Nickelplate's Hotrod Thread

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As many of you know, I'm building a 1967 Mercury Cougar. I have been doing so since last year. Restoring cars is not just a 7-day project like you see on TV. It is very costly and very labor-intensive for a country college-boy to do mostly by himself. Anyway, after we finished my dad's 1970 Ford Mach1 Mustang, I had plans to fix my cougar up just like it was from the factory, but then I changed my mind and decided to update a bunch of stuff. I have put on an updated suspension like they have on new cars, and I will be putting in my 1989-93 Cobra electronic fuel injection engine. So basically, this car will be the workings of a new sprts car inside the classy body of the Cougar. It will look perfectly stock on the outside, unless you know what to look for, but it will have over 350 horsepower.

Anyway, I wanted to start a thread that chronicles what I am doing to it. I just recently got all the old stuff torched out and put in all the new suspension components after painting the front clip. I've got quite a way to go, but it's getting there fast now!!

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

You are indeed the epitome of masculinity, I pass my crown off to you.

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One day you'll know what you're talking about, I can hardly imagine

Maps! - Audio blog!

I'm just curious, where'd you learn how to build cars?

Good luck man, and seriously... I agree with Hugh, that's badass.

Wohoo, good luck !

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What the Snarkpitters listen to!

Disc brakes on a 67 huh? You gots something against original equipment or, you just like not being allowed to have antique tags? :razz:

I'll be more impressed with the functional version, but I grant your dues at its current level.

Nice work, for a Missourian.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Meh, I gotta learn about cars sometime in my life D:

Nice work -- I don't know much about what you're doing, but I want to see the finished product :smile:

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Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

My dad used to restore old mustangs a long time ago, and a few years ago, I got interested in having a sweet car. So I asked dad why he doesnt restore them anymore, and he said, "I dunno..." so then he said that he wanted to restore another one and when the stock market crashed, he lost like a few million or some crap, so he decided to use classic mustangs as a big investment, because they REALLY appreciate. Anyway, he got his 1970 Mach1 and started fixing it up. I learned a lot from teh experience of tearing that down to bare metal and then building it all back piece-by-piece whilst fixing each piece. During dad's restoration, I saved up enough money to buy my own, and i got the cougar. It was in really crappy conditi0on and i drove it for about 6 months or less until it turned into what I call a "James Bond Car," which means it's got smoke screen and oil slick. lol. it turned into a piece, so I decided to start my planned restoration. we just recently finished dad's Mach1 and now I'm working on this one.

I also have a 1951 Ford pickup truck, and then a 1986 Ford Bronco lined up after this one gets done.

It takes SUCH a long time to do things the right way... it all has to go in order and its a pain sometimes.

a finished cougar looks like THIS: http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1960-1969/1967-Mercury-Cougar-maroon-fa-nf.jpg but mine will be a sweet blue color, kinda like the springs above.

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

300 f**kin k.

You better be glad you were worth it.

Cougar's are nice cars. Not my choice of nice, I'd pick a '55 T-Bird myself, but nice enough to qualify as "nice"

Good luck with it.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Cool stuff man! I knew you were restoring a car though didn't really
know what to expect. Consider me suitably impressed, looking forward to
seeing it finished (however many years down the line that may be :wink: ).

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

hopefully by sometime in this summer. It should be mostly done by then, except really small details.

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

I have a 1968 Ducadi motercycle that needs to be rebuilt. who's in?

If it's free and all I have to do is come get it, I'll be glad to take it off your hands! I do motorcycles too!

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

looking good so far nickel.....makes me wanna post a few of my '68 firebird.. :heee: its my garage car... :wink:

Doc B... :dodgy:

oh yeah, and find me a dual coil setup for a 69 triumph trophy 650 would ya??....

Looking good so far, annd good choirce for the cobra engine even though I'd imagine it would be tedious to get efi in a carb'd car. Are there kits for that?

So what are you planning to do to the cobra engine?

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I sell useless stuff to stoned people

PixelGames

Actually my brother in law is a vintage cougar specialist. He is a veritable werehouse of old cougar parts, and a storehouse of knowledge for the rest. Lemme know if I can hook you up with him.

I'm curious how this will look after 2 or 3 months. :biggrin:

That reminds me that I have an old skoda s110 outside just
rusting away. Imagine how it would look turned into a convertible.

Wow, looks impressive! I'll stick to building maps, as you'll obviously
do that car much better than I could. Not that that says anything, but
hey... :wink:

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Create-ivity - a game development blog

Andrei: I think it would look something like this...

