I finished the repair on the cowls today. I have a couple small areas beneath the rear seat that need to be replaced, so I'll do that next and then it's on to the rear quarter panels.
Bad Cat
Officially Bad Ass
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Cowl Repair And The Next Step
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Cougar Rust Repair 101
Well, my blogging assistant has been very busy so it's up to me to make an update.
As many of you know our shop has a guardian. She is a stray calico that we took in shortly after moving to our new shop location (a little over 5 years ago) and my kids named her "Rusty." While she has many others, I'll refrain from the more colorful ones, and let you know that in her honor my new project - a1967 Mercury Cougar- has appropriately adopted her current pseudonym, "Bad Cat."
Well, Bad Cat has some "rusty" issues as many of these late 60's pony cars have. Over the last month and a half I've replaced the floor pans and seat risers; repaired the the driver's side frame rail; replaced the driver's side torque box; installed a passenger side torque box( Ford did not originally have a passenger side torque box on the 67 Cougar or it's sister car the Mustang); and added frame rail ties. These ties are an add-on which connect the front frame rails to the rear frame rails which increases rigidity and strength.
Another problem with the design of these cars was the cowls. The cowls were basically how you got fresh air to the heater and the vents. They were prone to holding dirt and leaf litter (check the pics below ~ nothing like 40 year old nastiness). Dirt and leaf litter hold moisture and moisture causes rust. Once the cowls rusted through, the rain water ran down the dash and onto the floor pans. There it would soak into the carpet until it finally rotted through the floor pans. There are plenty of replacement parts available for Mustangs, but very few for Cougars, so it's been a challenge for me. The new cowl sections were not available but fortunately the platform is the as the Mustang so I was able to get most of the parts I needed, although they required some modification because the Cougar is 3 inches longer than the Mustang. For the cowls, however, I decided to move into the 21st century: I cut out the rust and welded over the openings. The new fresh air inlet will come from under the hood where I can filter the air coming in. I'll replace the old heater plenum with one of my own designs using ceramic heaters for the core. It's on the agenda after the rust repair is complete.
Meanwhile, enjoy some pics.....
Passenger torque box..
Front frame rail with new frame rail tie...
Driver's side torque box...
Driver's side outer kick panel...
Driver's side floor to firewall....
New driver's side floor pan....
Driver's side seat riser.....
Driver's side torque box...
Driver's side front frame rail repaired....
Driver's side frame rail rust cut out....
Old floor pans, what's left of them...
The Original Bad Cat keeping warm on Assistant's new coat....(Hence the name, Bad Cat)....
New floor pans.....
Cowls with 40 year old gunk...
Cowls welded over.....
I'll seal these with epoxy. It will give the rain water and dirt a nice channel to follow out of the car and to the ground.
As many of you know our shop has a guardian. She is a stray calico that we took in shortly after moving to our new shop location (a little over 5 years ago) and my kids named her "Rusty." While she has many others, I'll refrain from the more colorful ones, and let you know that in her honor my new project - a1967 Mercury Cougar- has appropriately adopted her current pseudonym, "Bad Cat."
Well, Bad Cat has some "rusty" issues as many of these late 60's pony cars have. Over the last month and a half I've replaced the floor pans and seat risers; repaired the the driver's side frame rail; replaced the driver's side torque box; installed a passenger side torque box( Ford did not originally have a passenger side torque box on the 67 Cougar or it's sister car the Mustang); and added frame rail ties. These ties are an add-on which connect the front frame rails to the rear frame rails which increases rigidity and strength.
Another problem with the design of these cars was the cowls. The cowls were basically how you got fresh air to the heater and the vents. They were prone to holding dirt and leaf litter (check the pics below ~ nothing like 40 year old nastiness). Dirt and leaf litter hold moisture and moisture causes rust. Once the cowls rusted through, the rain water ran down the dash and onto the floor pans. There it would soak into the carpet until it finally rotted through the floor pans. There are plenty of replacement parts available for Mustangs, but very few for Cougars, so it's been a challenge for me. The new cowl sections were not available but fortunately the platform is the as the Mustang so I was able to get most of the parts I needed, although they required some modification because the Cougar is 3 inches longer than the Mustang. For the cowls, however, I decided to move into the 21st century: I cut out the rust and welded over the openings. The new fresh air inlet will come from under the hood where I can filter the air coming in. I'll replace the old heater plenum with one of my own designs using ceramic heaters for the core. It's on the agenda after the rust repair is complete.
Meanwhile, enjoy some pics.....
Saturday, November 26, 2011
There's A New Kid In Town
After much deliberation The Handyman has decided to put The Orion on the backburner. Between the kids and the shop obligations, working only on Saturdays to build a car from the ground up was becoming a lofty goal.
While the Orion is still his number one, there is a new cat in town that Royce has his eye on these days...
This summer (2011) we opened our shop to our friend Bob, who has his own Electric project converting a TVR 280i. As Bob was getting closer and closer to finishing his car, R felt he was falling farther and farther from his own. There was no particular moment of clarity or change of mind, but one day Royce started scanning the ads for Rancheros because of a childhood attachment having to do with his dad. He came across an ad for a Cougar, and thought, "Man, that is a good-lookin' car. I forgot about those. And... (unlike the Ranchero), it has a backseat."
She's looking shabby, but she still purrs:
While the Orion is still his number one, there is a new cat in town that Royce has his eye on these days...
