Hello again. I havent posted much on here the past few years. I check in often and read allot of threads but havent had my car in my hands. Well all thats changed because I finally got my 86 cougar to Arizona! I've lived here the past five years while the cougars been stored in my hometown state of WI. In the last 5 years its went to cat Jam twice(05 and 06) but thats the extent of its roadtime.
This past summer my brother Matt who still lives in WI got the car into his shop and started the drivetrain upgrades. I bought an 85 t-bird as a parts car. The t-bird engine and trans were in great shape, but the body was a rust bucket. He replaced the C4 in my car for the AOD out of the Bird and installed a TransGo shiftkit. I'm really happy with that shiftkit, it really gives the AOD some much needed power. You can floor the gas and it will shift at 5500rpm for you instead of manually going through the gears. I had bought an 8.8 rear end years ago, that was installed along with new Ford 4:11 gears. From there we had to find a slightly shorter driveshaft. Once all that was finsihed we swaped the rack and pinion from the bird into the cougar. It made a world of difference! I can stear with my pinky now;) The engine block was originally out of an early 70's mustang. Thats never been gone through on our end because it had been overhauled shortly before I bought it. Its a strong runner with less than 50,000. However the AC was left off from the previous owners during the swap. I had to buy some new lines but the T-bird provided the guts of the AC conversion. So now the car has AC and a serpentine setup!
From the outside all that looks different are the Cobra R's but the drivetrain is completely overhauled. The cougar has allot more power with the 4:11's and with the AOD the engine isnt screaming at high speeds. Its really the best of both worlds.
My brother delivered the car to me over thanksgiving weekend. He drove it nearly 2000 miles from WI to Tucson AZ. Last weekend the dragstrip held a carshow/test and tune day. I posted a few pictures from that below.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S4300012.jpg?t=1292087710)(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S4300001.jpg?t=1292087081)(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S4300003.jpg?t=1292090379)(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S4300004.jpg?t=1292090453)(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S4300002.jpg?t=1292090521)(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S4300008.jpg?t=1292090652)(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/blackcougar.jpg?t=1292090940)
This is a few years ago, with the older rims
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S2400020.jpg?t=1292091061)
Pictures from the drive to Tucson
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S4300047.jpg?t=1292091622)(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb10/sprewelllatrell/S4300046.jpg?t=1292091622)
Not a bad looking car, man
That is a nice lookin cougar. love the scoop and flame job
i love it
the cobra 's eally give it that look i love
Dennis , Glad to see you are back and enjoying your purdy black cat it looks great man. :headbang:
Dan & Paula ;)
are you running 8inch or 9 inch wide rims up front
some have complained the 9 in rub against the schock
That car looks amazing!
Very nice.
I like the deleted lock on the trunk. I had thought about that,but I worry the electric lock would fail,then I'd be screwed.LOL. Great looking car. The wheels look perfect with the black.
Ya, It sucks that our rear seats dont fold down.
Thanks everyone
They are 8inch all around. I havent had any rubbing issues yet. It handles better than I thought it would with these larger wheels. When I had these on the XR-7 the car felt totally different. Not so with this cougar.
car looks great.. but i think something is missing.. underhood pics :D
I now remember why I like the lines of my car so much. Looks great man.
Awesome and beautiful car. The chrome R's look really good on there too.