Hey Guys, didnt see a new member area so figured id just post here, my dad was given a 68 XR7 Red on parchment 302 car by a lifelong friend, im 17 and my dad figured itd be a good first car/project for me. Car has sat for close to 25 years. It runs if you spray starter fluid down the carb and hook a battery charger up. It has damage from a barn falling in on it from a tornado. Anyway, im active on the 67-72 chevy truck site and startin to get active on the Impalassforum. Hope to learn as much, if not more from you guys about these old fords than i have from the other two. I was raised a mainly chevy kid, lotta impalas, lotta square body trucks, etc. my other two loves are a 68 c10 and a 67 camaro.
-Jack
Welcome aboard Jack! A 68 XR7 is a beautiful car for sure, a free one is even better looking. How bad is the damage? Would like to see some pictures of the car for sure. How does the interior look? I see your from just north of St. Louis, there are a few members of this forum in that area although I cannot remember who? Good luck with your new Cougar build!
Jack
Since the cat coughed, and I assume that there are no major fluid leaks in the engine and transmission, here is what I suggest you should consider.
- Drain Fuel tank and check for any signs of rust. If rust is present, replace fuel tank and fuel lines. Replace the sock filter in the tank at a minimum.
- Clean and rebuild the carb.
- Drain and change the oil
- Change the spark plugs
- Install a Petronix Ignitor in place of the points and condensor
- Fire up the engine and make sure she runs good.
- Drain transmission and replace filter and fluid
- Flush radiator and fix any leaks
- Check the brakes to make sure they hold pressure and that they operate properly
- Inspect the suspension and steering to make sure she is roadworthy
- Enjoy the Ride!!!
Coach Jack
Hey, I can’t post pics from my windows phone, but feel free to pm me for fb add. More than happy to share pics with other car guys. Its damaged right on the left roof line, its rusty and crusty and the interiors shot. But yeah nothin I’m afraid to tackle, if anything it’ll be a project for when go to tech school for high pef and diesel tech. I think itd be a b*itchin DD or first car. Pardon the language its a bad habit. And Coach, didn’t tackle anything besides the motor, still not used to dizzy bein in the front lol fuel pumps shot and timings backed waaaay off for some reason. It burps and cackles and i was happy with it for the moment. I was gonna do a buncha body mods on it but that was before I learned it was an xr7, so I think I’ll settle for an alum intake and a 4brl. Pretty much just stuff I can turn back if I wish. And change the interior to black, I’m not a fan of white. My c10s gonna be black on black and I think this would look cool in a red metallic or somethin, my dads a painter for a street rod shop so I have the facilities and parts to do what I like. Just gotta find money lol anyway. That’s it for now!
How do I post pics, its not like the 67-72 site lol
I was gonna do a buncha body mods on it but that was before I learned it was an xr7, so I think I’ll settle for an alum intake and a 4brl. Pretty much just stuff I can turn back if I wish.
I think you can do all the modifications you want to your XR7. The 1968 XR7 w/302 is not a particularly rare car. Take a look at the Cougar Club of America Cougar database for the statistics and while you are at it, consider registering your car in the database.
I know its not a particularly rare car, its just kinda cool to see an unmolested car like this one.
You can add photo’s to your Gallery (User Control Panel section), and then use the Gallery button to place them in a post as this:
[album]1715[/album]
This becomes a thumbnail hyperlink which opens the image full size when clicked.
To insert an image from FB or other sites, copy the image url (right click and choose ‘COPY IMAGE URL’), then click the ‘Img’ button and paste the link in your post.
If the site uses a special player or format which does not allow this, it may have a share feature.
I get this from Flickr, when choosing the share button, it has a link to copy:
and trim to this, the simple URL to the photo:
placed in the Img tags, looks like this:
This is why you don’t have a cat do your wiring…always napping on the job!
Welcome to the addiction 
I always appreciate someone who appreciates a car that is in original form or unmolested…but if the car is damaged a lot, needs new paint on a large portion, or a lot of new interior stuff, what the heck, go for the restomod thing or go for original…it’s all good.
Well. Got out of school and had the urge to work on the old cat and pulled the back section of carpet out, and pulled all the crap outta the trunk. Long story short cat has cancer. Who’s the go to people for patch panels for the floors right behind the seat wells, and also in the trunk that flat panel between the gas tank and quarter? It has a rubber plug and its just rotted all the way through. Tia
You can go with a trunk section from West Coast Classic Cougars:
or piece it together with parts from John’s, but the gas tank perimeter is not available:
https://www.johnsclassiccougars.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=JC-203
Alright cool. Really all I need is that flat panel on the right side of that pic, above the gas tank, where that bracket hits. Right where that plug hole is, its all rotted out. So I guess I’ll just piece it together. Thanks Greg.
If you are just splicing in that small area around the drain plug then you should be able to use the '69 / '70 mustang trunk pan piece, I would think. Or maybe just some plain sheet metal, depending on how big an area you need to replace.
I just used 12 gauge sheet metal. No one will see that piece anyway…
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So its not structural at all? That’s good to hear. Also, what was the purpose of the plugs? Seems the floors are rusted mainly around em or the plugs failed and let water in and rusted out below em
That is a pick up location from the factory and they did not get any paint around them… My 69 is rotted out there too… I’m just going to cut to clean metal and replace with a solid piece leaving out the hole entirely…
These are Jacks car.
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Thank Tweeder! For those of you that asked for pics of the roof damage when I originally posted the thread there ya go 
shock towers are cracked so I may replace those with the big block ones and try and find a 428 cats rougher than I thought lol beginning to think ill get the c10 finished before this one. Did find an old gun cleaning kit after drilling out the trunk lock though so that was kinda neat. Thanks again Tweeder.
If you’re going to go through the trouble of replacing the towers, I would suggest just replacing the whole front end with a Mustang 2 style? Not much more cost than replacing all the factory components, and just as much work as replacing the factory towers. If I had realized how inexpensive they really were before ordering my replacement parts, I would have upgraded mine. Still might in a few years…
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So my dad had a 62 sunbeam alpine and traded it for some cougar parts. So today we went and picked up pretty complete xr7 console, complete dash panel, seat frames, headlights and tailights and some moldings. Guy was super cool. Had a 67 mustang, a pretty cool foxbody and our sunbeam in the garage when we left. It needed alot of work and its a surprise for his wife. Gary, in the small chance you belong to this forum, thanks for everything you gave us. I hope you’re as excited with the 62 as we are with the parts. They’ll be used and appreciated greatly.