FREE Ford Cougar Track Project Build Thread

[RobCrezz]

TheLurker said:

RobCrezz said:

TheLurker said:

rsstman said:

TheLurker said:

BarnatosGhost said:

rsstman said:

dfen5 said:

Might be a daft question but as it's not exactly the typical track weapon - it's never going to be a Westfield or a 900kg 205, why bother stripping it all out? Drive it to the track in comfort, have some fun, drive it back again. Not like you'll be trying to set fastest lap or anything? Spend the time giving it a service, sorting the brakes/fluids/clutch and so on.

i get your point about driving to and from a track in comfort, but stripping the weight out is a massive free mod which makes it go faster, handle better, brake better and all the while being less punishing on brakes and tyres.

i would say it is the best mod you can make and all free, just time consuming.

80% of the weight you lose will be from over the rear wheels. I doubt it will improve the handling. Having done the same thing to a 325i it now feels like a hammer with all the weight at one end.

I am a little afraid of that happening, but the only way to tell is to do it I suppose. I could always mount the battery in the boot ect. to try and help weight distribution.

im sure doing it on a fwd car will have a much less drastic effect than taking the weight away from the driven wheels. it could even make the rear end a bit more playful and reduce the cars tendency to understeer so much.

Thats what I was thinking. I just dont want it to go too far the other way though (overstear). I have done a similar thing to a feild car before, and when the back end went (without being prompted) it was very difficult to catch, which is fine in a feild/farm yard but not so good on a track with other cars. But as said before, i'm going to try it and see how it feels. I dont think it will be too bad and I can always put stickier tyres on the back. There will still be a large amount of weight over the back from fuel tank ect.

Edited by TheLurker on Sunday 3rd January 18:27

When the weight is gone from the rear im sure there is lots you can do to adjust how the car behaves - adjustable ARBs, adjustable suspension etc.

I think its worth removing some weight - and you may be about to remove some from the front too (air con?)

I dont intend to touch the suspension at the moment, but have plans to in the future. I hope to remove the aircon if its not too difficult, but at least the compressor which must be a few Kg. Things like the head unit will come out and front speakers which will all help I suppose.

As for cheap mods, I wonder weather any bits from the Mondeo ST200 would fit(springs?), they are a similar platform arent they?

[TheLurker]

RobCrezz said:

TheLurker said:

RobCrezz said:

TheLurker said:

rsstman said:

TheLurker said:

BarnatosGhost said:

rsstman said:

dfen5 said:

Might be a daft question but as it's not exactly the typical track weapon - it's never going to be a Westfield or a 900kg 205, why bother stripping it all out? Drive it to the track in comfort, have some fun, drive it back again. Not like you'll be trying to set fastest lap or anything? Spend the time giving it a service, sorting the brakes/fluids/clutch and so on.

i get your point about driving to and from a track in comfort, but stripping the weight out is a massive free mod which makes it go faster, handle better, brake better and all the while being less punishing on brakes and tyres.

i would say it is the best mod you can make and all free, just time consuming.

80% of the weight you lose will be from over the rear wheels. I doubt it will improve the handling. Having done the same thing to a 325i it now feels like a hammer with all the weight at one end.

I am a little afraid of that happening, but the only way to tell is to do it I suppose. I could always mount the battery in the boot ect. to try and help weight distribution.

im sure doing it on a fwd car will have a much less drastic effect than taking the weight away from the driven wheels. it could even make the rear end a bit more playful and reduce the cars tendency to understeer so much.

Thats what I was thinking. I just dont want it to go too far the other way though (overstear). I have done a similar thing to a feild car before, and when the back end went (without being prompted) it was very difficult to catch, which is fine in a feild/farm yard but not so good on a track with other cars. But as said before, i'm going to try it and see how it feels. I dont think it will be too bad and I can always put stickier tyres on the back. There will still be a large amount of weight over the back from fuel tank ect.

Edited by TheLurker on Sunday 3rd January 18:27

When the weight is gone from the rear im sure there is lots you can do to adjust how the car behaves - adjustable ARBs, adjustable suspension etc.

I think its worth removing some weight - and you may be about to remove some from the front too (air con?)

I dont intend to touch the suspension at the moment, but have plans to in the future. I hope to remove the aircon if its not too difficult, but at least the compressor which must be a few Kg. Things like the head unit will come out and front speakers which will all help I suppose.

As for cheap mods, I wonder weather any bits from the Mondeo ST200 would fit(springs?), they are a similar platform arent they?

