1967 Mercury Cougar Build

[jcsexton2]

Hello all,



This is my first time posting to this forum so go easy on the new guy. My project car is a 1967 Mercury Cougar that I have had for 10 years. I originally bought the car as my first car with delusions of grandeur that it would be up and running in 2 years. Money has always been the constraint to get the necessary part(I bought the car off of ebay for $600). When I first got the Cougar, it was hit in the drivers side quarter panel and was left to rot in the weeds. The first major part for me was to buy a quarter panel off of a Cougar out west and weld it into the car. I replaced everything from the joint connecting the panel to the roof, all the way to the rear drivers side frame rail. I have also replaced both floor pans, floor to firewall panels, torque box, passenger's side quarter patch panel, front radiator support/batterytray corner, and various other small fabrications that were needed.

I am now working on the lower cowl, which was rusted out beyond recognition. I am coming to this forum late, but hope I can get information and tips from people who have dealt with the same issues I will face. I am still contemplating which route to go on the front suspension(if I should save up for an IFS setup), and wondering what would be the best rear suspension. I have two motors for the car, the first being a basic '87 302 with a 650 cfm edelbrock, and a t5 tranny that is being rebuilt currently. My plan was to get the Cougar's bones strong enough to be able to put in a stronger motor when finances allow. My second motor is a 302 block out of a '91 LX. It is bored .30 over and sitting in storage now until it becomes a priority. My plan was to drive the older dog 302 until it blew or I saved up, then stoke the other '91 block to 347.

I am a self taught welder, and my body working skills are getting better with every night in the garage. My main hurdles that I will have to overcome are the technical details of what rear end to use, if an IFS is really worth that price tag or if I should just use a kit to convert the front end to disc brakes(what kit is best bang for the buck, including the spindles), and how other people with cougars have dealt with the awful problem of those prone rust spots under the hood "beak's" lip and the lip of the deck lid. Those spots seem to be very difficult to fabricate with my my skills. The hood lip is rusted through almost all the way across the lip and the deck lid lip is in the same condition. Any thoughts?