[Pierrel]

Yesterday we became owners of our first ever 1967 Polar White Cougar XR7 i recently asked you guys for some advice on. The car is for now going to be a rolling project, with torn interior, in need of some surface rust repair and a respray. But as with all projects you have to start somewhere, and we know where to start ; To get it running

The car is a 1967 XR7 running a 302ci from a 1987 ford F150 we believe. The engine is fitted with a holley carb, mallory distributor and a Edelbrock High performance RPM intake. Its got the C4 transmission.

The car needs a new radiator. The old one is leaking badly! Do you guys have any advices? A 20" 3 row "stock" radiator with a shroud at WCCC is about 300 dollars, and a 4 row 20" aluminum one from Champion(ebay) is about 280 dollars without a shroud. We're thinking of a 3row with a shroud to keep it looking stock, and the aluminum low-priced one is probably not the highest quality.

I did some quick measurement on the current radiator, and it's to thin to properly fit the upper bracket. The rad is 21,6" high, 19,7" wide and 2" deep. I assume this is a 20" radiator and that i measured it incorrectly. Since it doesn't fit properly I'm guessing its a 2 core.

I also noticed that the space between the fan and the current radiator is not more than 4 inches. I can at most remove about 1/2 inch of spacer on the fan without it striking engine parts. Do you think a 3 core with a shroud would fit?

Together with the radiator we're doing a nomal checkup with new oil and filter. We've been advised to run on a mineral oil with a purolator oil filter. Whats your take? Ive also been advised to use some lead additive (zink?) in the fuel.

A lot of questions, and with time there will be more since this is our first ever classic But I'm thrilled about it.

Oh, by the way whats the pedal on the '67 that sits above the hi-beam switch on the floor? Never seen it before and can't figure out what it does…

Thanks guys!

 

[jcbingcougar]

Congratulations on your purchase! A 20" stock radiator will cost about the same as a 24" stock radiator. I would get the 24" and the correct brackets to mount it. You should have no issues with cooling. There is no need to go with an aluminum one unless you like the look or cost. When all parts of the cooling system are properly functioning, you will not have overheating problems, even with the 20".

The pedal above the high beam switch is the windshield washer fluid pump.

 

[Rosfrei]

Yup manual washer fluid. gotta love that manual option on an XR7 lmao.

 

[Bad69cat]

Sounds like you have a pretty nice combo. Modern mill will help with the reliability factor once you get it all ironed out. A 24" rad won't take much to adopt - they are getting spendy!

 

[Pierrel]

Ah, so thats what it's for!

Called Don at WCCC earlier today about a radiator. Ended up with a 3 core 20" stock one with a shroud. Hopefully the shroud will fit between the radiator and the fan
Now we just have to wait for it to be shipped and put on the car before we can fire her up again.

 

[Pierrel]

This car is going to need some work. Not that we didn't know this, but just confirmed it
Opened up and cleaned the engine compartment today, looks way better now. But while doing it we realized that all of the vacuum hoses has been cut off. Will have to sort them through and figure out how to fix it.

Then we have the battery platform, which is completely loose and so is the battery. There's also a lot of wires hanging around all over the engine compartment, using barbed wire to keep them away from the spinning belts etc.

Then there is the power steering, or the lack of it. It appears that its equipped with it, but it does not work. There is some fluid in the container at the firewall on the drivers side.

Now we're just waiting for the radiator to arrive, so that we can run her properly and check everything else.
Was happily surprised to find the oil pressure gauge behind the dash, working properly. Just need to clean it up and attach it to the back again

Merry Christmas

Oh, almost forgot. Whats my option if i don't have a key to the lockable gas cap? Are there new ones out there or maybe some kind of master key? Cant fill it up with gas unless i get a key somehow... A major problem id say...

 

[68XR-7Cat]

There shouldn't be any power steering fluid anywhere near the firewall. The ps fluid belongs in the power steering pump near the front of the engine, driver side. The only fluid at the firewall would be the master brake cylinder, unless something is very much modified. The master cylinder is a dual-reservoir container attached to the power brake booster if you have power brakes. If you don't have a service manual, I highly recommend getting that before doing anything in the engine compartment.

As for the locking gas cap, you may need a locksmith to get that off without damaging the filler neck.

 

[BarneyFife]

or can the neck be removed from the outside? i cant remember how mine came off...but looks like u can unhook the rubber hose clamp type connector holding it to the tank and unbolt it and remove it. chances are good it could be replaced cheaper than a lock smith anyway....


ur car sounds similar to the way mines going to be.....302 out of a mid 80s F150 haha

 

[Pierrel]

Tomorrow I'll see if i can simply remove the whole outer part of the lock through the inside, sort of...
Hehe nice to hear, apparently it doesn't have to come from a truck, removing the valve cover and measuring one of the pushrods can tell if its a H.O. engine or not.

Ah, of course its the power brake fluid... Will try to get a service (shop?) manual before i look more stupid... The non-stock engine doesn't help with all the confusion, hehe

 

[BarneyFife]

well, it should be almost identical setup under the hood unless they used the later model ps pump, alt, and all that. only difference is the water pump between the two and the accessories. oh and the dipstick location. i filled mine in my block and re used the cougar/mustang timing chain cover to retain the stock location and be acurate in the pan.

also, the truck motor isnt a HO motor. its just a basic 302 motor. not even a roller motor- trucks didnt get them for several years after that. so its just an old technology 302 v8. nothing wrong with it, but nothing special either.

