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Topics - Coldcougar

1
User Rides / A Wild Cougar Appears...Uses 1080p...It works well
Got a double feature for ya here. Took the old '83 out for a last hurrah before being stored for the winter. bought new rubber for it, so i figured why not!

[video=youtube;lvasSheJ1ZE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvasSheJ1ZE[/video]

And my latest addition, Im picking up a 1974 XR7 tonight. pics will follow!:burnout:
3
Engine Tech / wobbly starter
Hey guys, still running with the old 5.0, but its giving my a troublesome sound. the starter performs normally on a cold start, but when the engine is still warm, it seems to wobble at me. instead of your usual starter, it gives me a "wow wow wowowowow wow" almost like the motor is resisting, but it catches after a second and fires right up. once it all cools down, it doesnt seem to have any issues, cranks and catches like a charm. its just when the motor is hot. maybe a change of staters is in order, or is it an internal issue that should be adressed asap?
4
Engine Swapping / 5.0 to a 351
well, after doing some searching, and discovering i might have a front main seal leak, or something to that effect, I have decided to look down the road of building an engine for the cougar. I did some preliminary research around here and on cool cats, along with a few other sites just gathering some information, and I had a few questions that I figured you guys would be able to answer.

If i do it, it will be fairly built, nothing out of the box/monstrous blower sticking out of the hood, but respectably done.

the general swap, will i need to swap the subframe? i know that the 302 has a split drain pan with two oil drain plugs, because it was too big to have a full pan.

are the bolt patterns fairly similar ie: can i use a 302 head on a 351 block? or are they considered the same thing. technically shouldnt the only real difference between the two blocks be maybe a different crankshaft with longer journal offsets, and larger piston bores? or am i out to lunch and they are completely different? I talked to a guy at a show i was at recently, and he said something about the 351 sitting higher in the engine bay, which would lead me to believe that its a bigger block entirely.

I think the best thing would be a comparison between the two blocks, if anyone knows where one is, it would be an immense help.

I also thought about making my life really easy and looked up a crate engine from ford...turns out I must have left my brain somewhere. they offer a 351 based engine...its a 427, for a paltry $9,249.00 to $13,595.00. in other words, Ill buy a bike before I buy a crate engine.

Thanks for the help...once again
5
Electrical Tech / Gas Gauge is SUPER touchy
Hey guys got another issue with the car. its not so much a problem, but a quirk that i would rather do without.

while driving the fuel gauge will bounce all over. i can sit at the light with what i can be almost guaranteed is a half tank of gas, except when i pull off of the light, the needle drops to almost a quarter of a tank. The rate of drop coincides with the rate of acceleration (as in, the faster i hit the gas, the faster it drops.) I get the same results when stopping, the needle will rise up to 3/4 of a tank. When it first happened, i thought "wow this new carb really kills my tank" but then it stumped me when the thing jumped up as high as it did. normally I wouldnt mind having a gauge this sensitive, it would keep me on edge with a full tank at all times, but after putting the new carb on, I really dont want to push being left at the side of the road with an empty gas tank especially considering how bad my mileage is these days. :toilet:

Is there any way I can test the pickup, or maybe anything i could tighten on it that would make it less responsive to level changes in the tank?
6
Electrical Tech / new parts - still not charging (Big story)
Just some background info: car is a 1983 Mercury Cougar LS, 302 Carb'd, AOD trans, with a Holley carb(electronic choke, vacuum secondaries), A/C removed, Emissions air pump removed. everything else is stock if not original, then brand new.

OKAY, so i tried taking the cat out for a drive a day or so ago, and when i get to my destination it dies out, i figured well, must be the alternator, since the battery was just replaced. so i run back the next day and rip out the alternator, replace that, and just for kicks i swapped the old 3 pin starter solenoid and changed it to a new 4 pin unit, figuring this had better work, if it doesnt my life is gonna suck.

so i try starting her up again, boosting was required, and she runs and holds herself nicely, but when i throw a mulitmeter on the battery to check that my new alternator is running up to spec, im getting a 10.5V out of it, and all its doing is dropping. so then i check the positive side of the alternator, to see if i get a voltage drop. BAT terminal on the alternator to the POS on the battery gives me a 7.65V reading. so im goin "Well theres the problem!" thinking the wires are shot.I then take a peek at the 28 year old wires bridging the Alt-Starter relay-battery, to find what has to be 6 fusible links and a butt connector that has to have replaced a f-link.