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

GreenDragon said:
Looking good so far, annd good choirce for the cobra engine even though I'd imagine it would be tedious to get efi in a carb'd car. Are there kits for that?

So what are you planning to do to the cobra engine?

I plan on taking the wiring harness and computer control unit from a wrecked cobra, and grafting it into the car. It's not hard, really, you just have to be able to AFFORD it, and there's my problem. lol.

I already have the engine built. it's sitting next to the car on the side u cant see. It's cammed and ported.

I'm also putting a new AOD (automatic overdrive) transmission in it. This will give me up to 28 (maybe more) miles per gallon in an old musclecar. I've got the engine and tranny hooked up and ready to go in the car as soon as I get the undercarriage painted up and my wiring in. I'll post some pics of the engine and stuff in a bit.

go to www.heidts.com for dual coilover front suspensions for old cars. the basic "Mustang II" kit can be modified for just about anything. :wink:

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

Andrei: I think it would look something like this...

Sweet :biggrin: !

/grabs chainsaw

Looks nice man, I really like the tubular A-arms. I too am building a little hopped up truck with my father. <br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">It's a 1975 GMC sierra 1-ton dually.

We've got a 454 with all the performance goodies, and a Pro Street transmission. It's been lowered 8 inches in the rear with a C-notch frame kit and 6 inches in the front with drop spindles and coils. The chassis has also been shortened 18 inches from the stock 8 feet, making this probably one of the only "short box" duallies on Earth.



Hopefully she'll be on the road this spring.

Wow, sweet. That's gonna be a sweet hauler. Too bad you didn't box the frame. I plan to box the frame on the '51 Ford, at least where the suspension hooks on. Is the frame powder-coated or painted?

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

Two part epoxy primer with about 3 or 4 coats of good old Tremclad :biggrin: .

We were going to box the frame, however, we're going to use the frame rails for fuel/brake/electrical lines. ftmargin=2>

Soon I'm gonna buy a VW Bus off of eBay and make it beautiful in time for my license.

So... yeah. My Shaggin Wagon :smile:

French Toast said:
Soon I'm gonna buy a VW Bus off of eBay and make it beautiful in time for my license.

So... yeah. My Shaggin Wagon :smile:

Sounds cool! But make sure you do some research on the vehicle you're buying!!! Make sure that parts are abundant and cheap. Like you can restore a Mustang MUCH cheaper than you can restore a 1968 Zaporozhets ZAZ. Because there are about a billion ppl restoring mustangs and they are such abundant cars. But the little Zappy has virtually no parts available and you would have to make, or buy them custom.

BTW, anyone know where I can find a 1968 Zaporozhets ZAZ? let me know.

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

Well, on eBay there are some that are fairly cheap and in good enough
condition. I'm hoping not to have to replace a lot of the engine
parts and such (I do'nt know f**k all about cars). However, this
guy down the street has one that all i have to do is get new brakes and
it'll run.

My main thing is fixing up the inside. Making it a comfortable
ride, ripping out the back seats for road trips, putting carpet in and
getting a nice paint job.

God I'm such a hippy...

Yeah, that was my plan at first too: "Just fix it up enough to look okay and drive." Now look at me: I've turned it into a hotrod that has taken like 2 years to get halfway done!

What's the deal with "Shaggin Wagon?"

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

I used tot hink it would be funny to own one of thoses vdub wagons, but decided against it...if you do get one it would be cool but I agree tottally with nickle, make sure you know you can get parts for your year and such. Spekaing from epxeriance, try finding parts for a 80 Cobra...YA RIGHT. I deicded to sellthe beast for 300 after breaking the tranny, would be eaiser then trying to find parts for it.

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I sell useless stuff to stoned people

PixelGames

that's just an awesome name for a Hippy Van.

As it stands I'm 2 years away from a license. Therefore I'll have
plenty of time to fix it up with my dad before I can drive it.

I see you just beat me to post Green. I'm obviously not going to
rush right in and buy the first one I see and then watch my plan fall
apart later. I'm going to really research this, get one in good
condition, and see what I need to do to fix it and if that's possible.

There's a wagon just like you described thats always parked down by the
creek a few minutes walk from campus. It's got couches and fur
rugs inside, but this particular van gives out the "pedophile" vibe
more than the "hippy" vibe, so be careful... make sure you clean it up
right. :smile:

There's this great one just down my street that looks like it came
right out of the '70's. It's yellow, with flowers all over it
and.. man, it's just awesome.

