Hello all, new member here.
I am starting the restoration/modification process on my first Cougar. “Roxanne” is a '68 with a 302 and a C4 automatic. She’s in decent shape, but definitely needs some serious work. i.e One of the previous owners installed an absolutely atrocious aftermarket sunroof. Made by a long since defunct company called Sport-T-Tops.
My questions for those of you who might have some advice or suggestions, I am looking to restomod my cat in true ‘hot rod’ fashion. I’d like to do this by adding appointments from other vehicles from the era, to make “Roxanne” truly unique. This car was owned by my grandfather many years ago and I managed to track it down, it’s been my dream car since I was 6yrs old and it’s fantastic that I managed to track down my grandfather’s car. It’s already been heavily modified, so I decided to continue modifying it instead of doing a factory restoration.
Here are my questions for you all:
I am in love with the Chevelle Horseshoe shifter and am wondering if anyone knows how I could go about modifying my current setup to include that shifter.
I’m upgrading to a 250 amp alternator to power the various upgrades I am making to the vehicle, and am wondering if there are any particular modifications I will have to make to the electrical system, other than adding a fuse and heavier gauge wiring?
Finally, many of the original systems are no longer functional. i.e. headlight vacuum actuators, opera lights, instrument cluster lights, etc. Anyone have any advice on how to get the latter two up and running easily? I’m going to wait to take care of the actuators until I can afford the electric conversion.
I look forward to hearing from you all, and I’m excited to learn more about it all.
#1 welcome to the forum #2 get rid of those ugly ass wheels #3 I like the sifter you speak of but have never tried to install one ( only thing I have not tried) #4 you don’t need a 250 amp alt , on-less you are going to be a DJ from your car #5 you will need a VO meter to check your fuses for your lights. Tough love
PS i’ve been drinking!
Welcome to the Classic Cougar Community. The first place I’d start in reference to your light issues is the fuse box and make sure it’s good, then move to checking the bulbs on the opera lights and the the dash cluster bulbs if the fuses are good. As far as the shifter I’m sure it could be done. It will take money and you’d have to figure whats most important in your build. You stated that “Roxanne in decent shape, but definitely needs some serious work”, start with making your Cougar a sound and safe driver then move onto other items. Just my thoughts.
Steven
I recently purchased a donor roof to get rid of the sunroof. It’s just a matter of having the time & money to A)swap the roofs, or B) Just cut out the sunroof and weld in a new section.
Haha, thanks for your input. The wheels are on the chopping block along with the sunroof and most of the interior.
I’ve got the tools to check all of the electrical systems, some have been disconnected, others need new wiring altogether.
Thanks for the input. I’ll definitely start going through the system more thoroughly. Several of the systems are altogether disconnected, others seem to just need to be rewired. Right now the major projects to be tackled prior to any of the cosmetic projects include;
Disc Brake Conversion, Replacing the parking brake, rewire the entire vehicle, eventually replace the engine and transmission, and of course I’ll get rid of the eyesore of a sunroof.
Then I’ll begin tackling the projects that aren’t nearly as important for it to be a safe daily driver as I work towards restoration.
68catman, seriously though,you should have a electrical diagram for your year cougar and a volt ohm meter. Electrical problems can be difficult to find for experienced people without being there in person to help you, but there is a lot of knowledge on this forum that will try, so keep up with the questions. good luck
Nice car. I kinda like the wheels.
Anyhow, horseshoe shifters are cool and all, but please don’t put Chevy parts in your Cougar. Get one from a late '60s Ford/Mercury full size. It’ll look more at home in my opinion, and since they’re designed to work with Ford transmissions, you might even find linkage that mates up with minimal work.
Yeah, I’d go with the Ford shifter. As far as the alternator goes. My my experience with other makes, and from standing on many a shoulder and seeing some mistakes made and learning from them vicariously, I would be wary of throwing an alternator capable of 250amps at wiring that is both old, and not designed to see that much juice.
From a technicians standpoint (phone guy, Honda motorcycle tech.), when you design a system, look at what your total load is going to be, then buy an alternator that will supply that and maybe 10-20% more to handle possible future upgrades as well. If you plan on a lot of different things taxing your electrical system, then I would probably upgrade your wiring and go with a fuse box that will allow more circuits and/or a bigger gauge wire so things don’t get hot (which is what causes breakers to trip and fuses to blow).Yes everything’s going to fuse protected, but I have seen things go awry in residential, commercial, telecom and automotive where a fuse, breaker, etc., fail or you get a failure before the protection, and you end up with a fire before the protection.
I don’t mean to sound like the sky is falling, I just am trying to ge realistic from a planning perspective. I just got my '68 a little over a month ago, and am already in the process of upgrading 47 yr old wires that are kind of scary looking as well as brittle (mainly under hood).
By the way, awesome car! I’m glad you were able to locate it, and get it back in your family. Cool history!
I think the Ford / Mercury version of the horseshoe shifter looks much better and you might be able to find a console to help you with the mod. I’m sure the Ford route will be expensive though.
Steven
Have any of you ever experienced an alternator self destructing while you’re on the highway?
Mine did after driving to Disney World in my 68… the cooling bypass plug on my water pump exploded when I got to the parks yesterday and I was stranded until someone could bring me parts to fix it.
On the drive home, the alternator was acting up (already didn’t provide enough power to keep systems functioning at 100%). I get home, park the car and leave it until this morning. When I check everything out this morning I discover that the alternator housing has ripped itself apart and the internal assembly horribly disfigured.
