[mmc757]

I finally found myself a rust free car to build the way I always wanted to. :wiggle:
The goal will be to build it into a great GT car for road trips to the "destination roads" around the country. This car should be comfortable enough to sit in for a week at a time, but still fun enough to flog through the tight turns.
Goal will be to build the drivetrain over this winter and get it on the road by spring.
Hopefully do some custom body and interior work next summer and get it painted a custom color next winter. There should be minimal suspension or brakes work required on this particular car, although I will probably swap the rear end out with the rear on my yellow car, or at least clone it.
This has been a long time coming. Ive been a cougar owner for 17 years but up until recently I didnt have the time or money available to do the build I always wanted. As Ive watched my yellow car die a slow death from car cancer, its been difficult to justify jumping into building it. As a result, Ive got 17 years of pent up ideas just waiting to be taken out on this car. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[mmc757]

Re: Project: ***Name classified, for now*** - Dedicated GT car build

Will post pics at the same time I declassify the project name...giving the PO a little time to process his loss...

 

[mmc757]

Re: Project: ***Name classified, for now*** - Dedicated GT car build

Maybe...

 

[mmc757]

 

[mmc757]

Well,
Ty and son pretty much threw everything at this car and kept striking out on motors. Just about every commercially available upgrade short of forced induction is here. Brakes, suspension, LSD, flywheel, SVT parts, etc.
What it doesnt have is a functional motor.
He included a bad 2.5 motor with the sale so that will come in handy for scavenging parts for a 3.0 build.
It will be getting a full 3.0 probably shortly after Christmas.
Additional customizations are in the works but I'll keep those close until they become reality.
The hardest part right now is that its roughly 2500 miles away from me, in my dads garage so the immediate focus will be to get it reliably on the road and moved cross country. Dad will help me with prep work but for major work I really need to be there.
I hope to have it running by late winter or early spring, let Dad drive the bugs out of it for a while, then move it to wherever I am around April or so, then continue on with the custom mods.

 

[mmc757]

 

[mmc757]

As long as the curse didnt transfer along with the title :rofl::rofl:

:disgust:

 

[mmc757]

Dad spent some time pulling ding guards off and buffing her out this weekend

 

[mmc757]

Headlights polished, dent pulled out of fender, Rear end is about to be removed for upgrades. Ordered all new rear end software. Will swap the Addco swaybar from the yellow car to this one for sure, still need to decide if were going to modify control arms or toe arms. Im thinking probably the control arms but not the toe arms unless theyre bent up. Thats an easy swap later if I change my mind.

 

[mmc757]

Broken shift cable. Having a hard time identifying parts.
Might be this one:
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/atp-manual-trans-shift-cable-y-1511/19611231-P
Does anyone have any input on this?

 

[mmc757]

Dad spent the Christmas holiday inspecting the transmission and fixing the shift cables:rofl:

 

[mmc757]

I'm going to feel bad about taking this car away from him eventually...

 

[mmc757]

Its a Torsen

 

[mmc757]

Picked up a nice set of gray 01/02 leather seats from JScullin. Started taking them apart already (just the P side front so far). I intend to try to make them softer and also install heaters.
The passenger front was pretty easy to disassemble the seat half of, I havent tried the backrest half yet.
Maybe If I get around to it I'll make a how-to when I'm done.

Also, dad got the transmission sealed up and set in place. I found a tube of the Permatex Anaerobic gasket maker on Ebay for a pretty good discount from retail.

 

[mmc757]

Thats tempting. I already ordered the heating pads I'm going to use but I am thinking about trying to run some ventilation in there. Probably not, but I'll take a look at the feasability anyway.

 

[mmc757]

Front end is stripped down to protect the external pieces from the upcoming work.

Broke a Koni:banghead:

 

[mmc757]

Ive learned there are three approved Koni rebuild shops in the USA. All three of them have similar rates of around $200 for labor plus the cost of parts. So simple refresh could be done for under $300 each but the repair I need is pushing more like $400-$500.

I think I'll just order some BAT struts for now and maybe fix the Koni's later.

 

[mmc757]

Dad pulled the rear end apart and reinforced the subframe and installed mounts for my 7/8" sway bar.
I didnt give him too much guidance on how to do it, this is just what he came up with. He used 1" square key stock...I think its safe to say my new weakpoint is going to be the unibody. :rofl:

I actually didnt realize I had ordered the 90 degree brackets...that was an accident that he just rolled with. It will make it tough to pull the bar without dropping the subframe but should help with the gas tank clearance issue, and realistically there shouldnt be that many reasons to pull the bar anyway with urethane bushings.

 

[mmc757]

I dont know...I guess we will find out.

 

[mmc757]

While ordering a set of front BAT struts the other day, I got the distinct impression BAT is clearing out Contour/Cougar inventory and probably not restocking.
Might want to order now if theres anything youve been planning on getting from them.