1989 Mercury Cougar XR7

[LNKMK8]

Purchased December 17, 2006 in Kansas City.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/CougarXR7.JPG

Less then a week after bringing the car home, I had shoulder surgery, so I wasn't able to do anything with the car other than start collecting parts for it. It was purchased with front end damage, and a leaky master cylinder/ABS unit. Over the winter, I was able to find some really good deals on new headlights, grille, header panel, and a few other things.


June 11, 2007

After sitting in storage for nearly 6 months, I have finally got started on my XR7. Didn't do a whole lot this weekend, but at least was able to get it out and access the damage. I did get it washed down, and pulled out the crap that was in the trunk. There was some crusty surface rust in the bottom of the trunk, so I cleaned that out and sprayed it down with Rustolem. The carpet is still drying in the mean time.

I plan to start by fixing the brakes. The master cylinder is leaking badly, so I'm just going to replace the whole unit with one out of my parts Cougar. Then it will be a full tune up, hoses, belts, reseall all the IC connections, change blower fluid and front seal, oil/filter change, motor mounts, etc. Then I plan to start on the interior, pulling the carpet for cleaning, and fixing up the seats. Then I will start on the front damage. I already have a black hood, fender, and bumper cover from the parts car, so I'll get all of that and the new headlights and such mounted up, and then have a friend buff it all out. It should look alright until I am able to get the whole car painted sometime down the road in a few years.

I have a hole in one of the tires, so that is why the wheels are mismatched currently. Here are a few pictures of it's current condition:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar1_June8.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar2_June8.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar3_June8.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar4_June8.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Trunk.JPG

July 26, 2007

Sadly I have not made much progress on my Cougar, but I have got a few things done this week. Last Saturday I was able to move enough of my dad's junk around to get the Cougar into the first stall of the main garage so it would be close to my tools and have a solid floor to work on. Since then I have managed to remove what was left of the header panel, front bumper cover, hood, and drivers fender. I gave it a quick bath tonight to get all the dirt and bird crap off of it before I tear into the motor for a little minor maintenance and TLC.

You can see in the pictures that the left side of the bumper took about 90% of the hit. My brother is picking up a 1994 Cougar parts car tomorrow, so I am hoping to just cut the bumper off of it and weld it into place on mine. Then I just need to straighten out the front support just in front of the battery a bit, and hang the fender, hood, bumper cover, and other parts from the parts car.

Before that all happens though, I need to replace the Brake Mater Cylinder, reseal all the IC and blower connections, replace the blower snout seal, plugs, wires, belts, tensioners, and maybe motor mounts and valve cover gaskets. I'm hoping to have it back on the road by September 1.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_July25_07.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Bumper1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Bumper2.JPG

September 1, 2007
Still not even close to being done. In fact, I haven't done anything since the last update, other then remove the damaged front bumper. Both of the parts cars front bumpers were damaged also. I managed to find a perfect condition bumper in black at U-PULL it in Omaha for less than $20!

September 6, 2007
After looking for the past 9 months, I came across a NOS discontinued GoodYear tire in the right size to replace the one that has a hole in the sidewall. All of the other tires are almost new, so I didn't really want one mismatched tire. So now I will have a matching set of tires, and all 4 correct wheels will be back on the car!

November 26, 2007

Wow, been quite awhile since I have had a chance to work on this car. I actually got some work done on the Cougar this weekend! Here is what the car looks like currently after I attempted to do a "tune up and routine maintenance"

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor.JPG

So much for just doing plugs and wires. The firing ring on the #3 cylinder head gasket was not quite right. It doesn't appear to have done any more damage though. Here are some pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_HG1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_HG2.JPG

I also found signs that the radiator had been leaking, which may or may not of been related. At any rate, I'll have to replace it, so I ordered one on Saturday. Should be here this week. So, now I just have to order new hoses, gasket kit, trans cooler, head studs, and a few other things, get the heads cleaned and checked out, and then start reassembling.

I did manage to get the ABS/Master Cylinder unit changed out, and get the new motor mounts installed, so there has been some progress. I also found 2 sources of vacuum leaks, so I will be able to correct that. This motor had never been touched in the past 18 years, other then a new drive belt and lower radiator hose. It still had the original plug wires, and I think the original plugs even.

November 28, 2007

The heads are at the machine shop being cleaned, checked out, surfaced, and new valve seals installed. They are hoping to have them done by this weekend. I picked up my upper gasket set yesterday, and all the new radiator hoses today. My Summit order also came with the ARP head studs and trans cooler. My radiator is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

I got the block surface cleaned and prepped tonight, and removed the EGR valve, as I damaged the tube while removing the heads and rear coolant line. I fabbed up a block off plate for the inlet plenum, and will just need to weld shut the manifold fitting side. I also realized tonight that I should of ordered new heater hoses while I am at it, and they are easy to get to. I don't think I will get them in time for this weekend, but I have to work Saturday morning and should have enough other things to do to keep me busy. I will add some more pictures and updates before the weekend is over.

Thomas

[BOORAH]

Sweeeeet.

This is what a good worklog should look like.

[Mr. Jeff]

thomas you really do some nice work on your cars. :Thumb:x10000000. if i was buyin a used car, i would see what you have for sell first!! this xr7 is prolly going to be one of the nicest ones on the road

[Johnny]

thomas does have some nice **** fo sho

[Cobra Commander]

You have just pwned the Work Log section.

89-90 XR7's are really cool and unique cars. I can't wait to see what all the noobs think when they hear a blower screaming under the hood of a Cougar. :lol:

[LNKMK8]

November 29, 2007

Got a call today from the machine shop. My heads look good, but the valves are not soo good. They said they are pitted and need a valve job. Larry estimated that as they are now, they might last 5K miles before I would drop a valve and have a dead cylinder. I guess it's a good thing I got everything checked out. So, these stock heads are starting to get pricey, but hopefully I won't have to mess with them again. They are going to do a 3 angle valve job and get everything put back together. Hopefully they will still be ready by the weekend. I did manage to get the heater hoses sourced and ordered, and they should actually be here tomorrow. Assuming the heads get done in time, I plan to start reassembling everything this weekend. I still need to change the fluid and snout seal in the blower, and lots of other things, so I doubt I will get it all back together this weekend. Pics will be coming before too long.

Thomas

[BOORAH]

:woot:

[LNKMK8]

November 29, 2007 PM

I got another call this afternoon and my heads are done! I'll pick them up tomorrow morning. Ended up costing a lot more than I was planning on spending, but they should be good to go for quite awhile. I was tempted to just go with a full port, but that doesn't really fit into my plans for the car, and I didn't really want to invest the money into that right now.

When I got home tonight, I found that my radiator had arrived a day early. I also finished cleaning the block surface tonight, and installed the ARP head studs. I also removed two hard heater lines that I will be capping off fittings to delete a bypass hose that runs through the throttle body. I am hoping to have the heads back on tomorrow night.

http://www.adenracing.com/Cougar/Headstuds.JPG

Thomas

[Mr. Jeff]

are you sellin the car when its done?

[LNKMK8]

No, I plan to keep it for quite awhile. There were 2,225 Auto XR7's made in 1989, so there aren't too many of them out there. They only came in three colors, red, white, and black, and were only made for two years, 1989 and 1990. They only made 8,592 total over the two years, with only 841 5-speeds in 1990.

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

No, I plan to keep it for quite awhile.

Thomas

Duh. The car can't leave your hands. It will be too cool with another black 89 Ford cruising next to it.....

[David]

Thomas you have me really thinking about a tbird now.

[LNKMK8]

My friend might still have his '96 for sale. It's a pretty nice car.

Thomas

[David]

turbo or ban.

[Johnny]

wayy to go thomas, getting some good work done!

[Cobra Commander]

turbo or ban.

If you love the turbos, you can't hate on the SC's. It's like a rule or something.

[David]

:lol:

[Mr. Jeff]

turbo or ban.

tt vette????

[LNKMK8]

December 1, 2007

Progress has been slow, buy is still moving in the right direction. I got the heads picked up yesterday and the heater hoses and O2 sensors today. I also got my manifold plug made up for the EGR delete. Charlez cut the top half of the fitting off, and welded it shut on both ends. It turned out really good. My EGR plate could of been better, but it won't be visible once on the car, so I'm not too concerned. Major work today was getting the heads in placed and torqued down, replacing the O2 sensors, installing the EGR plug, replacing the two heater hoses, gapping and installing the plugs, and mounting the exhaust manifolds. Here are some pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Heads1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Heads2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/EGR_Delete.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Heads_Installed.JPG

Thomas

[Johnny]

damn decent son

[Cobra Commander]

Wait, those aren't Cougar heads.... they say SC on them! :p

[96speedZ28]

Those are big!

[LNKMK8]

December 2, 2007

Things defiantly went smoother today. I didn't get started until late afternoon, but got a decent amount accomplished. I started off by installing the push rods and rocker arms, then got the exhuast hooked up and the oil filter changed. From there, I added some fresh "flush" oil, and got the intake manifold and valve covers back on. I finished up by putting the accessory brackets back on, and the lower IC tube, which I wrapped to prevent heat soak from the drivers side exhaust manifold that sits right next to it. I may have to pull the drivers side accessory bracket to get the replacement dipstick tube installed that is on the way, but it's only 3 bolts if I have to. Here are some more pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Lower_IC_Tube.JPG

Thomas

[BOORAH]

:lost:

[86Shelby]

My arms feel itchy just looking at that charge pipe.

Nice to see the progress!

[Cobra Commander]

Wow. Good job, Thomas!

You need to slow down though. You can't have your 89 done before me. :nervous:

[Johnny]

badass, now go faster...

[LNKMK8]

It feels odd to actually get something accomplished on my own car, or at least one that I will be keeping.

I wouldn't worry too much Brook. I still have to get the body panels back on and clean the interior, and still have a lot of motor work left. And then it will sit in the garage all winter, so you'll have plenty of time to catch up.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

December 8, 2007

I made some good progress today! It is actually starting to look like a complete motor again. I started off by installing the replacement dipstick that showed up on Monday, and then installed the rest of the pulleys, including 3 new steel 76mm tensioner pulleys. I also put the fuel rail/injectors/harness back on, new SuperStant 180* thermostat, coolant temp sensor, and fixed the harness for the sensor. I also got the new plug wires and belts installed, and also the intake return piece. At this point, it was time to put the supercharger back on, but not before I did a some work on it.

I broke out the Scrubbing Bubbles and cleaned all the grease off of the snout and bottom from where the nose seal had been leaking, and also drained out the fluid. Brook stopped by and got a chance to find out what used SC oil smells like! :lol: Then I installed the new double lipped Viton nose seal, and refilled with fresh oil. I also pulled the inlet plenum and TB off to clean and reseal the connections, and installed the EGR block off plate. Then it was time to drop the blower back in, and hook up all the vacuum lines.

Once the blower was back on and hooked up, I wrestled the wiper arms/motor assembly back into place, and installed the intake tube and coolant overflow. I also took a moment to remove the factory air silencer. Should help air flow a tiny bit, and more importantly, make the M90 more noticeable. I also mounted the trans cooler up front.

The goal for tomorrow is to get the new radiator and hoses installed, put the IC back in and finish up the connections, run the lines for the trans cooler, and drop the fan back into place. Hopefully I'll get to start it up. Here are some pictures from today.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Blower.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Silencer.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/MN12_Silencer_Removal.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Trans_Cooler.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor6.JPG

Thomas

[toom1h]

Wow man, looks really really good. Can't wait to see this thing finished.

[Cobra Commander]

Brook stopped by and got a chance to find out what used SC oil smells like! :lol:

Thomas

:barflost:

[96speedZ28]

Is that GM supercharger oil in a Mercury?

[Mazdadan]

Brook stopped by and got a chance to find out what used SC oil smells like! :lol:

Thomas

:barflost:

is it worse than 80/90?

I got some in my hair 3 years ago and I swear I can still smell it :(

[LNKMK8]

December 9, 2007

So, I started off the day realizing that I forgot to plug in the TPS and IAC, and that I had buried the harnesses under the inlet, but was able to dig them out. I also thought about why I had thought it would be a good idea to install the snout seal backwards, took the pulley back off to look at it, and decided to just keep it as it was and see what happens. After that, I got the fittings from the old radiator transfered over, and installed. Also got the trans cooler lines run, and the new radiator hoses installed. Got the IC back into place, as well as the upper tube, SC top, and fan. Also installed some new battery terminals as the originals were getting pretty worn out. Seems like I spent a lot of time on little stuff today, but this evening I was able to get it started! Fired right up on the first try.