This summer (2011) we opened our shop to our friend Bob, who has his own Electric project converting a TVR 280i. As Bob was getting closer and closer to finishing his car, R felt he was falling farther and farther from his own. There was no particular moment of clarity or change of mind, but one day Royce started scanning the ads for Rancheros because of a childhood attachment having to do with his dad. He came across an ad for a Cougar, and thought, "Man, that is a good-lookin' car. I forgot about those. And... (unlike the Ranchero), it has a backseat."
She's looking shabby, but she still purrs:
Oh! Here is the other motor-vation that had R in a tizzy to move on this. Hold onto your hats Aficionados, you know what this is:
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
A little more research.......
Well, after some digging it appears that the great state of Ohio has no regulation for headlight placement. The only requirement for custom built vehicles is that any part used from another vehicle must have a sales receipt to prove that the part did not come from a stolen vehicle and that it has headlights,turn signals and brake lights.
That being said, I think I'm still going to do some modification to the front fascia. That way if someone out of state wants me to build one there won't be any problems.
That being said, I think I'm still going to do some modification to the front fascia. That way if someone out of state wants me to build one there won't be any problems.
Friday, July 1, 2011
A major set back....
Well I probably should have checked this out long ago but I didn't. Now having just read the regulations, it seams my headlight placement is at the correct height, but width between beams is to narrow, by several centimeters. It looks as though I may have to do a complete redesign of the forward section. I don't know how this is going to turn out. Obviously I'm very disappointed. The thought of having to do a complete redesign with the limited time I have to actually do the work makes this an even harder project.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
After Much Breakage Of The Balls...
Blogging Assistant Has Returned.
Here is something special to share during show and tell.
This, the photo following the blurb, is called a CNC (Computer Network Control or something like that. Google it and let us know) Mill.
The Handymen built it from a kit they found on Ebay which priced around $200. They purchased the drive motors separately also on Ebay; 6 for $20, and they built the computer and drivers themselves from parts laying around. ("They" are the original Handyman and also his brother, the other Handyman). (Very Handy to have two in one family).
Originally this mill was used to weld battery tabs on the 26650 A123 battery cells that they were selling to other DYI Handymen. And no, they are no longer using it for that or selling cells, sOOoo... don't ask.
The Mill is now being used for making copper busbars for the motor controller.
The disk in the machine in this photo is the adaptor plate that will bolt to the torque tube which will bolt to the transmission. The plate purchase was from Ebay, 1.5" x 14 3/4" 6061 aluminum. The cost of that was around $30. We'll chat more about the disk in a future post.
I just wanted to show you the dandy mill:
The photo below is the aluminum heatsink that Royce made with it. He is building his own motor controller which we've mentioned before but no pics, yet.
The heatsink will suck heat out of the electronic components that do the work for the motor controller. Basically, it was a solid chunk of aluminum and he just carved it. He bought the aluminum on Ebay for around $57 from an actual merchant. It wasn't a great deal, but was something he needed and found.
The thing below the heatsink is the copper busbar. The busbar carries the current to the motor from the batteries. There are 3 in total in different shapes, and we'll go into the reason why when we show you the motor controller.
The next photo is just a pic of the busbar at a closer angle. Up close and personal:
And another pic of the heatsink with outdoor lighting:
Pretty :).
Here is something special to share during show and tell.
This, the photo following the blurb, is called a CNC (Computer Network Control or something like that. Google it and let us know) Mill.
The Handymen built it from a kit they found on Ebay which priced around $200. They purchased the drive motors separately also on Ebay; 6 for $20, and they built the computer and drivers themselves from parts laying around. ("They" are the original Handyman and also his brother, the other Handyman). (Very Handy to have two in one family).
Originally this mill was used to weld battery tabs on the 26650 A123 battery cells that they were selling to other DYI Handymen. And no, they are no longer using it for that or selling cells, sOOoo... don't ask.
The Mill is now being used for making copper busbars for the motor controller.
The disk in the machine in this photo is the adaptor plate that will bolt to the torque tube which will bolt to the transmission. The plate purchase was from Ebay, 1.5" x 14 3/4" 6061 aluminum. The cost of that was around $30. We'll chat more about the disk in a future post.
I just wanted to show you the dandy mill:
The photo below is the aluminum heatsink that Royce made with it. He is building his own motor controller which we've mentioned before but no pics, yet.
The heatsink will suck heat out of the electronic components that do the work for the motor controller. Basically, it was a solid chunk of aluminum and he just carved it. He bought the aluminum on Ebay for around $57 from an actual merchant. It wasn't a great deal, but was something he needed and found.
The thing below the heatsink is the copper busbar. The busbar carries the current to the motor from the batteries. There are 3 in total in different shapes, and we'll go into the reason why when we show you the motor controller.
The next photo is just a pic of the busbar at a closer angle. Up close and personal:
And another pic of the heatsink with outdoor lighting:
Pretty :).
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
So much to do...so little time...
Well after several weeks of being extremely busy at the shop,(preparing for major construction on the building itself), it looks as though I can get back to the project this weekend. :) I have been working on the power section of my motor controller in the few spare minutes I have. I have set up my cnc mill and have it cranking out the copper busbar. It took a few attempts at writing the code but she works all by herself now with out any supervision. This saves me enormous amounts of time, and lets me multitask on running the shop and building the Orion at the same time. I promise to get some pictures up of the recent progress very soon.
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