Found something neat looking around on Pro-Touring.com...
http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9154 (http://"http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9154")
Not too long of a thread yet but to find an 82' Cougar at all is pretty impressive, let alone a track car. A few pics I grabbed from google to put things into perspective, looks much nice than a t-bird from 82'.
(http://www.acclassiccars.com/images/vehicles/Cor2077.jpg)
(http://www.jason.fletcher.net/links/cougarxr7.jpg)
Another neat page I found looking for pics; 80'-82' cougar registry.
http://www.gmv-registry.com/generic16.html (http://"http://www.gmv-registry.com/generic16.html")
I dunno why you'd wanna build those, I guess it would definitely be different :dunno:
Didn't some of those late 70's-early 80's Cougars and Thunderbirds come with 460's from the factory though?
I'd consider building one.. but I'd rather build a Fairmont or Zephyr. Not sure that I'd want to take a box-Cougar and strip it down to the F/Z weight.
Hmmm.. 2,500 posts. I spend too much time here. :p
Maybe the ones from the 70's did...but in '80 they became Fox-chassied cars, and got nothing bigger than a 302 from the factory.
My 80 XR-7 (which shares the longer 108" w/b with the Tbird of that vintage while the rest do not) is going to get something similar....
Wow,you don't see those anymore.....at all.Where did they all go?
So even the big boxy ones up to '82 were Fox chassis? I thought they weren't. Weird.
I'm probably thinking of the older ones that still had leaf springs in the back, then.
They wern't really bigger in 82. Just squarer.
Oh, they were bigger.....and extra 3-4" w/b bigger....and longer.....so yeah, bigger :hick:
See? Size DOES matter.....:D
Far, Far away hopefully. I admire the idea of doing something different but are those cars ugly.
Well the F/Z's are light (taco-shell-like even), but the boxy 'Birds/XR-7's really aren't that heavy if you avoid a plush disco-cruiser. They were about 3100-3200# IIRC ....even with the 302/auto. I'd have to check my info. They aren't heavier than an 87-88.
Looking at the thread, he's actually working on a non-XR-7 82 Cougar, which is on the F/Z platform, (105" w/b) instead of the 108" TBird/XR-7 one. So the car is basically a tarted up Fairmont really.
Mine is the boat like what nitro posted pics of...
I can just pic a little ole silver haired lady driving one of those!
Chuck,
Are you saying that the non-XR7 '80/'82 2-dr Cougars have a shorter wheelbase than the XR7's? I thought the XR7 was just dolled up a little more. Or, the better question is, were all '80/'82 2-dr's called XR7's, and all other Cougars had 4 doors? Maybe you were talking about the 4-dr's. I apologize, I didn't look at the links. I actually like them, too. My parents had an '81 T-bird Town Landau, which was very dolled up and had the wimpy 255.
Somebody asked about 460's in the late '70's Birds/Cougars. I believe '76 was the last year for a 460 in those cars. From there on, they got 302's, 351W's, 351C/M's, or 400's, all 2 bbl carbs. My '77 XR7 had the 351W. I remember wishing mine had the 400, even though I probably would have been no better off from what I've heard of them.
Chuck's right, from '80 on, the biggest thing you could get in a Cougar was a 302, and even one year I think they substituted the smaller 255 for the 302's ('81 maybe, like the Bird I mentioned earlier).
Fordman3
IIRC, in 1980 there was only the XR7 model, which was identical to the Thunderbrick, with the 108" wheelbase. Then in 1981, Ford rebadged the Fairmont (105" wheelbase) as the Cougar GS, in 2-door and 4-door versions, but they kept the XR7 as a separate model. Same for 1982, except for the addition of the station wagon, again on the Fairmont platform. So there was an XR7 in 1980, 1981 and 1982. There was a Fairmont-based car in 1981 and 1982 only.
Odd doesn't even begin to explain what Ford did. ;)
Yup, the 80-82 Cougar XR-7s were on the same 108" w/b as the Tbirds. The XR-7 was the only Cougar avail in '80. All the rest of the 81-82 Cougars were on the Fairmont 105" w/b platform.
http://www.yonderway.com/sleepers/foxspecs.shtml
Well, from my discussion awhile back, I wanted the lightest possible complete 4-door Fox body. (what I mean by complete is "not stripped down".. having all the basic stuff you'd expect in a car if you were buying it new.. carpet, seats, etc.. didn't need to have a lot of options, just PS/PB/AC) Then I wanted to stick a 2.3T plus a newer overdrive slushbox into it. (slushbox as concession to those in the house who can't drive stick) Everyone lost interest once I started discussing slushbox options. :p
Nothing against the boxcars.. (obviously I have nothing against them if I'd consider building a 4-door Fairmont/Zephyr) but if they're the same weight as an 87/88, well I already have one of those sitting in the driveway begging to be built or even just used.
I was refering to the XR-7's and TBirds....which are the heaviest of the box bunch..but still lighter than the 87-88's..about on par with the 83-86's