Cougar stripped and ready to move.

I have stripped down the Cougar and now it's ready for cutting.

Thanks to Joe for stopping by and suggesting that I move the car to where the Mustang is before cutting off the body this way transporting it on our pot hole filled roads should not be a problem.

No real issues taking the car apart, I did however find some rust on the floor behind the drivers seat which is no problem, but i will have to repair it before moving forward.

Thanks to Greg for the lift, moving the Cougar went smooth now the hard work begins.

My to do list is getting shorter however it is still a couple of pages long.

If all things go well I am hoping to have the body stripped and placed on the Mustang by June 1.

Mustang complete

All cutting has been done on the Mustang.

I am sure to have some touch ups and tweaks as I move forward but for now the Mustang is done.

No more wiring was torched on the drivers side like I did on the passenger side lesson learned.

I even had time this weekend to test the measurements on the front end on the Mustang.

After taking what seemed to be hundreds of measurements on the body of the car I really payed little attention to the front end thinking that once I finished the Mustang I could just place the three parts from the Cougar  and make sure they fit this would confirm My measurements were correct.. I removed the front tires as I will have to fabricate the front fenders the Cougar front end is four inches longer than the Mustang.

So after using snap ties and pieces of wood I could find in the garage the next thing I know the Cougar front end is on the Mustang and it looked and fit great. One other fabrication i might have to make is the opening of the hood, there is no where to put the hood hinges so the hood might have to open in reverse like the Corvette hood but I will get a second opinion on that before I make the final decision.  

I hope things go as smooth with the Cougar, time will tell.

Cold snap continues to hang in there.

We have set winter records all season and this is the longest cold snap I have ever witnessed.

To make matters worse I came across an article that featured a 1968 Cougar which was completely rebuilt from the ground up. This article is in Modified Mustangs & Fords February edition.

Looking at how awesome this Cougar turned out made me even more excited  to get going again once the weather changes. I always had a vision of what my car would look like once completed, but without a drawing it was only something that I could see, now looking at the pictures of this Cougar this is exactly what I had envisioned. After reading the article I needed to know more about the car, so I contacted the chassis company in P.A and they emailed the owner C.J. Sabol next thing you know we are on the phone for a hour trading our Cougar stories. One of the first questions I had was about the tires and how much if any modifications were done to the wheel wells, as it turns out there were no modifications required as the wells are already flared enough to house the wheel. That was great news.

I will give you some of the car specs as for the rest I encourage you to get a copy of the magazine and check out the whole build story, it is quite amazing.

Engine 351 Windsor, 600 plus horse power.

Tremec T-56 Magnum six speed

Total control products front coil over suspension.

Front P245/35ZR18 tires. Rear P335/30ZR18 tires.

Thank you to C.J. Sabol for taking the time to call me and to Doug at Precsion Chassis for sending the email. I look forward to getting started again when warm weather comes.

Seasons greetings

I would just like to take a second to thank everyone for their help this year.

Due to a long cold snap here with no end in sight it looks like I will not get the Mustang finished before the end of the year.  It is amazing to see how many of you are following along with the project, to date their are 837 followers around the world. I am just as excited as a lot of you to see the finished product. So with no other pictures or update I would like to take this time to wish you all a happy, safe, and family filled holiday. Please don't drink and drive! 

Passenger side removed.

A big thanks to Alex for stopping by and fine tuning my welding skills for me, it had been a while but having someone who welds for a living giving me tips was huge. 

Removal of the passenger side went smooth, I left the wheel well in tact as I am not sure if I can use it or I will have to use the Cougar wells. The drivers side is about half done and will take me a little longer as I am trying to get it all off in one piece for resale. I hope to have everything removed before the holidays, but time is running short I'm crossing my fingers.

New floor installed

The fitting of them new floor has been completed.
I was very surprised how well everything lined up.
Thanks to Joe for the great tips and shortcuts.
My next step is to remove the entire drivers side by removing each spot weld, this
way the panel can be salvaged to fix another Mustang. Once that is complete I will take a couple of pictures before removing the rest of the body.

Damaged portion removed

I have now finished removing the damaged portion of the Mustang floor.
Removing the damage went pretty smooth, I forgot about a wire harness in the pillar
And melted a portion of the harness. Not the end of the world but something that will need to be repaired. Next step getting the new floor measured up and welded in place.