bnickel
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Posts posted by bnickel
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pretty cool to see how far you were carrying the front tire. it still looks to me like the car is hitting the limit of the shock on the top. also definitely looks it might could use some more air pressure in the tires too, sometimes going the other way with air pressure actually works better, so maybe instead of going down from 20 psi, try going up. sounds counterintuitive I know, but a lot of guys get better results with more air pressure. it's a definite balancing act between suspension, tire pressure, launch rpm and clutch release to get a car to go down the car right and hook up well.
as side note, I'd bet if had marked the slicks on that run you'd see that the tire was spinning some on the rim too. you may need to try some rim screws as well... maybe.
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different cars like different things, so yeah try the rears set softer, all you can gain is information......might even help settle the rear down a bit quicker
Still though, I'm pretty sure the rears for sure are hitting full extension right out of the hole, I think that's what that bounce was all about right off the line. The Calvert Shocks were formerly Rancho truck shocks and I believe they have more extension so they shouldn't hit the stops as quickly.
I've seen vids of Clavert's old 68.5 CJ car leaving the line and the back came up pretty high like yours but then settled down really quick and basically just squirted off the line, pretty damn cool to watch. I wasn't able to find any of those old vids online but I didn't spend a whole bunch of time looking either
BTW, most drag shocks are 90/10 in the front and 50/50 in the rear, I'm thinking your rears set at firm are more 30/70....just FYI
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Look like you may have the shocks set too firm. Start out on the softest setting and go from there. I remember you trimming your cal-tracs bar front mounts I wonder if that effected anything by doing that? probably didn't but still something to think about. I'd try the shocks on full soft and do a few practice launches on the street near home just to see how it feels.
I do know that if you have adjustable shocks in the front those should definitely be set full soft to help with weight transfer to the rear.
I wouldn't bother much with any engine tuning unless you have a major bog or something, at least for now. work on getting the suspension working right first, then move on engine tuning, to tweak the combo just right.
also you are getting so much separation on the launch I wonder if your shocks aren't hitting the end of their travel and causing a binding situation or something. I'm not talking about the springs binding but the shocks themselves. most of those Koni's are designed more road course racing and not drag racing so much, although they do make a drag race specific shock for the Mustangs.
a set of the Calvert 9 ways for the back might be a wise investment if you're going to be doing much drag racing on or off the dragstrip.....
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you should actually probably run a taller front tire for the drags, you get more rollout before the tire breaks the light which should give you a bit better 60' time and help with the reaction times a bit as well, basically you can leave a bit earlier without red-lighting.
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I really love how stock the car looks.....a true sleeper if I ever saw one. :ninja::yawn::sleep1::nuke:
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You know that get's my vote!!!! BTW B, did you finally sell the GT?not yet, got a couple small rust holes that have come back, one in the door and at the joint of the rocker panel/quarter panel right behind the passenger door and the trans is still not shifting exactly right, delayed upshifts, so I have to get those issues fixed first. I also bought new chrome for the original quarter ornaments and I'm gonna put those back on instead the Shelby scoops, which were installed incorrectly at the body shop so now they're warped to hell because of it. I also got a killer deal from Discount tire on a new set of Cooper Cobra tires, size 215/70-14.....$215.00 for all 4, or $57.00 per tire plus tax, they are normally like $85 a tire or more even from Discount. I don't know if they were clearance-ing them out or what but it will be getting the original GT wheels put back on it too and the buyer will get a choice of the Edelbrock 454's or the GT's or both for extra money.
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well I'm collecting lot's of "Day Two" style parts for the 69 Cougar, including the Ford Muscle Parts intake and matching Ford numbered Holley carb, I'm adding some chrome "Power by Ford" stamped steel valve covers just like what you could get from Honest Charley's, Summit and Gratiot Auto supply back in the day and I've also got several different ignition options to choose from including an NOS Stinger ignition, an NOS Accel dual point, Super Coil and Ignition Amplifier setup and a Mallory Double Life dual point with Volt-Master Coil and Super CD ignition box. I've also got a vintage Hone-O-Drive overdrive an FIV Secura steering wheel and I'm currently looking for a cheap set of vintage American Racing 200S "Daisy" wheels.
I'm thinking of doing a mild vintage street machine style paint job too, in Winter Blue with a Pearl white top and some kind of vintage style graphics on the sail panels like maybe some candy blue and heavy flake flames or something with an Eliminator style scoop and a hood tach.
