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May 25, 2021 17:05:47 GMT
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Over the past couple of weeks I've got the front wings back on, and buffed them and the bonnet. Considering how scruffy the bonnet was to start with, I can live with this.  Things are happening on a number of fronts now. The front bumper is in the early stages of prep. It was too scruffy so will need a respray.  Even though the interior wasn't too bad I pulled out the seats and carpet for a good scrub. It didn't take much work to turn the carpet around.  The boot carpets and trim got pulled out for a clean too and with a quick wash there's a very solid boot floor..in a 21 year old Ford!  There were only 2 bits of annoying damage to the interior. The first was a scruffy area of the centre console where it looks like someone had superglued tool tray liner.  I was all set to mould a fibreglass tray but had a shot at rubbing and spraying some Halfords anthracite wheel paint. It works for me. You can see the gearknob needs a bit of dye. Also note the cassette I discovered this evening : Take That - Back for Good   The other damage is an area of the passenger seat where it seems a pool of water has damaged the surface of the leather. It's less conspicuous after this treatment of poundshop leather spray.  So now the interior is complete.  Remaining major jobs on the To-Do List : prep and paint front bumper; bleed brakes, deal with a sticky front caliper in the hope of clearing the ABS warning light; get a rear view mirror AND the bit that bonds to the windscreen. It seems the Cougar has the same 011083 mirror as the Jagaur X-Type which gives options; make a battery clamp bracket as my battery seems too tall?; final tidy of the sills and apply underseal. |
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I've had a few sessions of filling and rubbing, then on Friday had the local motor factor mix up 3 aerosol cans of Ford TU - Silver Frost Metallic. Yesterday was spraying day. I've not sprayed such a large and obviously visible area before so this was going to be a test. But that's what this project is about  2 cans of base-coat and 2 cans of lacquer and I'm happy with that!  Very happy with that! The colour's a great match. The lacquer is a bit satin in finish, but I'll leave it alone to next weekend for buffing. I even have a spare can of silver for attempting the marked portion of the rear bumper.   |
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Jun 23, 2021 17:26:54 GMT
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No piccies, but small updates : new aux. belt fitted so wheel arch liners, front lights, grilles and undertray fitted; new bee-sting aerial fitted (where did the original go???); the aftermarket wheels needed centre caps, but they're small at 50mm. After some digging, I ordered tube end caps which fit perfectly; the rear suspension got tightened up at which point I took a look at tidying the back bumper. I wasn't happy with partial repairs so the bumper is back off and got resprayed today. Also I fitted new ABS sensors on the front but the ABS light remained on. I poked around the internet and didn't find anything that fixed it. It occurred to me to try the car up the street to see how it drives and see if that did anything for the ABS. The light went out before I left the drive ! I guess it needed a few revolutions for the ABS to confirm it was happy. Nice. Big job off the list. The car drives nicely enough too. Definitely '90s barge but 18" wheels haven't destroyed the ride as it was probably a soft car to start with. Remaining jobs : I've a rear view mirror on the way but the windscreen doesn't have a lug bonded on so I'll have to get inventive; bleed the brakes again; the left side repeater isn't working so needs looked at. Also it looks like a bulb is out on the high level brake light. And fit the rear bumper and light back in. |
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Jun 24, 2021 15:43:31 GMT
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Bumper back on and leaving it for a few days before buffing.  After hunting for a mounting lug for the rear view mirror it was easy to make one from some scrap 4mm aluminium. There is ALWAYS a homebrew solution  NB the mirror is the same item as the 'standard' mirror for the Jaguar X-type. I find these sort of things interesting. |
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Nice work. Always kind of liked these cars.
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Rear bumper buffed, lights and mud-flaps refitted; new bulbs fitted to high level brake light; non-functioning side repeater traced to poor connection of the bulb in the holder i.e. easy fix with some emery. The MoT is booked for early next month, so I just had the brakes to bleed, which I've done but they're still spongy. Driving the car, there's a clonk from the back so something still isn't tight enough. Yesterday I realised the front wipers don't work at all. I did the usual checking of fuses, relays, connections but today opened the motor. The brushes and commutator were dry and oxidised-over. A rub down of the surfaces to make them shiny for good contact, a squirt of WD-40 to keep the brushes mobile and hey-presto working wipers. 8 years lack of use fixed. Cost of repair : zero pennies š I'm glad I dug into the bulkhead as there was a lot of leaf debris and a filthy cabin filter. I fitted a new filter this afternoon.  The brakes still need a revisit and I've also started to refurbish the headlights. Cloudy and yellow I'm wet'n'dry-ing them to remove the old coating then will lacquer. I've done this on the Elise headlights and it worked fine. |
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,191
Club RR Member Number: 170
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2000 V6 Ford Cougar comebackChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Jul 26, 2021 11:25:23 GMT
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It's nice to see a titivation of cars which once were not as cheap as they are now, yet still doing the job right. Given that this car is a close relative of mine, this has been bookmarked. Here's to the cars that time forgot . |
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Jul 26, 2021 18:13:28 GMT
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I've no before pics but you know how sad headlights look when they're yellow and swirly. I worked down from 400 grit to 2000 grit emery paper, aerosol lacquered them then buffed with compound head. It works for me.  Leading up to MOT, test drives showed some clonking from the rear, traced to ARB drop-links I hadn't tightened and the brakes being spongy. Despite repeated bleeding they improved but still didn't seem up to par to trouble the ABS. As prepared as I could be I took it to MOT yesterday (yes a Sunday in our N.I. inspection centres). They had the car for 30 minutes. I was getting worried as I saw other cars return and the testers telling owners of failing ball-joints and such. And there's me bringing a 21 year old car that's been off the road for 8 years, with various things that are borderline despite my best preparations. I imagined they were taking so long finding more paper for the printer for my fail list. Then  Funny how I regard the car in a new light now the authorities approve of it.  The plan now is to insure and tax for 1st August to experience it. |
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Jul 27, 2021 19:25:21 GMT
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Excellent. Well deserved pass I reckon as youāve done some classy repairs there.
