1967 Cougar frame rails dimensions

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Paint and Body
1

Hi Everyone.

It’s been awhile since I last posted. My 67 cougar has been on the back burner and now the wife wants me get it done before our 1-year old daughter starts any extracurricular activities that would not allow me to finish the car. With that said, I had issues with the front frame rails during reassembly for our engagement photos. I can only assume when I welded the new front suspension in, the frame rails bowed upward. I’ve done this kind of swap on dozens of mustangs before so it caught me off guard that it happened on my own car.

Now with the short back story out of the way, I will be replacing both front frame rails. I’ve been researching frame dimensions and came up with the Ford manual and Liskey versions for the Mustang/Cougar. I plan to build a jig based off of the Ford manual since it provided the distance to suspension mounting points which I feel is more critical. In the Ford manual, the leaf spring eye height from the datum to the center of the bolt is 7.98”. On the Liskey drawing they have it set at 6-1/2”. The only other good points I have is at the leaf spring shackle mount and under the firewall. For the location under the firewall, the Liskey drawing uses 6” for X at the bottom of the frame. So I figured, I’ll just add 1.48” since the Ford manual is taller at the leaf spring eye by that amount.

However, the suspension and steering mounting dimension are not mathing right between the Liskey and Ford diagrams. Liskey calls for 14” (A) to the bottom of the frame rail at the radiator support and 13-1/4” (B) to the bottom of the frame rail at the engine cross member. However the Ford manual calls for 12.94” to the front bumper mounting hole, 10.94” to the steering gear box mounting hole, and 10.84” to the idler arm mounting hole. These numbers don’t work between the Liskey and Ford diagrams. The Liskey numbers would have to be much shorter for the 12.94” bumper hole height to work as well as the 10.94” and 10.84” dimensions. Is there something I’m missing? Which diagram is wrong? I’ve found that Liskey can be wrong, but couldn’t find which dimensions were off. Any suggestions?

-Robert

2

I don’t think the non - Ford manual is correct. I would throw that one away and trust the numbers Ford made.

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I wish I could Royce, but I need a baseline number to start from which the Ford manual doesn’t have. All the numbers from the idler arm forward on the Ford diagram can’t be measured until I set the new frame rails in. I can’t use my car because that is where all the bowing in my current frame starts.

The part I’m questioning is if I set the height below the firewall to the 6” +1.48” (Liskey at firewall + Difference between Liskey and Ford at leaf spring eye mount) then the 12.94” hole for the bumper would be in space since the Liskey drawing is calling for 14” to the bottom of the frame rail. I’m hoping that makes sense. :thinking: