Picked her up on saturday.
The good news:
She runs beautifully, shifts beautifully. NO RUST!!! (other than on the fender from the damage)
Rebuilt 5.0, forged internals, bored .030 over.
Rebuilt AOD
Polyurethane bushings
The guy gave me the original steering wheel and the original TRX rims.
The bad news:
Rear axle is bent. While the car is still drivable, I wouldn't say its very safe although it did manage to make the nearly 50 mile drive home without a hitch.
Looks like I'll be swapping the rear and with the time and money constraints I won't have her at Cat Jam. I might not even be able to go at all.
It's going to need a new rear bumper as this one is cracked and severely warped.
Also going to need a new driver’s side fender as the guy tried to do me a favor by hammering out the light crease his daughter put in it.
So far, I've swapped on a different set of wheels, given it a bath and repainted the door window trim.
Still have lots to do as the interior is filthy and under the hood needs a thorough scrubbing.
(http://img278.imageshack.us/img278/9884/a3yu.jpg)
(http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/6513/b5br.jpg)
(http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4199/c9bo.jpg)
Nice, very nice indeed.
I kinda liked the other wheels. Still looks sweet though. :)
throw on the trx rims for cat jam,...
Just throw in a plane jane 7.5 2.73 rear and drive it to cat jam. You are hardly able to spin the tires from a dead stop with a stock 302 and grippy tires.
If you're thinking about using TRX rims, I'd suggest putting them on for the show and then taking them off before you plan on driving any distance. As many have reported, those tires are dangerous in any adverse conditions, including rain.
Regarding the new purchase, yikes! Wow! Yipee! That's an awesome car and it reminds me slightly of my first Cougar, an '84. Nice find, indeed.
So the parents unhappy with you taking up those 4 parking spots?
Looks good Fred! I'm convinced my next cougar will be a 4 eyed. After I find a replacement for this tank.
Thanks guys!
Reguarding the TRX rims, I most likely won't be using them. I just thought it was cool that this car originally came with them. The tires are all flat and can't hold air. I was going to put them on for now but that plan failed.
These that I put on the car are just so I can move it around in the driveway. I have a lot of work to do before this car gets on the road permanently. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting a set of tires for the turbines I have once some more money comes in. Turbines, boring I know, but I like 'em.
About the black ones wheels that were on there. I'll be selling those. Two are bent, two are mint. They'll be seeing ebay in a couple weeks unless someone here wants them.
Well, somewhat yes, somewhat no. The Camaro peeking from behind the '88 is on ebay right now so it will hopefully be gone in a week or two. The Fairlane peeking from behind the '86 will remain as will my tib and the '88. So in theory, in about a week or two, I'll be taking up the same amount of spots as I was before I brought the '86 home. BUT instead of two non-running cars, there will be only one. So yes, I'm taking up 4 spots, but 3/4 will be on the road. The Fairlane will too hopefully no later than spring.
Very nice find!! Back in black and looks super clean.
Wow, man. That car reminds me of my first '86, which I miss every day:
(http://members.tccoa.com/cougarcragar/driveway86comp.jpg)
I love the way the '85-'86 Cougars look in black. That car has loads of potential.
Very nice find.
Why not just slide an axle in the rear? Its easy work.
Agreed - if it's only the axle shaft thats bent you could be on the road in less than an hour...
Okay, so maybe changing the axle is worth a shot.
It's something that somewhat intimidates me and I've heard some horror stories.
So what is involved?
From what I found I would need to...
Drain rear fluid and remove the cover, remove c clip and slide the axle out.
Is that it?
I'd appreciate any input since this is something new to me.
Drain rear...
take out the little bolt holding the center pin in...
pull out the s clip
remove drum
push axle shaft in to housing
remove c clip
remove axle
reverse
Cool.
Yeah, replacing an axle is pretty easy. Just be careful with the small bolt holding the pin in the diff. Hitting it with a little heat before helps. You don't want to snap that head off that bolt....
The bent axle might have damaged the axle seal, but those are also easy to swap out.
DO NOT remove the S-clip, it can stay
Remove the pan cover, and leave the car in nuetral. With the ass end in the air, and the wheel and drum off of the trouble side. Spin the driff untill you see a 5/16's bolt, once its where you can remove it, pop it in park, and remove the bolt. Pop the car back in nuetral, and rotate the rear to where the diff pin can slide out. Onces its out, press the axle inwards. What helps is giving the axle a wack or two with a hammer. Reach in there with a screwdriver and push the c-clip out, then slide the axle out.
Its easy work.
Nice :D . Can I have it? I have garage space for it;)
Okay, well I think I'm going to give this axle swap a try. I won't be able to get to it until sometime next week at the earliest.
Thanks everyone for your comments. I just wish it looked as good in person as it does in the pictures. :(
But it will look even better soon enough :evilgrin:
You should see if it has 10" brakes with no quad shocks. If its set up like that, then it is identical to my 86. Exept possibly stock color.
looks good!
i got a set of trx's withmy car and for the price of the tires they arent worth it to run them even just to a show IMO.
i liked the black rims better than the ten holes. they looked like they filled the wells better.
It doesn't have the quad shocks. I'll have to check the brake size.
Like I said the 10 holes are just so I can move the car in the driveway. Notice the T-bird center caps.... I won't drive the car this way. The tires on the 10 holes are bad but hold air and that's all I needed. When I put that car on the road, it will not have 10 holes.
Two of the black rims are bent and one of the tires is no longer holding air so I needed something to put on there so the car could move. I didn't want mismatched wheels on it so on went the 10 holes.
Believe it or not the black rims are 15in. just like the 10 holes. He just had 235/60 15's on there so they did fill the wells better.
how bout two blacks on back and the ten holes in the front? just thinking out loud but it might look good, better if the ten holes were black though. but you said you didnt want to mis match rims.
Yeah, you should have seen me bringing it home. I had the white turbines from the '88 on the back with the black rims still on the front. Talk about mis-matched.:hick:
I passed an '87-'88 TC in traffic who looked at me like :wtf:
I give people that look when I see them driving with mismatched wheels. That's nothing new;)