Hope the car is grateful and rewards you with faithful service!
Nick
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend)
1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing)
1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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Aug 13, 2021 17:36:03 GMT
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Thanks, Nick. I've had the wheel alignment done and used the car regularly on my short commute the past couple of weeks, so I've maybe added 30 miles The brakes are gaining some bite as the pad and disc surfaces clean up. There's a slightly annoying squeal at times that sounds like the auxiliary belt or a dry bearing on something it drives. Apart from that it drives OK and doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart Even the air-con works! Tomorrow, it celebrates 21 years since it was registered, so some birthday photos.     |
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Aug 13, 2021 18:10:32 GMT
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Nice cougar, the wheels look really good. I think the big let down on the interior is the steering wheel, fecking awful choice from Ford.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,191
Club RR Member Number: 170
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2000 V6 Ford Cougar comebackChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Aug 14, 2021 14:08:00 GMT
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Great work on the pass and the titivation.
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Sept 26, 2021 16:17:05 GMT
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It's been about a month and I'm happy to report the car's been grand in light usage, with only 3 niggles : 1. The rear view mirror was wobbling and drooping. The adhesive pads I got were sticky but the foam in the middle was pants. I reverted to proper activated mesh stuff. Job done. 2. The Cougar has a known habit of moosing/moaning/owling from cold. It's a strange air resonance thing in the induction system. Most internet discussion points the finger at the tube between the intake and the IACV. That's the wiggly tube balanced on top of the engine in this pic. By chance, from a job lot of old VW stuff I found a hose that I encouraged to snake around the master cylinder and servo. Part number 8D0819373H, a coolant hose for a late 90's Audi A4/VW Passat. No moosing since. Tick.  3. There was a squeak/squeal noise at about 1250rpm. I was sure it was a slipping aux. belt. It turned out to be the splash shield on the front silencer that had split from welds on one side. The fractured pieces vibrated at their resonant frequency. Some tack welding and that one is sorted too. |
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Sept 26, 2021 17:27:30 GMT
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Fantastic resurrection. Looks really smart now after all you've done.
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1968 Mini MkII, 1968 VW T1, 1967 VW T1, 1974 VW T1, 1974 VW T1 1303, 1975 Mini 1000 auto, 1979 Chevette, 1981 Cortina, 1978 Mini 1000 1981 Mini City, 1981 Mini van, 1974 Mini Clubman, 1982 Metro City, 1987 Escort, 1989 Lancia Y10, 1989 Cavalier, 1990 Sierra, 1990 Renault 19, 1993 Nova, 1990 Citroen BX, 1994 Ford Scorpio, 1990 Renault Clio, 2004 Citroen C3, 2006 Citroen C2, 2004 Citroen C4, 2013 Citroen DS5. 2017 DS3 130 Plenty of other scrappers!
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spacekadett
Part of things
F*cking take that Hans Brrix!!
Posts: 817
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Sept 29, 2021 6:30:24 GMT
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It's been about a month and I'm happy to report the car's been grand in light usage, with only 3 niggles : 1. The rear view mirror was wobbling and drooping. The adhesive pads I got were sticky but the foam in the middle was pants. I reverted to proper activated mesh stuff. Job done. 2. The Cougar has a known habit of moosing/moaning/owling from cold. It's a strange air resonance thing in the induction system. Most internet discussion points the finger at the tube between the intake and the IACV. That's the wiggly tube balanced on top of the engine in this pic. By chance, from a job lot of old VW stuff I found a hose that I encouraged to snake around the master cylinder and servo. Part number 8D0819373H, a coolant hose for a late 90's Audi A4/VW Passat. No moosing since. Tick. 3. There was a squeak/squeal noise at about 1250rpm. I was sure it was a slipping aux. belt. It turned out to be the splash shield on the front silencer that had split from welds on one side. The fractured pieces vibrated at their resonant frequency. Some tack welding and that one is sorted too. I remember the moose call from my old mk2 mondeo, which was a Si V6 with the same 2.5 as your cougar. Never got round to looking at it as by the time Iād get the bonnet open it would have stopped š Well done on a quality resurrection š |
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Mechanic's rule #1... If the car works, anything left on the floor after you finished wasn't needed in the first place  |
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mrbig
Part of things
Semi-professional Procrastinator
Posts: 461
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Sept 29, 2021 7:43:47 GMT
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Lovely work. This is yet another one of those cars that I largely ignored when they were current and now look at them and think "actually, they were really nice". Maybe because our vehicle parc in the UK is just full of Chelsea tractors and leased BMWs/mercs?
Anyway, looks like you have really done it justice and it will live on for a long time to come. I had a mk3 mondeo with that engine, smooth as you like but would not do 30mpg no matter how hard I tried. When I replaced it with an ST220 with the 3.0 version, I actually got better fuel economy, go figure!!
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1969 German Look Beetle - in progress
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Nov 11, 2021 18:13:32 GMT
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And it's gone!  A serious Ford nut came to view it this morning, did the deal, and had it collected this evening. It's always a bit sad seeing a project car go after having invested care into it. I enjoy getting to know a car in the garage and I've been able to experience another oddball. "You don't see many of those now" has been the catchphrase. Away she goes and her place in the carport has already been taken by something cool and not-yet-retro-enough for here. That'll not stop me browsing for some cheap fun over the winter |
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