Ed,
You had essentially the right car I was looking for. Unmolested, rough around the edges, an accident or two in its past and in overall drivable condition. The next level is making all mechanical bits solid and safe, making some updates and adding a few custom touches.
It’s not going to be a concours restoration, it’s going to be driven, enjoyed, and experience a new life. Much like my Pantera did and still does with its new owner, who took it to the next level past me.
Yes it was WCCC.
Finished the shock tower bracing and upper control arm drop.
And while the engine was out I cleaned the engine compartment and gave it a light undercoat.
I think those braces are welded into the wrong part of the shock tower. I’m pretty sure they drop down into the pocket. Been years since I did mine, but mine are definitely different.
It may be difficult to see from the photos but they -are- dropped into the pocket as far as they will go right up against the frame rail at the outside edge, and angled up into the curved portions of the tower. They only “fit” in one position. I did watch a WCCC video prior to installing. They are installed correctly.
Here is a great illustration from WCCC showing exactly how I did mine:
Thanks for the heads up. I plan on doing the same thing to the 69’.
I had trouble fitting mine as well. I studied the video and examined the diagrams. I noticed that if I turned the plates, that then they would fit.
Here’s a couple of pictures when the pocket was cleaned up and the reinforcing plate put in.
That looks correct. Yes they only go in one direction. If it doesn’t seem to fit right then flip it end to end and it should drop right in at the correct angle.
I think I was confused due to the angles of the pictures. I’ve given my head a shake, so I’m hoping it’s all better now.
Latest update. A lot to unpack in this one photo.
The engine is back in the car with:
More on my list to come.
Three months of after hours work and weekends finally culminated in well… -mostly- success.
My objective was to get this Cougar mechanically sound, and safe to run the Silver State Classic Challenge in the 105 MPH class, which I have successfully completed in the past.
All was looking good, we had an oil pressure gauge installed, a small tachometer on the steering column, the engine was in good shape and at the last minute we replaced the carburetor due to a cracked throttle plate flange. We put the car on a trailer and head to the event on the 15th of September.
While in Ely Nevada prior to the race, and using an Air Fuel gauge, we adjusted the primary and secondary jets down two sizes to get between 12.7 and 13.3 enrichment at full throttle under load. The course goes from about 5,500 feet to 3,500 feet (thereabouts) and that level of enrichment should work fine.
Come race day, the car was running great until about 10 miles in when my son (navigator) noticed blue smoke coming into the cabin and we could smell hot oil. No smoke behind us that I could see and oil pressure was in the 40’s. However, not wishing a small thing to become bigger, we retired from the race at 11 miles in (of 90).
The car ran pretty well with that original 289. Temp appeared to run a little high with the needle just past the “P” in TEMP. Oil pressure was in the 40’s.
On our timing app, we reached a max speed of 108 MPH in those 11 miles while building our average speed to 105.
What happened? We don’t know yet, but an initial inspection from the topside didn’t reveal any leaking oil from the breathers, the valve covers, intake or timing chain cover. That leaves the oil pan and rear main seal, both of which were replaced when the new oil pan went on. I’ve not had the car in the air yet to identify it any better. I had thought it might be the transmission since I didn’t get a chance to service it prior to the race. However, once on the trailer, the oil drips we could see came from the crossmember under the engine; it’s doubtful a transmission leak would have traveled forward… unless it was a cooler line, I’ll check those too.
Here are some photos.
The broken carb flange, four days out from leaving. Necessitated the purchase of a new Quick Fuel Brawler via Amazon, and one day to tune.
The rear half of an AutoPower Roll cage installed, along with new Corbeau seats. No time to fit the front half and not required for our class. No time to fit replacement quarter trim or the rear seat either.
What was left of the old trunk seal was brittle and coming apart. We replaced it with a new seal so no more leaks into the trunk in case we hit rain.
My son polishing the car the best we could. An aged, scratched up Maaco paint job isn’t easy to make look good.
On arrival in Ely, we went to a local Soda Fountain, ice cream shop, Pharmacy, and toy store… all-in-one. That’s me, the driver, Asa Jay Laughton on the right, with my son Sam (the navigator) on the left. I’m wearing a t-shirt representing the Pantera owned by a friend that I raced in 2024.
The Cougar, affectionately named “Lady Celeste” in her full livery for this race.
Sam and Celeste in Pre-Grid. A lot of other cars in the higher speed classes are -behind- the photographer.
This is the starting grid. At entry number 105 (same as our speed class, coincident), we were 105 minutes after the first car to start; they start each car at one minute intervals with the highest speed classes first and slowest last. We were right behind two Panteras from our team. We had eight total Panteras entered this year, only one did not finish due to a blown tire (brand new tire by the way). And we didn’t finish due to the oil leak somewhere.
This is Celeste at the 11 mile mark, waiting patiently for the race to end. We are standing/sitting at the fence line about 200 feet away, as part of the safety protocol. We stopped in a spot with a very wide shoulder which allowed us plenty of room to exit the pavement. It just happened a course worker gate was across the road and about 200 feet south of us.
Our entry was one of three oldest cars at the event this year. The others were a race prepped and class wining 1967 Mustang that has competed for years. The other was a first time entrant with a 1930’s something I’ve never heard of before. I’m sure with enough stick time prior to the race, I would have found the oil leak sooner and fixed it up. Overall, not too bad for a car going on 60 years old.
Anyone interested can get a Point-of-View of our run on YouTube here:
On our way home (two day drive), Sam and I made a large list of what-next items to work on the Cougar. It has a lot of stuff on it including things like building the new 351C based stroker, refreshing my C6 transmission, replacing the dash and instrumentation, finishing the roll cage install, new coil-over front suspension, subframe connectors, front disc conversion, aluminum radiator with electric fan and added air management… and a lot more. We might not get it ready again for 2027 but should certainly return in 2028.
That’s very cool Asa Jay. Please remember to send Heather something for the Cascade newsletter.
Thanks, Scott.
Looks like a ton of fun.
