Cougar work

As there are few replacement panels for a 67 Cougar, the rust on the Dutchman Panel (between trunk and back glass) will have to be cut out and new pieces fabricated. It'll be time consuming for sure. In order to be sure any remaing surface rust is made inert, I maximized the effect of the Phosphoric Acid solution by sealing it under Saran-wrap.

Front End Removal:

Hidden damage on inner apron.

Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com !  

End of the holidays - Lots of work piling up....

Getting started on the 330FE. These heads must flow pretty well as the valves actually measure a little bigger than those from an LS7 engine. Of course the valve pockets and openings would be the limiting factor.

The entire engine was pretty clean - in and out. The worst part of it all was the head gaskets. Either they used some adhesive to seat them or the motor got good and hot a few times!

Breaking out the measuring tools, I found that all the cylinders where reasonably fresh. No scoring, very little lip and runout measured 0.004" at the most, with most landing at about .002". Duw to the excellent shape it's in, everything is going to get a thorough cleaning, I'll hone the cylinders, replace the main and rod bearings, install rings and replace the freeze plugs. Along with the rebuilt carb and cleaned up intake vacuum lines, it should run very well.

I bought this dial bore gauge from Eastwood. A decent set for a reasonable price.

Here it is in action:

Lastly I chased all the head and crank threads. All that's left is to run the hone through the cylinders and replace all the rings and bearings. This engine will be set aside until I can decide which mill the rod will get, or someone I know needs it.

Would look good in something like this:

Don't forget to check out the website at

www.E-tekRestorations.com !  

IMG00127-20120411-0926.jpg.rem

In San Diego last week, my brother got us on to the San Diego Naval Base to meet his friend, Lt Cmdr Chris. He's the senior pilot for the Black Knight Squadron, a long-famous squadron that picked up 5 of the Lunar SPace Capsules after they came back to earth. Lt Cmdr Chris was piloting the first helicopter to touch down after the massively destructive Japan Tsunami last year.

A rare look at one of the Helicpoters in the Black Knight Squadron.

See the gun in the photo below:

We got a very a close-up look at these guns, as well as some Self-guided missiles used on these copters:

Thanks to my brother Dave and his friend, Lt Cmdr Chris!

Here are some links to some great CANADIAN businesses providing support to the automotive hobby:

POWERHOUSE PERFORMANCE  - Performance Parts

CASWELL CANADA - Electroplating Kits, Rust Proofing systems, Buffing....

RESTORATION AUTO -  Carpet and Flooring

BootHill Automotive - All kinda parts




Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com ! Special thanks to www.Eastwood.com and www.CarCraft.com !

WINNER WINNER - CHICKEN DINNER!!

The 1956 Chevrolet Truck that we restored over 18 months took 1st PLACE in it's category, at the DRAGGIN'S CAR SHOW today! On behalf of E-tek Restorations - WOO-HOO!!!

Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com ! 

Happy Easter Weekend - time alone!!

Every year on Easter weekend, the lovely Mrs E-tek takes our two boys, Thing 1 and Thing 2, to the in-laws farm. That leaves me time to work on my projects and go to the big Draggins car show. This year I have the Cougar, the 240Z and now 4 engines I want to rebuild.

Today, in preparation of that, I finally got out to the home of  "FOMOKO1",  FTE moderator (SK chapter), car, truck and farm implement enthusiast and collector, crack Bobcat Owner/Operator and all-around great guy. Once at his compound, we loaded up a 390FE - 4 barrel that he had come across, for what will hopefully be a strong stocker to swap into my '67 Galaxie.


FOMOKO loves all things Ford, as you can see by the Ford 800 Series Tractor next to my (Ackk!) Dodge mini-van. He alsways has a variety of great toys around the yard and one can look into building after building and always find something interesting - and I mean INTERESTING!

It's getting harder and harder to find a decent 390FE, especially one with what looks to be an original Holley 4 barrel and intake. This one will get opened up a bit, all new bearings, rings and seals, as well as the headers I bought to go with the dual 2.5" exhaust I previously installed on the Galaxie.