My vote is old school all the way!!!!!!!! I think you should do the headers with a flat white ceramic coating too to really pull off that old school vibe. :clap:
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i have one of those in the stang and a leather wrapped one for the cougar too. both of mine have different horn buttons though
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i'm going to have the same problem with my 351w using the C90X Ford muscle parts intake and the GT40-X aluminum heads I plan on using. My plan is to weld the bolt holes up and then drill and tap for a very short, probably 1/4" long bolt to match the rest of the intake bolts.
that's just how I plan on resolving the situation, I'm curious to see what you guys come up with as well
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I am interested in why you think lowering the fuel pressure helps fuel mileage.I don't that it was a major help or if it even helped at all, I'm just saying that's the way the car was set up at that time. the carb should only use as much as gas as the engine is pulling through it. I can only say that it did seem to help some.
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I can put them in a box and get a rough cost for you if you like?Give me your address and zip. How about $50 for all carbs in the pictures plus shipping.? I don't think a couple of those have had fuel in them. Note the one still has the idle mixture limiters on it.
There are a few small pieces missing from a couple but you can certainly build i'd say 3 out of the 4 for sure.
Let me know if i can help....regards....john
I might take you up on that offer if no one else does, those carbs have a lot of good parts I could use and I actually need a decent 2v carb for the stock 351 2v in my 69 cougar right now
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with the old 351w 4v I had in the stang I was able to get 26mpg on the highway from Lubbock to Austin and 24 on the return trip and this was with 275/50-15 tires out back 10.5-11" wide tread and right at 26" tall on an 8" rim. the motor was fresh and had stock replacement flat tops, .030 over bore, edelbrock performer, carter 600 AFB, Mallory unilite conversion in the stock dizzy, stock replacement cam from Sealed Power with like .440 lift and 270 adv. duration that was advanced 4 degrees. stock exhaust manifolds into 2-1/4" pipes with turbo muffs. I also used one of the old Purolator Pro-Fuel adjustable fuel pressure regulators adjusted down to around 2.5-3 psi for economy. initial timing was set at around 10-12 degrees and the vacuum advance was hooked up to ported vacuum. this was with 3.25 gears in the 9" rear and the speedo was accurate within about 2 mph at 60.
the key here was the mild cam advanced 4 degrees, the high compression which should have been close to the factory 10.7:1 rating, the AFB and the low fuel pressure along with the rear gears. my best friend also made the same trip in his mid 90's dodge Dakota 4x4 with the v6 and he kept having to stop for gas and I didn't have to stop nearly as much. in fact I have made this exact same trip from Lubbock to Austin and/or back at least 150-200 times over the last 25 or so years and that was the only trip where I only had to stop for gas once and that was only because I wasn't sure if 1/4 tank would make it all the way from Brady to Austin and it was the middle of the night on Sunday so which meant that most of the gas stations in the next 2 or 3 tiny towns would be closed.
the current engine with about 9:1 compression, a big lumpy speed-pro cam, hedman shorty headers with 2.5 exhaust, 625 road demon carb and the same 3.25 gears but with 245/40-17's that measure about 24" tall gets about 6 mpg in town and maybe 10 on the highway.
my next engine that I build is going in the cougar and will have Ford Racing GT-40x "turbo swirl" aluminum heads, around 10:1 compression, a mild roller cam and 1.7 Cobra roller rockers, fully curved distributor with an NOS Stinger ignition system with adjustable vacuum advance and an NOS Accel Super Stock coil that looks almost exactly like a stock yellow top coil, functional ram air and an NOS electronic adjustable Holley carb kit on either a 470 or 600 cfm Autolite/Holley carb or a 1.19 venture Autolite 4100 along with my vintage Hone-O-Drive unit and either 3.25 or 3.70 gears with 215/65-15 tires on 15x7 wheels. I'm expecting that it should get between 24-28 MPG on the highway and around 16-20 in town depending on what gears I end up using. the 3.70's would actually be better around town for short trips and the advantage of the Hone-O-Drive is that I can leave it engaged in Overdrive all the time if I want and it will overdrive all 3 gears not just 1:1 3rd which is pretty darn cool.
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wow, nice progress on your car. BTW I want that Cougar flag in the garage....LOL
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interested in a console, don't need a complete one, just the base I think I have everything else, oh I'll probably need the metal brackets for the base as well. you can email pics to bnickel4 at suddenlink dot net
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that sure looks like a brake hose and not the axle vent....just saying
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there is also an aftermarket rear bar, Addco or someone makes it, it is a larger diameter sway bar that uses the factory mounts. It's like a 7/8" rear bar instead of the spindly 1/2" or 5/8" factory rear bars.
