[escortwgn]

I’ve had a few issues at the get go with my Cougar, but no more. Since I returned from my deployment in August 2011, I hit the ground running for my Cougar. Had many parts at the house waiting for me: Wiring harness, horn switches, the solid state sequential module, LED reverse lights,……list goes on. After about a month of being home, a nice hot day came. I was warming the car up to run to the grocery store, played musical cars in the driveway, hopped in the car and the stereo shut down. Complete power loss. Engine was still running though. The horn, turn signals, and gauges failed, then smoke was coming from the dash, then smell of burnt wires filled the cab. The owner who installed the stereo wired in to the turn signal system. So with added heat comes added current that system couldn’t handle. The glass fuse exploded and melted the harness surround edit effectively killing the electrical system, it forced my hand to begin there wiring process. I wanted to wait till it got cooler outside but had no choice. So for the next few weeks I spent my time after work and weekends rewiring the whole car, thankfully I had Painless Wiring to help. The whole job took me roughly 25 to 30 hours from start to finish. Found some items that needed to be replaced i.e. turn signal switch, the horn contacts were wore slapout. Had a bit of trouble with the solid state module for the sequentials, but managed to get them going. Upon finishing and pushing her out of the garage, it fired right up after holding the gas down for a long while and once it stopped loping and smoking it idled like a dream with better electrical response. I was once again enjoying being on the road again, but it was time for more intensive work, the 289 had to go. It drank oil, had to add lead which was hard to come by in this town and have enough for as much as I drove it around, that and I had a nice 351w just sitting wanting to be used. In October/November 2011 I took it to a local shop for the engine swap. Its taken some time, five months, but its on all fours as of today. Got an exhaust upgrade, dual pipe magnaflos 2.5 inch, which cannot be seen from anywhere, the tips don’t even show. But March 30^th,tomorrow, is the deadline myself and the shop placed since the car should have only been there for about a month. So fingers crossed Athena, my cougar, will be alive once more!

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That’s my story in a nut shell

 

[woodsnake]

Be sure and post up some pictures when you get it back out in the public eye!

 

[Harvey]

Yup I would be anxious to see how she looks also. Sounds like you got a lot done in six months!! Good Job! I am figuring about 18 months before I will get mine fired up and on the road. That might be pushing it? Hope not. Post up some pictures!

 

[Ashes]

Sounds like you got a lot of work done!! Hopefully mine will only take a year or two to finish once it's shipped to me. Can we see some pictures?

 

[escortwgn]

No cougar. they were working on it late today, and coming in tomorrow to try and finish it.......the project is now being discounted. hope to post her on here real soon, and not in the rain!

 

[Harvey]

Discounted? Never heard that one before!

 

[escortwgn]

Harvey, yea they took some of the final bill off since it was only suppose to take a month to swap my engine and install exhaust, but they took 5 months.

i got the cougar back. it got me home, and died......i have to reroute the power steering return hose, it exploded under stress being routed againist the shock tower, and the engine itself is outta time. have to pull the chain and move the cam about. it shoots flames out the intake, and no amount of turning the distributor helps. but atleast its home, and in need of either a hood scoop or cowl hood....the 351 is much higher than the 289.

 

[Bad69cat]

Before you go yanking the chain - pull the plugs and be sure they aren't fouled out with carbon....will also cause strange backfires/spitting/etc. Easy check at least....

 

[woodsnake]

What was the condition of the engine before you put it in the cougar? Could it be that a couple of plug wires are out of place? Hopefully you didn't slip any teeth on the timing gear.....

 

[Sal]

I had an intake manifold leak due to the wrong gaskets on my 351C and it backfired and blew one of my muffler up. It would also blow fire out of the carburetor. Sal

 

[Bad69cat]

I had an intake manifold leak due to the wrong gaskets on my 351C and it backfired and blew one of my muffler up. It would also blow fire out of the carburetor. Sal

LOL - Yeah - that reminds me if a time I had my Mustang do the same thing - the worst part was it didn't do it again for awhile- then I bought a new muffler and not a week latter it went KAABLAM! Split that puppy open like a can of gov't tuna - Probably made the poor guy next to me think he was in the wrong hood or something! Finally found out there is an anti-backfire control valve on the thing and the vac hose going to it was cracked.....never did it again.

 

[escortwgn]

Pardon the delay

Well the 351w was a total bust. Been fighting the engine for nearly 5 years to only find out once it took out my power steering for the last time, that it was wrong from day one! It was built backwards! Number 4 rod was on 1, and 8 on 5, and so on throughout the whole thing. Too large of rocker arms, impacted valves, and bent push rods. So needless to say the block was a gonner. About 3 months ago, when I threw my towel in on that block, I worked with my main mechanic, whom I should of had the work done on it, and made a deal with him. He gets the 351 if he helps install and tune a 4.7 or 5.0 which ever I find. My original block had already sold and the buyer was unable to sell it back to me. I found a used 302 on criagslist. it was already tore down, so made it simple to check it out and redo bearings and such. Replaced the bearings, new seals all around, and the block did good. Until I washed it. About a month after getting it with the 302 i washed and waxed it, was looking good! I hit the road for a trial run, got nearly 10 miles west of town........tick, tick, tick, BOOM! no warning, no nothing. I had just enough time to react to the sound and was reaching for the key to shut her down. Long story short....number 3 snapped in 2, impacted the valves, and split the cam in 2. That block was gone. Ordered a reman'd '66 289 standard. going on almost 2 months with out any major issues. At the moment fighting the intake manifold gaskets, trans, and hood. Hood flew off yesterday after replacing the intake gaskets, and the trans is slipping in to 1st and 2nd, and also surging under mild to heavy accelerating. So needless to say its been a year! Oh and now my headlights are flickering! Just the beams, nothing else, tail, brake, parking, dash all stay online

 

[woodsnake]

Wow, that is a horrible story! Is the "mechanic" who "should have done all the work for you from the "beginning" going to cover any of this cost? How have you managed to have so many engine problems? It's easy to buy a running car almost everyday of the week for about a thousand or less, and make the swap.
Stick with at least a 5.0 liter, or maybe another 5.8 (W).

 

[escortwgn]

all the cost was his time and tools. for the short time with the "original" 289, i never had any major issues with that small block. for a short period i was all about power, but 200hp is fine by me. it runs. this weekend its going back to chris, my mechanic, and we are redoing the intake gaskets.....again. the back cork didnt seat and split.....again. but the 66 block has a 7 year, 100k mile warranty through s and j engines

 

[Bad69cat]

Dang - if it wasn't for bad luck......you wouldn't have any at all! So you have a 66 302 block in it now then if I follow correctly? The front and rear cork seals on those are just to keep oil from leaking out as it spalshes around in the valley....you can toss the cork and just lay a silicone RTV bead there. The intake gaskets are what need to be sealed and make sure that you torque them to specs and in the proper sequence. May the car gods smile on you this time huh! ;>)

 

[escortwgn]

289. its confusing i know..lol. thats what we are doing this weekend, rtving the front and rears. its smoking a bit on warm up at high idle but only in the morning, its making a little of a mess but nothing to the point of looseing lots of oil. just the old trans is getting to me, onlly help for that is a rebuild.

the biggest problem is that its a project on the road. im getting an 87 ford country squire from my folks sometime by the end of the year or first part of next. but it only has one simple computer controling fuel managment, which is how i like it. but once that is here the cougar can be parked and the real work can begin