After a minor coolant leak and trans fluid leak was fixed, she seems to be running pretty well. It still sits a little low on the vac gauge, which I had hoped fixing the broken lines and resealing everything would fix. It will bump up to the proper vacuum if you play with the throttle a bit, so who knows. I let it get up to temperature, and then drained the oil. It came out looking perfect, so I hope I got all the moisture out of it. I'll run some fresh oil for a few hundred miles, and then dump it again just to make sure, and then dump in some good stuff. Other than a small exhuast leak on the passenger side manifold, everything seems to be operating as expected. I'll have to get that taken care of some day.

The next thing of importance will be bleeding the brakes and getting everything with that working again, so I can actually take the car down the road a bit. At that point, the major mechanical issues should be taken care of, and I can start getting some body panels hung. Here are some pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Radiator.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor7.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor8.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Motor9.JPG

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

Looking good.

Too bad you can't pull the pan off and do a quick J Mod.

Brook stopped by and got a chance to find out what used SC oil smells like! :lol:

Thomas

:barflost:

is it worse than 80/90?

Oddly yes, and that is saying a lot.

[ali]

looks good man

[LNKMK8]

December 15-16, 2007

Not a whole lot to report, as I didn't get much accomplished over the past few days. I wasn't overly motivated to start with, and was even less so when I ran into problems. I went out to bleed the brakes on Saturday, and found that I couldn't get any fluid out of the rear caliper. The car has a some what primitive ABS system, and is prone to issues. In order to bleed the rear brakes, you have to have the key on, so the ABS Pump Motor can run and allow fluid to the rear. After some trouble shooting and ruling out a few other components, I tracked the issue down to a dead ABS motor. I have a spare, but I still will have to pull the whole Hydraulic Actuator Assembly to change the ABS motor.

Also, while I was getting ready to bleed the rears, I notice the pads are getting thin, and the rotors are in need of attention. I found the fronts to not be that much better, so I'm going to replace pads and rotors all the way around also. I now have a plan of attack, but other than getting the car in the air and the wheels off, and brake unit unplugged, I really didn't get much accomplished. With finals and working extra hours this week, I doubt I will get much more than parts ordered. Hopefully by the end of next weekend, the brakes will be taken care of and it will be mechanically road worthy.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Brakes.JPG

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

December 29-30, 2007

Not much has happened over the past 2 weeks. With the weather being cold, and my dislike of brake work, I haven't been too motivated. I did get some work done this past weekend though. The big project was to pull the entire ABS Hydraulic Actuator Assembly and get the pump motor swapped over. I managed to do that and get installed and working Saturday night. On Sunday, I installed new pads and rotors installed in the front and rear, and bleed/flushed the system. Once that was all done, I discovered the ABS accumulator is bad. :joe: I was sort of expecting it to be, as it is very common and the previous owner thought it was going bad when it was on his car. The good news is it's easy to change. The bad news is it runs about $100 and comes from the original maker in Germany, via a distributor in Texas, who wasn't open today. So, I'll get one ordered on Wednesday and hope they have them in stock. Once I can get that changed, hopefully the car will have working brakes for the first time in over a year. Pretty boring pictures this time:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_Brakes.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Rear_Brakes.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Rear_BrakePads.JPG

Thomas

[Johnny]

very nice, still coming along nicely

I need to do brakes on my pile too

[STOK5OH]

bwahahaha...i havent touched the brakes in the frankenfox since ive owned it. :rofl:

[rsisbetter]

very nice! keep it up

[LNKMK8]

January 6, 2008

First post of the new year! I am still waiting on the accumulator for the brakes, so it is still on jack stands. It should be here on Monday, and take about 5 minutes to install. Hopefully it takes care of my brake issues. Since it was still not drivable, I took the time to install the drivers side fender, hood, and replace the antenna. I had to do a little painting on the inside edge of the fender. Everything lined up fairly decent considering the car had been hit in the front twice, and the parts car had also been hit in front previously. If all goes well this week, I hope to have it drivable, so I can take it over to Charlez's house and get the replacement bumper welded on, and finish up the front end.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Hood.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Fender.JPG

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

It is only a matter of time till we wax her. :)

[Johnny]

badass

[LNKMK8]

January 7, 2008

I have brakes! My ABS Accumulator showed up today. I couldn't believe how tight the old one was, but I was able to finally get it to brake loose and remove it. Got the new one installed, and re-bled the brakes just for good measure. Got the wheels put back on, and it stops! Not quite as good as some of my other cars, but for stock brakes they feel pretty decent. I only tried them on the driveway a bit. My ABS and BRAKE light aren't on any more, so hopefully this will take care of them for awhile.

Just when I was starting to get ahead, that stupid coolant leak showed up again. So I'll have to pull the intake tube off and see if I can't get that taken care of tomorrow.

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

****, the car is almost drivable now. :woot:

[Johnny]

:woot:

[LNKMK8]

January 12, 2008

Made some really good progress today! Today marked the first time that I have drove the car down the road since buying it over a year ago. I took the short drive over to my brother's house to work on the getting the front end parts installed. Before we could start mounting stuff, we had to do a little straightening. Who says you need fancy equipment to do this. A come-along, some clamps, a torch, and an F150 hitch worked pretty darn well. :lol:

Once we got things straightened out enough, we moved inside and started fitting parts on the car. Once we got the bumper lined up, my brother welded it on for me. I got the rubber isolator bolted back on, and then the header panel installed. I had to adjust the drivers fender back a bit, and play with the hood latch to get everything lined up and working. The hood opens and shuts perfectly now, and everything is lined up fairly decent for the car being hit in the front at least twice.

We did find out that they made some minor changes from a 1989 XR7 header panel and isolator and a 1991 LS. I had to do some trimming and cutting to get the bumper cover mounted. I had to spend a lot of time little adjustments and such, but it turned out fairly decent. Got the headlights and corner lights installed, and finished up with the grille.

The front bumper cover from the parts car had been light hit before, and it flexed it enough to crack the paint on the drivers corner. A little work with a Sharpie made it not nearly as noticeable, and will work until I can get the whole car repainted sometime down the road. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how everything lined up and how it looks.

The next step will be to give the interior a good cleaning, and put it back together, as well as work some magic on the paint. The paint is in fairly good shape, but has been seriously neglected for a couple of years. I'm hoping by spring the car will be clean inside and out, and still mechanically sound.

I've put about 70 miles on it so far, and it seems to drive better and better each time. The gas that is in there is at least 2 years old, so I filled up with some fresh BP Premium, and will change the filter once I have run some more through. The car does need an alignment, which I assume has something to do with getting hit, and I'm sure I will need to go through the suspension next winter. Anyway, here are the pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_End1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_End2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_End3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_End4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_End5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_End6.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Sharpie.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_End_Finished.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Cougar/XR7_Front_End_Start.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Front_End_Final.JPG

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

http://www.adenracing.com/Cougar/XR7_Sharpie.JPG

Thomas

Hahahhahaa. Gotta love the Sharpie.

[BOORAH]

Haha, thats awesome!

[LNKMK8]

Here is a picture from yesterday with all the dust washed off. I'm really looking forward to Brook and I working some magic on the exterior.

http://www.motortopia.com/files/groups/478ac99405f32/Jan_13th_Meet_003jpg_Thumbnail1.jpg

Thomas

[ali]

hell yeah looks good:cool1:

[Johnny]

wow, that looks realy good thomas. I'm impressed

[LNKMK8]

March 15, 2008

It's been two months since my last post, so I thought it was time for an update. I actually haven't done anything to the car since then, until today. With the crappy weather and other commitments, I really haven't had much of a chance to work on it. I wanted to work on the interior of the car today. While it's in overall very decent condition for being 19 years old, it was quite dirty. Also, the previous owner had pulled some of the dash stuff apart as he was getting ready to install stereo equipment, so that needed put back together. Here was the scene from today:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_March08.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_March08.JPG

Here are some before pictures. As you can see, the seats need some work, and the carpet has some really nasty stains in it. You can also see the missing parts of the dash:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int5.JPG

I started out by pulling all the seats out to I could get at the carpet. I did find some change underneath the front seats, and a Silver Chair CD behind the rear ones. It was nice to find a CD other than some horrible rap CD that you have never heard of. I've found many of those in cars I've gotten from KC in the past?? Anyway, I went over the carpet once, and then started on the dash. I wanted to change a few items with nicer ones, and update a few things, I so I had to remove more stuff yet.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int6.JPG

The next two pictures show the dash all back together and looking like it should. It's the first time since I've owned the car that the dash has actually been complete.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int7.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int8.JPG

I got a lot of little things accomplished today. I'll make a list here shortly. I went over the carpet a couple more times, and it is much better now, but it still has some discoloration and staining in a few areas. Floor mats will cover a lot, but some will still be visible. It will work until I can find something better to replace it with. I won't have any after pictures for a few days as it was 11:30 when I got the seats back in. The interior still needs some touch ups and then another good cleaning, but it's a lot better then when I started. Here is a list of what I accomplished today:

Cleaned Carpet
Cleaned & Conditioned Seats
Replaced Seatbelt on DS Seat
Replaced Switch on DS Seat
Replaced Trim on DS Seat
Replaced Sunroof Switch Cover
Replaced Shift Knob
Replaced Shift Indicator
Replaced Console Top Trim
Touched up Leather on E-Brake Handle
Replaced Lower Dash Bin
Moved Trunk Open Button to Original Location
Installed Dash Box
Installed PS Air Tube
Installed PS Air Vent
Installed Glove Box and Latch
Moved PS Courtesy Light to Original Location
Installed PS Lower Dash Panel
Replaced Power Antenna Switch
Replaced Vehicle Maintenance Monitor
Painted Gauge Surround Black & Cleaned Gauges
Replaced Steering Wheel
Replaced Multi-Function Switch

Overall not a bad way to spend 10 hours on a Saturday. In related news, I located a black front bumper cover that appears to be in better shape then mine, so I plan to pick that up. The same guy has some nice door panels, so I can replace my drivers side one that is coming apart. I hope to get the exterior cleaned and waxed sometime this week, as well as clean up the interior some more also. We'll see if the weather holds out.

Thomas

[BOORAH]

:woohoo: for clean interiors!

[ali]

hell yeah

[Cobra Commander]

Are you able to pull those stains out any more, or is that as good as she will get?

How people spill stuff that badly is beyond me.

[LNKMK8]

It's a lot better now, but there is still some signs of it. I've located some carpet out of a parts car that is supposed to be better, so I might pick that up and change it out if it is.

Yeah, the shifter was nasty. The indicator was all covered in soda and dirt.

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

I'll update this thread because I'm excited FOR Thomas. :lol: We used some discontinued black specific wax on the XR7 lastnight that I had lying around. The car looks absolutely awesome! It's hard to believe that she is an '89.

Shitty camera phone picture:
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i306/Brook32v/0320082049.jpg

[BOORAH]

Holy Shiny!

[89fox]

Damn it looks great.

[LNKMK8]

March 17-20, 2008

Since I didn't have any classes this week, I was actually able to get a little bit of work done on the Cougar this week. Monday night I swapped out IC's hoping to fix my vac leak. It didn't help that at all, but having an IC that didn't have a big dent in the side and 1 row of fins crushed certainly didn't hurt anything.

On Tuesday, I got the car out on the road and drove up to Seward to have the title/car inspected, and get plates on it. It developed a bit of a suspension issue, causing the front of the car to bounce very badly over bumps. When I got home that night, I did some looking into it and found the valve for the ARC was seized on the LH front shock. I soaked it in PB Blaster, and got it to loosen up. I went ahead and lubed the rest of them, and by the next day the issue was gone.

On Wednesday evening, I bleed the brakes again as I could tell there was some air in there. They are much better now, but still need some more adjusting. I attempted to find my vac leak again, but had no success. The IAC gasket looked pretty bad though, so I went ahead and replaced it.

Thursday after work, I went over to Brook's shop to clean up the exterior a bit. After a quick wash down the street and some Taco Johns, Brook started in on the exterior with his super duper secret NOS polish. The stuff really worked well on the oxidized paint that hadn't been cleaned or waxed in close to 3 years. While he was working on that, I swapped out the rear reflector panel to get rid of the gold trim, cleaned up the wheels, and Rain-X'd the windows. I'm really happy how the exterior turned out. It looks soo much better then it did before. If you go back and look at the pictures I took this summer, you can see where parts of the car were actually gray. Big thanks to Brook for doing all the hard work and making the car look 100x better!

