You'll never believe it...

[aircougar1]

My Cougar is ACTUALLY in my carport right now, and I WORKED on it today!!!:cool:

I removed the hatch, hood, all weatherstripping and rubber moldings, except for the front windshield (didn't have time for that), wheels, and its sitting about 20" off the ground on 4 jack stands...

Tomorrow afternoon, after a brake job and an oil change for 2 people at work, I am going to continue removing parts and cleaning up as much as i can to get ready for paint. I need to remove windshield moldings, all extra parts from engine bay, front and rear subframes, knuckles, struts, rear control arms, the Driver and Passenger front glass from each door, speakers, and sunroof assembly...
Then adjust the door hinges and rework how they open and close so they don't sway as much... Try and get the extra set of stock fenders cut and reinforced to make room for the door hinges... Think about measuring up for the subframe connectors... and unbury the front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts, and fenders from the shed... and cut the front radiator support to accept the Aussie headlamps...

I don't know how much i'll get done tomorrow, but I have a LOT to do, just to get ready for paint prep...

and I need 7 more parts to get it running. and about 14 -15 to actually be close to Finished! (plus supplies, and tools to aid in installing/removing certain things)...

I will update with pics as i get them, and progress as its made! :)

[brapple]

sweet :biggrin: I'll try to swing by this afternoon then after I get my car running again ....

[ctmystique]

You mean there's actually some parts for these cars that you don't have?
:shrug:

[brapple]

You mean there's actually some parts for these cars that you don't have?
:shrug:


lmao :rofl:

[fordrule]

eyah greg. are u keepin it laser red.....cant wait to see the beauty ressurected

[gring0]

its still sitting in a snowbank dont kid us..lol.. wheres the pics man!!!!!!

[zorrex]

Damn man that's GREAT! I'm really excited for this!

I wish I could come by and take a look at what's going on but I'm so busy all the time :(

[aircougar1]

eyah greg. are u keepin it laser red.....cant wait to see the beauty ressurected

Yes, it is staying Laser Red, except the Hood, roof, hatch, fuel door, Mirror caps are all CF...

Today I didn't get to do too much, BUT I did mount up the rear bumper and noted some slight modifications I need to do to it to make it look right... plus mocked up the rear tailights with it to help make alignment notes...
Removed the glass from driv and pass doors, the speakers, windshield trim pieces, sunroof, and attempted to line up the new drift front bumper, but its kinda hard to do that when you don't have fenders on yet! :rofl:

I did dig out all of the side skirts, bumpers, fenders and interior pieces from the shed, and made some room in there that I will need for the SVt's stock Hood and Trunk lid when I install those after inspection time.

I changed the strut for the vertical door hinge on the passenger side... 850 lbs. of lifting force does the trick now! :biggrin: but its going to be a little tougher to pull the door down while in the car, no big deal though. I need all new zerk fittings for the hinge system, as I basically broke all of them when i installed the hinges... once its greased up with some lithium grease, it should operate a lot smoother.

I'm having fun working out there though, so its good! :cool:

[fordrule]

are u getting the roof wrapped in CF or are u painting it the lexus grey? cant wait to see some pics of her..

[aircougar1]

are u getting the roof wrapped in CF or are u painting it the lexus grey? cant wait to see some pics of her..

I just got a 4' by 8' sheet of Flex-CF from Topshop... Really thin and VERY flexible, and I should have SO much left over for interior accents, and whatever else I come up with...

Its gonna be interesting to see CF on the inside panel of the sunroof, AND the outside! The roof is gonna be tough to cut an accurate piece, though. I am going to have to make a template out of paper first, then transfer it to the CF... but I can cut the CF with really sharp scissors... I have a set of electric metal shears I might try on a sample piece first, but we'll see what works best...

All I know is I keep seeing pics in my head of GMK's Cougar when he had the false floor made of the Flex-CF... :cool:

[fordrule]

is the flex fiber all ready gel coated? . i am assuming that you dont have a sunroof. i am curious of the install process of it. are u doing it or a shop doing it? are u going to shave the antenna and the drip panels or just have the CF go to them?

[rouar]

Laser Red? Holy crap. I think I've never seen your Cougar. I thought it was black...

Congrats ... in a "finally" sense of the word :)
I'll be in the area this weekend (hopefully with some surprises up my sleeve). If you need a beer-hander or something, I'll drop by for a few minutes.

[aircougar1]

is the flex fiber all ready gel coated? . i am assuming that you dont have a sunroof. i am curious of the install process of it. are u doing it or a shop doing it? are u going to shave the antenna and the drip panels or just have the CF go to them?

