bnickel

haha, that's kinda funny because i have a mild astigmatism myself but my vision would actually be better than 20/20 otherwise though.....still it sucks to be able to almost read something far away but the letters just turn blurry when you try to focus on them. I was able to pass my last drivers test eye exam without my glasses though. I had to squint and open my eyes real wide and squint again and I was able to read enough of them to pass the test....YAY!!!!!! first time in my entire life that I haven't had the glasses restriction on my license.... not that I ever actually wore them when I was driving anyway :scared:

well I'm not quite that vintage but i've got an older Alpine cassette unit that I bought in the late 80's or early 90's that I'm debating using in the cougar and I've got a similar vintage JVC unit in the stang right now. The only reason I'm debating using the Alpine is because it has a dead channel, right rear IIRC, and I'm not sure where I can get it fixed, I would also like to see if it's possible to add pre-amp outputs and an aux. input to it as well. if i can't add the RCAs then I do have the option of running of the Coustic 2 channel amp I bought at the same time as the Alpine and I also have a 2 channel Alpine that I've acquired in the last few years that I could use as well but I'd still have to get the deck repaired at any rate. I plan on running a pair 4x6 components in the doors, 6x9's in the deck, 3.5's in the stock dash location, possibly some kick panel speakers of some sort and an 8" or 10" sub in the trunk or some under seat subs under the back seat and a CD changer in the trunk as well. All of these speakers is I want to use is the main reason I want to see if RCA's can be added to the Alpine since it would make it much easier to run 1 or maybe 2 amps to power them all using a crossover network or whatever. I'm kind of an audiophile but not a serious one, I just like what I like and I like it loud and undistorted is all. I went to school to be a sound engineer since I wanted to work in a recording studio but ran out of money and wasn't able to finish school. I learned a ton about sound while I was there though and I found out I'm one of those weird people who can hear above the normal range of a CD (or any digital recording), or at least I was back then anyway so when I hear a bad sounding car stereo it really drives me crazy and makes me want to kill people...:gun_bandana:...LOL

Sweet!!! yeah just let me know

so what are you going to do with the Pro-Motorsports bump steer kit? I only ask because if you want to sell it I might like to buy it from you, if the price is right.

sweet!!!! somebody's been watching to much PowerBlock on saturday mornings....LOL. Ive always wanted to build a 55 Chevy gasser myself, I used to have an old Monogram model of a black 55 gasser with flames that I built as a kid and I'd love to build an exact replica of that car in 1:1 scale

i drilled some small holes in the frame and installed the staples and folded them over with pliers. several restorers have noticed that on my car and of the all things strange things to get compliments for that has to be one of them.

actually that's the one I plan on using.....sorry

for mostly street driving i'd use the 650 VS carb, if you'll spend more time at the drags then go with the 750 MS double pumper.

I'm not entirely sure i'm going to use the MSD box as I've also got an NOS, in the box, Stinger ignition system with dizzy and coil plus several different Stinger boxes as well. All tolled I've got 2 Magna-Pulse boxes (the NOS system is one the MagnaPulse units), 2 regular Stinger boxes, 1 Stinger I box and 1 Stinger S-4 box plus two extra dizzy conversions, one complete and one missing the correct reluctor and some spare pick-ups and stuff. I also have a Mallory Unilite conversion, an Accel points eliminator (same as a Unilite conversion) and a Mallory Super Spark CD box with the correct wiring harness for the Unilite that has a built in resistor or something, they won't work together without the harness. I have an old Borg-Warner electronic conversion that basically uses a Unilite type LED sensor and a Chrysler electronic module. I have an old Accel electronic conversion that uses the points as a trigger, a Mr Gasket Gold Spark box uses the points as a trigger, and an old Motorcraft conversion that is basically the same Motorola system that AMC, Jeep and IHC used until they switched to the Duraspark style system plus a couple other old outdated systems and some various Duraspark replacement stuff, and even some points related stuff including an NOS in the box Accel Blueprint series points dizzy and an old NOS in the box Accel Super Stock coil that looks almost identical to the stock yellow top Autolite coil but with a tan top, however it has the offset coil wire terminal and the side by side primary terminals just like a yellow top Autolite. I recently sold all of my Autolite transistor ignition stuff, including 2 NOS coils and 4 NOS transistor modules and some NOS and used wiring harnesses and other pieces and parts for the system. Also sold an old Allison electronic conversion unit which is the same system as the current Crane XR-700 system and also an old Mallory optical trigger system that used the Chrysler box and was basically the forerunner of the Unilite system. For some reason strange reason I have and odd affinity for old electronic ignition conversion systems and for the life of me I can not figure out why..... I have the same weird jones for carburetors too, I've got a 59 Autolite 4100 1.19 venturi size, the big '58/'59 only job, a couple of 1.12 4100's one 64 model and one 65 model, a D0PF-9510-U 450 Holley and a C9OF-9510-R 600 Holley which was the Ford Muscle Parts carb for the 351 that goes with my Muscle parts intake. I've also got the 625 Road Demon that's on the stang, a 600 carter that had one of the old foam air cleaners melt all over it, and a bunch of 2 barrel Autolites and a junk Holley 4010 for parts. I'm currently on the lookout for one of the old Holley Mile Dial systems (thats' the electronic Holley kit) and a Holley mileage computer as well, if anyone knows of one or the other for cheap..hint...hint.:smile:

Hey Larry, out of curiosity, which Duraspark box are you running? is it a blue grommet box or something else. I only ask because I read somewhere that only the Duraspark I (NOT the DS II) boxes with the red or white grommet (can't remember which at the moment) are capable of the start retard feature. That didn't sound right to me but I couldn't find anything to dispute it anywhere. Inquiring minds want to know..... I seem to remember you saying once that you had the blue grommet box, but I am unsure and would like to double check. As an aside to this conversation I just scored one olf the old MSD/Blue Ribbon "Ping Control" cockpit adjustable Duraspark boxes, although without the adjuster knob and even though it says it's a direct replacement for the Ford box it has GM style weatherpack connectors, so I'll haveto change those out. Somehing else I found interesting is that Pertronix Second Strike CD box is capable of running in conjunction with the stock Drasapark ignition, as it only provides a second capacitive discharge spark AFTER the stock ignition fires, apparently it can also be used with other aftermarket systems as well, provided they are an inductive type system instead of another CD type system, so I could possibly use one with my old NOS in the box Stinger system from the 80's.....:devil2:

i think the coolest thing about doing the swap on a 9' is that Moser (or was it Strange?) already makes a conversion for it, i'm assuming for later model mustang retro-fit apps and the tone ring has the same number of teeth as the mopar piece so it's an relatively straight forward and simple swap for a 9"

hmmm, i'm not an electrician just going by the pertronix website. of course it doesn't say that it will workl the factory tach or that if you use it with the tach the tach won't read anymore......my apologies......:blushing:

the pertronix 2 and 3 both require a full 12 volts but they have a relay setup that allows you to use the resistor wire as a trigger thereby eliminating any worries as for as current draw. the problem with the factory tach, however, has always been that if it fails you're stuck unless you pull the dash apart and bypass it or do what Larry did and install a jumper wire so that if it does fail you won't have to pull the dash apart on the side of the road. Larry I completely understand about not wanting to work on the car right now...hell i don't even want to drive the mustang right now much less work on it or the cougar.....hell i don't even want to replace the ac blower switch on my DD town car because it's so hot, luckily the switch still works on everything but the high blower position so i do still have ac

Armond, glad to see you're finally getting started on the GT's resto!!!!!! it's kinda funny that it's a winter blue car because for the last few months i've been seriously considering painting the 69 cougar winter blue, of course since it's a factory two-tone car i'll have to paint the top white again but i think i'm gonna do it an a pearl white instead of wimbledon white. i've also been toying with the idea of doing some kind of panel paint work on the C-pillars, maybe some blue and silver flames or something to go with all the old school speed equipment i'm throwing at it....whadda ya think?

another benefit of the 3 wire conversion is that you can use the tach with any aftermarket ignition without having to use one of those tach adapters and it's a much more accurate tach than the factory piece. i believe it also reacts quicker than a factory piece too.

in the latest edition of Mopar Action October 2012 (was bored and browsing the magazine stand one day) i saw that they are working on a project adapting rear wheel ABS from some mid 90's dodge pickups and vans to muscle era project cars. for our old cars we really would only truly need just the rear wheel ABS system as it only keeps the rear wheels from locking and therefore maintaining directional control of the vehicle, whereas more often than not on these old car if you lock up the rear brakes the car will more than likely spin. if the front brake lock the car will continue to go straight ahead. the whole article made complete sense to me and probably the coolest part of it was the either Moser or Strange already makes a tone ring for the Ford 9" to use on late model mustangs where the 8.8 is swapped out for a 9". another cool thing was that the control unit is not made my mopar it's actually a kelsey hayes unit and it was marketed too basically all the OE manufacturers during the time, i guess only Mopar bought it though, so the system is basically a universal fit system already and it does NOT use a big ECU under the dash or the hood just a control valve only slightly larger than your stock brake proportioning valve. what's so cool about this system is that it's very, very simple, compact and basically already a universal fit system all you need is the tone ring for the 9" and a used control valve from a mid 90's dodge dakota or something. I'm definitely going to add this to my growing list of upgrades i want to do to the 69 cougar!!!

