New to AFF with a Cougar

K10wN · 10-10-2011, 04:22 PM

Just wanted to say hi to everyone and share with you about my Cougar.

I'm in Queensland, near Kingaroy and have a yard full of Fords. '78 Escort Coupe, '78 Cortina TE Ghia sedan, '82 Falcon XE S-Pak wagon, '86 Falcon XF S-Pak sedan, '86 Fairmont Ghia wagon, and lastly the 2000 Ford Cougar SW 2.5L V6.

I bought the Cougar start of this year, second owner. Had 110,000km on the clock but it still looks and drives like a new car (smells like a new car inside too). Paint is Spruce Green, interior is Leather and it's a manual 5 speed. Only mods so far is a 2nd immobiliser/alarm (with a numeric pad to unlock), tinted windows, and a new mp3 header unit with USB input so I can have 16gb of music plugged into the dash.

The Cougar has averaged 32.4mpg over the last 11,000km since purchase. The little cat has performed flawlessly from day one (except when I flattened the battery listening to music in the shed

). No breakdowns, no leaks, and drives like it's on rails. Keep her under 4000rpm and it's like a little kitten, but get the rpm over that and it transforms into an angry wildcat.

Everywhere I take the Cougar it attracts attention. Most have no idea what it is. I took it to the All Ford Day at Cooyar in September and was flooded with questions about the car from those that attended (even the officials).

I plan on doing some more mods to it. Have a set of Lenso D1R 17x7 5 spoke wheels on the way from the UK (Aussie Lenso importer claimed they didn't come in 108x4 ET35 - their loss). I'll wrap them in Toyo Proxes T1R 225/45ZR17 when they get here. I have a set of V-Tech light covers ready to fit. Plans are to get a full bodykit consisting of Razzi side and rear skirts (nice and subtle and accentuate the nice Cougar ines), Duraflex Z3 fenders and drifter front bar and the Visteon hood scoop. Still undecided on which hatch spoiler (The kids say a big one, but I don't know). Because most of the car will need painting after the bodykit I'll change the paint colour to a 'hurt your eyes' holographic metal flake bright yellow. Am also working on a mural of a Cougar tearing it's way out of steel to go on the panel between the door and rear arch (don't know if I'll use it yet).

Performance wise I'll replace the headers and fit a twin system with some high flow cats and change the intake for something that breathes alittle easier. Will see how this goes, but may try for more power. 230-250hp would be great. It'll get some bigger brakes and a slight suspension drop.

My only dislike is that it's FWD. I can live with it, but I don't like it. Everything else about the little cat I just love, and love to drive it, most times just for the hell of going for a drive in it.

Thanks for reading, Mark

REDDYZ · 10-10-2011, 05:22 PM

Welcome to AFF Mark. Good to see another Cougar getting transformed. Do share some pre and post transformation pics of your cat. I agree that being FWD it is a bit disappointing but it rarely reminds you that you are driving a FWD. Some how I find every Cougar owner has their own explanation and reason to love their 11 year old cats. Interesting to see the plans you have for your cat. Is it a manual or Auto?

Yogi

K10wN · 10-10-2011, 07:02 PM

Hi Yogi, It's the manual 5 speed. Don't like slush boxes in any car. All my cars are manual.

Here's a photo of it at the Cooyar All Ford Day last month:

Cougar2K · 11-10-2011, 01:34 AM

G'day Mark,

Welcome to AFF.
Your Cougar seems to be same colour as Dave's (thearrow) it seems!

Hard to fathom transformed to a bright yellow though!

I've been in the midst of a transformation of my own Cougar for quite some time now too so I can relate somewhat to your endeavours.

Have fun and all the best with your plans...

Cheers,
Paul aka Cougar2K

thearrow · 11-10-2011, 11:20 AM

Welcome aboard Mark good to have another proud owner on our boards. You certainly sound like you intend extensive modifications for your car and can recommend the following for any parts you may need as long as you can accept about a 5 day delivery time.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/rafr...0&model=COUGAR

What you are planning sounds exciting and expensive so good luck with it.

I dunno about a full respray as Spruce Green is a good colour and doesn't show the road grime.

K10wN · 11-10-2011, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thearrow

Welcome aboard Mark good to have another proud owner on our boards. You certainly sound like you intend extensive modifications for your car and can recommend the following for any parts you may need as long as you can accept about a 5 day delivery time.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/rafr...0&model=COUGAR

Thanks for the welcome thearrow and Paul. I've had rockauto.com and a few others in both UK and US bookmarked for some time now as I discovered the 2nd day I owned the car that Ford Australia were useless when it came to the Cougar (and with the Escort too).

Quote:

I dunno about a full respray as Spruce Green is a good colour and doesn't show the road grime.

I do like the spruce green as it gives the car that formal look without being bland, but it's not me.

Our local dirt is red and shows up on the spruce green easily. It looks terrible even after a few days of being hidden in the workshop with the red dust that lands on it from the local farmers ploughing up the ground. Has to be washed whether it's used or not every week.

The only colour that doesn't look dirty here is red. The red Pajero wagon family mover/shopping trolley can go months without a bath and not look that dirty. Not fond of red cars though.

I have a thing for yellow

. Both my other 'toy' cars are yellow too.

REDDYZ · 12-10-2011, 12:11 AM

Hey Mark, I worked at european transmission specialists and know autos inside out. I would never buy a car with auto. More than anything there is no fun driving autos especially with those cars that love to roar over 4000rpm.

I actually think that yellow color is gonna look great on cougar when you match it with dark tint and black wheels. I havent seen one yet and it would be interesting to see a Cougar in that color. But am not sure about the body kits. As long as body kits dont dominate the rest of the car look they should be fine. When you suddenly look at the car you should notice the whole car, not just the body kit. Anyway good luck with your plans and keep us posted.

Yogi