1967 Mercury Cougar XR7 - Project Green Kitty

[SeanP]

3/16 rod attempt was not successful. Managed to auger out a few more tiny pieces with the sneaky pete. Also tried cramming rope seal in, but it just fell apart and figured a mass of compressed loose fiber wasn't the seal I was looking for. So, I'm going to pull the engine.

[SeanP]

Ok. So, I'm going to try one more thing. I bought a coil of 9 gauge wire. I'm going to see if I can get anywhere with that. If not... THEN I'll pull the engine. I'm going to dig into it tomorrow. If that fails, I'll drain the coolant and start taking things out to prep for the extraction. I'm so excited.

[sly]

Good luck. Things like this are what keep me from actually being a classic car guy.

[SeanP]

Good luck. Things like this are what keep me from actually being a classic car guy.

It's a labour of love lol.

Update, the 9 gauge did not seem to work, so I'm going to start winging stuff out of the engine bay this week and into Saturday. Bought an engine stand and leveler for the extraction. If anyone in South Western Ontario has an engine hoist they wouldn't mind lending out, lemme know!

[jaywish]

Oh Darn,

Sorry the Sneaky Pete did not do it for you.

[SeanP]

Sneaky Pete was not the answer this time, sadly. Worth a shot though!

Have a couple of other projects I have to get out of the way before I can dive deep into the car again. Did not have the time to extract everything I wanted to last week. Driveshaft is off and lots of looking around seeing what needs to come off / be disconnected to remove the engine. Still debating on whether I drop the transmission before or after I pull the engine. Likely try to remove it all as a unit, since I don't have a lot of clearance to take it out by itself. If I had a hoist and a transmission jack I'd probably go that route just to make my life easier, but it is what it is!

[Tiggie]

Pulled and installed the engine and trans in the 68 as a single unit. No regrets! Good luck with your project.

[SeanP]

Pulled and installed the engine and trans in the 68 as a single unit. No regrets! Good luck with your project.

Good to know! Watched lots of videos of guys pulling both together so figure that is probably the best route. Likely makes getting the transmission on and off a whole bunch easier when it's out of the car!

[SeanP]

It's official. Going to go rebuild. Spoke with the machine shop yesterday and they're ready to go whenever I drop the motor off. Advised it would be a 6 week turnaround. Good enough for me to clean up some underneath stuff that the engine, transmission and exhaust was obstructing (minor surface rust on the floor that I'm just going to clean and paint... maybe address some of the pinholes with glazing putty).

I feel better now that I have a way forward and passing the engine off to the pros to look after for me is going to free up a lot of my time from having to bargain hunt and figure things out on my own. Plus the work will be done professionally and with a warranty. Peace of mind is a real thing after all. I know it takes more dough, but I think in this case it's well worth it and should improve the car's value too.

[DerekTheGreat]

I've had great luck with used engines, just recently the 351 my wife and I had dropped in our F-150. $350 USD, no blow-by and runs great. A warranty won't do any good if the shop goes belly up when you need it and "rebuilt" isn't a unilateral term. However, I understand if you're trying to keep you car numbers matching and all that. But if it was my rig, I'd probably go with a 351 EFI truck engine converted to Holley's Sniper EFI or some other equivalent.

[SeanP]

I've had great luck with used engines, just recently the 351 my wife and I had dropped in our F-150. $350 USD, no blow-by and runs great. A warranty won't do any good if the shop goes belly up when you need it and "rebuilt" isn't a unilateral term. However, I understand if you're trying to keep you car numbers matching and all that. But if it was my rig, I'd probably go with a 351 EFI truck engine converted to Holley's Sniper EFI or some other equivalent.

This is a fair point. Over here in Canadaland good used engines for a good price are hard to come by. Most of the pull-it-yourself places within a reasonable distance from me have been picked clean of good ol' V8s and everyone on Marketplace and Kijiji are asking crazy prices for used stuff.

And yes, the appeal of bringing that original engine back to life is pushing me along this path as well (plus the wife wants that too... which has a lot of sway!). The shop I'm going to use is well established and has a great reputation among family and friends who have used their services in the past. In fact a random guy I was sitting next to at my kids swimming lessons also happens to be in the hobby and had been a customer of theirs. Had nothing but good things to say. It's not a certainty, but nothing is in life and I feel comfortable with this move.

That being said, if there's an opportunity to do better for cheaper, I'll probably take it!

[SeanP]

Well the opportunity to do it better for cheaper revealed itself in a 1985 roller motor originally out of a 1985 Mustang GT. The outside was a little crusty after sitting around for at least a couple of decades, but due to being full of oil, the insides and underneath the intake and valve covers was mint! Gave it a degrease and will wire brush and paint the rest of the scabs away.

I bought a bunch of gear to convert over my v-belt accessories and ensure I have the appropriate flex plate for my C4. Also bought a new oil pan and a timing cover. Already had a new fuel pump. I'll replace the timing chain and seals/gaskets while I'm in there too.

I will be swapping over my edelbrock intake and new waterpump along with the OG ignition stuff, alternator and power steering pump. I bought a steel gear to replace the cast one on my distributor.

Been slowly prepping the car for the engine swap as well. I have the headers out. I also replaced the transmission filter so it should be good to go when everything gets back together. The transmission is coming out so I'm replacing the extension housing busing and end seal while it's out.

All in all I'm into it for about $1500 CAD.

Exciting times!

[Arquemann]

Are you running a mechanical fuel pump? If so, you might have a bit of a snag with the fuel pump eccentric with the HO cam.
In my case the original fuel pump eccentric wouldn't fit with the F4TE truck roller cam I got. I think the cam dowel pin might be a bit longer on newer cams, or they don't have recess at the of the dowel.

Isn't 1500 CAD nowadays like 37 Euros or smth like that? Good deal!

[DerekTheGreat]

Word. I'm all about the easy route. If anything and if you can spare the space, hold on to the original engine. If not, punt it down the road. Somebody else might want the date-code correct block for their car.

[sly]

Isn't 1500 CAD nowadays like 37 Euros or smth like that? Good deal!

Canada isn't that bad off... more like 957 EUR.