Saturday Morning in the Garage

I was up early yesterday to work on the Cougar. I woke up about 6:45 a.m. excited to get to work and got myself and Elsie ready to go to my parents house for the morning. I took the Cougar to my dad's house since he has a lift in his garage and we can get the car completely in the air!

When I arrived my dad already had the garage open and ready to go and so I got Elsie in the house. My dad guided me into the garage so I was lined up to put the Cougar on the lift. The hydraulics started to lift the Cougar into the air and we were ready to start.

We started by assessing what tools we would need for this project. I got the new idler arm out of the package and held it up to the existing one on the car. The new idler arm by Scott Drake Enterprises is an enclosed system and contains two zerk fittings for grease whereas the old one is two separate pieces and has no zerk fittings. We installed the zerk fittings to the new idler arm and it was ready to install.

Above: The new idler arm installed

To start the idler arm replacement I took off the passenger side front tire to get better access to the bolts that attach the idler arm to the sub-frame. My dad used the impact wrench while I held pressure with a box end wrench on the nuts on the inside of the frame. The nuts came off rather easily even though it seems as if the old idler arm had been on the car for quite some time. My dad pried the cotter key from the castle nut and we took off the castle nut and removed the old idler arm. We reversed this process to install the new idler arm and I greased the zerk fittings on the idler arm and the fittings on the ball joints. After we were done with this replacement, I advised that I thought this was one of the easiest projects I had ever performed on a car!

My dad was less sure of replacing the export brace as he was about the idler arm. My dad is a longtime Chevrolet enthusiast and these Ford, Lincoln, Mercury cars are a bit different than what he is used to seeing. I advised that the export brace is the other crucial piece to get on the car before I get an alignment because it keeps the shock towers from moving and will keep the front end tight and the car will have a truer alignment.

Above: Middle of the export brace at the firewall

If I was just replacing the existing two piece braces this project would be a snap. Four bolts on each one - two bolts at the firewall and two bolts on the shock towers - on and off and you're done. However, the one piece export brace requires that the bolts for the shocks be removed and the shock caps be removed so you can get the export brace over the bolts and then replace the shock caps and tighten all the nuts back down. As these older Fords age the shock towers can sag inward toward the middle of the car.

I called and spoke to Shawn Harville at Mustang Corral again. He has been very nice about giving advice on working on this project when I was researching what I needed and prices. They also work on vehicles at Mustang Corral and he doesn't have to be as forthcoming about giving out free advice and information on projects, but I'm glad that he is this helpful. Shawn reminded me about getting the car up in the air and then putting jack stand under the control arms to help spread the shock towers apart to get the export brace on the nuts. He also said that loosening the fender bolts would help get the brace on if I was having trouble getting it over the bolts.

Above: The shock cap on top of the new export brace

I recounted this conversation with Shawn to my dad and he asked me what I wanted to do next. I advised that if we got into the replacement and something was not going right then we could put it back the way it was before. He agreed and we went to work. Again this installation was no problem. The jack stands did their job by spreading the shock towers. We had to use some screwdrivers and a pry bar to get the brace into place, but after some pushing and pulling it was no big issue. We put all the nuts and bolts back on and the export brace project was finished too!

Above: the engine compartment with the new export brace

After we were done, my dad and I put all of the tools away. We spent a little while bench racing about some of the things I want to do to the car and he tested a spot with wax on the rear fender. Finally, I was ready to head back home with Elsie so we could have a late lunch with Mary.

Now the Cougar is ready to get an alignment!