# 1967 Mercury Cougar with 351 clevland **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [April 8, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972 "2016-04-08T04:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/61 "2016-04-11T22:39:38Z")
Sure check for a leak at the manifold, you have done a lot of stuff, ever get to the needle and seat? ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/62 "2016-04-11T22:43:30Z")
No I didn’t get to the needle nor seat. I went for the things I was most comfortable with first praying one of those would do it…lol how could I sure check the manifold ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/63 "2016-04-11T22:50:03Z")
I’m gonna try n post a few pics these were taken the day I brought her home ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/64 "2016-04-11T23:56:27Z")
Nice. I dunno though, I’ve found POs without much car knowledge, you just have to take everything they say with a grain of salt. They can lead you down the wrong path just because they don’t really understand the parts that were replaced, etc. Still think it wouldn’t hurt to pull the fuel pick up and check that sock filter for junk on it but maybe you did. ---
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/65 "2016-04-12T03:02:24Z")
Installing a pressure/vacuum gauge in the line from the tank will identify a restriction. And if no restriction is indicated installing the gauge between the pump and carburetor would identify weak pressure. But back in the GOOD OLE DAYS when vacuum built up in the tank I drilled a small vent hole in the gas cap and cured the problem quickly. When a “classic” has been modified the possible causes for problems are off the charts, literally. ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/66 "2016-04-12T03:17:50Z")
Finally got the to upload ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/67 "2016-04-12T03:37:01Z")
One morett ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/68 "2016-04-12T05:07:04Z")
Riding kinda high? Tire look larger than normal (total diameter). ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/69 "2016-04-12T06:14:44Z")
If it were mine the first thing I’d check is spark. It isn’t at all uncommon for a coil to become heat sensitive, and when it does it exhibits the exact symptoms you describe. Once the hot engine is shut off, the temperature under the hood rises. The coolant has stopped flowing, the air has stopped flowing by, and the temperatures inside the engine, much hotter around the cylinder tops than the coolant temp, has nowhere to go but to dissipate as radiant heat out the surfaces of the engine, raising the underhood temperature considerably. If the coil has become heat sensitive, that’s when it’ll show up. If you can get a hold of a scope with an inductive pickup, hook it up when the symptoms present and see what the spark pulses look like. My guess is that they’ll be weak and erratic. Only if the spark pulses are normal would I start evaluating the carburetor. IMHO it’s far simpler to check this than to start trying to fix a fuel metering problem that may not exist. Post the results. ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 6:41am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/70 "2016-04-12T06:41:28Z")
Texases I’m not sure of the diameter, I’ll measure in the morning n let u know. But the point put air shocks on the rear I’m not a big fan of air shocks just heard some horror stories so I lowered the air I touch n they started to rub on th inside of the chrome trim that goes around the wheel well. So I’m running 40lbs now n unless I have more than two people in the car she does good. As soon as I get the little mechanical things figured out definitely some new springs will be installed in the rear. ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 6:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/71 "2016-04-12T06:45:22Z")
Mountain Bike I’m driving this car almost daily. What do u think about the HEI distributors. I was thinking of switching to his cap with coil. ---
**Author:** ![keith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/keith/32/5518_2.png) [@keith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/keith)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 7:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/72 "2016-04-12T07:16:57Z")
That carburetor looks like it was made under a Carter license. I don’t like those three spacers under it either. The carburetor is pretty easy to work on, but I am beginning to think that you may have a vacuum leak with all those spacers. To me, that is a little too Homer and Jethro. The rest of it looks pretty good though so I wonder what they were thinking. Maybe ran out of money toward the end of the project and just used what they could find. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 7:21am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/73 "2016-04-12T07:21:26Z")
Does your engine sport an egr valve? ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/74 "2016-04-12T16:25:47Z")
Teases they are 225/75 or 28.3" diameter ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/75 "2016-04-12T16:33:31Z")
Keith I agree 100% I’ve been under this hood a bunch lately and I just don’t get the spacers they look worse in person. In theory I should be able o get one spacer that size or close and just unbolt the carb, remove those n slip in a new solid one rite? My only concern has been I just don’t know a lot about the carb so I’m not sure what kind of spacer to get. I guess I could just remove it and look to see what the inside of those spacers look like, I’m sure there just a big square opening inside rite? ---
**Author:** ![JVitto](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jvitto/32/3212_2.png) [@JVitto](https://community.cartalk.com/u/JVitto)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/76 "2016-04-12T16:37:26Z")
No George I don’t see an EGR anywhere ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/77 "2016-04-12T19:01:28Z")
If you’re considering upgrading, I’d recommend first diagnosing the cause of your problem. If, in fact, you confirm that the problem is, in fact, the distributor, then you can consider upgrading. ---
**Author:** ![Honda-Blackbird](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/honda-blackbird/32/3159_2.png) [@Honda-Blackbird](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Honda-Blackbird)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/78 "2016-04-12T19:23:32Z")
All these issues and the confusion they create seem like what I went through on the water with many a boat…it was the summer they introduced ethanol fuels at boat filling docks… lets just say we were not happy boaters. Ethanol will eat any rubber diaphragm you have…and it will clean any gunk in your fuel system and leave it floating around to be sucked up. I would replace your fuel pump as the rubber inside surely isnt immune to ethanol…I would also pull a “pickle jar” of a sample from your fuel tank… see what settles out in that glass jar. The problem lies somewhere between those ideas. I repaired so many boats that summer I dont even want to think about it. All of them had debris in the tank…and screwed up fuel pumps. Blackbird ---
**Author:** ![insightful](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/insightful/32/2732_2.png) [@insightful](https://community.cartalk.com/u/insightful)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/79 "2016-04-12T21:52:32Z")
That black hose from the carb to the driver’s side valve cover… pull it off the valve cover and see if there’s a vacuum at the end of the hose. I think the PCV valve should be in that rubber fitting in the valve cover. Plug the end of that hose and see if there’s any change. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972/80 "2016-04-13T04:43:31Z")
If you decide to pop the top off the carb to see if the fuel level in the bowl is correct, that’d also be a good time to use a syringe to draw out a fuel sample to see if there’s any visible signs of contamination in the fuel, or signs of the fuel separating into layers. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972.md?page=3) [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1967-mercury-cougar-with-351-clevland/92972.md?page=5)