Hello everyone, I’ve had my '67 for 11 years now and I am getting close to being in a position to start a full build/restoration on it. This was my first car that I got in highschool and daily drove beyond my college years. My dad helped me a lot with getting it going and making it reliable, and I learned a tremendous amount from this car. I have a feeling that trend will continue as I progress on it. I’ve had quite a while to figure out how I’d like to ultimately build the car. Initially being a young highschool kid I wanted to go full race car with it and make an authentic T/A replica to take to the track. Over the years I’ve refined that idea to making it a car that will be fun for spirited driving on backroads, long cruises with buddies, and occasional track days. The overall theme for the car being similar to the blue & gold '67 “Black-Ops” Fairlane built by Steve Strope and his team, where the idea was to build it as a NASCAR with no rule books and with ideas and materials that could’ve been used during that time. Essentially I’m aiming do the same thing, but will make a couple exceptions for modern equipment like a Tremec TKX, which I’ll explain more when I cover the drivetrain. There is a decent amount of metal work to be done. The floor pans need to be replaced, at least a 4 point cage for the street, both rear quarters need some attention, and then minor rust repair in the usual spots. I’m not entirely sure on the time frame yet, but I do plan to strip the car completely down while I’m doing this to make sure I have a super robust foundation on which to build.
I’ve slowly been doing things to the car that I think (you know how things change) I’ll keep on the car long term as well as some experimentation.
This is the current setup:
Suspension/Steering:
- Shelby Drop
- 1" Drop Springs, with about a half coil cut off
- 7/8" Sway Bar, I tried a 1-1/8" bar but it made the front end feel too stiff.
- 1" drop blocks on the rear leafs, I retrofitted the Scott Drake Mustang kit, but would like to make a proper setup in the future.
- Opentracker Manual Steering Rebuild kit w/ Trans-Am Idler Arm
- Flaming River 16:1 Steering Box
Drivetrain:
- 289 with a 268H Comp Cams Hydraulic Flat Tappet Cam
- Weiand Stealth Intake
- 650 CFM Holley
- Hooker Headers
- Pertronix Ignition
- Canton Road Race Oil Pan
- Ron Morris Performance Adjustable Engine Mounts
- TKX is on the way, recently broke the used T-5 I’ve had in there for a couple of years
- Was running a rollerized Z-bar setup w/ the T-5 and intend to keep that system for the TKX
- Will be running a Mcleod RXT Twin Disk Clutch with a Quick-Time Scattershield
- Might be able to run my aluminum driveshaft w/ the TKX, tbd
Project Goals:
Suspension/Chassis:
- Rollerized front suspension components from Opentracker/StreetorTrack
- Opentracker Shock Tower Reinforcement Kit
- Convertible Floor Pan for added rigidity
- Passenger side torque box
- Battery Box moved to trunk
- Beef up the trunk structure for a fuel cell
- Trunk to cabin divider plate/firewall
- Add some beef to the bottom of the cowl where the export brace bolts on.
- Consider adding Tunnels in floor pan for exhaust ground clearance
- Performance leaf springs, possibly with sliders
- Considering subframe connectors, but also really want to run an X-pipe that’ll exit on the sides (I think with all the other stiffening I should be fine if I don’t run SFC’s)
- Watts Link/Panhard Bar
Drivetrain:
For the moment, this is pretty simple. For those who watch Craig909 on youtube, I’m essentially copying his setup for the most part. He’s running a high revving N/A 302 that checks all the boxes for me and I have a pdf of all the specs to build it. The TKX with twin-disk clutch should easily handle the power and give me peace of mind on long cross country trips.
Interior:
Similar to the earlier Bud Moore T/A cars. I feel like they maintained a classy balance of retaining some of the interior trim, while taking out absolutely unnecessary stuff. Carpet up front, mostly stock dash, still has the door cards in and the rear quarter interior panels. Feels civilized for a race car, and I’d like to copy this vibe.
Body:
I plan on mostly running a stock body, I have rolled all of my inner fenders for tire clearance though. I have considered modifying the wheel arc’s to be like those on the Max Effort Cougar pictured below. I love that they managed to do flares with the factory lip shape. Imagine those wheel wells filled with some fat Goodyears. I go back and fourth on whether or not I’d like to do this.
I will update this thread as I work on it. Expect progress to start out somewhat slow as I’m just working on little things that will be part of the final build as well as collecting parts. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for the interest! I look forward to meeting more of the community, as always any input, comments, criticism’s are welcome. I’m sure there is plenty I haven’t thought of yet that y’all may have already been through.
Lastly, a shameless plug for our Youtube Channel: (https://www.youtube.com/@boolersofficial)
I will be posting video updates on there as I go as well, but it is a channel for more than just my build. There will be interview videos coming soon of unique and tasteful builds in the Nashville area.
Most recent Cougar build video (https://youtu.be/KmxkXMS47q4?si=RkLeD_5QlOqL69Vb)
Thanks for checking out my build intro!