larry, this guy http://www.rccinnovations.com/index.php?show=menu-tach-all can retrofit your factory tach from a 2 wire unit to a 3 wire unit just like any aftermarket tach, and quite a bit more accurate as well. I know that the Tachman (or someone, one of the old time tach repair guys) recommends not to convert to a 3 wire unit but the cars reliabilty with the three wire tach is just so much better with the 3 wire tach to me it's absoultely a no-brainer. my old 70 cougar gave me fits with an intermittent ignition isure for about 6 months, it would just quit running all of a sudden and usually in the middle of nowhere between home, school or work which were anywhere from 30 miles to almost 60 miles apart from each other, about 120 mile round trip every day from home to school, to work and back home and i delivered pizzas at work with it too. finally figured out it was the tach going open intermittently for some reason, i actually had a spare that came with the car when i bought it and that finally fixed the problem but it cost me a lot of time and money before i finally figured it out since i'd replaced every single piece of the ignition system, the entire starting and charging systems including the battery and ignition switch, solenoid and voltage regulator and a good chunk of wiring as well before the "AH-HA" moment hit me. the funny thing is that the tach never acted funny even once, obviously it would quit working when the car died (or rather the other eay around) but that seemed like a perfectly normal thing for a tach to do when the engine quit running

i'm curious about this as well since i'm probably going to order my houndstooth material from SMS unless i decide to go with plain black and white houndstooth instead of the black and blue stuff, which i am considering along with going to the lighter medium blue (winter blue) instead of bright metallic blue (acapulco blue). i've been mulling over a lot of different stuff from my original plans a lot lately, mostly in the name of having a cooler (temp wise) car overall. i've even been considering white instead of black on the interior, including the black and white houndstooth but since everything in the cougar is already black ive decided to stick with it but still debating the houndstooth colors. my old 70 cougar had a factory black interior black and white houdstooth and i really liked it so that's probably what i'll go with on this one too.

i hear ya man, I have'nt really been able to do anything to the coug in a long while either, some little here and there kinda stuff, like my real wood veneer dash, that i still need to post pics of but that's about it really....

i hear ya man, I have'nt really been able to do anything to the coug in a long while either, some little here and there kinda stuff, like my real wood veneer dash, that i still need to post pics of but that's about it really....

actually i plan on using Freeze-12 it cools almost as good as R-12 and a butt load better than 134....at least in an R-12 system anyway. both the stang and my DD 86 town car are both using it now and it works great, costs only a little bit more than 134 but nowhere near as much as r-12. great compromise between the 2. it's mostly 134 anyway but has a mix of some other stuff in it probably propane or another combustible gas like that but i'm not real sure exactly what and i may be totally wrong on that even

actually i plan on using Freeze-12 it cools almost as good as R-12 and a butt load better than 134....at least in an R-12 system anyway. both the stang and my DD 86 town car are both using it now and it works great, costs only a little bit more than 134 but nowhere near as much as r-12. great compromise between the 2. it's mostly 134 anyway but has a mix of some other stuff in it probably propane or another combustible gas like that but i'm not real sure exactly what and i may be totally wrong on that even

so are you guys saying that the sanden compressor is more prone to throwing the belt than the york/tecumseh? i've been planning on doinf the sanden compressor swap on the cougar when the time comes because they don't eat up as much HP but if they have a problem throwing belts i may stick with the old style compressor. also, i was wondering if the sanden conversion makes much difference in how the AC cools the interior of these cars? the old york/tecumseh compressors work pretty good when eveything is set up right but can be a little overwhelmed when it's really hot outside at least mine on the stang seems to get that way in the summer anyway. i'm also planning on upgrading the condenser and evaperator core at the same time as well as lot's of sound deadener and insulation as well whether i use the sanden compressor or not

so are you guys saying that the sanden compressor is more prone to throwing the belt than the york/tecumseh? i've been planning on doinf the sanden compressor swap on the cougar when the time comes because they don't eat up as much HP but if they have a problem throwing belts i may stick with the old style compressor. also, i was wondering if the sanden conversion makes much difference in how the AC cools the interior of these cars? the old york/tecumseh compressors work pretty good when eveything is set up right but can be a little overwhelmed when it's really hot outside at least mine on the stang seems to get that way in the summer anyway. i'm also planning on upgrading the condenser and evaperator core at the same time as well as lot's of sound deadener and insulation as well whether i use the sanden compressor or not

hey Rich, when ya gonna post some new update pics? i haven't seen anything on your car for at least 2 years or more