This morning I struck a deal on a 1968 XR-7 GT that I will be picking up next Saturday. The new cat’s name is B3Cat and it will be the Hers half of a His 'n Hers pair of XR-7 GTs. Here is a link to the video I shot this morning while inspecting the car for purchase:
The plan (at the moment) is to give the car a makeover, including a new paint job, but retain the current exterior color. A white vinyl top will be added. In the interior, the patterned inserts will be replaced with white inserts. The lower dash and steering column will be painted white. The non-original door and interior quarter panels will be replaced with XR-7 panels and we may have the area bounded by the stitched border in white with the rest of the surrounding panel in blue. The motif is the Mustang Pony interior from '65-'66. My wife even wants to try to have the seat backs embossed with either a snarling Cougar head or the running cat from the headlight emblem.
Over time, the car will be brought up to the same level as BBCat and Catvert.
Congrats on your recent purchase. I look forward to following your updates on B3Cats progress. Just curious why the name B3cat? I got Catvert and BBCat .
Steven
The name B3Cat is based on an inside joke between my wife and I. A hint is that she’s a natural blonde (there is one of the B’s) who sometimes acts like the stereotype we all know and love. And this is going to be her car.
That’s the one! When he first put his up for sale, I didn’t think I could spend that much. After I bought FCat and we started seeing what it would take just to bring it up to the same level as Glenn’s car, we decided that was the way to go. I went down yesterday morning and we struck the deal. Glenn is a very nice guy so I’m glad I got the chance to meet him. I’m also happy to be able to give his car a good home.
B3Cat is home, safe and sound. As luck would have it, my wife’s sister stopped by the store just as I finished unloading the car from the trailer so my wife has already had the chance to show off her XR-7 GT. Here are the arrival photos:
I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Glenn to watch his Cougar being loaded on my trailer, but he made it a completely painless experience. Since we spent more than we planned, we may have to wait a bit before doing anything with it, but it’s the right car for us to capture and hold until we’re ready. The focus now is to sell FCat, which will hit eBay later today,
Hi Bill glad you had a safe trip home. Yes VERY hard to watch this one roll away. But it’s in good hands and be well taken care of. I look forward to your progress!! Thanks again. Glenn.
Not much restoration progress to report but I did get B3Cat registered and inspected, so it can be legally driven on the street now. The inspection station knows me well since I take all 8 of our vehicles there. When I drove B3Cat into the bay, he just looked at me and said “Everything works, right?”. A couple of minutes later, B3Cat was legal.
In about 2 weeks, the Cougar will be going down to my friend Dave’s place, where Dave will start going through all the mechanicals for me. So the process will be starting soon. I know it needs some work since the motor doesn’t like to get any gas at all when it’s cold and it never really runs completely smooth. It is also leaking coolant either at the radiator or the water pump. Glenn told me it needs an idler arm so we’ll go through the suspension completely, as well as giving the brakes a thorough once-over. I think it may also be leaking some power steering fluid so we’ll go through that whole system as well.
I’d like to have it running and driving really well by spring so that my wife can start enjoying it even before the restoration funds are available. More to come…
Phase 1 of B3Cat has begun! It is now in the hands of my friend Dave so that he can go through it mechanically and get it truly roadworthy. I got the first results of his assessment today. The intake manifold gasket is leaking front and rear, so that needs to be replaced and the engine needs to be power-washed. Dave is also going to convert it to a Pertronix setup and do a complete tune-up, including plug wires. The fan clutch is shot so that’s also on the list to replace.
The gas tank is badly dented and leaking fuel, so that will be replaced right away. I’m sending my son down to MU tomorrow to pick up the items I can’t get through my suppliers so I’ll have everything in hand over the next couple of days.
Here are the pictures from today:
The original XR-7 fuel sender is still in place. Does anyone still rebuild these to get the low-fuel sensor working as original or is it better to just work around it?
[quote="CatVert68The original XR-7 fuel sender is still in place. Does anyone still rebuild these to get the low-fuel sensor working as original or is it better to just work around it?
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Bill & Al, the last I heard John at JCC in Holland,MI does. Just give him a call to make sure. John
I spoke to John this morning and he confirmed that he does rebuild these. The price for a rebuild is $130.00 and he said they’ve rebuilt some pretty nasty ones.
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I just watched the video and thought the car looked familiar, did you buy that from Glenn (FFR428)? 
John
John