Trans-Am Cougar specifications

xc600 · Mar 9, 2011

Does anyone know where I can find some specs for the original road race Trans-Am Cougars that were run in the 60's?
I know different teams ran different setups, but I'm primarily looking for general items like tire and wheel sizes and types.

cougarshaman · Mar 9, 2011

http://shelbytransam.com/walt/ShelbyTA/index.htm

Scroll down.

xc600 · Mar 9, 2011

I wonder what the different offsets were?
I'm trying to mimmic the look on my cougar. It would be nice if I knew if one offset won't work with a stock suspension.
I'm looking at a set of wheels that are 15 x 8, and have a 4.25" backspace.
It would be nice if I could run them all the way around without body work.

Jan Ove · Mar 9, 2011

The best way to be sure you can use those wheels, is to measure on your car, to see if that backspacing can be used, or there might also be listed in the sticky thread about wheel sizes if this backspacing on 8 inch wheels fits in the front too

CougarCJ · Mar 10, 2011

I thought that the T/A cars used the big brakes from the T-Birds and Lincolns?
They would be a larger diameter from the stock 1967 KH 4 piston disc brakes as found on 1967 Cougars with disc brakes.

Cobra Automotive sells a kit for the vintage road race cars blending those large Kelsey Hayes disc brake calipers and the 1970 drum brake spindles.

67Poncho · Mar 10, 2011

CougarCJ said:
I thought that the T/A cars used the big brakes from the T-Birds and Lincolns?
They would be a larger diameter from the stock 1967 KH 4 piston disc brakes as found on 1967 Cougars with disc brakes.

Does this mean I can swap the front disc brakes from my tbird to my Cougar? Is this a straight swap?

CougarCJ · Mar 10, 2011

67Poncho said:
Does this mean I can swap the front disc brakes from my tbird to my Cougar? Is this a straight swap?

I don't think so. It would be a common swap if it were.

xc600 · Mar 10, 2011

I actually sent an email to Vic Yarberry at Cougars Unlimited and he was a huge help. I ended up with a ton of good info.
I would share it here, but a lot was suspension setup specs and without his permission I won't post.
Thanks for everyone input.

propayne · Mar 10, 2011

Vic would know.

cougarshaman · Mar 10, 2011

xc600 said:
I actually sent an email to Vic Yarberry at Cougars Unlimited and he was a huge help. I ended up with a ton of good info.
I would share it here, but a lot was suspension setup specs and without his permission I won't post.
Thanks for everyone input.

The guy who rebuilt that Shelby car also has his email plastered all over that page.
Check out the Wrecks to Riches (tv show) Cougar TA tribute car as well for a nicely done modern homage with modern parts.

propayne · Mar 10, 2011

Here is the Barry White tribute.

Don't try and mimic the look of his decals:uhoh:

Local Hero · Mar 10, 2011

Alan - is this look for the same car you've always had? I recall you wanting to sell it at one point. Do you still have it? I always thought that Mango Orange was a really unique color.

propayne · Mar 10, 2011

Here is a close-up shot of the wheel/tire on the Ross Myer's BME Cougar.

Art · Mar 10, 2011

CougarCJ said:
I thought that the T/A cars used the big brakes from the T-Birds and Lincolns?
They would be a larger diameter from the stock 1967 KH 4 piston disc brakes as found on 1967 Cougars with disc brakes.

Cobra Automotive sells a kit for the vintage road race cars blending those large Kelsey Hayes disc brake calipers and the 1970 drum brake spindles.

Actually the Lincoln brakes are the same diameter as the 67 Cougar/mustang 4 pot discs. Rotor is thicker .810 v 1.187"

Legal wheel size for A/S and T/A was 8" maximum. Common tire size was 6:00 x 15F, 7:00 x 15R

tacougar · May 4, 2011

Hi Alan,
I've also spoken with Vic Yarberry. His info was a big help for me to finish my Cougar Trans Am clone. I'm running 7"x15" Torque Trust D's up front and 8.5"x15" (all 3.75" back spacing) in the rear; with Hoosier TDs for the track and BFG TAs for the street. I narrowed the 9" rear axle 2". I've also cut and rolled the fender lips to clear the wider tires.
The other choice is to run the two piece Torque IIs with 8" all the way around. You can then get custom back spacing from 3.75 to 5+ in. the advantage here is you can rotate your tires.
If you want the Lincoln brake set up, their flippin expensive from Cobra Automotive. Someday I'd like to convert, but for now I'm running Wilwood calipers with home made brackets.
If your looking for more vintage race specs for the Cougar TAs, David Tom who owns one of the originals also can help http://www.racepast.com/number98.htm
And you may want to check out the SVRA web site at http://www.svra.com/ that will tell you what is legal for Vintage racing.
For now I'm just doing some track day events. Contact me if you need some more info. Photos of my Cougar are posted in the Garage area on this site.

Regards
Jeff

tacougar · May 4, 2011

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

unctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w

oNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

ontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w

ontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->Hi Alan,
I've also spoken with Vic Yarberry. His info was a big help for me to finish my Cougar Trans Am clone. I'm running 7"x15" Torque Trust D's up front and 8.5"x15" (all 3.75" back spacing) in the rear; with Hoosier TDs for the track and BFG TAs for the street. I narrowed the 9" rear axle 2". I've also cut and rolled the fender lips to clear the wider tires.
The other choice is to run the two piece Torque IIs with 8" all the way around. You can then get custom back spacing from 3.75 to 5+ in. the advantage here is you can rotate your tires.
If you want the Lincoln brake set up, their flippin expensive from Cobra Automotive. Someday I'd like to convert, but for now I'm running Wilwood calipers with home made brackets.
If your looking for more vintage race specs for the Cougar TAs, David Tom who owns one of the originals also can help http://www.racepast.com/number98.htm
And you may want to check out the SVRA web site at http://www.svra.com/ that will tell you what is legal for Vintage racing.
For now I'm just doing some track day events. Contact me if you need some more info. Photos of my Cougar are posted in the Garage area on this site.

Regards
Jeff

Trans-Am Cougar specifications

xc600

Registered

cougarshaman

Registered

xc600

Registered

Jan Ove

Registered

CougarCJ

Premium Member

67Poncho

Registered

CougarCJ

Premium Member

xc600

Registered

propayne

Registered

Attachments

cougarshaman

Registered

propayne

Registered

Attachments

Local Hero

Contributing Member

propayne

Registered

Attachments

Art

Registered

tacougar

Registered

tacougar

Registered