We tried running a hard line straight from the alternator to the battery eliminating the start-solenoid, and it does nothing, the battery still leaks power since its running the engine, and the alternator isnt doing a single thing. Also tried disconnecting the battery while the car was running, theoretically it should remain so, it died instantly.:punchballs:

now for the questions:

1. Do these cars have a common spot in the harness that blow if say the battery is hooked in backwards or there was a random power surge? (the location and existence of the butt connector suggests it was at some point)

2.Are fusible links directionally biased? (like a diode would be)

3. if I ran hard lines from the battery to the starter solenoid, solenoid to the starter and solenoid to the alternator, could i theoretically get a charge out of the system, all the while eliminating all of the fusible links. And if so, what would i be disabling/ would i be hurting the car's electrical systems?

4.this is the big one. with enough wiring, keeping in mind the car was originally a carb'd automatic, and still is. Could i build my own wiring harness using basic engine theory, connecting the start/charge/ignition system. eliminating a whole whack of what i consider to be useless wiring(the stack of f-links) and any real ECM system that would be essential if the car was injected, but is just spare parts on a carb?


Now im going to run outside and take a few pictures to post here, and ill reference them to my whack of questions. I also have access to what i believe to be an EVTM and a bunch of other resource material on the car's systems, but i want an opinion from you guys who undoubtedly have much more experience not only  in this field, but in specifically these cars. :bowdown:

Thanks for the Help!
7
Body/Appearance/Interior / Bullseye mounting
So when i picked the car up originally, it had the bulls eye still with it, but the mounting spring and hardware was long gone. Also the little loop at the bottom is broken, may be the reason its not on the car anymore.

I just wanted to know if you guys had had any luck re-mounting these, as well as if there are any popular fixes for them. I know that if I need the hardware I can make a quick trip down to the yard, and s one out of another vehicle.

Here's a pic of the piece:
8
Engine Tech / Cruise confirmation
Hey guys just did the carb/intake swap on my cougar a couple days ago. and I wanted to confirm that the third wire in the picture is my cruise control lever.

I know the:
-dirty black one on top with the yellow/blue band is my AOD kickdown
-Black one in the middle with the spring is my throttle.
-Black/yellow is my cruise?

Im wondering because the cruise doesnt work, and Id rather remove the wire as opposed to taking the risk it might jam and leave my throttle wide open at an inopportune time.
:burnout:
9
Body/Appearance/Interior / gots me some turbines!
Hey guys, well i got a little busy yesterday. went out and bought a new set of rims for the cougar. sadly the guy selling them didn't have the center caps. oh well, easy find at a junkyard i hope. took a couple pics of them once i got home, and a mock up on the car.

Looks like they'll be going on as soon as someone cleans up all of this cocaine!!!
plus I'm thinking of investing in some Firehawk Indy's...maybe...
Fronts

Backs


I Have thought about doing a quick spray job on them, to make them more like the cragar Turbines of old, but im not so sure after seeing Daminc's set on his Black Cat in the wheels thread, what do you think?
Painted Fronts

Painted Backs
10
Drivetrain Tech / Interchangeable Differential specs
so, during a long and boring night at work, i decided to go snooping around the interwebs to see what i could find out about some previously loved diffs. I hoped that maybe, just maybe i could grab one out of another ford, considering they where all made with the same parts...and im a little too poor to spend like $300 on a new set of gears and another $300 on a new trac-lok. after a surprisingly short foray, i found this gem. seems somebody likes their ranger so much that they wanted to list all of the available stock rear ends in a hand picked bunch of fords in our era.

