Hello,
Below are pics of my brothers 1969 XR7 vert. Fresh Viper Red paint. S code 390 and a 4 speed. One of 40 1969 Cougars with these options. Back from the paint shop and going back together. Interior not in but freshly leather redone. New chrome bumpers and stainless under door trim. New LED lights. Fresh tranny by me and new clutch and pressure plate. All electrical redone and working great. 428 Cobra Jet heads and Exhaust manifolds. Mild cam. Fresh brakes and all the such. Car is a hoot to drive and will be an awesome addition to the local Cougar shows.
Many thanks to Don, Junior, and Scott of the West Coast Classic Cougars! Great parts, service, and advice! A small company that out classes the big parts depots. Service for what they sell and great prices. I do not know why you would shop any place else for Cougar or Mustang parts!
Cougar had 3.70 rear gears. 2 Pin Trac Loc carrier. 28 spline axels. Prior owner must of thought of it as a race car. She was very busy at 60 MPH. Dropped it to 3.25 gears and went with a Yukon posi carrier. This will calm her down a bit. Has the close ratio 4 speed, but the 390 should pull her away from a light just fine.
I also removed the retarded “over center” spring for the clutch. And installed a stop to make the pedal even with the brake pedal. Pet peeve of mine. I hate the ridiculous long throw and the high engagement. I do this to every Ford I own. And to many customer cars. I have two threads on the California Special web sight where I discuss customer cars. You guys may enjoy some of the pics and the banter. I am a former owner of a GT/CS Mustang.
How much did you shave off the CJ heads when you put them on the 390? I have heard some people use the steel very thin head gaskets instead of milling the heads but compression is still a bit low.
The heads came on the engine as we bought it. The difference in CC’s between the CJ head and the GT-390 head is very small. About 4 CC’s. Even a clean up pass on the CJ heads will get you to about the same compression ratio. In stock form they yield about 9.6 compression ratio and flow a lot better.
Hello,
Well my brothers 1969 XR7 Vert is 99 percent done. The only things not on in these pics are the cowl to hood seal, washer nozzles, and the wipers. Matching side mirror and refurbished XR7 trim. Leather is new and this car runs like butter. All gauges work as well as the warning lights and even the ash tray light! The Viper Red paint has yet to be final buffed. Drives like a dream and ready for action this spring and summer! May upgrade to a bit larger tire and possibly Cragers, because my bro loves Cragers.
By the way, a HUGE shout out to Scott and Don at WCCC!!! They patiently helped this “Cougar Newbie” through the process of this restoration. Now I need a pic of where the XR7 would go on the deck lid!!! Want to put that on to!!
Rob,
The XR-7 emblem goes on the right (passenger) side of the decklid. If you find a photo of a 69-70 with the COUGAR emblem on the decklid that will still show you the general location.