As far as I am aware, the chassie is the same with a different body shell. So yes, I hope to be able to get some cheap parts to add on. Just because I dont intend to touch the suspension doesnt mean I wont . I just dont have any plans to at the moment. However I will have a look and see what parts I can find

[pits]

Is the white car not an old bimma or volvo, judging by the scuttle panel vents and mirror,

[TheLurker]

pits said:

Is the white car not an old bimma or volvo, judging by the scuttle panel vents and mirror,

Sorry, no. I'll give you a clue. Its my grandmothers car, 's' reg, and small(ish).

[TheLurker]

Massive thanks to DickyC who has sent me a manual for the car. I was expecting an old batterd book with oil and greese stains, but it was brand new and in its wrapper! It turns out that he bought it specialy for me, not sure what to say to that, other than thank you for your outstanding generosity

First PH gives me a free car, then a free manual to work on it. Great place PH

[TheLurker]

Little update. I've had exams at uni recently, and have somehow managed to resist the urge to work on the car! Now finding myself with some spare time before I go back I have made a small start, nothing major as I still have a load of work to do, but a start none the less.

Remember the rust in the wheel well?



I decided that it would be a good place to start, so I ground all the rust out;



and then treated it with a rust convertor to ensure it wouldnt return, and give the primer better adeshion to the bare metal. Once cured it got a coat of filler primer to protect it untill I work out what to do with it next;



I also stripped all the lining out of the boot so it wouldnt get overspray on it and to check there wern't any other problems that I hadn't seen. It will all stay out for track use, but I labeld it all so I can easily put it back in if needed.

[TheLurker]

I also managed to pick up a second set of wheels cheaply, so I have somthing to play with. I dont have any decent pictures of the car so I used google images and had a quick scribble with a biro to see how it could look with some vinyl on it. This is what my considerable aristic ability produced;



Tate modern?

Luckily 4hero was able to do some photoshop wizardry and came up with this;



Which I think looks quite good

Anyone got any comments or ideas on how to make it better? (P.S. there will be a massive PH sticket on the boot )

Also painted the towing eye one evening when I was bored;



Hope to do some more substantial work this week if time permits. Hope this isnt too boring for you all, but thought I would try and keep this thread updated as I do each little bit.

[declasm]

Keep going, I'm really interested to see your skills and confidence grow as you do more and more to the car - every little bit helps, don't lose heart and keep up the good work!

[Allyc85]

Great to see someone doing something totally different! Really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out

[Spitfire2]

TheLurker said:

I dont intend to touch the suspension at the moment, but have plans to in the future. I hope to remove the aircon if its not too difficult, but at least the compressor which must be a few Kg. Things like the head unit will come out and front speakers which will all help I suppose.

You can buy a drive belt which can be fitted in place of the standard one if you remove the A/C compressor. I found this out a few years back when my Cougar's A/C clutch started playing up and making some "interesting" noises.

The A/C compressor is expensive to replace so might not be a bad idea to chuck it on Ebay if you do remove it.

Likewise if you are removing any interior bits you might find takers on Ebay as trim is apparently not easy to come by.

My Coug used to occasionally (i.e. annually) start driving like crap and it was down to the little box of tricks on the front of the engine (under the black cover) which opens up the 2nd set of valves/injectors when it passes about 3400rpm (if I remember right). Opening that up and lightly lubricating the gears (graphite spray or something) tended to have a wonderful effect on the responsiveness of the car when flooring it.

[TheLurker]

Spitfire2 said:

TheLurker said:

I dont intend to touch the suspension at the moment, but have plans to in the future. I hope to remove the aircon if its not too difficult, but at least the compressor which must be a few Kg. Things like the head unit will come out and front speakers which will all help I suppose.

You can buy a drive belt which can be fitted in place of the standard one if you remove the A/C compressor. I found this out a few years back when my Cougar's A/C clutch started playing up and making some "interesting" noises.

The A/C compressor is expensive to replace so might not be a bad idea to chuck it on Ebay if you do remove it.

Likewise if you are removing any interior bits you might find takers on Ebay as trim is apparently not easy to come by.

My Coug used to occasionally (i.e. annually) start driving like crap and it was down to the little box of tricks on the front of the engine (under the black cover) which opens up the 2nd set of valves/injectors when it passes about 3400rpm (if I remember right). Opening that up and lightly lubricating the gears (graphite spray or something) tended to have a wonderful effect on the responsiveness of the car when flooring it.

Thanks for the advice on the little black box. Thinking about it I've read that somewhere else aswell. Euro car parts do the serpentine belt for a few quid, so that will be a simple change, and yes, Ebay might be a good way of recouping some of the outlay!

I want to weigh the car standard and when its stripped so I can compare the weight, just out of interest.

