General Advice please

Z

Zeoman

Well-known user
Sep 4, 2013
106
4
Isle of Man
Firstly, Merry Christmas all!
Now, as you know I bought my Cougar as a work in progress. So its a runner with a few niggles and in need of a bit of tarting up. Its not a VX but does have the lovely heated front screen. Now, please bear in mind I live of the Isle of Man and it costs a fortune to get heavy items sent over, some one is selling a 2000 V6 Cougar locally for £300.00 (Lower mileage than mine too). I have spoken to the guy and the gearbox is problematic. He's had it into a (Manx) garage who believe it to be the slave cylinder. He has been informed it would need and engine removal to repair and cost in the excess of £500.00. It also needs a tank strap. So, I am having a look on Saturday as if nothing else I could have a good supply of cheap spares. But... Is the mechanic talking tosh? Do you really have to remove the engine and gearbox to fix the slave cylinder? As mine has a good engine and gearbox, how hard is it for an amateur to do this? I am just thinking of more than one scenario as it would be nice in the long term to save 2 cougars. Pity its not the same colour as mine though. But hey, still sounds like a steal for me.
 
Gearboxing is certainly easier with the engine out, but I believe the clutch work can be done by dropping the front subframe?

Someone who knows better will be along shortly. :D
 
Slave cylinder and clutch can be done with engine and box in the car. It easier to pull the gearbox out which can be done from underneath. The engine does not need removal at all. If you are pulling the box, it is advisable to replace the clutch kit and the slave with new parts due to the nature of the removal and refit process. Fitting a second hand slave could result in a fluid leak if the unit fitted is near its end.

A full clutch kit for a V6 including slave is around the £200 mark. If you look in the right places you can get genuine Ford parts for about that money too.
 
Thank you very much guys. Looks like I may get a bargain. Are there any instructions on here how do do this or should I get a Haynes?
 
If you're fairly good with spanners, it's actually quite a straight forward process. Fiddly in a couple places but actually not too bad a car to pull a gearbox from. I'm sure there's a lot of info on it across the forum. I and a few others have done several over the years.
 
Hi Zeoman, welcome to the forum and also Merry Christmas, Isle of Man eh !! you lucky man, i love it there especially TT fortnight !!

Anyhoo, to answer your question i've asked one of the tech's here and he says the slave on the clutch sits inside the gearbox, which means dropping the front subframe and removing the gearbox from the engine, leaving the engine in place it's about a 5 hour job he says,
 
frosty2.0 said:
Hi Zeoman, welcome to the forum and also Merry Christmas, Isle of Man eh !! you lucky man, i love it there especially TT fortnight !!

Anyhoo, to answer your question i've asked one of the tech's here and he says the slave on the clutch sits inside the gearbox, which means dropping the front subframe and removing the gearbox from the engine, leaving the engine in place it's about a 5 hour job he says,
Click to expand...
Your Tech there isn't allowing time for tea/coffee Bacon and smoke breaks makes it an 8 hour job (y)
 
By the way there is no haynes manual for the cougar, your best bet is to search it on here there is bound to be something as its been done many times before
 
Thanks everyone. No specialist tools except excellent improvising skills, and good strong mates. Frosty, or anyone, who is over for TT. Let me know and we'll have a beer too. If you come on 2 wheels, go for a spin. As I have a good box on my melina blue one, maybe easier is to swap over and fixe damaged one at my leisure.
 
Zeoman said:
Thanks everyone. No specialist tools except excellent improvising skills, and good strong mates. Frosty, or anyone, who is over for TT. Let me know and we'll have a beer too. If you come on 2 wheels, go for a spin. As I have a good box on my melina blue one, maybe easier is to swap over and fixe damaged one at my leisure.
Click to expand...

Will do mate (y)

I've got a Clymer manual for the cat and its pretty useless for UK cars, might be good for a bit of reference stuff
 
More like Saturday getting it out & Sunday putting it, back unless of corse you have one of them great contraptions called a 2
Post Lift !!! On the Haynes suggestions there isn't one but......I have a Ford Mondeo 1993 to 2000 manual (no.1923) and it covers the
Cougar power train very closely. As a precaution, if you are doing the job on the driveway make sure you chock the vehicle up with at least 2 safety devices (axle stands, wheel rims etc...), there is much pulling and shoving doing a clutch out / in....all the best and keep us posted. TS
 
smithtrevor said:
More like Saturday getting it out & Sunday putting it, back unless of corse you have one of them great contraptions called a 2
Post Lift !!! On the Haynes suggestions there isn't one but......I have a Ford Mondeo 1993 to 2000 manual (no.1923) and it covers the
Cougar power train very closely. As a precaution, if you are doing the job on the driveway make sure you chock the vehicle up with at least 2 safety devices (axle stands, wheel rims etc...), there is much pulling and shoving doing a clutch out / in....all the best and keep us posted. TS
Click to expand...

gearbox change can be done in a day easily if you know what your doing, don't forget DO NOT use Subframe as load baring point for axel stands or you will feel mighty stupid when you come to drop the gearbox :LOL:
 
What Paul said above. Gearbox is a one day job even on a drive with trolley jacks and hammers :) on a lift a simple matter of a few hours. There really is no need to pull the box completely out of the car unless its shot. If you're just swapping the slave and clutch, save yourself an hours pissing about getting out and back in again and just replace the components in situ.
 
I bought the Chilton workshop manual for the Cougar. It is still in its packaging. I have found everything I've needed on his forum plus you have the added benefit of chatting to someone in he process. Save your money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.