[Michial]

Before I start on this project I have a few questions... and yes, I did look at CatVert's 68' Cougar Conv. I tried looking up where he bought his floorpans but had no luck finding that particular business...

Anyhow... here arre my questions...

1. If the cockpit of the Cougar is supposedly 3 inches longer overall, how can 65-73 Mustang floor panels be installed properly? I know that Converible floor pans need to be insalled to support additional bracing below.

2. What year (from a Mustang) chrome pieces around the window of a Convertible fit on a 67' Cougar (I heard the front windshield of a regular 67' mustang will fit, but I've also heard that a 65' and 66' Mustang Windshield will fit as well?)

3. What year Mustang convertible power top frame rails and bows will fit? (I looked in an interchange book and it showed 65-73 Mustang all used the same conv frame rail setup (the part that holds the conv top) and that interchanged with a 69/70 Cougar convert???)

4. I know about the supports that hold the bottom of the car together, but what about how the rear seat sets in there? Any supports there? Catvert used a 69 Cougar Conv part for the rear area of the 68'... Did he use the entire conv setup off the 69 Cougar to install in the 68'?

Any other advice regarding the proper year cars for the proper year parts for this conversion are greatly appreciated. I have a 23 year body man that will be doing most of the work (when I'm not in the way) so I need the proper info to only have to do it once.

Thanks in advance...

 

[68XR-7Cat]

Before I start on this project I have a few questions... and yes, I did look at CatVert's 68' Cougar Conv. I tried looking up where he bought his floorpans but had no luck finding that particular business...

Anyhow... here arre my questions...

1. If the cockpit of the Cougar is supposedly 3 inches longer overall, how can 65-73 Mustang floor panels be installed properly? I know that Converible floor pans need to be insalled to support additional bracing below.

The extra length is in the rear seat area, so the Mustang floor pans will work. The extra length, however, required us to buy two sets of Mustang convertible inner rocker panels so we could make one set of the correct length.

2. What year (from a Mustang) chrome pieces around the window of a Convertible fit on a 67' Cougar (I heard the front windshield of a regular 67' mustang will fit, but I've also heard that a 65' and 66' Mustang Windshield will fit as well?)

The Mustangs Unlimited catalog shows 65-68 as the same part number for the windshield pillar moldings. You'll also find that the attachment points for the moldings are already on your car, hidden under the outer skin of the roof.

3. What year Mustang convertible power top frame rails and bows will fit? (I looked in an interchange book and it showed 65-73 Mustang all used the same conv frame rail setup (the part that holds the conv top) and that interchanged with a 69/70 Cougar convert???)

We used the folding top assembly from a '67 Mustang, but a '68 will work as well. I assume the '65-'66 will work but I'd wonder about the width dimensions.

4. I know about the supports that hold the bottom of the car together, but what about how the rear seat sets in there? Any supports there? Catvert used a 69 Cougar Conv part for the rear area of the 68'... Did he use the entire conv setup off the 69 Cougar to install in the 68'?

We used the '69 Cougar convertible support panel from behind the rear seat because it fit better. The Mustang is actually wider through that area than the Cougar, so there will be more trimming and fitting work with the Mustang panel than we had to do with the Cougar panel. Keep in mind that it was an easy decision for us because we had the Cougar convertible sitting right there; there was no need to go find one that wasn't worth restoring.

Any other advice regarding the proper year cars for the proper year parts for this conversion are greatly appreciated. I have a 23 year body man that will be doing most of the work (when I'm not in the way) so I need the proper info to only have to do it once.

Thanks in advance...

The rear interior quarter panel pieces for the Mustang will fit, but there will likely be some trimming needed and you'll have to finesse the quarter window fitment a bit, but neither challenge is all that significant. When Greg installed the inner rockers, he tied them into the inner wheel houses in the rear and then into the torque boxes up front, effectively creating a box frame under the car. As I recall, he created a common, and stronger, tie point among all the understructure panels where they met along the outer edges of the unibody.

 

[Michial]

WOW!!! From the man himself... (stands at keyboard in utter amazement!!)

You definately helped push my decision forward on creating the convertible!!!
Thanks alot for answering the so thoroughly...

I'll have to hunt up a 69' Cougar conv rear support panel but that's not a real big deal.

We plan to brace it up really well and the bodyman is doing his homework as well...

Thanks again...

 

[letsroll]

Pics as things progress, right?

 

[68XR-7Cat]

WOW!!! From the man himself... (stands at keyboard in utter amazement!!)

You definately helped push my decision forward on creating the convertible!!!
Thanks alot for answering the so thoroughly...

I'll have to hunt up a 69' Cougar conv rear support panel but that's not a real big deal.

We plan to brace it up really well and the bodyman is doing his homework as well...

Thanks again...

You're welcome. I know that Greg would be more than willing to talk to you or your body man to provide much more detail on how he actually did the conversion work. When you're ready to get started, let me know and I'll PM you Greg's contact information. Although it would be double effort, I recommend that you also create a project thread at www.classiccougarcommunity.com since there are a few restomod folks over there as well including Jody Heil, who did the most recent conversion that I know about (CopyCatVert). Also, as soon as you have some photos of the project in progress, I'll create an entry on my 67-68 Cougar convertible page that serves as an unofficial registry for these conversion cats.

 

[68XR-7Cat]

Oh, one other thing... Greg did all the understructure work before he cut the roof off. That approach helped keep the unibody straight while he did the floor pans and inner rockers.

 

[jshcobra]

I used 66 mustang windshield trim and top frame on my 68 conversion. The only difference I could see between the earlier and later trim was the holes for the rear view mirror. The 68 mustang back seat/top frame support needed only minor mods to fit, but the drip rail was about 2 inches too wide as I recall. If you do a "factory style" conversion like Bill's, your stock rear seat bottom will not fit. The stock seatback fits on mine as far as width but is about an inch too tall.

From what I found, the extra length in the Cougar is right at the center of the quarter window area and was about 2 inches.

Oh, and get yourself a good fitting pair of leather gloves for all of the sheetmetal work. I looked like a bloody mess by the time I was done.