Hi all, after a long time lurking I figured I’d introduce myself and my 68 Cougar. I purchased this car out of NC back in May or June with some help from a forum member, David Traw. He looked the car over for me, as it was much closer to him than me. He’s a stand up guy and will forever be grateful for his help!
The car itself started out as a lime green 68, black vinyl roof, 302 2V, 3 speed manual, 3.00 open rear, drum/drum manual brakes. Base black interior. At some point over it’s lifetime it was resprayed to a variation of Highland Green metallic. The previous owner put alot of chrome Ford Racing dress up items on the engine along with an Edelbrock manifold and Holley 600CFM carb, 14” AR wheels, and hilariously, a set of traction bars. The previous owner did have a high pride of ownership in the car as there was a stack of NPD invoices for various parts that had been replaced along the way, but there were still alot of things left by the owner for the next guy to deal with like a rotten heater core and box, and other electrical items. The car ran ok, but I could tell that the motor was a little tired and with the 3-speed and 3.00 rear, it was not very “spirited”.
The Bullitt Cougar:
Pic of the Bullitt Cougar with my 66 Galaxie which I sold.
The motor that was in the car looked ok but was way down on power.
My goals for the car are to make it more fun to drive with more power, better handling, and improve the esthetics.
To that end I recently replaced the old 302 and 3 speed with a livelier rebuilt 302. The new motor is a hydraulic flat tapper, Comp 270H, Cloyes double roller timing setup, Edelbrock aluminum heads and intake, brawler 650, high volume Melling pump, and high volume Carter fuel pump.
Along with the new motor was a transmission swap to a rebuilt and strengthened T5 with a swap kit from American Powertrain with a hydraulic clutch conversion. Rounding out the installation was a rebuilt rear end, converting to a 3.89 and limited slip, 24” Champion 3-row radiator, dual SPAL fans, and a new 140a alternator. The car also received a manual CSRP 4-piston front disc brake conversion.
Once the motor was in and the car was running after road testing some fine tuning was needed on the carb and the timing. Car is running great now, makes very good power up to around 5500rpm, runs cooler, and is more fun to drive.
Here’s a few other misc pictures of some new gauges that I’ve installed. AutoMeter 3 3/4” Street Tach, and GS series 2 1/16 Oil Pressure and Water Temp.
Right now the car is working great and I’m doing some work on the audio installation before the car gets a new headliner next month.