A real "Shaggin' Wagon" that I was gonna get as a sweet car to drive to QuakeCon one year was a 1968 Ford LTD Country Squire Wagon. This thing had a HUGE engine and wood paneling on the sides. Three rows of seating, massive exhaust, a roof-rack and a 35-gallon tank. This thing would have been so cool. But I couldn't afford the $800 at the time... wah.

One like it

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

VW campervan is a pretty common car with hippies- purchasing parts will be done with illegal drugs, and will probably be cheap, so I doubt you'll have any problems French :biggrin:

As for me, I thought about a VW campervan, but I'd really wanna do up a VW Beetle (old ones) to have a kickass engine, leather interior etc... All I gotta do is learn about cars and doowhacky- so obviously you know it'll never happen!

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-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-

What I would like to see is a Special Education Bus fixed up. Add some couches, a refrigerator, maybe a TV, and charge people to ride in it.

Nah, much better to hog it all for yourself. :smile:

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Dark_Kilauea
DVS Administration
http://www.dvstudio-production.com/

I have somepictures of what it looked like right after I installed the crossmember. Before I painted it and added the suspension parts.

http://cougar.dimebowl.com

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

VW campervan is a pretty common car with hippies- purchasing
parts will be done with illegal drugs, and will probably be cheap, so I
doubt you'll have any problems French :biggrin:
As for me, I thought about a VW campervan, but I'd really wanna do
up a VW Beetle (old ones) to have a kickass engine, leather interior
etc... All I gotta do is learn about cars and doowhacky- so obviously
you know it'll never happen!

gotta love the original bugs but they're no good in the winter, my mom
used to have one and she had some kinda' heater she stuck in the hood
in the mornings just so it could start

Block heater. Common Thing to use for older cars that struggle, mine is just on the borderline of needing a block heater. If I tuned it up a bit it would be fine,but the fact that I don't care and plan on selling it very very soon kinda turn me off from doing so. If a buddy ends up buying I'll do it, but anyone else...screw him he can deal with the nightmare this cars been.

...

Anyone wanna buy a car, mint condition, i swear!

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I sell useless stuff to stoned people

PixelGames

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Well, This is a picture I took today, of the engine as it is on the crane and in the car. Exciting times! I have to fabricate my own motor mounts, that is the only reason it's still on the comealong. I have to finish welding them. I also need to drop the transmission a wee bit so I can reach teh undercarriage with some paint. This engine is a Roller-block 89-93 Cobra motor. It will have lots of nice chrome on it as soon as I am sure that we won't be doing anything scratchy to it anymore.

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

I know nothing about cars but I have the feeling you're a badass for doing this. :smile:

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Time for a minor update:

The time between this update and the last one has been spent troubleshooting clearance problems. The engine was too far forward, but if i moved it back it would hit the firewall and vibrate the whole car when it would run. So i had to lower the engine by re-fabricating the motor mounts, so it could move further back without touching the body.

Motor Mount in fabrication



Newly lowered engine


Engine again, it's SO bad-@$$

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

Addicted to Morphine said:
I know nothing about cars but I have the feeling you're a badass for doing this. :smile:

Same here :biggrin:

Alright! it's ready to go intot he paint shop in a few weeks!! here's what it looks like mocked up for paint!

http://cougar.dimebowl.com/assembled/

http://cougar.dimebowl.com/color/ <--the color it's gonna be painted

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

nice

Haha you need new tires :smile:

lol, those are just temporaries until i can afford the REAL wheels and tires. I just use those to roll it around in the shop.

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

Well, I got the car partially painted. I have all the inner parts done, and in a few weeks I'll have the whole thing painted. I have a lot of work to do to get this car ready to paint.

the rest of the pics can be seen at http://cougar.dimebowl.com/paint1/







http://cougar.dimebowl.com/paint1/glove_box.jpg

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

nice one!
wish i knew something about cars

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Bullet Control: $5000 for a bullet.
"I would blow your f**king head off! ...if I could afford it. I'm gonna get another job, start saving some money... then you a dead man!"

Looks great so far. I'm curious about what you plan on doing with the
interior, since it is ,after all, the part you're going to be seeing most
often.

It's a navy blue and light blue motif. I've go some of it done and it's in the basement. I'll take some pictures soon. good idea andrei. :biggrin:

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

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