I've included a couple of photos of the interior. The interior is much better than it was, but the carpet still has some stains, and the seats need to be touched up. The pictures are kind of dark, but it should give you a bit of an idea of how it is now.

I've now put 300 miles on the car since buying it in December of 2006. My next goal with the car is to get that vac leak fixed, and take it to the dyno to get some baseline stock numbers on the car. Then the real fun can begin. Here are a few pictures I took tonight after work.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Interior1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Interior2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Photos1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Photos2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Photos3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Photos4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Photos5.JPG

Thomas

[BOORAH]

Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.

[BOORAH]

Oh and.

TINT.

[charlez]

Oh and.

TINT.

http://starcityracing.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=7410

[BOORAH]

Well its not on yet :D

[Cobra Commander]

BANK OF THE WEST!!

[Johnny]

looks goof thomas!

[turbodaytona87]

Thomas, that **** is CLEAN! Nice work!

[LNKMK8]

April 26-27, 2008

It's been almost a month since my last post, so I figure its about time for an update. I haven't really done much with the car since my last post. I did take a little trip down to northeast Kansas, but other than that, haven't drove it much. I am supposed to be getting the car tuned in a couple of weeks, so I need to get started on a few projects. I did pull the blower and a few other items off last Sunday, but it wasn't really post worthy. This is what I managed to get done this weekend.

I've got just a few basic bolts on modifications planned:

ZR Intake
75mm MAF
BBK Throttle Body
Home Ported Inlet Plenum
Magnuson S-Port Blower
5% Aluminum SC Pulley
0% Aluminum JS Pulley
36# Injectors
255lph Fuel Pump
IC Fan
MP Tensioner Springs
Flowmaster Exhaust

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Mods.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust2.JPG

I started off the day by removing the old exhuast. It came off pretty easily, considering it was likely one of the first times it had ever been removed.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust1.JPG

Once that was removed, I figured it would be a good time to drop the fuel tank and install the new fuel pump. This is where things took a turn for the worse. There was a bit more fuel in the tank than I realized, and bad things happened when I opened it up. I managed to dump at least 5 gallons of gas out in about 10 seconds. :eek: Yeah, I'm an idiot. My shirt and pants were soaked in BP Ultimate. I got the tank jacked back up, and grabbed the hose and started washing the floor down. Cleaning up that mess kind of slowed me down for the rest of the afternoon. I decided to move onto some of the engine stuff while the rear dried out.

I did manage to get the injectors installed, reinstall the accessory bracket, mount the IC fan to the IC, and change 1 of my tensioner springs before calling it a night. Overall, not a whole lot got done on Saturday.

I started off Sunday by cleaning up more fuel. My jack must not of been turned all the way, and let the tank drop down overnight. I was able to spray it down immediately like the day before, so the concrete is pretty stained up right now. I pumped out 5 gallons from the tank, and then dropped it down and changed the pump without further incident. I really hate the smell of gas now.

With the tank back up in place and the new pump tested, I figured I'd finish up on the bottom side of the car by installing the new exhaust. I had to first cut the old resonator from the down pipes so the new Flowmaster setup could be installed. This actually went really smooth, and turned out great since I used a pipe cutter rather than just a saw of some sort. After a bit of tweaking on the hanger, and some hammering on the pipe, the front section was back in the car.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust3.JPG

The rear section went together extremely well. It didn't take long at all to bolt it up. All the hangers fit perfectly, and there really wasn't any issues with it.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust5.JPG

Besides driving such cool cars, I have a killer wardrobe also! Gotta love the black socks pulled up with the shorts, and my really white legs. I can't understand why I'm single?? :confused:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust6.JPG

And here is the finished project. Should be a nice upgrade from the stock setup, yet still be pretty mild. I'm quite impressed with the fit and finish of the system. It really tucks up under the car nicely.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust7.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust8.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Exhaust9.JPG

Other than changing the fuel filter, that is about all I got done with the car this weekend. Certainly not as much as I had hoped, but I think I got the big stuff out of the way. I just need to port the inlet plenum, and then bolt the top end stuff back on. Shouldn't be too bad, but with me working on it, you never know. Hope to have the car all back together and running in a week, and tuned with dyno figures the week after.

Here is the aftermath of just the overnight fuel spill. Thankfully the big one yesterday was diluted fast enough it didn't leave a mess.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Fuel_Spill.JPG

Thomas

[BOORAH]

:lol:
Exhaust looks nice.

[Cobra Commander]

Besides driving such cool cars, I have a killer wardrobe also! Gotta love the black socks pulled up with the shorts, and my really white legs. I can't understand why I'm single?? :confused:

Thomas

Hahahaha. :lol:

That exhaust looks good.

[ali]

hell yeah man looks good

[Cobra Commander]

No pics of window tint?

[LNKMK8]

I haven't had a chance to get it done yet. I did get my truck done today though, and as expected, it turned out awesome! I doubt I'll have time to get it tinted before the tune, but for sure sometime in May.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

May 3-4, 2008

The car is back together again, but I found more problems, so it will have to come back apart at some point. Here is what I managed to get accomplished this weekend.

I started out by porting the blower inlet. I just wanted to match the openings to the ported blower and larger throttle body. It certainly isn't anything amazing, but it took care of the sharp edges. Other than that, I just put everything back together, including the new pulleys, blower, intake, etc. Once that was all back together, I dropped the EEC out of the car, and installed a chip to match up the injectors and MAF. The tune seems pretty close right now, but I'll get it dialed for sure on Friday/Saturday.

I did find what was causing a few issues when I took the car apart. The blower belt was slipping really bad, which would explain only making 8-10 lbs of boost. It was a brand new belt, but was probably made in 1990, so it was dry and just went to powder under load (see first picture). I think I located a possible vacuum leak also The bypass tube had a big tear in it, but it was under the clamp, so I'm not sure how much of a problem it was. It is still a little low on the vacuum, but it doesn't run like it is, so maybe the gauge is not quite right?

I still need to wire up the IC fan, and bleed the brakes yet again. I'll try and get that done before Friday. Also, I found a small coolant leak while I was working on it. Looks like the filter adapter/oil cooler is leaking. That will be a pain to change out, and will have to wait a while. I tried to charge the AC system today, and the compressor sounds terrible. Once I got some in, it sounded like it was leaking out of the compressor somewhere. Looks like I'll have to replace that before the AC will be working. Here are a few pictures I took this weekend:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Belt_Slip.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Vac_Leak.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Port_Inlet1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Port_Inlet2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Port_Inlet3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Port_Inlet4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Chip1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/ZR_Intake.JPG

Thomas

[ali]

looks good

[Burntz]

after reading this whole log, i must say i am completely impressed with the work you've done

:Thumb:

[Cobra Commander]

Haha. It looks like someone did a huge burnout inside your engine compartment, leaving rubber everywhere. :lol:

That intake piping looks pretty damn good. Can't wait to hear some eeeeeeEEEEEEE around town.

[LNKMK8]

after reading this whole log, i must say i am completely impressed with the work you've done

:Thumb:

Thanks for taking the time to read through it. It's been a long process, and there is still a ton of stuff to do.

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

Update or ban!

[LNKMK8]

May 9-10, 2008

This weekend was kind of fun. I got a chance to see the results of my work from the past several months. My friend from Ohio flew in on Thursday night to tune my car, as well as some others. He is considered the best tuner for these cars, so it was pretty cool having him out. We did a little road testing Thursday night to see where things were at. The tune he sent me was pretty close. On Friday, I got the car all cleaned up and wired in the IC fan. We ended up running out of time Friday night for my car, so it had to wait until Saturday.

Once I got the car strapped down, things went pretty smoothly. He had the tune all set in 3-4 pulls. The AF is perfect all the way across the run. The tune is a nice safe one, using stock timing. The car runs great now, and I'm quite happy with the result. We gained about 15hp and 15ft lbs on the dyno just with tuning. He was a little disappointed with the hp number, as he thought it would of been higher. I have a few little things planned yet that hopefully will boost that number up to 225-230 range, but I'll worry about those later. As you can see from the boost numbers, there is some restriction in the system for sure. The boost continues to creep up to 16lbs, while the power drops off. Hopefully once I change up a few things, it will hit 13lbs, and level out at that point. Either way, the car is really fun to drive, and pretty respectable for a 19 year old Ford V6.

Not too many pictures due to me running around helping other people and strapping cars on and off the dyno. Here are a few my friend took, and the dyno graph. There should be a video here in the next day or two. Next on the list is to fix the cruise, some interior lighting, and the AC. I'm planning to take the car to the track next weekend, so we'll see what kind of times I end up with.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Dyno3.jpg

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Dyno1.jpg

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Dyno2.jpg

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Dyno213.318.JPG

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

Holy torque batman! :nervous:

[ali]

Holy torque batman! :nervous:

[Burntz]

torque ftw

[LNKMK8]

May 17, 2008

This update isn't completely work related, but I thought it was worth including. I took my car on a little road trip this weekend to Earlville, IA (NE Corner). The car made the 760 mile trip without any problems. The car made 9 passes at the local drag strip, and averaged 24-25 mpg on the drive there and back. I'm glad I was able to get the cruise fixed earlier in the week. All I had to do was adjust the brake cutout switch, and it fixed it!

As far as how the car performed, I couldn't be more happy with it. I was really surprised actually, as I didn't think it would be quite as quick through the 1/4 as it was. I ended up with a best of 14.1 @ 97mph. The first pass of the day, I hooked up perfectly, but messed up the shift, and had to let out. The second pass I hooked up pretty well, but not like before, and ran my best time of the day. At that point, my TL clutches had enough and I couldn't get my DR's heated up with only one wheel spinning at a time. Oh well, just another thing to add to the to do list. I did run quite a few 14.2's and 14.3's to back up that best run. In qualifying, the car ran back to back 14.22 and 14.27. If I would of been able to hook up the rest of the day, I think I could of pulled out a 14.0. I did manage to win the bracket race, so the car was fairly consistent.

The next major project will be the AC system and getting the windows tinted. I need to replace the compressor for sure, and maybe more once I get into it. Here are a few pictures of the car from this weekend.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TimeSlip.JPG

Thomas

[BOORAH]

Damn decent.

[Cobra Commander]

Damn she ran hard! :eek:

[LNKMK8]

October 18, 2008

I haven't really done much with the car this summer other than drive it a few times. I did get the windows tinted and had Brook do a little buffing on the crappy paint. Today is the last day that it will be out this year, as I will be parking it for the winter to do some more work on it. The major projects for the winter will include:

Rebuild front and rear suspension
Rebuild rear end
Convert ABS to conventional brakes
Fix coolant leak that showed up today
Install new VB, downtubes, Pulleys, and IC
Track down some electric gremlins

Here are a couple of pictures from today:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar13.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar8.JPG

Thomas

[82355]

Looks good with the tint.

Martin

[Hibs]

sweet. so is this your primary driver then? you still have the SC and the mark VIII right?

[LNKMK8]

Yeah, the tint made a huge difference!

Nope, this is just another toy to keep around and tinker with. I do still have the SC. It is still torn apart in the garage underneath the cover. Hopefully I can return my attention to that soon. Yeah, still have the Lincoln also. My daily is a 96 Thunderbird 4.6.

Thomas

[82355]

So you have four of them? I like that you have one of each brand.

Martin

[LNKMK8]

Yeah, 4 at the moment. Ford-Lincoln-Mercury :D

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

All one needs in life, really.

[82355]

Now you just need to make one of them stupid fast.

Martin

[Hibs]

Now you just need to make one of them stupid fast.

Martin

agreed.

how is the Mark VIII running btw?

[LNKMK8]

January 17-18, 2009

First post of the new year! It has been quite a while since I have worked on the car. I've been accumulating parts over the past few weeks, and finally got out to the garage this weekend to get started. I have begun what will be a major suspension overhaul, with some additional upgrades to the rear end and an ABS to conventional brake conversion. I have nearly all the parts I need, so I started to remove the worn out stuff from the car.

I was able to get everything from the front suspension removed except the tie rods, as I need to locate a larger wrench. I also left the front sway bar for now since the replacement hasn't been purchased yet. I will have to drop the front sub frame down a few inches to R&R the front bar, and didn't feel like doing that more than once. I also remove the ABS master cylinder and pressure unit from the car to make room for the booster and new master cylinder.

I started tearing into the rear suspension on Sunday evening. I removed everything except the lower and upper control arms. The bushing look a bit dry on them, but I think they will be alright. Given the $200 in extra cost to replace them, I think they will work just fine. I also removed the rear end, which will be replaced with an aluminum case, an Auburn carrier, and 3.73's. I also found that the rear lh caliper seems to have been leaking slightly around the banjo bolt, which could very well explain my brake issues over the past year. I'm still going to go ahead with the conversion to avoid issues that are bound to come up with the antiquated system.