 

[BarneyFife]

Sounds like you have a pretty nice combo. Modern mill will help with the reliability factor once you get it all ironed out. A 24" rad won't take much to adopt - they are getting spendy!

u know that was my thought on my 80s 302 also till it dawn on me....its less than 20 years newer than the car, but its still well over 20 years old....not exactly an age one should affix "modern" to haha. and i was all excited when my car came with he donor motor till i thought about it....what 25 year old car/truck out there would i consider reliable? haha

 

[Pierrel]

No, your right. The truck motor is neither a roller or HO motor. But, I've come the conclusion that I've got a truck engine based on the casting number E7TE, which apparently doesn't tell you if its a HO or not. The E7TE block were used in both setups as far as I've understood. Pulling the cam will tell me if its a roller engine or not, but at the moment i don't mind not knowing. Im taking this step by step, hehe

Ordered a shop manual (780 pages), which most likely will help me with the vaccuum system mess. Will remove the shoe lace holding the throttle linkage together today since thats not something i would enjoy driving around town with, except for in an emergency...

 

[Pierrel]

Hi folks,

New question, what kind of light bulbs are supposed to be fitted into the standalone oil pressure gauge thats on the XR-7 ? Found it behind the dash and I'm cleaning it up before i re-install it.

 

[68PUMA]

Hi folks,

New question, what kind of light bulbs are supposed to be fitted into the standalone oil pressure gauge thats on the XR-7 ? Found it behind the dash and I'm cleaning it up before i re-install it.

Checking my '67 shop manual, it lists 1895 for gauges. John

 

[Pierrel]

Thanks!

Ive been using the first day of the new year to install the new radiator. Fired her up and checked all hoses for any leaks, and everything looked good. Took her for a slow drive around the parking lot, at idle speed for about 5 minutes, and when we opened the hood everything was really hot. The radiator and all the hoses were hot, the engine itself seemed hot (could feel the heat through the hood) but with 0 indication on the temp gauge. Didn't dare to run it any longer.

Is this normal? Doesn't it take some more time before you get a warm/hot engine? There appear to be adequate flow through the radiator, with water in all the hoses.

Thanks

 

[c7xr7]

No, that does not sound right. If the water pump is working you will have some flow through the bypass hose but not enough to cool the engine. Check the thermostat to be sure it is functioning properly.

Thanks!

Ive been using the first day of the new year to install the new radiator. Fired her up and checked all hoses for any leaks, and everything looked good. Took her for a slow drive around the parking lot, at idle speed for about 5 minutes, and when we opened the hood everything was really hot. The radiator and all the hoses were hot, the engine itself seemed hot (could feel the heat through the hood) but with 0 indication on the temp gauge. Didn't dare to run it any longer.

Is this normal? Doesn't it take some more time before you get a warm/hot engine? There appear to be adequate flow through the radiator, with water in all the hoses.

Thanks

 

[Pierrel]

We ran the radiator without the cap for a couple of minutes to bleed potential air out of the system. While doing this we saw the actual flow into the radiator from the top hose through the filler hole. The water pump seems to be okay, but i might have to check the thermostat as you say. The previous owner put something other than a proper gasket between the filler neck and the engine...

Thanks for your input!

 

[Pierrel]

Tested the temp sensor on the car today with a OHM meter, and it seems to be okay. A bit clogged up but still no indication after cleaning it. The wiring is a minor mess in the engine bay, when i get the shop manual ill be having a go at looking at the cable to the indicator.

Tried clamping the bypass hose today and nothing happened to the flow. Is it weird that there is flow directly from startup? Shouldn't the thermostat be closed until the engine get up to temp? I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's no thermostat on the engine :eek7:

 

[Pierrel]

The new console bezel we got was unfortunately not 100% complete. One of the holes for the knobs had a missing backside. Will this affect a future installation of a radio? We're planning on getting one of the modern-retro ones that WCCC offers. How do one attach the radio? I can't see any ways of properly fastening the radio, and can't find the info in the shop manual either.

 

[Pierrel]

This is bad, i haven't posted a single picture of the car more than an image of the messy engine in another thread. Shame on me...

This is what the car looked like when we got it delivered home (remember the leaking radiator?).
We haven't shot any new pictures of it more than during the first car wash.

A well deserved wash after degreasing the engine bay.

The underside of the car is in decent shape. Thankfully a california car.

The paint is no good, there's lots of small chips in it, and some rut we only think is surface rut (spelling?).

The goals for now is:
Do a checkup on the brakes (mushy pedal with excessive travel)
Clean up the interior/install missing parts of it
Bodywork / repaint

This is going to be a long term project. Since we are foreign students living in California there's not enough time, money or space to do everything we want right now. But thats okay, then I can fall asleep dreaming about the things I want to do with/to the cougar in the future


I recently replaced the coolant temperature sensor, after checking that the instrument and wires were okay. The temp gauge started to indicate a slight temperature after some 10 min idling. Took the car for a drive today after installing the new center console parts, and the temperature got to about 1/3 on the scale. Im happy