1978 Mercury Cougar XR-7 review from North America

Started leaking and burning excessive oil at 120,000 miles. Engine stopped, factory timing chain slipped at 147,000 miles - which bent the valves. Driver's side seat started to tear.

Even though there were some serious engine problems, I know that the car had lots of potential. The body was in almost perfect shape with just a couple door dings. The shiny "lipstick red" paint still looked good. It also had the fancy Mercury chrome spoke hub caps. I kept the stock look which includes white wall tires.

For the above reason, I decided to rebuild the engine. I have a friend that owns a machine shop that helped me with the project. I decided that since I had his help, I would hot rod it up a little. But talking about going mild to wild. At first I just wanted a little more power then stock, but then the ending project turned out to be very aggressive.

Among the MANY modifications I performed, here is a list of the FEW major ones. I installed a 351W cam which changes the firing order, traded in the stock 302 heads (with bent valves) for 351W heads that contain Chevy 2.02"/1.60" valves and 5 angle valve job, bored out block to.040" overbore, installed Keith Black 9.5:1 pistons with Teflon coating on skirts, Headman Headers, added dual exhaust with 2.5" diameter pipe, 2 Thrush California Turbo mufflers, Edelbrock intake and 4-bbl 600 cfm (cubic feet per minute) carburetor with auto choke, high output mechanical fuel pump, replaced Ford 9 inch rear third member 2.75:1 gears with Richmond 3.55:1, rebuild C4 transmission, and added B&M Shift kit.

We estimate the power output to now be around 380-420 HP.