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That cleaned up real nice, a little different than the typical Grant. Did the center polish up or did you have to paint it? What diameter is it? What does the horn button look like? I wonder if it was from a Cobra or something, I don't recall wheels that nice in the II period.hey Pak, Ford called these the Sport wheel. I have the exact same wheel in my car just with a different horn button. the horn button in my car came from an 81-82-ish stang and has the red, white and blue stripes as the entire backgraound with the running pony in the center. I also have an original leather wrapped one from a mid 70's cougar XR7. those wheels came in nearly all of the ford product line from about 73 or 74 until around 83 or so. most commonly found in mustang II's (Cobras would typically have a leather wrapped version), mavericks and pintos (typically found in the Stallion special editions and some grabbers), some full size Fords and Mercs, Granandas and Monarchs (if you can believe it) and and trucks and Broncos. you have to be careful when you find them because some of the 80's versions DO NOT have the horn contacts on the back, those were mostly found in Fox body cars that had the horn button on the turn signal stalk.
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I have never heard of power brakes or disc brakes as being any part of a package. I think, like power steering and radios, they were stand alone options.well, disc brakes were part of the GT package until at least 67 for sure and I'm pretty sure they were part of the GT package for 68 and 69 as well. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. I'm fairly sure of it.
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Are you saying you think this is the case for GT's? Front drums were standard on the Mach 1. I think the M-code GT my buddy has came with discs. My M-code Mach came with drums.Gt's. I have seen some GT's (only a very few though and only online) that had drums but I think they must have been some sort of delete option or something, either that or they were not real GT's
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looking good, can't wait to see it all done. you should get a catalog from http://www.dearbornclassics.com/ they have a ton of torino parts....they even have rack and pinion conversion kits for them too. FYI in case you didn't already know about these guys. it's true that finding torino/ranchero parts isn't as easy as finding stang parts but there are more options than most people think and as you've already found out a lot of the stuff is the same as mustang/cougar parts in fact you should also check out http://www2.cougarpartscatalog.com/ as alot of cougar parts are the same as torino....door handles for instance are the same for some torinos and cougars and if you need hideaway headlight parts for a torino the a lot of the cougar stuff will interchange as well
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no room to do it that way in either a Stang or a Cougar since the interior 1/4's are basically right up against the inside of the body. If a standard motor won't fit, even one of the newer small ones, then the only options are pancake motors or cable drive motors
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I will see if I can dig what I had done out of the box in the basement, but its pretty simple to describe. Basically I removed the rivets that hold the window crank to the regulator and removed the crank and gear. From there it got to the point that I needed to remove my windows and internals from my car to get the power window motor clocked to miss my door speakers and window components. I never got the chance to remove the window, so that was as far as I got. I bought a pair of used Fox body window motors, but I'm sure there are many others that are more powerful that would work. Once you get the clocking of the motor, mark holes in the regulator or make some brackets to bolt to the regulator and you should be golden. My original plan was to make it all bolt in and no welding, so any DIY person could do the mod. The brackets would be U-shaped for the three bolt holes.If you don't have door speakers than you can clock the motors to point mostly down
Here are some pics of a cougar regulator (nothing special really from the mustang regulator except for missing window crank/gear and three bolt holes.
No clue on the quarter windows, that why I own fastbacks :)
70 cougar power window regulators:
Similar to cougar (principle I'm trying to get across)
70 mustang regulator:
ok, I think I see what you're saying now. If I can't figure out the rear windows then I do have one of those old universal power kits that uses a cable similar to like a speedo cable that I can use there but I don't want mess with those on the front windows really
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Modifying the stock window regulators to hold a power window motor really isn't all that difficult and am amazed no one that I've seen has tried it. That is essentially what a cougar setup is. I started the mod but had a kid, so that project got put on the backburner for a little while.well man, why don't you post up some pics of what you've got done so we can check it out?...... My question has always been how to make the rear 1/4 windows (on a coupe or vert) work without the weird-ass pancake motors, though.
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well being as I have a 69 Cougar and am really wanting to add power windows to it I would be very interested but at the moment I have no cash to spare. are there any parts you are really needing for your car, if I have something you need maybe we could work a trade?
69 mach 408w build
in Project Progress Forum
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good job on the screws!!! when I do the cougar I'm gonna have a set of 15" cougar rally's made that look stock and are totally painted so I can use trim rings and I'll hide some rim screw under trim rings. :sleep1::yes:
also looking for a set of old school Gabriel striders and some AR 200s daisy wheels too, if anyone know of someone stashing a set of either....
If I can't find a set of daisy mags for it I may just end up getting a set of the new US Indy slot mags instead, would rather have the daisy's though
I just bought an NOS vintage set of Air Lift helper bags for the rear and I already have an NOS air shock compressor with dash controller so I can run the setup from the driver seat.:thumbup1: