[willie]

Well as I'm stripping a 73 Lincoln MarkIV, my son in law comes up with the excuse that his parents want him to remove his childhood toys from they're yard, one being a 69 Monterey. No engine or trans. Him and daughter live in a condo. Ok, I'll help out and haul it off for him.
Well gee, it's really decent, no rust, one small dent right in the nose where the trans smacked it as he was removing the eng/trans.. Hummm, found a place to stick the 460 from the Lincoln.
Well I'm at work, and telling a guy there about it, and then he tells me he too has to get rid of childhood toys from parents yard, so I went and looked.
The 70 XR-7 is Gold, has houndstooth interior, straight, only rust is one spot under pass door by the drain hole, and inner lip of trunk lid in the back. Drivers seat is torn, a small slit in the headliner near the front by the visor. Had the tan houndstooth vinyl top but he had taken it off. Good glass, not run since 97, as the radiator leaked and trans was slipping.
I guess the yard is filling up fast. So now to start the research on the Cougar and find out what I really have. I was contimplating looking for some kind of 1970 vehicle anyway, to drive to my 35yr class reunion in 3 years, why not a Cougar?!
Willie

 

[leonbray]

Nice one - a houdstooth XR7 - great find

 

[Tim B]

The Houndstooth Cougars are rare and cool. Difficult if not impossible to find the roof material (Brown/Tan & Black/White?). Camaro's had a similar interior cloth in B/W.

There was Gold/tan/brown I used to see around a few years ago that still had the original top and interior, really nice.

Tim B
1969 XR7 428 CJR convertible
http://hometown.aol.com/timbrands/Cougar.html

 

[Whizco]

You can contact Kevin Marti at Martiauto.com You can buy a report on any 67 + Ford cars to get the low down on them.

 

[willie]

Thanks everyone. It's really great to be finding all these resources of information. Tomorrow I go get the car, have to push it slightly up hill and turn it around, then winch it up on the trailer. So after it's home (gotta do musical cars this morning to make room, wife is wondering what I'm up to), I'll be able to give it the total eval and see what I really need to do. Son does some part time work for a upholstry guy, cleaning and assisting, maybe I can hit him up on the vinyl top and the seat. I know rear seat really good shape, just drivers seat really bad.
Willie

 

[badcatt]

Willie,
were in the great north wet are you? I'm just east of Everett. Neal.

 

[willie]

Actually I'm North-East of Olympia and South of Tacoma, on the backside of ft Lewis, a tad East of McKenna.
Willie

 

[willie]

Update. Got her home around 2PM today. Pulled the cas cap-Phew! Siphoned 3.5 gallons (US) out, poured in 5 gallons good stuff. Drained oil, fresh filter and oil. Adjusted radiator fluid level. Notice no gasket on cap either. Meanwhile charging battery. 5PM cranked over. Nothing. Poured a cupful of gas in carb, crank, vroom! cough, cough cough...purrrrr. Wow, surely I've missed the throaty roar of a barely lightly muffled dual exhaust V-8. Check of the trans level, a small drop on the dipstick.
Ok make a list, run to store. Back, added 1qt trans. Started right up, put in gear, nothing, then thump, started rolling. Drove around yard, any amount of gas caused the tires uncontrolably to throw gravel. Backed her up into spot. Run out of time and there is only 3 gallons of gas, so tomorrow after work I guess I'll tinker some more.
Question: How long should the headlight doors stay shut? These open in about a 1/2 hour, you can hear (not me, my son) a slight hiss coming from around the stem that comes out of the canister after you shut off the engine. The Lincoln stays shut around 4 days.
When I take it out tomorrow I'll see just what he was talking about the trans not shifting right, wondering if there is an excessive vaccum leak, it could cause the trans to not shift properly. But we'll see what it does. There was no signs of trans leak under the spot it was sitting for the past 5 years, so maybe it was low originally, and he didn't check it ( wishful thinking)..
So I found out the interior is called "Med.Ginger Corinthian Vinyl and Med. Ginger Houndstooth Cloth. Back seat is perfect, pass side really good, drivers side needs repair. Door panels are really good, will need the arm rests, door pulls, and rear armrests, and the top of dash needs attention. The headliner looks good, but it is really brittle.
Willie

