Hello fellow enthousiasts,
I’m considering buying a 68 cougar with a 289 V8.
Based on it coming from Canada, it has probably seen a lot of snow and rain in its life.
I could really use some advice and it’d be great if I could get an answer to a couple of questions I have.
Firstly. The underside of the body is covered in what might be Dinitrol. It was done a couple of years ago. This means of course that I cannot see the actual metal to check for rust. Any advice here?
Second. There is no fan shroud. Shouldn’t there be one?
Third. There is a big dead zone in the steering. Is this normal? And what’s the fix for that?
And lastly, for now, it doesn’t have power brakes. Can this be added as a diy? And how?
Thanks in advance for any help, it’s much appreciated!
Jef
As for rust, my suggestion would be pulling up the carpet and looking at the floorpan metal from that perspective - along with checking the trunk and using a magnet and some of the other common rust detecting tactics.
My understanding is if the Cougar came from the factory with air conditioning it would have the fan shroud - no air no fan shroud. I’m sure there are exceptions.
Adding or upgrading the front disk brakes is common, so the parts and the how-to information are readily available, it boils down to the level of your mechanical skills.
Jef, welcome to the forum. Phillip offers some excellent advice on the info in the WCCC videos. They also have a video on steering that might help with the “flat spot”. You should ask seller if he can provide a Marti Report, which details original equipment and where car was originally sold. Relatively low cost and very helpful in determining originality in the older Ford/Mercury products. History is important on these vehicles as they have known rust areas. It might be helpful for us to know your location as we might suggest different inspection practices for an international buyer vs someone in North America. For those of us in the US, we have been and continue to deal with US and Canadian border being closed to visitors with Covid restrictions. Makes it more difficult to inspect vehicles personally for buyers moving cars from either country. Very important to look at a car and inspect it prior to purchase.
A Ford club member tried to get into Canada in June to inspect a 68 Mustang coupe’. Couldn’t get in because this was not an ‘essential’ visit. The pictures of the outside looked good and it was “such a low price” he bought it. After $3k for customs paperwork and transportation to Ohio from Western Canada its a depressing situation. The torque boxes had been bondo-ed up, the gas tank mounting trunk floor has no metal on the pass. side. 2 cylinders of the 289 have no compression, and the auto won’t shift into 3rd.
Look for a car in the US that you can see and all ready has disc brakes.
Checking out the WCCC videos is great advice. Be very careful of scams. Some folks are using the shutdown to rip people off. Happened to my neighbor when he tried to buy a Vette. It had a ‘Canada’ story also. Don’t put money down or buy anything that you can’t go see in person. Don’t rush until you’ve…Don Rushed! Lol
I live in Belgium, the car is being sold in the Netherlands.
It doesn’t have disk brakes but as Phillip said, there is a market for a set of disk brakes I could figure out how to install as a diy.
It would be a first classic car in the family and one of my objectives is to learn car mechanics and body work by doing. In this case, the internet is my friend.
I have inspected it by going over the whole underbody knocking and checking for rust as well as possible. The only rust on there seems to be coming from the rear side of the front wheel arches. The piece of metal connecting the engine bay to the body both have about 3 sq in of rot. Can’t really see behind it but it might be an easy fix with some new sheet metal and by welding that on. The engine bay metal and body don’t seem to be affected.
It’s got a 289 that sounds like it runs well and a C4 that seems to go through the gears without issue. The oil cap wasn’t milky or sludged up. Only a drop a week of oil under the motor, I’m guessing the gaskets just need to be replaced.
Since there are only drum brakes without boost, it takes a lot of effort to stop, don’t know if that’s normal. Maybe the brakes just need some cleaning and tightening.
