still a sucker for cheap crap

coming into september without a winter car in cleveland is cause for concern when everything you own is either a huge work truck or not a winter car(too old/collectible)

being a sucker for cheap crap like everyone around here, i was offered this 95 cougar xr7 for $300. started right up with a jump, has some rust but not a ton, the trans cooler line started leaking at rust as i was looking under the hood with it running so need to fix that. brake lines have all been replaced. he bought it new.

should be a decent beater to resell in the spring.

I've considered picking a low mileage mint one of those up recently. Does that have the 5.0 in it or the 3.8? A 5.0 or 4.6 with a few mustang mods seems like dirt cheap muscle. Refresh the suspension and throw some thunderbird SC sways on that for a fun ride.

& a set of winterforce rubber of course.

If it was a V8 there would be a small square badge with V8 in it on the front fender....don't see it so it must be one of those XR7s that had the V8 as optional (thank you FoMoCo for your diligent de-contenting).

I always thought these were better looking cars than the same gen T-Bird, tho I prefer the previous gen T-Bird to the equivalent years of Cougar.

3.8 and the headgaskets have already been done @ ford to the tune of $1300

going to throw on my set of general altimax arctic tires, stupid bolt pattern though so i have to borrow a set of wheels from my buddy, who has 3 of these cougars and a t bird.

If you have trouble with getting those wheels, mustang hubs should swap right in.

the cheap crap cougar made it home. replaced trans cooler lines and battery in his driveway. tried to stop at a red light a third of the way home and rolled right through, brakes to the floor. had nothing the rest of the way home, "stopped" by downshifting and kinda rolling through stop signs and very slowly up to lights until they changed.

no leaks, reservoir full, new lines. suspect bad master cylinder? he said it was never the same after the shop replaced the brake lines last year. thinking maybe it got screwed up bleeding the brakes if they pumped it and blew out some seal internally. good thing i just picked up one of those motive pressure bleeders.

it runs really nice and trans feels good, and is a comfortable ride.

Pressure bleed it and go from there. Might have air in the ABS or something.

Back in high school (96-00) everyone had one of those or the older T-birds/Cougars. Now you never see them except in the hood.

sanman wrote: If you have trouble with getting those wheels, mustang hubs should swap right in.

you sure about that? the Cougar and Thunderbird stopped sharing a platform with the Mustang in '88 or so.

did research, 94-98 front hubs and rotors swap right over, but in the rear you need 99-04 cobra hubs, which cost pretty much what i paid for the car. the front is doable for $30 from pull a part, if the rear was another $30 and done i would do it.

my buddy has the same exact car that he is using for parts for his other crappier cougars, and he bought a brand new master cylinder for it and never installed before he quit driving it, so i am good there.

A 5.0 or 4.6 with a few mustang mods seems like dirt cheap muscle.

If by cheap muscle you mean cheap low 15s maybe (after a few mods) then sure, cheap muscle.

But since its a 3.8 it'll be cheap mid 17s 1/4. ..ftw?

What i can say about that car is it is worth what you paid for it since it runs! Have fun with it!

sanman wrote: If you have trouble with getting those wheels, mustang hubs should swap right in.

In front, yes, but you'll need to buy Mustang front rotors. They'll work fine with the stock calipers. In back, Cobra hubs will press right into the Cougar bearings, but you'll then have to either re-drill the stock rear drums/rotors to the Mustang bolt pattern or install Mustang rotors, which will require caliper relocation brackets. I did this job on my Supercoupe, so I'm positive on this. I'd say it's too much trouble given what he paid for the car.

Will is right. I do believe that you need cobra hubs for the rear due to the IRS. This a bit of a moot point anyway as it is a 3.8 an not worth putting money into it if you don't have to. Just drove the wheels off of it.

crap cougar

The "Krueger." I like it.

challenge car nice

When I saw the title, I thought, "Wow, somebody else went to Harbor Freight today, to!"

i did go to harbor freight today.

i found - dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnn

they did not replace the LF brake line when they did the rest - so it popped which is why i lost my brakes. got a new hard line this evening, will change it out and bleed in the morning. then i can test drive and see if that makes it right or if something else(master cylinder) needs attention.

silly parts store, could not get a m10 to m12 bubble flare adapter to just buy a 3/16 with bubble flares and m10 fittings line. i had to buy a 3/16 inv flare line with sae fittings and then buy m10 to 3/16 and m12 to 3/16 adapters.

pressure bled with the new motive bleeder - thats a cool part right there.

m/c is bad, still mushy with no air in the system - no abs pump to trap air in either.