67 Cougar restification

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Pics of the 8.8 waiting for the axe.

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AAARRRRGH! opened up the headers an one collector is crunched. I'd fix it myself, but they are ceramic coated Hedman Elites so they cant really be beat on... Called Summit and they are shipping another set ASAP.

Pulled the rear wheels to start on the body work. Taking a good hard look at the inner wheel wells to see if I can get a 275/40/17 up in there without rubbing. This will require at least a 9.5 inch rear wheel... Dead on nuts back spacing and a shortened axle will be the key I think. I could go 295 to 315 on a 17x11 with a mini tub ;-)

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Sand it, prime it, block it, cuss at it, rinse and repeat... LOL.

Started putting the grille and headlight assemblies back on... A major pain in the booty, but the front end is so damn cool when done right.

Also ripped out the sequencers and associated wiring in the trunk, no more electro-mechanical setup. Its all gonna be solid state.

And started the sump for the tank. Once we go EFI it will be mandatory so I figured I'd get it started... anything for a break from the blasted sanding...

[Frizzle Fry]

mi-ni-tub.. mi-ni-tub.. mi-ni-tub.. mi-ni-tub..

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So the 8.8 rear end has been shortened 3" to provide for a little extra tire in the rear. I'm hoping to shoehorn in some 275/40/17s on 9.5 or 10 inch rims back there. Trac loc is rebuilt and all new bearings and seals are in place. Just waiting on some carrier shims from Summit to arrive. Then we can toss it back together, set the pinion angle and weld in the perches. In and amongst this and a week long excursion to Vegas we have managed to get the car jambed and a substantial amount of body work done. Sooo tired of sanding... LOL

At least it is starting to resemble a car again...

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Pulled the fenders back off and hung the doors today. New weatherstripping "gorilla snotted" on. Pressure washed the inside as the cats had made a mess of it. Installed the column and decided to use the hood off the 68 as the 67 hood had some minor rust. If y'all recall the 68 had a man sized limb fall across its nose. The hood suffered some minor damage. As luck would have it, the damage is directly under where the hood scoop will be. Mocked it all up today and installed the scoop. I personally like it and will be doing some minor mods to it to make more at home on the Cougar.

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Test fit the new rims to see how they would fit and to get a few measurements. I like them alot and cant wait to get the rear axle swapped out and some tires installed.

Made more pieces black today. Getting close to shooting some color on the body.

Tail lights and baskets are back together, I think they came out awesome in comparison to what we started with.

Here are a few pics...

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Been busy on the body and rear end...

Couple pics to update y'all...

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Some shots of my rear end...

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Mo pics...

[Zoomin]

What size rims did you wind up with?

Keep up the good work, this is gonna be bad azz and classy looking.
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[67ChevyRedneck]

I just got very similar rims for my 65. Should be here next week! Lookin good!

[screamin_c10]

Originally Posted by Zoomin

What size rims did you wind up with?

Keep up the good work, this is gonna be bad azz and classy looking.
Posted via Mobile Device

18x9.5 rear and 17x8 in the front. I'll be starting with 235/45/17 fronts and 275/35/18 rears and go from there.

[screamin_c10]

Tires and wheels mounted. Plenty of clearance all the way around. But keep in mind I narrowed each side 1.5"

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Finally got her into an official coat of primer, still needs some blocking but she is pretty damn straight.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Wow! Y'all are really moving again!

Looks great!

What happened to the black wheels? The ones on there now look like newer mustang wheels?

Are the black ones the showwheels streeter? That's what I just put on my 65.

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The black wheels are Boss 338s I'm using the Mustang Bullitt rims for rollers until the body and paint are done.

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Almost lost my 338s to my buddy Doug... they sure looked good on his 69 Mach 1. He was happy to "borrow" them until I was ready to put them back on the Cougar

[67ChevyRedneck]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to give them back either, that car looks great with them too! You may have to steal your own wheels back!

Am I seeing things, or is that a 20/30's truck in the garage in the last pic?

[screamin_c10]

Yup, 34 ford pick up. It belongs to my neighbor. We have a bit of a hot rod commune here in the culdesac. Between the 2 of us we have a 66 Chevelle, 67 Chevelle, 34 Ford, 67 Cougar, 68 Cougar, 91 5.0 'vert, 71 C10, 67 C20, '03 CV Police Interceptor, and my '06 F150

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3 steps forward 2 steps back... Pulled the recently installed 289 and C4 to prep the car for its new 5.0 HO and T5 from the 91 'vert. Installed a Mustang Steve's clutch pedal kit and a new T5 crossmember. Started installing the Magnaflow exhaust system but ran out of time over my weekend. Test fit the radiator and fabbed up some mounts for it. Sumped tank is almost done, just need to pop a hole in it for the new gauge's sending unit and clean it out. Summer is ending too soon damnit...

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Long night, engine is ready for installation tomorrow while I have a break in the weather. Hope to get the T5 stabbed in as well.

Pulled, inspected, cleaned, repainted, and resealed the engine with a couple upgrades. It only had 80k on it and should be good to go until I can get the fundage together to build a proper 347 or 393W.

Upgraded the T5 a bit with a new billet steel cluster support, steel bearing retainer, and an upgraded shifter. It will survive behind the 5.0L but would meet a quick death behind the eventual stroker motor.

Sorry for all emoticons, it's 130am and I'm punchy.

[Zoomin]

Hey, that's looking great!

Saw this Cougar at Lone Star Good-guys, twin turbo, 900 hp or some ignorant number.

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That is pretty sweet! Looks like a cross between a 67 and 70 with a turbo'd Coyote 5.0. SWEET, but WAY out of my pay grade... LOL!

So the motor, and trans are bolted in. The long tube headers were a bit of a pain but I won the battle. Now its a matter of hooking it all up, fabbing up the fuel and exhaust system and getting the EFI all wired up.

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Yanked the 8.8 back out to set the final pinion angle and solid weld the perches. the T5 output shaft sits 1 inch lower than the C4's. So instead of shimming the tranny up into the floorboards we cut the tack welds and gave her another 1.5 degrees. Still need to shorten the steel brake line and weld on some hose mounts. Then it will get a fresh coat of black and bolted back in permanently.

Edit: Don't sweat the spacers, those are strictly on there to keep the late model rollers from rubbing on the wheel houses. The new black rims have the proper backspacing and fit perfectly, I just don't want them getting tore up while we finish up the paint and body...