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Business Name |
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Engine Repairs & Misc |
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1989 Mercury Cougar XR7 |
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Still not even close to being done. In fact, I haven't done anything since the last update, other then remove the damaged front bumper. Both of the parts cars front bumpers were damaged also. I managed to find a perfect condition bumper in black at U-PULL it in Omaha for less than $20! |
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September 1, 2007 |
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After looking for the past 9 months, I came across a NOS discontinued GoodYear tire in the right size to replace the one that has a hole in the sidewall. All of the other tires are almost new, so I didn't really want one mismatched tire. So now I will have a matching set of tires, and all 4 correct wheels will be back on the car! |
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September 6, 2007 |
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Wow, been quite awhile since I have had a chance to work on this car. I actually got some work done on the Cougar this weekend! Here is what the car looks like currently after I attempted to do a "tune up and routine maintenance" |
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November 26, 2007 |
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So much for just doing plugs and wires. I pulled the valve covers off to replace the gaskets, and found a nice milky build up on the back side of them. I pulled the heads off, and found the cause. The firing ring on the #3 cylinder head gasket was not quite right. It doesn't appear to have done any more damage though. |
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I also found signs that the radiator had been leaking, which may or may not of been related. At any rate, I'll have to replace it, so I ordered one on Saturday. Should be here this week. So now I just have to order new hoses, a gasket kit, transmission cooler, head studs, and a few other things; get the heads cleaned and checked out, and then start reassembling. |
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The heads are at the machine shop being cleaned, checked out, surfaced, and having new valve seals installed. They are hoping to have them done by this weekend. I picked up my upper gasket set yesterday, and all the new radiator hoses today. My Summit order also came with the ARP head studs and transmission cooler. The new radiator is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. |
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November 28, 2007 |
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I received a call today from the machine shop. My heads look good, but the valves are not so good. They said they are pitted and need a valve job. Larry estimated that as they are now, they might last 5K miles before I would drop a valve and have a dead cylinder. I guess it's a good thing I got everything checked out. So, these stock heads are starting to get pricey, but hopefully I won't have to mess with them again. They are going to do a 3 angle valve job and get everything put back together. Hopefully they will still be ready by the weekend. I did manage to get the heater hoses sourced and ordered, and they should actually be here tomorrow. Assuming the heads get done in time, I plan to start reassembling everything this weekend. I still need to change the fluid and snout seal in the blower, and lots of other things, so I doubt I will get it all back together this weekend. Later that day…… I got another call this afternoon and my heads are done! I'll pick them up tomorrow morning. Ended up costing a lot more than I was planning on spending, but they should be good to go for quite awhile. I was tempted to just go with a full port, but that doesn't really fit into my plans for the car, and I didn't really want to invest the money into that right now. |
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November 29, 2007 |
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Progress has been slow, but is still moving in the right direction. I got the heads picked up yesterday and the heater hoses and O2 sensors today. I also got my manifold plug made up for the EGR delete. My brother cut the top half of the fitting off, and welded it shut on both ends. It turned out really good. My EGR plate could of been better, but it won't be visible once on the car, so I'm not too concerned. Major work today was getting the heads in placed and torqued down, replacing the O2 sensors, installing the EGR plug, replacing the two heater hoses, gapping and installing the plugs, and mounting the exhaust manifolds. |
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December 1, 2007 |
