out so it clears the tire.

Andrew

[130fe]

Wow, sucks about the car. Glad to hear you are OK.

[OLDFLM]

Wide... body... Wide... body... Wide... body!

Glad you're okay brother!