Here are a few pictures I took along the way. Not very good, but you can get an idea of the amount of parts removed:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Suspension1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Suspension2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Suspension3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Suspension4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS2.JPG

Thomas

[Burntz]

nice!

[KyleJ]

I just read this whole thing tonight and DAMN I'm impressed!!

[LNKMK8]

Thanks. Yeah, it's been quite a bit of work, but I should be pretty happy with the finished product.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

January 19, 2009

I had the day off from work today, so I spent a little time in the garage. I wanted to get started on the brake conversion, so I started with test fitting the new brake booster. The bolt pattern is a little different on the new booster, but the holes were already in the firewall. I just needed to clear one out as the sound deadening material was blocking it. After adjusting a couple wiring harnesses, I was able to get it into place. In the process, I decided it would be best to reroute one of the brake lines that used to come along the top and drop down. With the new booster taking up that area, I routed it downward and it will come back up around the bottom. This should make for a cleaner install once everything gets hooked back up.

Once I got everything fitted, I pulled it back out to do some cleaning. The pain had been damaged in the area from the previous pump leaking, so I brushed it down, primed, and painted over it. I also touched up the area on the firewall where the booster mounts. After a quick coat of paint, I installed in the booster and tucked the top wiring harness away behind it. I slid the new master cylinder on to check the fit. I am still trying to track down the correct proportioning valve, so I am not able to hook the lines up yet. Once I get that piece, I can bench bleed the MC, install it, and bend/route the brake lines and get everything hooked up.

Since I had gotten as far as I could with the brakes for today, I decided to dig the Mark VIII front spindles, aluminum rear housing, and front caliper brackets out of the shed. I removed the ABS sensors from the spindles, and painted them, along with the new calipers and brackets. I'll get the hubs/bearings changed out hopefully later this week, and then they will be ready to go.

Here are the pictures from today:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS6.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS7.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS8.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Suspension5.JPG

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

At last!! !

[regal403]

Wow, I forgot that you had this car. Just read the whole thread, too. Very nice!

[LNKMK8]

January 25, 2009

I wasn't able to get a lot of things done this weekend, but did get a few small but important things taken care of. The cold weather slowed me down a bit also, as I struggled to keep the garage at 40 degrees. On Saturday, Brook and I made a trip out to Felhafers in Utica in search of a proportioning valve from a 92-94 Crown Vic. I looked through several Panther chassis vehicles before coming across a '92 CV without ABS that still had a MC in it. $5 later and I had what I had come after.

Now that I had the fitting needed for the MC, I was able to finish up the brake install in the engine bay. I dug up a couple of zinc coated nuts from my bin, and got the MC mounted. I had to bend the brake lines and reroute them a bit since the mounting points are quite a bit different. Everything hooked up, and I think they turned out pretty good considering they weren't made for this application, and I had to bend them by hand. I ran a new vacuum line to the booster, reinstalled the wiper motor and cowl, and tucked all the old wires away.

From there, I turned my attention to the suspension. I dropped off the front spindles at LCB on Friday to have the new hubs installed, and plan to pick them up this week, and also get my springs installed on the new shocks. I ordered the new ADDCO anti-sway bars on Friday. All the parts I need to complete the front end should be here by next weekend, along with some warmer weather. In anticipation of that, I took some time to clean things up. I pulled both front fender liners as one needed to be replaced, and one will come half way out when I replace the front bumper cover. I cleaned everything up and added some fresh paint. I also removed the assembly brackets in readiness for the front bar install.

The pictures aren't too excited this time. Next update should be much more interesting, with some better pictures of the progression.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS9.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS10.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_ABS11.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Bracket_Removal.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Fenderwell1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Fenderwell2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Fenderwell3.JPG

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

February 11, 2009

Not too much to update. I've been waiting for the past few weeks for the ADDCO front bar to arrive. They have been jacking me around on it, and keep giving me different dates for shipment. I guess they are waiting on the bushings to show up in the warehouse. The rear bar did show up this week, but it doesn't do me any good as I have no money to take care of the other items in the rear.

I did take advantage of the abnormally warm weather on Tuesday to paint the rear wheel wells and brake calipers. I was pleasantly surprised to find the rear subframe brackets are in excellent condition, with no rust on them.

Since I will not have the front bar, and won't be able to put the front suspension back together this weekend, I'll have to move my focus to other areas of the car. I plan to swap front bumper covers with one that I picked up this summer that is in better shape, and replace the damaged right splash guard. If I'm feeling ambitious, I might try and track down the electrical gremlin living in my interior, and change a few burnt out light bulbs.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Rear_Wheelwells1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Rear_Wheelwells2.JPG

Thomas

[Hibs]

what are you using for paint on the wells/ brake parts? POR15 ?

[LNKMK8]

Just some Rustoleum enamel paint. I used the same stuff on a trailer hitch, and it has held up really well.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

March 5, 2009

It has been a few weeks since I have had anything to updated until today. I had been waiting on parts, and found myself away from home a few Saturdays, and the other ones were just too cold. I did manage to pull the bumper cover I bought last summer out of the shed and remove all the broken junk from it(see pic). I sourced a replacement molding for it, but haven't done anything with it. I may have found a parts car in the same color, so I want to see what happens with that before I put a lot of time and money into refurbishing this cover.

I did get started on installing the new front suspension pieces this past week. On Sunday, I dropped the K-member and removed the original bar. I got the new one in place and discovered I needed some longer bolts than the originals, so I called it a night. I picked up some bolts yesterday and went back to work on it today. It took waay longer than I had anticipated.

I had to "flatten" the original brackets to fit over the new bushings, and drill out the bolt holes. I also had to enlarge the holes in the cheap stamped steel spacers that came with the ADDCO bar. The spacers are needed to allow enough clearance for the collar locks to be installed. However, with the larger diameter bar and spacers, the bar comes into contact with the body, so I had to make a notch on each side so it wouldn't hit.

Once I had the bar centered and installed, I put the k-member back into place. I had loosed the power steering cooler and lines when I dropped the k-member and as I was going to bolt them back in place, I had an idea. The stock cooler is very small, so I went down to the basement and found one from a Mark VIII that is about 4x larger. I trimmed the two mounting brackets from it, and got it to tuck in the original area very nicely. The tube size and spacing were the same, so the lines hooked up without any issues.

Other than cleaning up my tools and work space, which had gotten pretty bad as of late, that is all I got accomplished today on the car. I am hoping to find enough time this weekend to get the front suspension completed. If not, I have a couple days off from work next week that I can use to finish up. I'm also planning on dropping the rear end off soon to have the carrier and gears installed so I can move to the rear of the car when ready.

Here are a few pictures, mostly of the sway bar install. Nothing too excited. The next update should show things getting closer to completion.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Bumper_Junk.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_FrontBar1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_FrontBar2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_FrontBar3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_PSCooler1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_PSCooler2.JPG

Thomas

[86Shelby]

Damn, that's a beefy anti-sway bar!

[LNKMK8]

Solid 1.25" front and rear :D They actually make a larger one.

Actually the factory one up front was nearly as large. It was most likely a waste of time and money to replace the front one, but I wanted them both to be nice and new :)

Thomas

[redsled]

Wow, Thomas. I just read the thread front to back, and I must say this is quite the impressive endeavor!

Nice job and good luck!

[turbodaytona87]

looking good

[turbodaytona87]

Damn, that's a beefy anti-sway bar!

Mines 1 1/4" isn't it, or would it be the 1 1/8"?

[LNKMK8]

March 7, 2009

Things actually starting going back together today! I was able to get all of the new front suspension and brake parts installed with only a few issues along the way. The first came when I tried to remove what was left of the old bushings on the passenger side strut rod.

The bushing is a 2 piece style with a steel sleeve connecting it. The issue was the sleeve had become so corroded, that it had bonded with the rod itself. I started by trying to remove it with a puller, but it wasn't moving. I soon broke the cheapo made in India pile, so I found a good one. I attempted to add some heat to the issue, but it didn't make any difference. It did burn off a lot of the bushing material, so I was able to carefully cut the sleeve, and split it with a chisel. Then I was able to remove what was left with the puller, and cleaned it up with the wire brush. That took up a lot more time than I wanted it to, but that's the way it goes.

Once that mishap was taken care of, the rest of the passenger side went pretty smoothly. I did have to improvise with a pair of vise grips for the end link installation. The ADDCO bar isn't designed for tapered end links, so I had to clamp it in place to I could install the nut with out it spinning. It ended up working quite well. With that side done, I moved over to the drivers side.

I was moving along quite quickly since I already had all the correct tools out and had just finished the other side, when I ran into an issue. The last thing I needed to do before installing the brakes was to attach the out tie rod to the spindle. This is normally quite easy, however I couldn't get the mounting stud to pull up through the bottom of the spindle far enough, no matter how much I tried. I came to the conclusion that the lower joint end not machined correctly, or it was specific to the old style of spindles. So after a lot of fighting and a few choice words, I got out a step bit and opened up the bottom side of the hole in the spindle. That ended up working, as I was able to pull the joint end up far enough to safely attach the nut and cotter pin. That whole ordeal wasted at least an hour. :mad:

This is what I managed to get installed today, in addition to the new stabilizer bar:

Inner Tie Rods
Outter Tie Rods
Inner Strut Rod Bushings
Outter Strut Rod Bushings
Lower Control Arms/Ball Joints
Upper Control Arms/Ball Joints
Stabilizer Bar End Links
Shock Mounts
ARC Shocks
Eibach Springs
Hub/Wheel Bearing Assemblies
Mark VIII Spindles
Mark VIII Rotors
Mark VIII Calipers

I am just about done with the front of the car. I need to install the fender liners, Kenny Brown shock tower brace, and paint the strut rods and upper arms. I'm not sure why I didn't get them painted before with the rest of the stuff? Once I get those items taken care of along with a few things on the brakes, I'll start moving my way to the back of the car. Overall I feel like I made quite a bit of progress today. Here are a few pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_NewParts.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/StrutRod1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/StrutRod2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/StrutRod3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Endlink_Install.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_FrontSusp_New1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_FrontSusp_New2.JPG

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

March 14, 2009

I had planned to reinstall all of the rear suspension and drive train components today, but ran into some issues earlier in the week. The Auburn Diff I bought was missing the center pinion shaft and retaining screw, so I had to order a new one. It hasn't shown up yet, so the rear end can't be completed.

I did manage to get some little things done today, that ended up taking most of the day somehow. I started by pulling out the MOOG tension rod to subframe bushings that I had just installed. I was informed that this particular bushing was not design correctly, and has a really high failure rate. I decided not to take a chance and replaced them with Ford bushings. Ford offers them as individual bushings for $40 total, or as a kit with the sleeves and washers for $240 total! :eek: Thankfully I was able to salvage the original sleeves, and save myself $200. The one side did require a little work. I had soaked it in PB Blaster during the week, and thankfully it came right out with a little help from my arbor press.

Once I had the front suspension back together, I finished up a couple small details on the brakes. The first was to change out the brake booster push rod. The combination I am using is a Thunderbird base model booster with a Crown Vic master cylinder. The Thunderbird push rod is not long enough for the CV MC, so I replaced it with a socket cap bolt of the correct length. I should have good pedal feel now, and it only cost $0.52.

The second thing to be done was to modify the CV proportioning valve. Since I kept the original Cougar valve inline, I needed to gut the CV unit, so the brakes would not be getting overly proportioned, thus turning the CV unit into merely an adapter fitting. The center pin system was a lot tougher than I expected, but after a while with a drill and punch, I was able to remove it from the fitting. All I need to complete the ABS delete project is to replace the crush washers on the rear calipers, and bleed the system.

My next project was to install new down tubes and catalytic converters. It took some effort, but I was able to remove both of the stock down tubes while keeping the rest of the FlowMaster system in place. I measured and cut the new tubes to length, but was not able to install them. I need to weld an O2 bung onto the passenger side, and want to expand the pipe on the front of the resonator slightly to ease the installation process.

While the new down tubes are not any larger in diameter, the design and mandrel bends, along with the new cats should help with the flow quite a bit. You can see on the drivers side just how bad the OE design was, with the pipe coming straight down into the cat.

