This is a very cool rendering I found on a forum. I think its pretty cool, but grafting a fastback onto a Cougar would be pretty hard. I am looking at it, but its probably beyond what I can do. If I don't get into law school though, I think I might take a few classes on bodywork. Its not like I need to worry about my grades, for goodness sake I already have a job, this would more be for fun. I suppose if I do that, I might give it a shot.

Engine stuff

My brother has a DSS Racing 392w which he will be liquidating for a good price in the near future. I guess he is looking to build a motor for his truck which will get something better than gallons to the mile when he drives to work, and let's face it, gas ain't getting cheaper. He will even give me the family discount. Of course when he had the engine built, he had a truck in mind, so it has great drivibility, lots of torque, and is built for a vehicle a lot heavier than Monte will be. It has Edelbrock Performer RPM heads, an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake manifold, and a X303 cam all of which was perfect for a torquey motor. I was thinking of something a tad more high-strung and efi. Yes that will add some expense, but I know of more than one person who had carb tuning issues at my altitude.

Of course I would love to add a little style to the equation. This is a tad spendy but would it not look really cool?!?

Cross ram IR EFI ftw, of course the cost would outweigh any performance benefit... but would be awesome nonetheless. I am thinking with the right heads (AFR 205s or 225s), a hotter cam, and intake I would be over 550hp pushing 600hp. I previously thought about supercharging, as most people look at it as a way to get more power and not compromise drivability. My counter is, no matter what, tuning a fuel and spark curve for a supercharger is tough, especially at that power level, and even more so for the average know-nothing enthusiast. Lots to bite off, but I will keep everyone updated on what I do.

Shift Knob

Isn't this a cool shift knob?

http://www.cougarpartscatalog.com/g4spdknob.html

I wish I could afford it, but at 900 bucks, its a tad out of my price range.

Inspiration

The magazine Popular Hot Rodding is currently doing a project car on a white 1967 Cougar. Granted their car is in better shape, and they probably spent more on the motor than my whole project will cost, but it is inspiration. Above is the concept picture for their build. I have to admit, I had my car before I ever read about this particular article, but they happen to be going the same direction I am.

I am finding inspiration in the oddest places. I thought I would find inspiration in Ford/Mustang magazines. There is little mechanical difference between a 67 Mustang and a 67 Cougar. A Cougar has a 3" longer wheelbase, a little different rear suspension (longer leaf springs), and a longer unibody. Most other mechanical parts are shared between the two platforms, which drove my search to the aforementioned magazines. Oddly enough I was wrong. I am finding more inspiration from general hot rod magazines. It seems most Ford/Mustang magazines focus on either a concours perfect restoration (snore), high cost supercar-like builds (expensive), or Shelby clones (trite). They provide some good technical info, but they repeat the same type of features, which are somewhat entertaining, but provide little inspiration to the garage builder.

Lately the car magazines I read the most are:

Grassroots Motorsports (a long time fav, and probably the DIYer magazine out there)

Classic Motorsports

Popular Hot Rodding

Mustang and High Performance Fords (the best of the Ford bunch)

I haven't really started to take my car apart, but I did receive an offer of help from my brother. When I finish school this semester, I plan to start with the doors. Why the doors? They are easy to take off, they need a lot of work, I can get most of the parts I need for fairly cheap, and if the garage is too cold I can always drag them into the house. Hopefully the next post will some disassembly.

KP

I hate eBay.

I shouldn't really say I hate eBay. I hate competitive bidding on eBay. I had the high bid on a set of roller lifters for a 351c. Now normally these are about 450 bucks, but I found a set on eBay for just over a hundred bucks. I was set to win with just a few minutes left when I had to chase a kidling. I came back to find I lost by a mere 10 cents. Irritating... I am frequently looking for stuff for sale for my Cougar. I have had some luck, but not a lot. I guess I need to learn to play the game better.

Engine choices.

I am thinking about which engine will make Monte roar. Right now it has a pretty anemic 2v 351c. I am thinking a 4v 351c would be cool. I was also thinking about a blow through centrifugal supercharger. It might be expensive and a pain to tune, but would be a blast to drive. I could also do a 390 as I have a line on a free one which would need a reuild, but a solid cam tunnel port 390 would be awesome. Any thoughts?

Here is a first shot of Monte the 1967 Mercury Cougar. I found him on a KSL ad asking for $3500. When I first looked at the photos I have to admit I wasn't overly impressed. There are some issues especially with the body. I decided it was worth checking out anyway.

When I got to the dealership it fired right up. Under the hood was a 2V 351C which wasn't running all that great in front of a C4. I also noticed manual drum brakes and power steering. I do like the wheels, although they are 14" which means they will probably be replaced at one point. The interior needs some love, but it really isn't as bad as one might think for a car at this price. A glance at a few classic car price books, I saw a no.5 condition Cougar to be listed at about $2500 and a no. 4 to be about $4000. Honestly I don't do a whole lot of classic car appraisals so I couldn't say whether its a no. 4 or no. 5. Either way I offered $3000 cash, and the dealer took it. He included in that price the taxes and dealer fees, so I was out at exactly $3000. I found out from the finance guy that the owner of the dealership really wanted the restore the car, but didn't have the time. He actually left after I made my offer so he wouldn't have to see it drive off of the lot.

The drive home was fun. The only gauge which worked was the speedometer, and thank goodness for that. The car obviously had a cam on it, which made it a little finicky, and the carb could probably use a serious rebuild. The brakes were another story. They pulled like crazy, and the pedal pressure was huge. I am not a small guy and I was pushing the pedal for all I was worth just to get it stopped. The steering was very vague, and wandered like crazy. The steering coupled with the brakes made for a fun ride. I couldn't get the headlights to open, which really isn't a good sign because they should stay open if there is something wrong with the system. So I didn't drive it home at night, but it did rain. Thankfully the wipers gave me about a 5"X5" piece of clear windshield. On a bright note the transmission shifted well. Thank goodness for small favors.

About the name. We name all of our cars (except the work ones). I had no idea what to name this particular car. Heather remembered a cougar up at Hogle Zoo which she loved. She even got to pet him a couple times, and his name was Monte. I guess it was a fitting name, hoping Heather might love this one too (as unlikely as that is).

Plans... That is the hardest part. I liked the idea of a project I can drive. Although at one point, I will have to do some major body work. There is plenty of rust which will make body repairs fun. Also the interior will take some work as well. I would have to make some repairs to steering, electrical, brakes, and suspension to make it really safe and reliable to drive. Of course if I do that all right away, I will eventually have to take it all off again to fix the body and interior. I do want a manual transmission to replace the automatic, but I think I will use the 351C enigine. I could probably make some good power with that motor. Honestly, I will probably start disassembly soon. I realize a project of this magnitude will take some funds (which I don't have right now) and time (of which I have less). I do look forward the the project, because building it will be almost as fun as driving it... almost.