Cougar dropped off today. Total list:

Replacing:
Passenger Fender
Passenger Fender extension and trim
Crappy scoop with GTE hood scoop
Passenger headlight/grill assembly

Paint:
Fender
Hood
Both fender extensions
Scoop
Cowl

The hood and fender extensions will have the stripes removed. The stripes are staying put on the sides of the car. He's using PPG Omni Plus paint. Color is staying the same. Quote for the work is $1200. He said he should be done in about 2 weeks. I figure the scoop will make a big difference, as will fixing the collision damage obviously.

Looking forward to seeing it Huzer. Hope your paint guy does a great job!

Out of curiosity, do you have a manual (cable) choke? If so, is there anything special you need to do to get it to work? And is it required on cold start even in relatively warm weather? My dad's '68 F100 has one, and I'm not convinced it works properly. He seems reluctant to switch to a modern electric choke and that kind of baffles me. No pun intended...

I do have a manual choke. I haven't needed to use it except after it's been sitting a while and I'm starting it on a cold day (when I took it to the shop last week, for instance). I'm looking foward to going fuel injected down the road and not sitting there cranking wondering if the battery will wear down. Ha. Really though, it starts fine when I'm driving it more often, just takes a while when it sits for a month or two.

Ranger wrote:Out of curiosity, do you have a manual (cable) choke? If so, is there anything special you need to do to get it to work? And is it required on cold start even in relatively warm weather? My dad's '68 F100 has one, and I'm not convinced it works properly. He seems reluctant to switch to a modern electric choke and that kind of baffles me. No pun intended...

You do need to use the manual choke even in the summer. Usually when you pull the choke, you need to tap the gas peddle to engage. The choke will have its own high idle screw that needs to be adjusted to prevent stalling when engaged.

Any update on the paint? I know it has only been 11 days, but would like to see it in progress if possible.

No news yet. I should drive by and see if it's sitting outside. If it's done this week, I'll try and pick it up Saturday. We've got an end of year hockey party at our house on Friday and would rather not have a gaggle of kids running around fresh paint. It'd be hard to hold off picking it up, though.

It's done! Now to see if I can squeeze picking it up today, or if I have to wait until tomorrow.

Looks great! Love the scoop.

The new scoop looks so much better. I can't stop looking at the front of the car. When I get some time, maybe Sunday, I'll see if I can get the electric headlight door actuators installed.

Nice, that looks really good. Hopefully you will want to keep it now.

It does look good! Looks like a little fine tuning on the hood bumpers is needed, if possible.

Started working on replacing the vaccum headlight door actuators with the electric kit. Naturally, I broke one bolt on one actuator, and the other is rusted solid. They've been soaking for a bit with PB blaster now. Since I don't need to reuse that bolt, I'll most likely cut it out if I can't work them out without too much more effort. I've pulled all of the vacuum lines, just need to remove the solenoid and reservoir that's under the driver's side fender.

I've straightened out the hood latch a little bit, and the center grill piece. I need to touch up the paint on the center chrome insert. Also straightened the chrome trim that runs on the outside of that piece as well. Easy stuff to do while sitting on the couch in the evening. Yeah, yeah, lipstick on a pig and all that stuff, but every little bit helps.

Slow going, I ordered a few bits for the Cougar today. New battery tray, hold down, front end emblem, some grommets, etc. i need to pick up some wire terminals to finish up the wiring for the headlight door harness. I’ve got the motors in, and getting closer to have it put back together. Maybe buy next weekend, she’ll be ready for a cruise,