Other than those items, I just painted a few parts up front, and touch up a couple of areas from before. I did also install the front fender liners. I have the day off from work on Tuesday, so I am hoping I can get quite a bit done. A lot will depend on whether or not the rear end is completed yet. I should still have enough to keep me busy though. Here are a few pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/StrutRod_Hardware.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/CV_PorpValve.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Booster_Pushrod.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Booster_Pushrod2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Magnaflow_DT1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Magnaflow_DT2.JPG

Thomas

[Burntz]

good work! I like how you do so much stuff yourself rather than just buy everything

[LNKMK8]

March 17, 2009

Since I didn't have to work today, and the weather was excellent, I took most of the day to work on the car. I started by taking the new down tube over to my brother's house to install an O2 bung. Once I had drilled a hole and got everything lined up, my brother welded it in place. Once I got, I removed the lip on the inside of the exhaust manifold collector with a porting bit. It certainly wasn't anything spectacular, but it made me feel better. The new tubes were now ready to be installed. The drivers side went on pretty easily. The passenger side however did not. I really had to fight it into position, and even with everything lined up it seemed to be 1/4" too low. I was able to push it into place and get the manifold nuts installed, but it certainly was a pain.

I'm still waiting on parts for my rear end, so I was not able to complete everything in back of the car, but I did get started on what I could. I installed the new ADDCO rear anti-sway bar and end links, Eibach rear springs with poly isolators, and a pair of NOS ARC shocks. Everything was pretty straight forward as far as installation. Once I had some new parts on there, the lower control arms looked pretty bad, so I gave them a quick paint job.

While working on the rear of the car, I noticed the rear calipers are looking pretty bad. I had originally decided not to worry about them, but the more I looked at them, the worst they appeared. I found some reman'd units on clearance at Rock Auto, so I went ahead and ordered them. I figured it was a good time considering all the other new brake parts, and needing to bleed the entire system anyway. Hopefully they will show up in time to install this weekend.

The car is getting really close to being drivable again. If my parts come in this week, I should be able to have it road worthy by the end of the weekend. First stop will be an alignment shop. Here are a few pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/O2Bung1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/O2Bung2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/O2Bung3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Magnaflow_DT3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Magnaflow_DT4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Suspension1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Suspension2.JPG

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

March 22, 2009

This will be a short entry. I had planned to have everything back together by the end of this weekend, but my rear end didn't get finished. I had to special order a part from Auburn, and they forgot to ship it, twice. I managed to get it Saturday morning, but the guy that is setting up the rear wasn't at work, so it will have to wait until Monday. I'm hoping to have everything back together on Wednesday since I have the day off, and then get it aligned as the weather permits.

After spending Saturday taking care of a few misc things on my other vehicles, I spent an couple hours in the garage taking care of some small things on the Cougar and cleaning off the work bench. I started by extending the wiring on the coolant overflow tank sensor. The wiring shares the same harness as the MAF, and with it's new location, was too short. I also painted the top of the power steering reservoir black, checked fluids, and reinstalled the rear splash shields. It shouldn't take me too long to finish things up on Wednesday.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coolant_Tank_Sensor1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coolant_Tank_Sensor2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/PS_Res.JPG

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

March 24-26, 2009

Things are starting to really come together (and fall apart) the past three days. I was finally able to pick up my rear end from LCB after the big fiasco I had with it last week. I had a little time Tuesday evening, so I sealed up the rear, filled it with fluid, and wrestled it back into place. It also received new poly bushings on the front and a custom poly rear mount. I slid the half shaft back in, and bolted the knuckles with new wheel bearings in, and had everything back in place except for the new rear calipers. I had made an appt. to have it aligned on Thursday, so I was feeling pretty good about being able to keep it at that point.

For the rear end, I used a Mark VIII aluminum housing and cover. Internally is an Auburn High Performance TL unit, and Ford 3.73 gears, along with a master rebuild kit. I'm pretty impressed with the Auburn differential so far (see picture). Also, this rear doesn't make any noise!! For anyone that has known me over the past few years, you know the terrible luck I have with these, so I was super excited after the first drive.

I started the day on Wednesday by installing the new rear calipers. At this point, I thought I'd just need to bleed the brakes and I would be good to go. As I started to bleed the MC, brake fluid shot out of my CV fitting and onto the windshield. After doing some investigation, I discovered it was coming from a seal in the fitting, but it was not something that you could separate and replace. So I ran into LCB quick to see if they had anything I could use instead. If they weren't so nice to deal with, I'm sure they would of laughed at me when I asked for a metric brake line reducer fitting. They had nothing of the sort, but suggested just welding it shut. That seemed like a good idea, so I tracked down Joe and he came over to run a quick bead around it. I burn out the o-ring that was on it to prepare it to be welded, and discovered a small hole that had been machined into it. I believe the hole is there so air can escape, allowing the valve to move inside, and the O-ring is just there to keep it from getting plugged. However, since I gutted the inside of the valve, it was now left open and was allowing brake fluid to escape. Ooops! I went ahead and had Joe run a bead around it, and then I took it to the bench grinder, and all is well. Once installed it looks like a factory piece, and doesn't leak anymore!

After that 2 hour delay, I was able to get the brakes bleed. It took quite a bit considering I had installed a new MC, and 4 new calipers, but I was able to get them bleed fairly well. At that point it was time to put the wheels back on, and do some final tightening of suspension parts once the weight of the car was on them. I started it up for the first time since December without any issue. The brakes were really soft at first, but came around. I adjusted the MC pushrod out a bit, and it helped, but I think they will need another good bleeding after I drive it a few times, and some more pushrod adjustment.

I tried to take it for a drive, and only made it a short way before having to return. The drivers wheel was toed out so badly it would hardly go down the road, so I pulled it back in and adjusted it much closer. After that, I was finally able to take it down the road for the first time since October. The car definitely has a different feel to it with the Eibach springs and big stabilizer bars, but it certainly isn't harsh. I also tested out the Auburn rear to make sure it as working properly, and it was. :)

So after getting everything back together, I was able to make my appointment today for an alignment. The service writer was asking me about the car, and thought the work I had done to it was "pretty cool". It only took about 30 minutes to complete, and everything feels as it should now. It appears the springs and everything have settled in nicely, and it no longer has a bouncy feel to it, and doesn't creak and moan pulling into driveways.

As far as going forward from here, there is still so much to do it is almost depressing. There is an exhaust leak on the drivers side collector. My coolant leak is still there, and as far as I can tell, is coming from the oil cooler or the lines going to it. It is pretty major, so that will need to be addressed shortly. The car also has developed a really loud "chirp" sound whenever it hits any bumps, so I will need to investigate that. And, the transmission is going to need to come out before too long, so I have that to look forward to.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days, including a few shots with the new lowered stance. I'm pretty happy with the height of it.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Rearend1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Rearend2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Suspension3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Brake_Fitting1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Brake_Fitting2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Lowered1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Lowered2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_TracLok_Test.JPG

Thomas

[¿umop apisdn]

Holy hell you're amazing. Hope to see this at your parking spot next time I swing by the bank.

[Thunder]

Great job Thomas, you're going to make it better than when it came off the showroom floor.

[LNKMK8]

Thanks guys. It still has a long way to go before, but is starting to feel and look better every time I drive it.

Thomas

[¿umop apisdn]

What's left?

[toom1h]

It looks awesome. The wheel wells look ****ing perfect.

[LNKMK8]

What's left?

Quite a bit actually. Front and rear main seals, replace the trans, fix coolant leak, exhaust leak, and then a bunch of little stuff, like switches not working and such. It's getting closer though.

Thomas

[Grey03GT]

So when will the mkVIII get some new stuff?

[regal403]

Holy balls, that thing is really coming together! Good work, as usual, Thomas.

[BOORAH]

Very nice Thomas!!!

[Johnny]

badass thomas!

[Cobra Commander]

What's left?

Quite a bit actually. Front and rear main seals, replace the trans, fix coolant leak, exhaust leak,

Thomas

Don't you hate it when you can NEVER get exhaust nailed down perfectly? I've been fighting tiny leaks on my '89 FOREVER now. ;ashdg;lakfjsda Speaking of exhaust, those new cats looks totally awesome under there. As does your fender wells. Soooo clean. :bow:

[LNKMK8]

Yeah, I know what you mean. At lease the down tube is really easy to get to on that side, so it shouldn't be too bad. The coolant leak is going to be much worse to fix :(

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

April 4-5, 2009

This update isn't going to be too exciting, although I did get a decent bit accomplished. My coolant leak ended up being the front timing cover gasket, rather than just the oil cooler :( So that was my project for the weekend.

The timing cover is fairly buried on this motor, so it took a little while before I could even get it removed. Once removed, it took a while to get the gasket surfaces properly cleaned. While it wasn't an overly difficult job, it was extremely messy and fairly labor intensive. Everything below the heads on the front of this motor is covered in a thick layer of grease from previously leaky valve cover gaskets. I was able to get everything pulled and cleaned, and install the timing cover with new gaskets and a new water pump on Saturday evening. I only broke 1 water pump bolt, and had an extra in my parts bin, so that part went well.

Most of today was spent installing the new billet steel harmonic balancer, installing a replacement AC compressor, and putting the other parts back on that I took off yesterday, followed by a through cleaning of my work bench and surrounding area. I am waiting on a set of UD pulleys and a new IC, and I will be ready to finish reassembly.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Timing_Cover1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Timing_Cover2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Timing_Cover3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Timing_Cover4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/BHJ.JPG

Thomas

[DSMRob]

jeesus, I do not envy you.

[millertime]

dunno if you said earlier in the thread or not but what are you gonna use this car for? DD? Fun car? just kinda curious

[Josh WFO]

Thomas... amazing build, you do very good work, and its looking great. Hope to see you out in the near future!!!

[86Shelby]

Aftermarket or OEM fan on the intercooler?

[LNKMK8]

Aftermarket fan on the IC.

The car is just a project car. There is no way I would put this much and detail into a DD.

Thomas

[MadmaX]

race a P71? :D

[86Shelby]

race a P71? :D

That actually wouldn't be too bad of a run.

[LNKMK8]

race a P71? :D

Sure, just let me get it back in running order ;)

Thomas

[MadmaX]

race a P71? :D

That actually wouldn't be too bad of a run.

That's what I was thinking. They're both high 15 second cars stock.

[MadmaX]

doh. just read you've run low 14's with a tune. Might not be worth your time. I'm nowhere near that.

[LNKMK8]

It's a sleeper for sure ;)

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

April 14, 2009

It took most of the day to get next to nothing done. Pretty typical for me. I started off the morning by installing the March UD Pulleys. Right away I had issues with the crank pulley. The new HB is not tapped far enough in the holes, so I had to run to town and get some shorter bolts. The rest of the pulleys went on without any issues. They are extremely close in a few areas, but everything clears, barely (see pics) :ohnoes:

Next up was to install my new IC. Other than needing to trim the radiator support bracket, it was a direct install. Once the bracket was trimmed and painted, I moved my fan over from the old core, and dropped it right into place. The fan is extremely close to the PS pulley, but it clears without any issues. With all the belts reinstalled, oil and coolant filled, I was ready to start it back up.

The car had a few issues starting a first, but fired up and idled fairly well. However, when I attempted to give it any gas at all, it would stumble and die. After some troubleshooting, I discovered I got the cam sensor slightly out of position. It was fairly close, so I was able to rotate the body of the cam synchronizer a little bit and it fixed the issue. I took the car for a quick drive, and it runs out pretty well. I didn't see or smell any coolant, so hopefully that leak is fixed for good.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/UD_Pulleys.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/UD_Pulleys_Installed1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/UD_Pulleys_Installed2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DBL_IC1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DBL_IC2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DBLIC_Install1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DBLIC_Install2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DBLIC_Install3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/UD_Pulleys_Installed3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DBLIC_Install4.JPG

Thomas

[MadmaX]

shiney

[86Shelby]

WOW! Those are some close clearances!!! Looks good as always. Better to be slow and do quality work than rush through it and have it appear as though a 12 yr old with duct tape did it.

[Cobra Commander]

That looks awesome.

So what PSI will that blower be running now?

[LNKMK8]

I haven't had a chance to really lay into it yet, so I'm not completely sure. Based on what I saw on the dyno, I think it will still pull about 15 psi. However, I hoping that it will hold the power longer, rather than dropping off so badly on the top end. I think there was enough room to improve on the efficiency that the peak boost will not suffer.

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

What's next on the list?

[LNKMK8]

Starting today, I'll bleed the brakes out good, and then start on changing the transmission. That should be the last "major" project for the vehicle. Then it's on to a very long list of odds and ends.

Thomas

[MadmaX]

get speed bleeders

[LNKMK8]

Yeah, I should of when I replaced all the calipers. I'm hoping this is the last time though, so I won't have to worry about it anytime soon. They are a pretty slick though.

