Thought it was time to put her on her own thread as I keep posting in the Maintenance and Repair section…
We purchased her in September 2017.
I’ll post individual projects below.
September 30, 2017
Replaced the bolts/lugs because one of the 20 year old tires went flat and I tried to drive to the tire dealer on the spare.
The spare isn’t the Krager rims… so the lugs didn’t fit tight. On the way… the car shook the lugs so bad we had to cut them off to get the spare off.
I hope that you went and purchased some regular factory style lugs so you do not repeat this problem.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
I did. Thanks. Summit Racing had them.
September 23, 2017
Watched a youtube video and learned how to fix a broken rear window that was off the tracks. Boys and I feeling quite accomplished we were able to do something that seemed so impossible before this.
October 1, 2017
Replaced the after market stereo with an AM radio we found on Ebay for $25.
It doesn’t work… but that’s something we can tackle one day in the future.
November 11, 2017.
She was having a tough time starting… so we added a new starter. Now she starts up great.
I know this sounds remedial… but we are literally learning as we go here. So these are HUGE steps for us.
In December we changed Sparkplugs and Wires.
For Christmas I got new valve covers
We tried to change the thermostat (no heat) and a bolt broke off. Ugh. We couldn’t get it out of the intake manifold.
So we had to install a new intake manifold.
While we were at it… we figured we’d upgrade to a 4 barrel carburetor.
With the new intake and carburetor in… my wife got me a matching air filter for our anniversary in January.
And then it snowed…
But I took off the ugly rug under the hood and when we got a nice day… went to Cars and Coffee
Added new decals for the door handles.
I like the Cougar air cleaner and valve covers. The little details like the wood grain inserts on the door pull straps make the car look good.
Good stuff, looks like you guys are having fun 
Motor looks really good with the aluminum intake and the walking cat air cleaner.
You’re doing a great job on the car and it’s really looking good. I’m glad to see that you have the boys involved and that they are enjoying it!
Thank you all!
Lots has happened since this. Will post more shortly.
In February, my cousin Chris came out from California (he works as a car restorer for a company called Canepa) to help us out.
First thing we did was replace the Master Cylinder (I had to pump the brakes 3 times to get any stopping).
Then we did the shocks. My cousin did the driver’s side and my son did the passenger side.
And finally… we got the sequential tail lights working!
So much JB Weld on the radiator. But she’s still working fine. I was going to upgrade to the 24 inch kit… but West Coast Classic Cougars didn’t have it in stock. SO I guess I’ll keep using the JB Weld for now…
Then we replaced the lights in the overhead console.
Still can’t get the park brake light to turn off… so we needed to disconnect it.
The gas light doesn’t work either. We’ll have to look into that at some point.
There is a grounding switch mounted to the hand brake, probably needs attention.
THanks. I checked and ours doesn’t have one. So we’re going to have to figure that out at some point.
On March 3, 2017… the 289 died.
I was coming home from picking up dinner when the engine just stopped.
I tried starting her over and over again… but she just wouldn’t turn over. I waited 3 hours for a tow truck.
When I got home… I checked the engine out as best as I could.
The insides were all goopy. Like coffee.
The working theory is that antifreeze got into the oil and one of the pistons seized up.
Being that she’s my daily driver… I needed to get her back up and running quickly. So a buddy of mine offered to take her to his shop and I ordered a new engine from Summit.
The engine was a 302 crate with roller cams and cost about $2,800. Yikes. We put it on the credit card and in 3 days… it came in.
My buddy took out the old engine and put in the new one.
He then brought it back to our place so my son and I could take part in the rest of the work.
Putting in a new Pertronix Flame thrower distributor…
And a new Alternator.
It took my boy and I 2 days to figure out the alternator… but we finally got it working right.
Eventually… we got her up and running again. 10 days from the day it died.