 

[willie]

Oh yea, the kids are really thrilled with the sequential turn signals too!
Willie

 

[Whizco]

Question: How long should the headlight doors stay shut? These open in about a 1/2 hour, you can hear (not me, my son) a slight hiss coming from around the stem that comes out of the canister after you shut off the engine. The Lincoln stays shut around 4 days.

Willie

Not certain if I know what your talking about, but my 70 XR7 headlight doors stay shut until I pull the switch to turn them on!

If I haven't ran the car for a few days, they will not open without starting the car, as the canister vacuum slowly seeps away during that time!

 

[willie]

Ok, but I thought as the vaccum bleeds off, the light doors slowly open because the vaccum is holding them shut, and it's now lost. . At least that's the way the 73 Lincoln appears to work. About a week after running the Lincoln, they slowly start to open and after that day, they're totally open. The second I start it they shut. They do open and close while running, with the light switch..
But if I read your explanation, as the air bleeds off, they Don't and won't open without vaccum. Could I have two weird cars? So yours are always shut no matter what and they will only open with engine running and pulling switch?
Need to find out how it's really supposed to work.
Willie

 

[leonbray]

The length of time they stay closed depends on the ability of the vacuum system to hold vacuum. Most 30 year old systems have leaks every where. If you live in the rust belt or wet area (WA) the tank under the drivers side guard has probably developed a leak and the hoses have probably gone a bit brittle as well and leak.

If the doors are open with the lights off and engine running -

1 pull the switch and listen for a hissing sound (hose off or switch busted)
2 pull light switch and find the on / off valve in the hoses near the radiator support and make sure it is allowing vacuum to the door motors - doors should close when switch is turned off
3 if none of these - then vacuum motor needs to be tested

Option 1 - find and fix the leaks
Option 2 - if doors go up und down with light switch on is to unhook the two springs attached to the bar running between the doors until you can get the time for option 1.

 

[willie]

As soon as you start the car, wham, they shut. Turn on the lights, they open. Turn off lights, they shut. Turn off engine, in about 30 minutes they start to creep open and in an hour they are completely open.
The hissing is coming from the upright shaft of the vacuum motor. I'll check every vacuum line and fitting, to help clean up any stray leaks..
Making me think the vacuum leaks could of caused some of the previous owners irratic trans shifting. Haven't taken it out on the road yet to see if it does indeed do that.
Willie

 

[leonbray]

Sounds like bad seal on the vacuum motor or leaking hose into motor . You will need to get a rebuild. Suggest you co with option 2 until you get it rebuilt

 

[dalerivers]

Willie....your lights are functioning correctly, you just have a mild vac leak. My first 70 lasted about 1 hour before they slowly crept open and I took a little trip to the wreckers and with a little luck found another cannister which held the doors shut for 3 days. So there is nothing weird with the way they are functioning now other than the leak you have.

Whizco, :1poke: you definetly have a vac line connected backwards as the vacuum is intended to hold the doors shut while the engine is running. With the way you currently have it connected, if a vacuum leak develops while driving at night .... :1zhelp: .... the doors will slam shut on you. I guess you could say it's a little safety feature.

Dale

 

[willie]

Ok tonight I drove it up the street. Anyway my fears came true, there is no 2nd, like he said. when you get up around 30, the trans uncouples, for another term for it, shifts out of first, but goes into nothingness. But if you actually keep your foot into it and power up to 35-40, let up, shift to netural and back to drive, it's in 3rd and you can cruise.
So what do you think.. Is it worth pulling the pan, changing the filter and refilling, or just pull it out and get it rebuilt? BTW it's an FMX, which I read there were several problems with 70 FMX trans. Car has 116K.
Willie