Thomas

[MadmaX]

totally worth the $10 or whatever they cost. Why only when you replaced the calipers?

[LNKMK8]

Not as messy to change them out when there is no fluid in the caliper ;) Yeah, I'm a pansy. These will get me by for today.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

April 17-19, 2009

I had a very productive, yet costly day on Saturday. My weekend work actually started Friday night. I didn't feel like tearing into the transmission work yet, so I took the time to fix a couple of small issues that I had been putting off for quite a while. I replaced a temperamental rear taillight bulb, a burned out climate control bulb, adjusted the brake cut-off switch so the cruise control would work, and fixed the passenger side seat bolster/lumbar support that had not been working. Turned out to be a unplugged harness on the seat.

My goal for Saturday was to have the replacement transmission bolted into place by the end of the day, and use Sunday to finish putting everything else back in the car. I think that would of happened if I had not found bad things once I got the trans pulled. The replacement trans is from my '93 SC that has been sitting for a few years now. It is a stock unit with about 20K on a rebuild. I added a Lentech Vavlebody and hardened input shaft previously, and will retain those items for the Cougar. It was rather easy to remove as there is no engine, exhaust, or rear drivetrain in the car. Before removing it, I drained the fluid and changed the filter. I noticed that the fitting where my OD delete wire passes through appeared to be leaking slightly, so I added a little RTV around that, and all is good.

With the replacement trans out and ready, I focused my attention on removing the current unit from the Cougar. The car was still drivable, but had been having issues that continued to worsen, including slipping in higher rpm's under load, not wanted to shift into OD, flares when coasting to a stop, intermittent downshift difficulty, and previously extended 1-2 shifts. Rather than try and diagnose the issues further or worry about a rebuild, I opted to install the other transmission that I know is good, and has the valvebody I planned on using already installed.

Everything went pretty well on the removal of the transmission. No broken bolts, no major fluid leaks, etc. Once I had the transmission dropped, I discovered bad things. I found a nice imprint of the flex plate bolts in the face of the torque converter. Apparently the TC had ballooned at some point, pushing the face of the converter forward into the flex plate. :shock: While everything should be fine on the flex plate and motor side, the converter is junk. So, it looks like I will be dropping waaay too much money on a new converter, and not getting the car back together as soon as I had hoped.

I went ahead and took care of a few things so I can install the trans as soon as a new converter shows up. I replaced the original dried out bushings on the cross member with some new poly ones. The rear trans mount is already an upgraded solid piece, so that did not need any attention. I also took the time to replace the rear main seal and apply some RTV to the back of the oil pan. Once the converter arrives, everything should be ready to go back in.


http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap6.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap7.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap8.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trans_Swap9.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Main_Seal.JPG

Thomas

[sn95.0]

The infamous white car makes an apperance.

[LNKMK8]

It does exist........ :eek:

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

April 28th, 2009

The car is back on the road, as of tonight. With the help of my Charlez, I was able to get the transmission back in place, and get everything else bolted in. Everything went pretty smooth, except for trying to get the converter to seat in the transmission. I had been running a Lentech hardened input shaft, and for what ever reason, the new converter would not seat with it. After 3 hours, yes, 3 hours, I finally yanked it out and stuck the stock one in there. Ughhh...

The car now has a Lentech Valve body and re-worked Art Carr converter. The valve body not only firms shifts, but adds an electrical OD shut off solenoid, and changes the shift pattern from 1 D OD to 1 2 3/4 so you can hold gears for as long as you would like, when shifted manually. No need to do the AOD shuffle. The converter is a 9.5" 3000 stall with a stator upgrade and direct drive eliminated. It actually started life as a 4R70W converter, and was changed over to an AOD application.

I'm a little uncertain as to how I like the converter. The stall seems pretty high for this car, as it is hard to do much driving without the rpm's being around 3000rpm under any sort of load, in all gears. I'm sure the smaller diameter affects the feel of it as well. I guess it will take some getting used to. It certainly likes to smoke the tires more than it did before. :ohnoes:

I do not have too many pictures, as there wasn't anything too exciting going on. I did do some work on the center console for the OD lock out switch that turned out pretty well. The Cougar's did not come with factory fog lights in '89, where as the Thunderbird SC's did. So, I took a console top from an SC, and used the fog light switch for my OD switch. Ford was nice enough to run the wiring harness for it, so all I had to do was splice in the 1 wire from the transmission, and plug it in. Now I have a nice lighted factory switch that pretty much no one but myself will know it shouldn't be there. While I had the console top out, I took the time to sand it down and repaint it. It turned out really well, except I should of masked off the rubber shifter surround, as the paint does not seem to be getting along with it. It's still a bit sticky :(

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TC1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TC2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Console_Tops.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/SC_Console_Top.JPG

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

It was rather easy to remove as there is no engine, exhaust, or rear drivetrain in the car.

:lol:

[Cobra Commander]

Lets hope nobody decides to turn on your "fog lights" while cruising down I-80 or something..... haha

[LNKMK8]

Yeah, that would be a bit of a surprise. It's not like the factory setups in the later models, where there is a delay, and the car won't actually downshift until it reaches a certain rpm range. With this, as soon as you hit the switch your in 3rd whether you want to be or not. :)

Thomas

[¿umop apisdn]

So it's basically an electronic stall?

[Grey03GT]

No there talking about over drive.

[LNKMK8]

Yeah, that part has nothing to do with the stall speed of the converter. The new valve body has an electronic solenoid that locks out over drive.

Thomas

[¿umop apisdn]

Oh, I was like...that's the coolest thing I've ever seen.

[LNKMK8]

May 3, 2009

After getting the transmission installed on Tuesday, I thought it would be a good idea to take the car on 730 mile trip this weekend, and make 6 passes down a track before heading home. :nervous: :D

Other than a small vibration at 70mph, the car ran and drove very well for the entire trip. Even with the new gears and converter, I averaged 22.4 mpg on the drive home. I am extremely pleased with how the car ran at the track. The new setup really gets it out of the hole in a hurry, and it ran cleanly all the way down. My best run of the day was a 13.57 @ 98.72. My best 60' of the day was 1.849. :woot:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState2009_1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState2009_2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState2009_3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState2009_4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/TriState2009_5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Timeslip13.57.JPG

Thomas

[ali]

very nice...so what did the dsm run?

[LNKMK8]

very nice...so what did the dsm run?

I think it ran a 16.2 or something? It was pretty nice.

Thomas

[ali]

:lol:

[LNKMK8]

May 10, 2007

Now that the car is running and driving reasonably well, esp. after charging the AC system on Friday night, I turned my attention to improving the interior of the car. You might remember that I attempted to clean the carpet last year, but it is still pretty nasty. I was able to locate a good black carpet from a Thunderbird SC, that now looks great after a bit of cleaning. So that is what I started with today. Here is a picture of the current carpet after removing the seats:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Old_Carpet.JPG

With the carpet out, I took the chance to put down some acoustic sound deadener. I am hoping this will take care of some of the road noise and NVH that the new down tubes and firmer suspension added. There is some factory liner down already, but it isn't that great. The stuff I used is easy to work with, but does require a little time to get it cut and fitted to the car.

Once the new liner was down, I took the chance to fix the passenger side seat belt mechanism that had not been working. My brother helped me trouble shoot the limit switches and motor, and they were all fine. I had an extra passive restraint module in the basement, so I swapped that in and now everything works. There is almost always a problem with the belt mechanism itself, so I was pretty surprised that the module was the issue. Wish I would of checked that before I had pulled the sail panel out of the rear of the car. Oh well. :)

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Sail_Panel.JPG

I reinstalled the rear panel, and got the rear seat back in place. I had to fix the bottom mount for the rear seat. When I removing the bolt, it seized up and broke free from the body mount. I was able to take the cut off wheel and remove the bolt, and then cut the top of the body mount open and slip a threaded clip in there. Much to my surprise, it turned out pretty well, and the seat solidly in place.

I was running out of light and dryness this evening, so I quickly installed the new carpet. I can't believe how much the new carpet changed the whole look of the interior. I'm pretty happy with the results so far! Next on the list will be to replace the door panels and switch plates, paint the seat tracks, and put everything else back together. Here are a few more pictures:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Acoustic1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Acoustic2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Acoustic3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Black_Carpet.JPG

Thomas

[toom1h]

You some amazing work man.

[Burntz]

what dlac said. This makes me want to do the same for my honda. Dam trunk rattles like a somebitch and I get alot of road noise.

[srt-4_uk]

best work log in here.

[LNKMK8]

Thanks guys! I'm hoping to get the rest of the interior back together on Tuesday. I'll have some updated pictures.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

May 12, 2009

I was able to finish up almost all of the interior work that I had planned. I started the afternoon by pulling the front seats apart. For what ever reason, Ford thought it would be a good idea to not paint the seat tracks. 20 years later and a car that has had some water leaks tends to make for some rusty seat tracks, which in turn stain the carpet. So, I pulled the seats apart and painted the seat tracks.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Seat_Tracks1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Seat_Tracks2.JPG

While I was waiting for those to dry, I turned my attention to the door panels. The driver's side door panel was slightly broken, with the grab handle pulled away from the rest of it. I had purchased a very nice set of panels from a 1989 SC that a friend had, and decided to just replace both of them so they would match. The upper trim panels differed due to my car having a leather interior, and the donor car having cloth. A quick swap of the upper trim, and they were ready to be installed.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DoorPanel1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DoorPanel3.JPG

Since I had the switch holders off, I took the chance to install a set of 1991-1993 style plates. The later style plates are made of plastic so they do not scratch nearly as easily, and use a clip on the rear instead of a visible screw through the front. To install these on an '89-'90 door panel, I just needed to make a notch where the screw hole was to accept the clip. A die grinder and a small cutoff wheel worked perfectly.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/DoorPanel2.JPG

With the door panels in place, I moved onto the dash to remove a couple temporary fixes I had completed last spring. The first was the multi-function switch. The original one was badly faded and discolored, so I gave it a quick coat of paint last spring. Over the winter, I located a NOS unit, so I went ahead and installed it today. It's beautiful!!

The second fix was the gauge cluster trim. The '89-'90 models came with a gray trim piece, that didn't match the rest of the area at all. I'm really not sure why they ever produced them in that color?? I had just given it a quick coat of paint last year, but did nothing with the letters, so they were hidden on the piece. I was able to get a 1991-1993 black trim piece from a friend. A good cleaning, and a little touch up using correction fluid on the letters, and it was ready to go. The only difference for installation was the need to remove 2 small alignment/injection molding tabs on the back so it would sit flush. While I had the gauge cluster out, I removed the ABS warning bulb.

With those two areas finished, I reassembled the seats, and installed them in the car. I was able to find some bolt covers in my parts inventory to replace the missing ones. I also installed the rest of the trim pieces and the center console, and removed the sun visors and cleaned them. I do not have any pictures of the finished interior as it was dark and wet by the time I finished. I plan to give it a final wipe down on Thursday and take some photos.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Seat_Tracks3.JPG

The interior is pretty close to where I want it. At some point I would like to redo the headliner as it has some water stains in the back of it, and I'm always on the look out for a nice set of seats. I have been kicking around the idea of a full interior swap to black, but am not too concerned about that right now. Maybe if I get in a parts car with the correct items.

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

very nice...so what did the dsm run?

I think it ran a 16.2 or something? It was pretty nice.

Thomas

It made it down the track? :lol:

[Cobra Commander]

Sweet times, man. Not bad for a 20 year old bolt-on car on stock suspension.

[Josh WFO]

Wow.... you gonna bring it to americruise???

[MadmaX]

best work log in here.

[C.J.]

wow that thing is going to be like a new car.

[LNKMK8]

He are the results of the past few days. I'm very happy with the interior now.

First, a little reminder of what it looked like when I first got the car:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Int1.JPG

And what it looks like as of today..... :Thumb:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Interior2009_1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Interior2009_2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Interior2009_3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Interior2009_4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Interior2009_5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Interior2009_6.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Coug_Interior2009_7.JPG

Thomas

[srt-4_uk]

:bow1:

[MadmaX]

the other thing this WL illustrates to me, is the difference between being single & being married with kids
Posted via Mobile Device

[Burntz]

and the difference between people who fix **** when it breaks, and people who actually take care of their car, and fix it prior to it breaking. And people who go the extra mile.

I love seeing stuff like this where people actually thoroughly do the job.

