Hey All,
Well the Couger has landed and tucked up in the garage here in Adelaide, South Australia.
Now it’s time to tidy up a few loose ends.
Mainly front steering and suspension bushes, rubbers, ball joints etc.
Are there any Aussies looking at this that can give me a few options that you may have used and had a good experience.
Regards
Leigh
Happy to chat
0412711165
68 XR7 2V 302, power assist no a/c, drum breaks (on the list to upgrade to discs)
Suspension is Falcon XY/XW. Rear shocks are ZC,ZD Fairlane. Not sure about brakes as my four are RHD with Falcon uprights and brakes.
Fulcrum suspension has most of the parts if you want their good poly formulation (I run Fulcrum on 3 cars without problems) The idler arm is unique to Cougar and Mustang and will need to be re-built
The Mustang spare places like Mustang Auto Parts have most of the bits. Falcon bits are available from GT performance.
Panels and trim for 67/68 are difficult, if not impossible, to source locally
As noted above, drivetrain is mostly the same as equivalent year Mustang or local Falcon/Fairlane. Just double check before you buy as some parts are unique to the Cougar.
+1 on that. Best bet is to ask around these forums, otherwise source via the US Cougar suppliers like WCCC, John’s Classic Cougars, etc. The larger US Mustang parts retailers carry Cougar items as well.
Just be prepared to pay an arm and a leg for shipping. The best way of minimizing the pain is to consolidate into larger orders that squeeze under the tax free threshold.
Try and find a local shipping consolidator that ships from LA. There is one here in Brisbane that charges $50 per shipment from the US and has a container arriving weekly. Many times you can get free shipping in the US
It’s a great idea in theory but in practice you really need to know someone in the biz with a good track record that you can trust. I’ve heard too many horror stories of parts going missing and/or taking forever to arrive and/or being hit with substantial extra ‘processing’ charges to get cleared and released.
Retail freight consolidators like ShipPorter do a good job but their rates are generally not much (if at all) cheaper than organising the shipping yourself. This is especially true for anything small enough to be sent via USPS.
A 2 pound shipment I just sent to BAC in Australia via USPS was USD 23. Generally, anything up to about 4 pounds shouldn’t be significantly higher. It does take a while at that price though - perhaps as long as a calendar month. Quicker delivery does elevate the price a lot.
Your local car club should be able to recommend someone. We have a guy in the local Tbird club that brings over container every 3 months.
I have used two specialist vehicle consolidators here in Brisbane without any problems. I’ve also heard a few horror stories but they appear to be someone consolidating mixed freight, with dodgy invoices, rather than car guys. It is a bit of a lottery and even the local Mustang parts guys hit trouble on the wharf sometimes and they are getting a shipment a month, plus weekly air freight.
Generally costs me $50 per invoice to ship from LA and get an agreed price.
I emailed Darrel N. at WCCC and I was asking to give me an idea of what one of their front end kits would be to deliver to me in South Oz. but he did not seem interested. He did not make any suggestions of different ways to get it to me. I got a different impression when I delt with Don when buying the Couger earlier this year. Maybe if I could get in contact with Don?
You can get the postage cost for pretty much everything on their site that’s in stock by adding it to your shopping cart and putting in your address details at the checkout screen.
Just had a quick look now and most of the front end suspension kits are out of stock at the moment. However, if you are after suspension stuff it’s all the same parts as the equivalent year Mustang so it would be much cheaper/quicker to source that stuff locally in Oz.
What about Rock auto.
Best prices on Moog the only parts you should use on front end.
The “kits” usually have cheap import junk.
100’s of front end installs later not one has come back, had issues or failures. I have lost count on how many front suspensions I’ve had to replace because of these cheap “kit” parts, so called concourse correct painted parts, or just buying them because they are cheaper. Don’t waste all that time & cost to put junk on your car.
Don’t know if they ship worldwide.
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/mercury?a=Referer+www.google.com+URL+%2F
Yep - I’ve bought stuff from them.
Rock Auto are great to deal with. Shipping is quick and prices reasonable
All good feedback and advise.
Luckily I did get a pretty good restored 38,000 mile survivor that all that needs is the typical bits that I can get locally.
I have made contact with a guy I
Here in Adelaide, down south caled Mustangs and Aussie Muscle cars, seems to be a good guy. I did speak to him when I was still looking.
There is a part in the front that I remember reading about that is unique to Cougars, is it the pitman arm or idler arm?
I will soon get underneath and be able to have a good look and put a shopping list together.
Thanks all
Leigh
67 strut rod is uique
I mentioned to Darrell after reading this thread, you might of said… “Thanks for asking! aussiecarimports.com is somewhat local to us and if you make a large order we will box and drop it off for a small fee (gas money).” They are spot on dependable and folks on this list have used them through us multiple time with no hassles. Australia is not cost effective to UPS large orders to.
Sometimes though if you order multiple items from Rock Auto they come from multiple sources and each has its own shipping cost and these can add up quickly.
Been caught by that as well. But they are still the only place where I have placed on order on Friday and it was on my doorstep the next Tuesday. The new USPS rates for shipping are making local purchases in Oz a lot more competitive, even with the $AUD in the toilet
If you need just one or two items, get it from a local Mustang Parts source. If you can wait and gather up a larger order, West Coast Cougar for most of what you need. Any of the Mustang parts sources will also cover most of the Cougar parts; eg, CJ Pony Parts, National Parts Depot. Shipping rates are ok, as long as the parts are not too large or heavy.
If you want to ship heavy or large items, usatoaus.com (aussiecarimports) is great. I bought a big order from Don at WCCC and they dropped it off to the aussiecarimports warehouse in Vancouver WA, who then shipped it in one of their containers to Brisbane. Also try http://www.justamericanimports.com.au. , they ship directly from LA to Adelaide, so save on the domestic postage.
I do like to support the guys at WCCC, Don and his crew produce good stuff and I am (re)learning a lot from their YouTube clips,(keep 'em coming Don).
Aussiecarimports(usatoaus) did a great job in getting my car here and once my car is through the super fussy inspectors here in Adelaide, I will need to look at converting front drums to discs.
For now it’s just steering, radiator recond and a leaky break master cylinder lid seal and I should be good to go.
Onya’s
Leigh