No, the flex-CF is not clearcoated, so it will need to be scuffed and painted. I DO have a sunroof! and I will be applying it to the car myself... I am shaving the antenna, and have a hidden style one going on the inside of the rear hatch window. the drip panelsare staying, and i am wrapping the roof right up to the edge of the drip rails, and making a nice seam there, so it "should" blend in nicely...

The real tough part is going to be cutting out the sunroof panel out of the piece going onto the roof! I am going to have to create a template out of paper, trace that onto the CF, cut it out, then tape it to the roof, and then trace out the sunroof hole out of the CF, and then attempt to cut it out smoothly, so I can reuse that cut-out panel on the top of the actual sunroof panel... I have about a 1/8" margin for error!! :eek:


Laser Red? Holy crap. I think I've never seen your Cougar. I thought it was black...

Congrats ... in a "finally" sense of the word :)
I'll be in the area this weekend (hopefully with some surprises up my sleeve). If you need a beer-hander or something, I'll drop by for a few minutes.

Yeah, I should be home all weekend, except for work on Saturday night... lots of work to do on the Coug... supposed to start body work this weekend, but haven't heard word from Casey yet. hopefully things are going as planned.

[brapple]

well I need to swing up for that hose this afternoon but if I am around this weekend I'll definately come up for awhile and help out ...

[aircougar1]

well I need to swing up for that hose this afternoon but if I am around this weekend I'll definately come up for awhile and help out ...

Yeah, I'll be home working on it Saturday until 4:30 pm, ALL day SUNDAY, and Monday afternoon until 6 or 7pm...

I dropped the entire front suspension, subframe, every wire, bolt, clip off of the front and the inside of engine bay Wednesday afternoon.

Friday I might drop the rear suspension, subframe, etc... we'll see!

A lot of progress though, and Casey called me today, too. Said next weekend will be sanding, body work, and primer hopefully, and then sometime between that weekend and the following weekend, we can get it into paint and clearcoat...

THEN I can start rebuilding her! :cool:

I have to start making a list of stuff to be painted and powdercoated now!
and every nut and bolt that is rusty or dirty has to be cleaned up, too... :facepalm:

[fordrule]

sweet sounds like a plan

[brapple]

Ok, I actually believe that the cougar exists and is being work on :tongue: :biggrin: :rofl:


but really, great progress so far greg :cool:

I should be around one day this weekend to help out like I mentioned.


also it was weird to pull into the driveway and not see the cougar wrapped up sitting there ...

[aircougar1]

Ok, I actually believe that the cougar exists and is being work on :tongue: :biggrin: :rofl:


but really, great progress so far greg :cool:

I should be around one day this weekend to help out like I mentioned.


also it was weird to pull into the driveway and not see the cougar wrapped up sitting there ...

Yeah, I know! I come home from work and its just WEIRD! No Cougar sitting there, and SO much room to park... :rofl:

Hopefully my windshield removal kit comes in soon, so I can yank the glass off of the old hatch and get it ready for the CF one... I still have 2 things to figure out with that though:
How do I want to fill in the wiper hole? I can use those Areocatch hood pins, but I thas to be WATER tight in every way, so it won't leak into the hatch area...
and
The grounds for the defroster are right next to the glass on the metal hatch. Do I run the grounds back toward the roof, and connect them there, or just not hook up the defroster at all?

The whole car needs to be cleaned real bad too, before we start sanding and stuff... could use help with that, that's for sure!

Also, if anyone feels like it, I need zerk grease fittings for the door hinges... they are really small ones. Where can I get those? HArbor freight? I haven't checked into it yet, and I need white lithium grease too, for that in a cartridge for my grease gun... Looks like I'm gonna have to go to the parts store and harbor freight soon!

[brapple]

well on the rear defroster you could just get away with out hooking it up. Its a summer only car right? shouldn't be in a situation where its absolutely needed ....but then again it would be nice to have. I would most likely route wire up to near the a hinge and just to the roof from there. that way it would look stock at a quick glance.

as for the fittings and grease, not sure who would hav eit locally but I bet macaster-carr would have all of that, but that is just a guess.

[aircougar1]

well on the rear defroster you could just get away with out hooking it up. Its a summer only car right? shouldn't be in a situation where its absolutely needed ....but then again it would be nice to have. I would most likely route wire up to near the a hinge and just to the roof from there. that way it would look stock at a quick glance.

as for the fittings and grease, not sure who would hav eit locally but I bet macaster-carr would have all of that, but that is just a guess.

Yeah, I'm going to hook them up, just in case I end up needing it... like in the fall for the Newport car Show or something like that... Those fall mornings are chilly!

I checked Autozone and Harbor freight, but they didn't look like they would fit... I have to remove one just to see what size they actually are, though...:facepalm: then take it with me to a store...