Traction and handling improvements

A new bigger swaybar in front 1" and a 3/4" in the rear, new shocks rear plus new poly bushings to the leafs. In the front i put 620lbs colis and new mounting seats, shocks already changed.
Also going to do the Shelby drop and put reinforcement plates to the lower control arms and lower outer part of shock towers. A bump steer kit going in also right now.
This winter im going to build my own sub frame, x frame and traction bars.
Also a homemade rack and pinion kit going to be installed.
A monte carlo bar going to be assembled, the reinforced export brace is already there.
New motor mounts is ordered and going to be changed soon.
Relocate the battery to the rear is also planned.

Some of the new parts:

I have 351C-4V Closed Chambers heads!

My motor aint the original so i did some investigation of what motor i really have.
The heads have #4 on the left corner so i did know that it was 4V-heads but not if it was open or closed chambers.

I started to meassure the deck height to asure me about that it is a Cevelamd and not a 351M or 400.

Meassured several times and got 23,4 cm/9.2" each time. :)

Took pictures of the backside of the motor and found a chassi number for the car the motor was originally in OF....

Then i tried to see what casting number it was behind the starter, could only read DOAE,,,,

Pulled the valve covers to see the date code 9J9! :) :)

9J9 means 1969 sept 9:th, and is so called closed Chambers or Quench Heads.
Compression ratio is 11.0:1.

Some minor things done to the Cat.

Installed the Ignitor, istalled it by the book behind instrument cluster before the rpm gauge.
Swapped the spark wirings and spark plugs. Also the Rallye Clock got a new lens.
Fixed my non functioning instrument cluster light, thought it was the switch, but it was bad connection at the fuse.
The fuse didnt move i had to break it and replace it, also cleaned all the bulb connections.
Installed a new speedo wire, the old one was melted to the exhaust.

Electric headlight door conversion, Mercury Cougar XR7 -70

A pretty easy conversion that costs about $90 to do, not more.
I bought a used Mazda Miata headlight door actuator from a scrapyard for about $70.
A adjustable rod i stainless steel for about $11.
A relay for $5. Wiring, bolts, fuse and a small piece of sheet metal i had in my garage.

Read more here, instructions how to: http://kvicksilverpuman.blogspot.se/p/how-to.html

The Joker.

Did you know that the Hit song from 1973 "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band was written sitting on the hood of a Mercury Cougar?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvvC_oBSU7Q&playnext=1&list=PL89C131A61D780197&feature=results_video

My reflections about,,,,

Sometimes i think about this Cat. Its a true low mile car, its obvious when you take a look at the under carriage. No dents or rust, everything is in place etc.
On the other hand the motor, trans and interior is swapped. What i think happened is that someone somewhere needed/stole the motor etc. to install in maybe a Mustang. A low mile motor everyone wants.

Probably this happened in the early eighties and maybe the Cat  wasnt much worth. Later someone bougth the car w.o. motor and acquired a motor and transm. from somewhere, it happened to be a 351C-4V and a Hurst-Toploader.
The motor got a overhaul 1986, i have a thick bundle of recepies of that. That person was very eager to get it right i believe. Everything is replaced with the right parts. Probably was the white interior also gone or in someway not ok. A black interior was installed.

The car has also somwhere down the line got a respray, looked like a low budget paint. Probably caused by a minor parking accident or just that the owner wanted a red car.

One other thing that proves that this is a low mile car is that the plastic lenses in the instrument clusters have no detoriation.

The "California Highway Patrol" inspection 1974 decal at the windshield proves that this car havent been driven very much.

When i bought the car it had a bad repaired minor parking accident in front. Bad respray and bad alingnment of the left front end panels.

When i heard of this car it was already half way by ship over here to Sweden. The Swedish contact in CA did a overhaul of the carb, swapped the carpet and gas tank. Also the conv. top was replaced.
The top had been folded down in  a garage for about 20 y. and couldnt be saved.

Unfornately they did installed a black top instead of a white as original.

Im very happy with the Cat and it runs strong, handles well, some parts had giving up during the few miles i have driven it. The power steering cylinder, master brake cylinder, thing that easily breaks when a car sits for a long time.

What ive done to the car is a respray to original color, swapped all rubber and bushings, a new set of wheels and tires. Some minor things is still to be refurbished or replaced, but nothing is really bad.

Some fun, Tried  my "XR7" lid emblem and a "Hurst Equipped" emblem temporary to see how it looked.
Havent decided yet how to do with the hurst logo. What do you think?

Nothing is really happening right now due to the season, winter, cold and alot of snow.

The motor parts

2 pics of the motor parts, it will be fun to put it together soon.

Shipment from Summit Racing

I got 2 boxes from Summit with parts to overhaul our motors.
Not what you want to see, the box was broken and something was leaking out from it.

Luckily nothing was missing or destroyed exept a small package of grease.