I am returning to MC.net after about 2 year layoff of working on my Cougar. Chalk it up to family, life responsibilities both work and home related, as well as money and time. It wasn't long until the Cougar's top surfaces were buried under stuff as it sat in the garage. Over the last few years I have toyed with the idea of selling the car, but knew I would not see the $15k I have invested into the car, of which nearly half is in the built 302 (350hp). That and I could not bring myself to sell it.
You can read the vitals of my 1968 Mercury Cougar XR-7 here. While that page is a bit dated only a bit of additional work was accomplished on the cat. Along with rebuilding the front and rear ends, I had the C4 transmission rebuilt and a new exhaust system install. I mentioned the engine, which was rebuilt using the original block back in 2006 (see images). Here is the build sheet if you are curious. I have an inventory of parts that I bought that I must go through to remember what I have.
This last week my wife and son went on vacation, which allowed some "me time" that I used clean the stuff off the Cougar and rolling it backwards, partially out of the garage to work on it. I spent about 15-16 hours over 2 days working on the car. Thankfully my neighbor down the street is experienced in restoring cars and he spent about 3 hours with me cutting out the battery ledge and welding in a new piece of metal (Story here with a picture of the new ledge). I also started to neutralize surface rust on the floor pans,backseat deck ledge and truck. Thankfully much of the rust had been sanded off or down, but not treated. None of the rust is the point where the metal must be replaced, so I will consider myself lucky.
Unfortunately with such a long layoff from working on the car I was not really sure where to begin. I have been talking about getting the engine compartment done and painted to drop the engine/headers/transmission in as a single piece. Before doing that I should probably consider any other work in the dash board or the engine compartment before I do this.
My question(s): Where should I start in the engine compartment I don't want to get ahead of myself, but should there be other work down before I drop in the engine?
I have a spattering of notes I made at what worked and did not work in the electrical system. Should I pull all the wiring harness and replace them or keep what works, replacing only the damaged ones?
Are fuel and brake lines easier to run without the engine/transmission in mounted in the car?
Bottom line, I am trying to find a point to start at that will allow me some time to work on the car, but allow me to spend as little as possible right now. I know there will come a time I need to invest further money on parts, but figure I have a vast amount of work that could be relative cheap or free to accomplish.
You can read the vitals of my 1968 Mercury Cougar XR-7 here. While that page is a bit dated only a bit of additional work was accomplished on the cat. Along with rebuilding the front and rear ends, I had the C4 transmission rebuilt and a new exhaust system install. I mentioned the engine, which was rebuilt using the original block back in 2006 (see images). Here is the build sheet if you are curious. I have an inventory of parts that I bought that I must go through to remember what I have.
This last week my wife and son went on vacation, which allowed some "me time" that I used clean the stuff off the Cougar and rolling it backwards, partially out of the garage to work on it. I spent about 15-16 hours over 2 days working on the car. Thankfully my neighbor down the street is experienced in restoring cars and he spent about 3 hours with me cutting out the battery ledge and welding in a new piece of metal (Story here with a picture of the new ledge). I also started to neutralize surface rust on the floor pans,backseat deck ledge and truck. Thankfully much of the rust had been sanded off or down, but not treated. None of the rust is the point where the metal must be replaced, so I will consider myself lucky.
Unfortunately with such a long layoff from working on the car I was not really sure where to begin. I have been talking about getting the engine compartment done and painted to drop the engine/headers/transmission in as a single piece. Before doing that I should probably consider any other work in the dash board or the engine compartment before I do this.
My question(s): Where should I start in the engine compartment I don't want to get ahead of myself, but should there be other work down before I drop in the engine?
I have a spattering of notes I made at what worked and did not work in the electrical system. Should I pull all the wiring harness and replace them or keep what works, replacing only the damaged ones?
Are fuel and brake lines easier to run without the engine/transmission in mounted in the car?
Bottom line, I am trying to find a point to start at that will allow me some time to work on the car, but allow me to spend as little as possible right now. I know there will come a time I need to invest further money on parts, but figure I have a vast amount of work that could be relative cheap or free to accomplish.