Well, it’s official. WIth the installation of new tires last night, my Cougar has gone from being a “roller” to a safe, registered road-ready “driver.”
The previous owner had done a Wilwood disc brake conversion, replaced the gas tank and put a new carb on it, so the car did start and run very roughly with a shot of starting fluid. The sequential tail lights also worked, which was a bonus.
Since trailering it home in August I’ve replaced the leaking fuel pump, replaced the ripped rag joint, cleaned out the fuel lines, set the timing, adjusted the worm gear, refurbed the power steering system, installed electric headlight door motors, replaced and refurbed the headlight bucket that kept falling out when the car moved, added dual spring return ot the throttle, replaced the headlight switch, refurbed all the dash light connections, replaced the temp/fuel guage, replaced the temp sender, replaced the broken courtesy light door jamb switch, refurbed and repaired all the courtesy lights, fixed all the various window mechanism issues, replaced the missing door locks, door lock rods and one door handle, installed a metal shield behind the back seat, re-bled the brakes to re-center the shuttle and get the brake light turned off, and repaired all the rust damage in the trunk and painted it with bedliner.
Up until yesterday the electric headlight motors had by far been the most expensive repair, but I finally splurged on a set of new Magnum 500 wheels and some 225/60/15 tires to replace the 14" wheels and 20 year old tires that came with the car. (Red Cougar center caps are on order.)
The car came with a console, but was originally a non-console car, so next step is to get the correct shifter and shift-indicator light and figure out how the console courtesy lights connect into the system.
After that I’m just driving it for a while until I can finally afford to add air-conditioning. Paint and upholstery are a year or two down the road, but the current plan is to keep the interior red and switch the paint back to the original Onyx Black.
Interesting lessons learned so far:
- You can fix a broken plastic headlight spring mount by bending a metal washer in half and sliding if over the mount.
- I am terrible at soldering.
Thanks to everyone who has helped with this project by giving good advice in this forum.