Close up of the 800 Series. It's in very decent shape for a working tractor. Still has the 6V Positive ground system. The owner, Morris, uses it to pull his yard mower.

The 390FE  barely made it into the Dodge Van! But even with the extra 4-5" of the cherry picker, we always manage to get them in and haul them home. Ignore the haters! The Dodge MiniVan is one of the most useful, utilitarian and cost-effective vehicle out there!!

Also happening today - the 1956 Chevrolet 1/2 ton was being tidied up and a few bugs worked out in advance of the big Draggin's Car Show, held every Easter Weekend in Saskatoon. It was entered by invitation, to be shown as one in  a presentation of 10 Chevrolet Trucks.

This weekend - beside being at the Draggin's show - I'll get busy on cleaning/tearing down the engines in order to get at least 3 of them into the machinist, plus cut some metal out of the Cougar and the 240Z projects!

Don't forget to check out the website: www.E-tekRestorations.com !!

Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com ! 

E-tek: the shop, the projects, the inspiration

Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com !

Cougar Stripping.....

Spent some time getting the rest of the parts off the Cougar, including the side mouldings, door hardware, rear end trim andthe valance.

When I removed the quarter panel extensions I could see how filler was used to make the panels fit flush. After a little digging I found it was nearly 3/8 of an inch thick in spots.

Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com ! 

I see spark - but no flame!

Here are all the things installed over the past week: Left of the dial gauge is a toggle switch for the electric fan system - which will allow me to over-ride the auto-on feature, thus saving battery power. Last year, I found that when it turned on due to heat-soak (when the engine was switched off) it would kill the battery in short order.The only time I really need the fan to come on on is when waiting in a line-up on hot days. In those situations the temperature can climb to over 250F, but with the fan on it will stay at 180F.

The A/F gauge has both an LED sweep and a digital readout, which shows both instantaneous information as well as real-time data.

The black button to the right is for the Flame Thrower system. It's a momentary switch that lights up the spark plugs in the tailpipes. But even though the plugs have plenty of power arcing across them, no flamage! I guess I'll have to do some tuning to see if I can richen it up enough to produce some flames.... shows just how efficent (and environmentally freindly?) the old 390FE is!

As the Cougar will be here a while and I need to get other cars on and off the lift, I did a little re-organizing. I put the lift on it's casters and rolled its in front of the main door.

The Cougar is now tucked into it's own area with lots of space around it for my

brake, metal bench and welders.

This also left enough room for a dedicated engine area,

which can be draped off when they are back from the machine shop.

What's in the mail today? A flame thrower?!

For years I've had some notes scribbled on a piece of paper on how to make an exhaust flame-thrower. Although I knew it could be done it was when Stacey David showed how on Gearz that I knew I would put it on one of my cars. It's easy enough to set up, only costing a couple used coils, some long thread spark plugs, a push button and some wires. This being 2012 though, someone has made up a really nice kit, with digital controllers and everything included - so I ordered up a HotLicks flame-throwing kit and it showed up today:

I thought, for $140, it wasn't bad. If you sourced a everything new, you'd be out at least that much. Of course like anything, I could have cobbled it together from parts I had laying around the shop - but the older I get, the more I like to use new, quality components in the things I do. It may be 180 degrees from a Porsche, but at least it can be made up of decent parts!

Stay tuned - later this week I'll get at and we'll see if I can get it installed without burning the shop down...



Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com ! Special thanks to www.BendPak.com and www.CarCraft.com !

Tools for this operation.

Here all the chrome pieces are wrapped and labelled for storage. These pieces will likely be some of the last pieces to be replaced on the restored Cougar.

As with any restoration, I carefully bag and label every part and store fasteners, clips and seals with the parts they came from.

The roof still shows the markings used to align the seams of the vinyl top.

While I was cruising the net tonight I noticed a photo of my shop on the BendPak lift website:

 

 

Don't forget to check out the website at www.E-tekRestorations.com ! Special thanks to www.BendPak.com and www.CarCraft.com !