Almost 1 year exactly since the Craptour was killed by a tornado, the '02 Cougar, Hello Cooter, is finished. Most of the major components that went into building the Craptour found a new home in the Cougar.

The stock '97 y-pipe was swapped for an MSDS ceramic coated y-pipe. The exhaust note in the cabin is quieter. The stock '97 main cat remains. I removed the solid upper engine mount and installed the original stock mount, which reduced vibrations and noise while cruising, but increased them while idling. I can live with that.

With a couple data logs, Torrie at Unleashed Tuning returned a new tune file. It corrected an issue with the PCM cutting fuel between shifts causing the engine to drop revs very quickly. Also, AFR at WOT redline was 10:1, now it's 12:1. The car is noticably faster. Fuel mileage has remained consistent at 23.3 MPG. I hope to have a dyno graph very soon. I am mainly interested to know if the small valves of the SVT heads are detrimental to power output when matched with the 3L block.

The rod shift trans works great. I drove the '99 3L SVT the other night and compared the feel of the two boxes. The SVT shifts great, but there is a slight rubbery feel when selecting a gear. The Cougar's rod shift box almost clicks from gear to gear. Clutch engagement is so quick that I have missed a gear when I'm not paying attention.

I have not current plans other than to drive the car. It's currently my main vehicle. The X-Type and Scion need new tires and the Dakota needs a front hub bearing.