Having done a lot of reaserch into the clutch change, I think I might have to admit defeat and get it done by my local independent. It seems like a big job, especialy for someone who has never done a clutch change before. I know the people at the garage well and have negotiated a deal, and works out only a few quid more expensive to have him do it than me to do it myself (lots of specilast tools required). Luckily my dads car needs a new clutch, so can practise on that instead

Thanks for all your comments

[RobCrezz]

Or just weigh the stuff that you remove, and then you know how much has been lost

[TheLurker]

I did think about doing that, but I wanted a comparison of the weight on each axle. Unfortunatley I am impatient, so will probably end up doing as you say

[JayPee]

I am not sure if the PPC £999 challenge is still running but maybe this would be ideal for that?

[TheLurker]

Not heard about that before, but just had a quick google. Sounds like it could be good fun!

[DickyC]

TheLurker said:

Massive thanks to DickyC who has sent me a manual for the car. I was expecting an old batterd book with oil and greese stains, but it was brand new and in its wrapper! It turns out that he bought it specialy for me, not sure what to say to that, other than thank you for your outstanding generosity

First PH gives me a free car, then a free manual to work on it. Great place PH

You're most welcome, Lurk. Sorry I didn't pick this thread up earlier I've only just tripped over it and if you mentioned it in your PM I missed it.

In the original thread it sounded as though your restoration of the car was going to be an inspirational PH cause and already it seems as if that's the case. I've had a lot of help with cars over the years and this was an opportunity to return the compliment.

Try and keep up the momentum. Some of my car epics faltered at big problems where I've just closed the garage door and not been able to go back for months. That's not the way to get the job done. If you find yourself flagging come back here for an enthusiasm injection. There's plenty of it out here, particularly if it's us with the enthusiasm and you getting your hands dirty.

[TheLurker]

DickyC said:

TheLurker said:

Massive thanks to DickyC who has sent me a manual for the car. I was expecting an old batterd book with oil and greese stains, but it was brand new and in its wrapper! It turns out that he bought it specialy for me, not sure what to say to that, other than thank you for your outstanding generosity

First PH gives me a free car, then a free manual to work on it. Great place PH

You're most welcome, Lurk. Sorry I didn't pick this thread up earlier I've only just tripped over it and if you mentioned it in your PM I missed it.

In the original thread it sounded as though your restoration of the car was going to be an inspirational PH cause and already it seems as if that's the case. I've had a lot of help with cars over the years and this was an opportunity to return the compliment.

Try and keep up the momentum. Some of my car epics faltered at big problems where I've just closed the garage door and not been able to go back for months. That's not the way to get the job done. If you find yourself flagging come back here for an enthusiasm injection. There's plenty of it out here, particularly if it's us with the enthusiasm and you getting your hands dirty.

Well, thanks again!

Unfortunatley I have a bit too much enthusiasm for the project. I have to try and ballence it out with Uni work, of which I have rather too much at the moment! The only minor problem is the car is about 40mins away, which does make it a bit difficult to pop out to do 5mins of tinkering on, but then I am very lucky to be able to have somewhere to store it, especialy under cover.

I will keep you all up to date!

[Decky_Q]

Take your socket set, screwdriver set, a heat gun and a scraper and get that interior and dash out asap, seats out and everything else, it doesnt take very long to remove all the bolted in bits and have a bare shell with one seat, steering wheel and clocks. Get the heater box out, and all the other tat thats not needed, then when you have that you can worry about painting towing eyes etc.

You need to prioritise your tasks and gutting it out and getting the clutch sorted should be top of your list, the clutch costs a few quid but the stripping is free so you can get on with this first if cash is tight.

Have you got a trailer?

[Malam]

Decky_Q said:

Take your socket set, screwdriver set, a heat gun and a scraper and get that interior and dash out asap, seats out and everything else, it doesnt take very long to remove all the bolted in bits and have a bare shell with one seat, steering wheel and clocks. Get the heater box out, and all the other tat thats not needed, then when you have that you can worry about painting towing eyes etc.

You need to prioritise your tasks and gutting it out and getting the clutch sorted should be top of your list, the clutch costs a few quid but the stripping is free so you can get on with this first if cash is tight.

Have you got a trailer?

+1

I'd be stripping everything out too, making it as light as possible. Remove the door cards, sound deadening- the lot. Cut out any excess, non-structural metal to save a bit more weight. Are the wheel arches lined with plastic? If so, remove and bin...

Electric windows? In the bin too..

Edited by Malam on Wednesday 20th January 10:31

[porka944s]

why does everyone rave about stripping out cars, its a romantic notion, making you think you're a racing driver! Stripping cars out is crap, they are too noisey, uncomfortable, cold, look st, rattly and no one wants to be with you in it. No one will ever have that car again and it'll be destined for the scrapper. For the one track day a year you'll do its not worth it. And for the towing eye? get the car drivable so you can ditch it in the gravel to need one.