scroll about half way down...they list the door/diff cover codes, weather its an open or L/S, sizes, although i think the 9" is not represented, the capacities and a whole whack of ratios, everything from 3.08 to 4.56

thought you all might enjoy:
Ranger Axles
11
Body/Appearance/Interior / new paint job idea
Hey guys
well to go along with my new top end, Ive decided to spend some time brightening the cat up a little. after a couple of ideas, some a little more outrageous than others, and a survey of some close friends who see the car the most, I have come up with an idea that i think both looks good, and can be done in the little time i have to work on my cars. It will just be a flat black, and a bit of a clear coat finish, just to keep the shiny, and ill be putting a "302 - 4" in the space just after the roll over the fender.

let me know what you guys think!
12
Audio & Other Aftermarket Electronics / ignition re-wire...and maybe a cb radio
so, first off, my buddy had an 85 camaro iroc with a special ignition switch. turns out it was installed by the previous owner who didnt want his precious project stolen, and it worked to great success. Now, i dont understand much of this, but from what i guess is the actual ignition module in the steering column is like a 4 point switch. point 1 is the accessory, point 2 is the dead, point 3 is everything on, and point 4 is joined with a spring that only engages the starter while the circuit is closed.

after this long winded explanation, im wondering, could it be possible to identify the wire(s) leading off of that 4th point, and just re-route them to a dedicated switch in another location. kind of like my own home made security system, that way, you still need the key to start the car, but that final push on the ignition does nothing, you have to know where the real button is.
:burnout:

PT. 2 as almost a side note, i did some looking around on kijiji, and it turns out people around here are selling cb radios for like $50 a piece. I thought it would be cool to have in my sable...3 years ago...i figure it might be a little more era appropriate in the cougar, considering it is 10 years older than my ol' sable. let me know what you think/what you guys have maybe done/or if you think im a little cracked for falling back to such an old technology:mullet:. (also if i do install one, im getting one of the coil antenna's, i would hate to have to run a gargantuan whipple out of the middle of my trunk)

Thanks all!
13
Body/Appearance/Interior / Tachometer
So I've decided to look into buying a tach for the cat, but im not the worlds biggest fan of those huge honda barrels they bolt to the steering column, and I was wondering what you guys had done in the way of adding one in. I know some of the birds came with them stock but Im not all that sure of the rest of the cougars. Ive thought of going the old muscle car way and putting one down by my right leg area in the tray at the base of my center console, or (this may fall under the title of stupid things admitted to :hick: ) maybe a hood mounted tach like the old firebirds and GTO's.
Thoughts...suggestions...ideas...pics of your work?
thanks
14
General Fox T-Bird/Cougar Discussion / Jackpot!
So after the passing of my Grandfather earlier this year (March 1st) alot of his car stuff has been passed on to me. going to school for Automotive Service Technician helps too. my family dug up all of the old books from back in the day when my Grandpa bought a Fox body. After doing some digging through the books, i came up with his original Buyers Agreement from Metro Ford here in town For a 1988 Ford Thunderbird Sold by one Cecil Drover. (I barely remember this car, it was the one before his green '94 Bonneville.) I also found various other receipts for stuff like a new Ignition Module, and the like.

Included in the set Is:
1980 Car Shop Manual (Powertrain - Engine, Transmission, Driveshaft, Axle, Fuel, Cooling, Starting, Exhaust) For All Models
1980 Car Shop Manual (Body - Chassis - Electrical) For Fairmont, Zephyr, Thunderbird, Cougar (XR-7)
1980 Car Shop Manual ( Pre-Delivery - Maintenance - Lubrication - Emissions) For All Models
1980 Car Shop Manual (Engine Diagnosis - Emissions) For All Models
1980 "Do-It-Yourself Service Guide" for Thunderbird and Cougar
1983 thru 1988 Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar Haynes Automotive Repair Manual






These things have been so useful, Ive already used them to figure out that my Ford issue 2 barrel carb is MISSING yes MISSING the idle speed adjustment screw, all the hardware is there, but the backing plate and the screw are gone.
15
Body/Appearance/Interior / mod off an elan
What do you guys think? Paint it Black, and bolt er' on? or maybe sliver to match the cougar? kind of like an old eliminator go wing eh?

:hick: