1986 cougar. "ruby"

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1986 cougar. "ruby"

October 01, 2013, 10:35:05 PM

got the car home. it needs work.

front shocks apparently make the car bounce more. its absolutely ridiculous.
master cylinder is shot, breaks barely do anything.
dash gauges do not work.
car needs a new windshield.
car needs a cat back.
door handles are all screwed up.
paint. the arrest me red I guess does not stick to the car.

good points.

runs very well.
no vibrations, shimies or weird noises
alignment is perfect, and front end is very tight no noticeable slop in steering.
car is very, very solid to drive quiet, shifts fine, its a good driver.

quick notes.
engine feels powerful. can easily chirp tires from a dead stop. but holy the auto feels like a rubberband compared to a t-5. id guess 0-60 would be 3 seconds slower just because of the auto. I plan on getting both cars driveable and lining them up.

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #1 – October 01, 2013, 10:56:24 PM

Any pics?

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #2 – October 01, 2013, 11:03:20 PM

I found them

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #3 – October 01, 2013, 11:05:36 PM

oops, thought I included them...

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #4 – October 01, 2013, 11:09:56 PM

Looks good what's the plan?

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #5 – October 01, 2013, 11:14:48 PM

no idea. I'm going to fix the small things to make it driveable for now. then ill have an extra car so I can fix the little things that bug me about my thunderbird.

I think I'm going to continue to daily drive the bird, and.make this car more of a fun car. think I'm going to collect parts and do a h.o. upgrade and see how I like it. that's likely far down the road though. i do have a explorer intake, h.o. throttle.body, cam ect laying around. but it will depend on what it takes to get it on the road first

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #6 – October 02, 2013, 08:21:01 PM

What do you mean by "the auto feels like a rubberband"? I'm not a fan of autos either, my last vehicle was a manual, I miss it like crazy :(

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #7 – October 09, 2013, 02:59:40 AM

rubber band as in the auto is just so slow a disconnected feeling compared to a stick. when it shifts, its really soft. you can't even get a chirp on downshifts.

I've got some better ideas on what I'm doing now.

if I can get enough money for a t-5, I'm going to set it aside for this car. it will be a 5 speed. probably going to go with another 94-04 v-6 transmission because they are so cheap. I have a line on three v-6 stangs with blown engines for less then $800. this is most definitely the way to go.

my registration for my tbird is up in January, so ill have this car ready to go by then. gonna do the master cylinderand exhaust, then take it in on emissions and safety testing by the end of the month. if it will pass emissions, ill register it and park the tbird. after I swap the power steering rack and alignment on the tbird, ill fix the small exhaust leak it has and re-register it, then start throwing real money into ruby.

short list.

11" brake upgrade, staying 4 lug.
sn-95 springs, new struts.
explorer upper, stang throttle body/egr spacer.
stock h.o. cam and 19lb fuel injectors.
gt-40 heads with new springs.
1.7 ratio stock style rockers from 3.8 v-6 motor.
99+ sn-95 t-5 with 87-98 tail shaft housing to run a stock vss.
some bucket seats that don't have the fox lean.
dual exhaust. will probably run stock h.o. junk with some big lers rather then extend the mid pipe section.
15" rims, preferably 10 holes to match the other car.

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #8 – October 13, 2013, 11:13:05 PM

worked on the car a bit. master cylinder was shot. wouldn't push fluid to the rear brakes. replaced, bad rear brakes. shoes were almost to the metal and one brake cylinder was shot. replaced the cylinder, but gave up on the drum brake replacement. I bow to those of you that do shoes in less then an hour.

gonna get a temp tag and register the car. plan is to do windshield and struts this weekend then get the catback done after and hopefully it runs good and passes safety and emissions.

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #9 – October 20, 2013, 11:59:30 PM

so, finally got back to the rear brakes. I gave up on the passenger side and had had the drivers side done in 10 minutes. turns out one of the.brackets was messed up on the passenger side. one new rear brake adjusted kit later, and all is good.bled the brakes and pedal feels pretty good. I noticed rear tires were too low on tread, so I swapped my 275-60/r15's on. they look really good on this car. I've also decided the rear shocks must be brand new. I can hardly compress the rear suspension. even trying to get the tires to rub on a drive way seems impossible. which is very interesting because the tires definitely have less room on the older body style.

I'm gonna get a temp tag this week and hopefully start driving it this weekend. needs a windshield, catbackand front shocks. also needs the passenger inner door handle. the outside handles are also about shot. I will probably fix this as a precaution just incase. I think ill have the car legal and registered mid November.

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #10 – October 22, 2013, 10:13:47 PM

new plans :).

the cougar is emissions exempt, and I like a dummy didn't realize it. since mercury is a defunct.brand, its only 25 years, rather then 30 for a ford.

I may just cut the tail pipe off of the tbird and throw it on this car temporarly. this carving going to take a different.direction. just gonna winter drive it for this year, then I am going to start modifying it heavily. haven't decided on which k-member yet, might stick with stock and chuckw mounts.

basic plan, aluminium heads, large carb style intake, but keeping fuel injection, throw and elbow on it and 90mm throttle body. gonna try to keep a stock bottom end and run large exhaust. thinking 1 and 5/8" or bigger long tubes, 3" off road h-pipe, and 3" "catback". haven't decided on fuel injectors, fuel pump, camshaft, or exactly which heads yet. definitely gonna be a sn-95 t-5 with 11" clutch. dunno if ill go with f-150 junk again or order a custom.flywheel/clutch yet. I think I'm gonna keep it a 7.5" rear, but I will swap it to a locking rear. its much easier to source a stang 8.8, so I might just do that.

things are gonna be pretty interesting here in the near future I think :).

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #11 – October 27, 2013, 08:03:03 PM

car has a temp tag.

struts need done for sure. washer fluid doesn't spray. outside door handles need done as well as passenger inside door handle. windshield, cat back and figure out the insterment cluster gauges not working.

should have it through safety and emissions by mid November, but I am driving this car for now.

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #12 – October 27, 2013, 08:20:04 PM

Quote from: Haystack;423834

car has a temp tag.

struts need done for sure. washer fluid doesn't spray. outside door handles need done as well as passenger inside door handle. windshield, cat back and figure out the insterment cluster gauges not working.

should have it through safety and emissions by mid November, but I am driving this car for now.

my sprayer motor worked, but the tank wouldn't hold fluid, turns out the hose that goes on to the tank came loose.

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #13 – October 27, 2013, 08:21:21 PM

Quote from: Haystack;423834

car has a temp tag.

struts need done for sure. washer fluid doesn't spray. outside door handles need done as well as passenger inside door handle. windshield, cat back and figure out the insterment cluster gauges not working.

should have it through safety and emissions by mid November, but I am driving this car for now.

my sprayer motor worked, but the tank wouldn't hold fluid, turns out the hose that goes onto the tank wasn't hooked up.

1986 cougar. "ruby"

Reply #14 – October 27, 2013, 08:45:43 PM

yeah. this ones doesn't make any noise at all and the cap is missing. tank is full of dirt.