[LNKMK8]

the other thing this WL illustrates to me, is the difference between being single & being married with kids
Posted via Mobile Device

This much is true....... :doubt:

Yeah, I guess I am a pretty meticulous person when it comes to working on stuff. That is likely why I am easily irritated and can't leave well enough alone. :)

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

May 17, 2009

Time for another updated, although this one is not work related. Some of the local Thunderbird/Cougar guys got together today at the dyno. I made a couple of pulls with the Cougar to see where I am at now, and to ensure the A/F was still in good shape after the few minor changes I made. About the only things that changed from last year that would show up on the dyno were the addition of UD Pulleys, different downtubes/cats, and the larger IC.

I picked up about 25rwhp and 21 ft.lbs of torque. The two runs were nearly identical. The second run was slightly leaner, but I think that was just due to the car being up to operating temp, where as the first one it was pretty cold and slightly rich. I'm still seeing more boost than I would like. I might change out the pulley at some point to keep it around 14-15 lbs. I'm pretty happy with the numbers considering how well the car runs, and the fact that the motor is still a stock 3.8L.

VIDEO: http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/CougarDyno1.mov

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Dyno238.339.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Dyno2009.jpg

Thomas

[ali]

very nice

[86Shelby]

You'll need a ruler to get that power curve any flatter. :) I'm honestly impressed, that's pretty nice.

[LNKMK8]

It is surprisingly flat. I'm curious what it would look like if I had started the pulls around 2600rpm. As it is, the power is at 230-238 from 3600-5600.

Thomas

[4 cam torino]

get speed bleeders

NO! Don't do that!

I will say I was, up until a few weeks ago, the biggest supporter of speed bleeders ever. I honestly had them on every vehicle I own. Then I was bleeding the right rear on the Lightning and the check valve in the right front failed and brake fluid shot out! THANK GOD that happened while I was bleeding the brakes and not on a track or the interstate!

[LNKMK8]

I added a video to the May 17th post.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

May 24, 2009

I spent most of the afternoon and into the evening working on some electric issues that the car has had since I bought it 2.5 years ago. I hadn't got around to them earlier as there were more pressing issues, like getting the car to run and stop.

My brother came over to help as I am a huge electrical noob, barely able to read a schematic or run a volt meter. I can solder like a pro though. :woot: He was able to determine that 90% of the issues were all tied into one circuit, so we started tracking down the problem there. I started by pulling the lower dash apart, and removing the fuse box. We determined it was fine, so we went to the next location, which was the factory splice under the LH sill plate. There we found a corroded and broken splice. Once I rewired that, the car actually had working interior lights and the key less entry pad worked!

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Wiring5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Wiring1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Wiring3.JPG

We thought this had fixed all the issues, but the power door locks still did not work. After doing some more testing, we determined that the splice was likely bad in the wiring. The factory EVTM indicated that it was located in the trunk, so I started pulling the wire harness apart there and headed forward. I got to the back seat, and still had not found it, so I pulled the seat out and kept going forward. It turns out it was almost right next to the one we had already fixed. :pissed:

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Wiring2.JPG

Once I rewired the 2 splices which were also rather corrosive, and redid the third for good measure, I had power locks again! The power mirrors still were not operating in all directions, so I swapped out the switch with a spare I had and now they work fine. The last problem to resolve was the glove box light. If I moved the switch/latch around the light would work, but not stay on. I once again went digging through my extra parts, found a switch, and it works fine now once installed. Another small piece of my '93 SC has made it to the Cougar.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Wiring4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/XR7_Wiring6.JPG

I spent the rest of the evening putting the car back together, and verifying everything was working. Other than getting the Firm Ride light in the dash to work again, and doing a minor rewire on my OD delete switch, all options and features are fully functional again! :woot: Here is a list of what was not working previous to today:

Interior Courtesy Lights
Kick Panel Lights
Map Lights in Mirror
Sun Visor Lights
Center Console Light
Glove Box Light
Power Mirrors
Power Door Locks
Keyless Entry Pad
Exterior Door Lock Lights
Under Hood Light
Trunk Light

The car is getting closer to being complete, and the "To Do" list is shrinking. It will likely be a few weeks before the next update, but the next one should be a good one!

Thomas

[¿umop apisdn]

You should run a business doing this for people. You're amazing.

[LNKMK8]

May 30, 2009

I took a few hours this afternoon to take care of a few small issues. I noticed yesterday that the drivers side lock was not working. I could see the actuator try to pull the rod down, but it wouldn't stay. So I pulled the door panel off an took a look. I notice that the lock cylinder rod was not attached to anything. I pulled the lock out, and found that it was missing the clip that the rod attaches to. I tried the power locks with the lock cylinder out, and the rod moved just fine. The rod must of been hitting on something, or did not have enough tension to hold it down since it was not hooked to anything. I would have likely found this out sooner if I had a key to that lock, but I did not.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Door_Lock1.JPG

Thankfully I have a net set of doors in storage that will likely someday end up on the car. I dug them out and removed the lock cylinders for both sides, and found the ignition was still with them. I replaced both locks on the doors, and everything works as it should. I now have matching door locks also. I replaced the ignition as the current one was sloppy and would let you get the key in there crooked, and then it would hang up. This also allowed for use of the correct key with the replacement locks.

While I was working on the passenger side door, I noticed the latch on the door was really loose. I took a closer look and found that only 1 of the 3 bolts were there to hold it in place. I think this might explain why I had a lot of wind noise on that side of the car, seeing how the door would be loose even when fully shut. I added two bolts from the spare doors, and all is good.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Door_Lock2.JPG

The next small issue to fix was the "Firm Ride" light in the gauge cluster. It worked fine before I had the dash apart previously, so I figured something was loose or I had killed a bulb. I pulled the cluster out half way, and found the bulb laying on a brace in the dash. Apparently I had knocked it out somehow when I was putting the cluster back in. Nice and easy fix!

Lastly, I needed to redo my OD delete switch wiring. I had completely forgotten that the factory fog lights will only work with the low beam headlights on. So, my OD delete only worked under the same conditions. Ooops. I found a source of constant 12V power, and moved the power wire from the switch over to that. It now will work when ever the switch is on.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

You should run a business doing this for people. You're amazing.

Nah, no one would pay me to do what I do. It really is just piecing an old car back together with parts that are laying around. I really don't enjoy doing it that much. I'd rather just drive them.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

June 10th, 2009

I finally found some acceptable floor mats, for almost a reasonable cost. They showed up today, so I installed them. Pretty tough, but I managed to figure it out. The fronts fit well, but the backs are too large, but they will work. I also purchased a new front bumper cover. I found one at a place in Omaha and worked out a pretty good deal on it. It is not an OEM piece, so hopefully it will fit and look alright. I have a few more items on order that should be here shortly. I am out of money at this point, so the next real update won't be for at least a month.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Floor_Mats1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Floor_Mats2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Floor_Mats3.JPG

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

June 20, 2009

Took care of a few small things this evening. I replaced the speedometer gear in the tail shaft of the transmission with the correct one for my current gear ratio. Hopefully the speedometer will be fairly accurate. I also upgraded the transmission cooler to one with 2x the capacity to accommodate the high stall converter. While I was under the car, I noticed the fasteners for the bottom side of the rear bumper cover were missing, so I installed those. I'm still slowly collecting parts for the next big project.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

August 15, 2009

It's been about two months since I have done anything with the car other than drive it a few times. Starting a new job and moving out of state has slowed down my progress a bit. I was able to take car of a something that I should of done when I changed the transmission, but for what ever reason I did not.

I installed an Inland Empire aluminum 1 piece drive shaft from my '93 SC to replace the original steel 2 piece unit. I'm hoping this will take care of the vibration at 65+ that showed up after the gear install. I've had more practice at removing 8.8 IRS rears than I care to admit, so things went pretty smoothly and didn't take too long. I haven't had a chance to drive the car yet, so I will have to make an update at a later point about the vibration issue.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_DS2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_DS1.JPG

Thomas

[86Shelby]

That's a lot of unbolted stuff to swap a driveshaft.... ;)

[LNKMK8]

Yeah, it's kind of happens when the drive shaft is above the fuel tank, and the exhaust is below the fuel tank. It limits your options quite a bit ;)

Thomas

[86Shelby]

Stupid engineers.

[LNKMK8]

September 6, 2009

After taking a few moths off from completing an major projects on the car, I was finally able to complete a few more tasks on the "to do" list. My good friend Ben came down from Omaha to help me with the car today, as I didn't feel I was capable of completing some of the work. He is a professional body/paint guy, so his knowledge and skills were much appreciated.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Labor_Day_Work.JPG

We started by replacing the rear window molding. The original molding clipped into place, and over time it shrinks and pulls back from the glass. In 1992, the molding was revised to include a channel that went around both sides of the glass to prevent this from happening. In order to change to the later style molding, the rear glass has to come out.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Window1.JPG http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Window2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Window3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Window4.JPG

The new rear window molding was only available from Ford, and was no longer being produced. I was able to locate a new one that someone had bought and never used. It took a few months before I finally got it, and it had some minor damage from a previous shipment. I was happy to find one, and the fact I got it for free certainly didn't hurt. :woot:

After the rear window was removed, we took a look at the roof on the passenger side. The rear quarter panel has been replaced previously, and there were signs it has leaking. The headliner was stained in the back, so we pulled the trim to inspect the area. Ben found several cracks in the body sealer, so we scrapped it out and put down some fresh urethane to seal things up. We also pulled the rear seat and rear sail panel to inspect the inside. Other than correcting a few sun roof drainage issues, everything else looked alright.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Window5.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Roof_Seal1.JPG

The rear window was put back in place with the new seal and fresh urethane. Ben also corrected some issues along the trunk opening that were letting water seep in. I am hoping for a dry trunk for the first time since I've owned the car. With the window back in, we installed the roof trim. It was missing a small piece on the end to connect it to the window seal, so Ben made one out of urethane. It ended up matching very well. :)

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Roof_Seal2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Window6.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Window7.JPG

After a little temporary touch-up with the Sharpie, it was looking pretty good! I was able to install the trunk carpet and spare tire/jack/cover, and have a trunk that actually looked like it should for the first time in a long while.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Trunk_Complete.JPG

In addition to the rear window, trunk, and roof work, we also replaced the sunroof seal, door weather strips, and trunk seal with new Ford parts. I was able to clean up the headliner, and remove the water stains from the rear portion. We also re-installed the factory fender badges, installed the cowl panels and wipers (had been off for 2.5 years), replaced the RH corner lens, and adjust the headlights.

The front fender that I had installed from the parts car had a slight bow to it. While the hood/fender gap was lined up correctly towards the rear of the hood, it widened as it came forward to the front. Ben was able to work his magic with a brick chisel and hammer, and bring the front portion back in straight. After a quick hood latch adjustment, the hood closes perfectly, and the gap is perfect on both sides! Now I just need to do something with the paint on the hood.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Fender_Adjust.JPG

Overall, it was a very productive day. Several of the things we accomplished had been needing to be fixed since I bought the car. The wind noise inside the car has been nearly completely eliminated, and I am confident the water leaks will not be there any longer. I have a few more things that I would like to get accomplished on the exterior of the car before the end of the month. Here is a picture of our supervisor for the day taking a nap in the sun...

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Nika.JPG

In a follow up to my last post, the aluminum drive shaft seems to have taken care of the vibration issue I was having. I can see clearly out of the rear view mirror at speeds of 70mph+ now.

