The back story on this cougar. in 1972 my wife's grandmother on her mothers side purchased this car. Before she passed away my father in law asked if he could buy the car from her, as he had always loved it. Well she decided to give it to him and he has had the car since the mid 90's i believe. My wife always hated this car as she was forced to drive to to school as a kid, but now she is very excited to keep it in the family. My Father in law asked both of his sons and they didnt want to take on this project. The pictures of the car he sent to them all made it look horrible, well I am a risk taker so when he asked us we both agreed to at least take a try at making the car right.
My first impressions of the car when i got it, it was a lot better than I expected, the body is really straight just a few issues on the doors and one quarter panel. I knew the roof would need to be replaced. Here is a quick video of the car when i first got it. That was back in November 2012.
a lot of work has been done on the car since then, it has been at a restoration shop for ~ a month now. here are some updated pictures of what is going on.
Floor patched
Quarter patched and the side marker light to be shaved off
Motor pulled out
and my favorite picture
the roof cut off! A new roof has been purchased and shipped to the restoration shop.
More progress pictures will be posted when i take them.
Well, there's the Lima (429-460) or even B429 type (Big $$), but the real contender in my mind would be a mod motor, 4.6L in one of it's flavors. The DOHC Cobra one would be the cats meow and I'd imagine the 4.6's are now reasonable used from the wreckers. Get all the electronics and harnesses and make it modern, yet killer powerful that will run on today's fuels with ease. Someone recently posted a 3rd gen cat with a mod motor, I'll see if I can find it.
If ever I embark on another project, it will have modern suspension like you have done and a modern drivetrain too for "the total package" in a car I love the style of.
my plan was to stroke the 351w to a 408w, that i tore down already. What is the amount of effort/cost in something like a 5.0 coyote or other mod motor?
I would PM the 71 cat owner and see what he might have to say. It would be some work to do all the electrical/electronics but well worth it IMO.
I am working on a 408C at the moment myself so I can't really knock a stroker, but I don't all the available space like you do with the new suspension! The money for the stroker kit would go a long way toward 4.6L stuff I'd bet. But, you'd have to be into it/want it. It is afterall your baby, you have to do what you want, we're just trying to point out what could be done given the direction you are going with the things that affect what you can do drivetrain-wise.
Small little update. So i measured the engine compartment and it was ~40x38 that coyote should fit right in!
New hood all leveled out and in primer
Passenger side door with a base coat of plastic on where they had to cut out to metal and reweld.
Lets see they also had a 65 Buick Special there with a 455ci
car was great looking, sadly forgot to take a pic of the car but got the motor! The owner isnt happy with the 455, he is going bigger....
so i found a heck of a deal if it all checks out, anyone know if the tr-3650 will fit on the cougar without any tranny tunnel work? View attachment 47026 View attachment 47034
If I am looking at the case orientation in the picture properly, the 3650 looks like a better fit than the TKO500/600 (which does require minor tunnel mods). I'd say that it is workable but that is just a gut feeling.
Hey, I may just get to claim rights to putting this powertrain idea in your head!?
Very happy to see what I think I am seeing! :beer:
Wow, this is a very nice project! Good luck with the Coyote conversion.
I would do also but I went on a different way with the suspension and the shock towers remained.
thanks, going to head to the shop right now and get the front sway bar put on. The shop said they are ready to primer the entire car.
He has also stressed he wants a better rear deck lid, so i guess i really need to find one. I had asked him to just fix the one i have, but not sure why he cant/wont...
Looks awesome but why didn't they remove the wiper motor/assembly to get some fresh paint in the cowl?
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