[mmc757]

I took the Cat out for a leisurely country drive today. A little damp but otherwise perfect weather for this late in the year. Still so much work yet to do... View attachment 82743

Great photo!

 

[02cougarxr]

Got the Cougar back from the local garage that took 3 months to replace the clutch last week and finally got to drive it.

They didn’t hook up the fan ground so it overheated while in traffic.
They screwed up something when bleeding or installing the TOB so it failed while in traffic.
It lasted 170 miles and I waited 6hrs for a tow truck.

Murder should be legal.

That's terrible! The offer always stands if you want to use my mechanic again where you can park it in my driveway temporarily while you wait for it to get taken care of. He did up the hourly rate from 60 to 80 in the past year but he's still quick and cheaper than most. Most importantly very reliable with quality of work, and he let's me bring him whatever parts I want. let me know if you need to tear into it again.

 

[JScullin]

Thanks. I think I need to just buy the tools I need instead of wasting time and money like this. Even if that means a set of quick jacks

 

[SpaceCatsAZ]

Repaired the engine, then went out on a test drive to find I had no brakes. RR caliper was puking fluid, and LR caliper was seized. Out of 6 star mounting bolts on both calipers 5 were stripped at the head. And of course both hubs were shot. Had to grind off bolt heads and weld nuts on, torch a ton, or cut the caliper brackets off the knuckle with a grinder. So I did a complete rebuild on both sides. Replaced all star bolts with 10.9 hex bolts. Blasted the shields and powder coated them, then new hardware everywhere. Sanded new calipers and coated with Por15 high temp matte black. Even spent 40 bucks a piece for new grease caps. This spring i'll put on new struts/springs and upgrade the rotors while im replacing EVERY SINGLE BUSHING ON THE CAR 🤬This car is a labor of hate and love so far.

 

[wadespencer99]

Frustrating, but nice work!

 

[LinkMan]

🤬This car is a labor of hate and love so far.

Tell me you own a Cougar without telling me you own a Cougar.
Nice work.

 

[B3NN3TT]

Great work. We’ve all been there.

 

[jaged]

parked Goldie at my dads for the winter. It was a sketchy drive over though. something in the front is is messed up. it was darting all over the road on every bit of water, or tar seal, or bump

 

[skater]

Got the emissions checked on the Cougar yesterday. Continued the biannual tradition of the tech not being able to get the OBD plug in place and doing it for them. Also continued the tradition of them having to get the manager over to approve it for some reason (related to the new engine I think).

Passed, though, and good for two more years.

 

[JScullin]

Jason and I dropped the transmission that the shop screwed up. Hoping to get some or all my money back if we can show he did something wrong. Have I mentioned how much I love having a garage with space to work?

 

[jaged]

Went to fix one simple thing in the engine bay and found that my drivers side upper trans mount bolt was broken. I have extras, but im not sure how it happened with the front mount being metal, and the rear being completely filled. it doesnt move

 

[B3NN3TT]

Laid this beauty in today -

The car is about 90% there. Next up is a big TCE brake kit, whenever I get it tagged and insured, and that might be the limit for a good streetable N/A 3.0 build.

 

[jaged]

You shouldnt have done that. You didnt read the rule book did you? what is the difference in the wait

 

[B3NN3TT]

Rule book for XS is pretty silly; I don't anticipate any issues.

Weight actually doesn't seem like an alarming difference; I didn't weight them, tbh. I think the glass is half of the weight, honestly. Time to find some lexan...

 

[wadespencer99]

Any trouble with it lining up? I installed one back when I built Marty's 3L turbo for him and the fitment was garbage. I couldn't get to the latch though.

 

[B3NN3TT]

It is not sitting as straight as I want it. I tried adjusting by looseining the bolts that hold the hinge to the lid, and it doesn't seem to want to move that way. So maybe there is some give in the bolts holding the hinge to the body; that's what I was going to try next, it just involves dropping the headliner down again though.

Otherwise it closes and latches just fine.

Back on the subject of weight though - it does raise up MUCH quicker on the trunk struts though, so it is definitely a lot lighter than the steel one. Maybe one of these weekends, if the weather cooperates, I'll unbolt it and put it on a scale. Because I'd love to know exactly.

 

[wadespencer99]

On his I really had to slam it to get it to latch, and then it still sat up higher than the quarter panels on either side. It was also too far back, so I had to oval the hinge bolt holes out to be able to slide it forward. That fixed that problem, but I never got it closing quite right. Because of the fiberglassed stereo install in the hatch I couldn't get to the latch itself to see if I could adjust anything there.

I'm glad you didn't have as many problems.

 

[B3NN3TT]

Was checking TCE to make sure they still had their big brake kits for sale. Did not realize their Cougar kit uses 6-piston calipers; wasn't it previously 4-piston calipers? Maybe that's why the price shot up so much...

Once I pull the trigger on this, it will be the most expensive piece of this car - INCLUDING the car itself, LOL

 

[jaged]

I have a 4 piston set from them. you have to ask for the NDL caliper. Might have to upgrade the race car and swap over the 4 piston to Goldie if this is the case

 

[B3NN3TT]

The TCE Focus kit uses the 4-piston calipers, but the Cougar/Contour kit clearly specifies a 6-piston caliper.