[Cobra Commander]

I've had more practice at removing 8.8 IRS rears than I care to admit

Thomas

My Cobra didn't help matters any, considering that car experienced 3.08s 3.27s, 3.73s, & 4.56s. :lol:

[LNKMK8]

September 26-27, 2009

I spent a good deal of time this weekend working on the car, although it feels like very little was accomplished. A lot of what I did ended up being much more time consuming that I had planned. I started off by attempting to fix the rear quarter windows. The trim has a rubberized coating that breaks down from age and sunlight, and become rough and pitted. I thought I would be able to use a little glaze puddy to fill in the imperfections, and make it look half way decent.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_QWindow1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_QWindow2.JPG

It turns out, I should of just left them alone. It was a good idea, executed poorly on my behalf. My first error was trying to save time and not removing the windows from the car. This made things much more difficult, and left the edges where I had masked looking pretty bad. I started out with 100 grit sand paper to knock the worst of it off, and ended up using two coats of filler, sanding between, 2 coats of primer, wet sand, 2 coats of primer, wet sand, and 2 coats of paint. They look fairly decent until I removed the masking tape and discovered just how bad the edges turned out.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_QWindow3.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_QWindow4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_QWindow5.JPG

I think it would have turned out better if I had taken the proper amount of time to prep and finish them off of the car, and if I had any sort of body work skills. While I was waiting for the filler to dry, I buffed the rear tail panel. I started by wet sanding it, and a good deal of nasty white oxidation and what ever came off.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Panel1.JPG

I finished with a 3 step polish application, and it turned out pretty nice! This one was the one that I originally pulled off of the parts car that had been sitting outside for quite a while.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Panel2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Panel3.JPG

On Sunday, I picked up a new front bumper cover from my friend's shop in Council Bluffs. I had originally found this cover at a parts warehouse in Omaha, and was able to purchase it pretty cheaply. It is an aftermarket cover, so it does not have the "MERCURY" imprinted in the front like the original. My friend's painter shot it for me, and it turned out pretty nice.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Bumper_Cover2.JPG

Installation turned out to be a real pain, and took way longer than it should have. I had the original cover pulled off in just a few minutes, and began to remove the corning lights to transfer to the new cover. One of the bolts was seized, so I ended up wasting a bunch of time cutting that loose. Once removed, I repainted the exterior marker trim, and polished the light housings. Installing them onto the new cover turned out to be a real pain, as I had to do a lot of trimming, and they still didn't fit quite right.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Bumper_Cover1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Bumper_Cover3.JPG

It took several attempts to actually get the cover on the car. It kept getting hung up on the impact bar. I tried 2 different ones from varying model years, and both were not working, so I just pulled it off and installed it without. The fit was rather poor, as it felt like I had to almost "stretch" it over the bottom of the radiator support. It certainly is not as nice of a piece as the original. If I ever get the whole car fixed/painted correctly, I will have the factory piece refinished for sure. It was dark by the time I finished, so I wasn't able to take any photos. Here is what my poor Cougar looked like by the end of the weekend.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Dirty_Cougar.JPG

Thomas



September 28, 2009

I drove the car back home with me to Kansas. I was amazed at how quiet and smooth the drive was now that 95% of the wind noise has been eliminated from installing all the new seals early this month. It was a really enjoyable drive, and the headlight performance of the car really impressed me now that they are properly aligned.

This evening I washed the car, and prepared to take care of a few more odds and ends. The front cover turned out pretty good for as much trouble as I had with it. If you go back and look at some of my other posts, it is a big improvement over the one that is there. The hood still looks terrible, and is next on the list to be fixed. I am still holding out for a used one with good paint that I can just swap on.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Bumper_Cover4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Bumper_Cover5.JPG

The molding I had purchased showed up for it today. I went to install it, and found that the width of the gap on the cover was not uniform. I had to trim the end of the molding to get it to fit, and it still did not lay in there very good. The cheapness of the aftermarket cover has really begun to show up now. The molding turned out alright, but having cost over half of what the whole cover did, I wasn't real happy with the results. It does look better with something in there than just the empty groove.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Bumper_Cover6.JPG

I then reinstalled the rear name plates on the car. I had thought about keeping them off, but it just looked too plain to me. I did install them on the opposite side from what the factory had. It previously read "Cougar XR7 Mercury", and now reads "Mercury Cougar XR7". I have to see if any of the Cougar purists notice.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Panel4.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Panel5.JPG

I then spent at least an hour or more going over the car with touch up paint. It was pretty depressing how bad the paint is on the car, especially when you have it under some good lighting. I painted the body sealer we had put down earlier this month to protect it from UV rays, and touched up some of the worst chips on the car. I attempted to "fix" my rear quarter window debacle, an put some paint down on the only rust areas on the car where the rear 1/4 panel had been previously replaced.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Quarter1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Rear_Quarter2.JPG

I am planning to have the car buffed out again, to see if there is anything left in the paint to make it look better. As mentioned, I'm keeping an eye out for a different black hood as well. Other than that, this is as good as it's going to get. The car really needs some body work and a full "real" paint job, so it is futile to continue to try and make the exterior look better.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Lawrence.JPG

Thomas

[¿umop apisdn]

Holy ****. That's so ****ing cool. You're crazy Thomas.

[sn95.0]

About time to start on the Tbird?
Posted via Mobile Device

[LNKMK8]

Maybe.... in a couple of years. Or if I sell the Cougar, things could happen a lot quicker. I don't think anyone would pay even half of what I have in it though. I took a few pictures this evening. Doesn't look too bad for having such terrible paint.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Bumper_Cover7.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_KU2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_KU1%28small%29.JPG

Thomas

[KyleJ]

I'd kill to have that paint on my truck.

Best work log on SCR.

[regal403]

Yeah, that car looks terrible.

jk

It's amazing how much time and effort you have put into this car, and also how far it's come since you got it. Nice work, as usual.

[LNKMK8]

Thanks guys. The pictures hide the paint and body flaws very well. It's really not that nice in person, but is a very solid, somewhat quick, smooth driving car, which is more important to me anyway.

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

So how did those side window moldings end up?

[LNKMK8]

Ehh.. alright I guess. They would have been much better had I removed the windows first. Oh well, that is what happens when you try to take short cuts. I saw some these weekend on other cars that were done "right" and they look perfect! I'll try and take a picture of mine tomorrow.

*EDIT* I updated the original post with a finished photo.

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

October 1-5

This isn't so much a work update, but rather a chance to share what I did with all the work I have put into the car. This past weekend, I took the Cougar to the SC Shootout, which is the national event for 1989-1997 Thunderbirds and Cougars. This year the event was held in Portland, Indiana with racing at Muncie Speedway.

I am very pleased with how the car performed this weekend, other than a small set back on the drive out. A few miles into Illinois, I heard a really bad noise, saw lots of smoke out the back, and the car died. I thought at first I had broke the crank or the motor had let loose. I pulled over and took a look under the hood and found the main serpentine belt was burnt up and tore in half. :eek: I started checking pulleys and found the AC compressor clutch had nearly seized up. It must have been slipping the belt for quite some time, as I notice it felt a little odd starting in Columbia, MO. I started the car, had good oil pressure, so I limped it off of the interstate. Thankfully there was an exit right up the road, with a car wash near by. (It was dumping rain at the time). I was able to install the spare belt and be on my way in an hour. To change the belt, you have to unhook the lower coolant hose and remove the IC fan, so it took a little longer than a normal rwd belt change.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Belt_Fail1.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Belt_Fail2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Belt.JPG

Other than that problem, the car ran and drove great the whole weekend. I put about 1300 miles on it, and made 6 passes at the drag strip. I ended up running a new best ET, 60' time, and MPH for the car. The track prep was excellent, and the air kept getting better as they day went on. I ended up running a 13.205 @ 102.29 mph on a qualifying pass. I backed it up with a couple of 13.3x passes. I was racing in a heads up 13.30-13.80 index class, so I had to take it easy on the launch to slow the car down during competition. I'm sure I could have kept running 13.2 passes otherwise. I ended up finishing 2nd in my class, loosing a close one in the finals. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Cleaning the car up after driving through 12 hours of rain....

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Carwash.JPG

Sunday at the track.....

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Muncie.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Trophy.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_TimeSlip13,20.jpg

Parked next to 1 of my favorite Cougars...

http://www.adenracing.com/2009SCS/Black_Cougars.JPG

Thomas

[82355]

Anyone comment on the reversed name plates?

Martin

[LNKMK8]

Sadly, I had to point it out before anyone noticed. Although I didn't give them a lot of time to figure it out on their own. It was pretty obvious when parked side be side :)

Thomas

[BOORAH]

I love you.

[Cobra Commander]

Jesus, 1.7's on stock 1989 IRS. :lol:

[LNKMK8]

IRS FTW!! Here is a video of my best run of the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caoUnvUYkaA

Thomas

[Grey03GT]

All this work and a never last battery.

[LNKMK8]

All this work and a never last battery.

AutoZone Duralast from a parts car actually. :)

Thomas

[LNKMK8]

February 1, 2010

I put together an extremely basic website containing my entries from this work log. It is pretty much all the same info that is posted here, but you might be interested in the first few pages....

http://www.adenracing.com/Cougar/

Thomas

[ali]

very nice

[Cobra Commander]

Thomas the stranger.

[LNKMK8]

April 4th, 2010

I was back in Nebraska for the weekend so I took a few minutes to work on the Cougar. I wanted to fix the damage that occurred last year during my trip to Indiana which consists of replacing the AC compressor, alternator pulley, and main drive belt. I also developed a coolant leak as I was parking it for storage last fall. I was able to remove everything that I needed to today for the belt/compressor/pulley work. I had painted the replacement compressor black before I had started. When I looked at the motor, I realized it would be off balance visually as the alternator was still in a shade of weathered aluminum. Since I had to pull the IC to change the alternator pulley, I decided to just pull the alternator also so I could paint it and make everything appear balanced.

It is a good thing I have some OCD issues as during the removal of the alternator, I discovered that the bolts holding the accessory bracket on had come loose! The PS pump was starting to make contact with the IC fan. I was able to snug the bolts down and all seems fine now.

The coolant leak was from one of the caps on the throttle body heater line that I had removed when I redid the motor. To prevent these caps from leaking again, I ran a small heater hose from one side of the coolant rail over to the other so it will circulate in the system. That should take care of any more leaks associated with that. I called it a day there as I needed to pull the alternator apart to paint it and needed more coolant and refrigerant than what I had brought with me.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_April2010.JPG

[cole]

you rockin' that lincoln in your sig?!

[Cobra Commander]

I miss the 32v Ranch.

[LNKMK8]

you rockin' that lincoln in your sig?!

No... I stole the picture. Kind of wish mine was white at times... ;)


I miss the 32v Ranch.

Me too! :cry:

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

I miss my Lincolns soooooooo much. If only I had the solid feel of my '94 put into the looks of my '97. It would have been the ultimate car. :cry:

[LNKMK8]

April 17, 2010

I spent a few hours putting the car back together today. Other then being a little messy changing the belt, everything went smoothly. I had pulled apart the alternator and painted it earlier in the week so everything was ready to install today. I started the car for the first time since I put it away last October with out any issues. Here are a few photos of the alternator.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Alt2.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Alt3.JPG

Thomas

[Cobra Commander]

That's hot!

[86Shelby]

You have changed my opinion on the looks of a 3.8L. IMHO they can look pretty damn good now. That's great work!!!

[LNKMK8]

You have changed my opinion on the looks of a 3.8L. IMHO they can look pretty damn good now. That's great work!!!

Whoo hoo! I have influenced Ray! Thanks, but I like this one better.... :bow1:

http://www.adenracing.com/2009SCS/Tuck_Engine1.JPG

[Cobra Commander]

Holy crap. :nervous:

[86Shelby]

Umm yeah, your car could use the black box with the snout off the the other side...;) That's a pretty evil looking engine as well.

[LNKMK8]

September 12, 2010

I guess I ended up taking the summer off. 5 months later....

I spent a couple hours with the Cougar on Sunday. The brakes remain less than stellar, so I used a vac pump to bleed the system, which made little difference. I am thinking the master cylinder push rod needs some additional adjustment.

Since the car had not been driven or washed in the past 11 months, I took the opportunity to do both. I drove it a whole 2.6 miles, washed it, and put it back into the garage. The car ran out well without any issues. Maybe I should find a little more time to drive it.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Cobwebs.JPG

I also installed some polished aluminum tensioner arm covers and socket cap bolts. I picked up a car cover for $5 from Craigslist a couple weeks ago, which just fit. It should help keep the dust off while she hibernates over the winter.

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Tensioner_Covers.JPG

http://www.adenracing.com/Pictures/Cougar/Cougar_Cover.JPG

Thomas

[toom1h]

I seriously love that car.

[sn95.0]

I love this one, the red one, and the white car. All very nice rides.

[Cobra Commander]

Call me the next time you sneak over to the 32v Ranch, Thomas. :(

[LNKMK8]

Will do. It was a very quick trip this time.

[toom1h]

Just spent probably atleast an hour almost two reading this, it isn't like it was the first time I've read the first half of the thread... But it is just such and amazing build and really makes me want to pay more attention to the little things on the Mustang and 'HOPEFULLY' a daily I may pick up today.

Thanks for being awesome Thomas. I love you.

[LNKMK8]

Thanks for taking the time to read it. It just comes down to putting some fresh paint and some new parts on an old car ;)

Thomas

[Burntz]

The detail you put into it is motivating though!

[toom1h]

Hell yeah, the work you've done is awesome!

[LNKMK8]

October 7, 2010

http://www.rockauto.com/Newsletter/index.html

:shock: :woot: :)

Thomas

[KyleJ]

That is awesome! Congrats man!

[SHIFTER]

rock auto ftw!

[Cobra Commander]

Very nice!

[86Shelby]

That's awesome!!!