11, 12, 13 July 2020

The Cougar Snapping Necks in Yellowstone National Park: You would think that with all the beautiful scenery around, from pristine lakes to buffeting rapids, grizzlies to massive elk, and massive evergreens to beautiful flowers, an old, dirty Cougar with not-so-hideaway-anymore headlights wouldn't draw too many eyes. Well, you would be very wrong. As I'm sure many have experienced, classic cars seems to have a way of drawing attention wherever they go. From the recently retired couple walking along the road who turned completely around in perfect sync and watched the Cougar fly by, to the young boy tugging on his dads hand while frantically pointing at the Cougar and gasping 'racecar,' the Cougar got more than its fair share of attention at Yellowstone.

When you spend a lot of time with your car, you can fall into the trap of focusing only on the flaws, like the rust above the trunk trim or the slight rattle in the passenger door that you can not seem to find a source for. But when you see the excitement in an old mans eyes as he fervently tells you about the '69 convertible that his brother bought new, you realize just how lucky you are.

My view out of the Tent at Yellowstone

Review of the Cougar's Suspension after 3000 miles: BLUF, it is 95% perfect for my use case. First, I'll go over my goals for my suspension, then describe my current setup, then my observations and results from the road.

Goal: I am modeling my car after a high performance Grand Tourer. The car that comes immediately to mind for me as a role model is the BMW E39 M5, but most GT style cars before the era when they all started getting 'flappy paddle' gearboxes could be easily substituted in. I am not building a car designed to destroy autocross tracks or road courses; I am building a usable performance car for streets filled with potholes and speed-bumps. I'm nowhere close to the endstate (if there really ever is one!?), but that idea of a high performance GT car guides most of my decision making for where I spend my money and time on the Cougar.

Current Setup:

-Mike Maier Inc (MMI) Single Adjustable Coilover Front Suspension (with glorious JRI shocks)

-MMI Tubular Lower Control Arms and Adjustable Strut Rods

-MMI Shock Tower Brace

-MMI Subframe Connectors

-MMI Adjustable Panhard Bar <--- Biggest Single Improvement

-MMI Tuned Bilstein Rear Shocks

-MMI Power Steering Kit KRC/ABS

-1in Front Swaybar with Poly Endlink Bushings

-Poly Leaf Spring Front Bushings

-Maier Racing 165lb Rear Leafs

-Continental ExtemeContact Sport Tires - Front: 245/45r17, Rear: 255/45r17

Observations: This setup puts me on the path to being exactly where I want to be. The front suspension is perfect for my application. The adjustable shocks allowed me to adjust the rebound exactly how I wanted it, and MMIs stock spring rate is spot on for my application. The JRI shocks are just as magical as the claims you've heard from others. The blow the sport-tuned Bilsteins I had before out of the water so far it's not even worth comparing. They are smoother on both big and small bumps, control the movement and rebound better (being adjustable helps), and react more predictably. It helps that I talked to Mike on the phone for a while before I made all my selections. He helped me set up a system that worked for my goals and all complimented each other. I only have two complaints with my current system.

Rear Suspension: I think it's a function of leaf springs, but the rear just feels 'unsophisticated.' It is difficult to put into words, but you can tell that sometimes the rear suspension doesn't like what's going on and becomes overwhelmed. Although the live axle certainly contributes, and the non-adjustable shocks don't give me the ability to fine tune, I think we can all agree that leafs aren't the optimal solution. Though there is no doubt that leaf springs do work very well for both street and track, and that some leaf-equipped vehicles are driving around tracks incredibly quickly, I am searching for just as much of a 'feel' as I am any hard performance specs or capabilities. As such, though they are a 90% solution for right now and probably some of the best leafs on the market, they will be replaced in the future.

Steering: The steering box has too much play. Honestly, I am disappointed in this part. The KRC pump is beautiful and takes a fraction of the power of a stock pump to spin, but the ABS steering box (almost identical to a Borgeson unit) has enough play in the box (I verified that the play is indeed inside the box and not a function of the column or other parts of the steering assembly) to disappoint me. In Mike's own words, the system itself is a 7/10 solution, although I do get the feeling that that I got a defective box. Unfortunately, the box is such a pain to take out because of my headers and z-bar that, even if I had a box with zero play in my hands ready to install, it would likely sit on my shelf for several months before it got installed.

Results: I sure most of you have heard that some modern cars drive fast so effortlessly, and in such a controllable manner that their drivers find themselves cruising at very high rates of speed without even noticing? This is especially true of German cars, which I'm sure has something to do with the existence of the Autobahn. With this suspension setup, a similar (albeit lesser, as the absence of overdrive and the intensity of the engine sound do slightly ruin the effect) situation exists in my car. Especially in the high-speed sweepers of I-90 West for the roughly 150 miles heading to Spokane, the car inspires so much confidence and maintains so much composure that I found myself at complete ease as the Cougar scythed effortlessly around RVs, big trucks, and other inhabitants of the road that included a seemingly brand-new lifted pickup truck piloted by a rather terrified looking young man, and an early 2000's Subaru Forester with a broken rear window that I passed no less than 4 times (I was drinking a lot of water and the Cougar was drinking a lot of gas, so I pulled off a lot).

Sidenote: If you get the chance, drive I-90 between Bozeman, MT, and Coeur d'Alene, ID! If you want to test out sticky new tires and chassis/suspension work, interstate-speed sweepers, although they are no super-technical switchbacks, are great fun and keep you very engaged, especially when semi's with questionable brakes around!

2 Days in Yellowstone National Park: As the United States' first official National Park, as established by Congress in 1872 and signed into law by President Grant, not Roosevelt as many believe, it is clear that Yellowstone must be impressive. After all, there had been very little actual talk about the federal government doing anything other than handing over the lands of the West to settlers and companies willing to develop the land until reports and the accompanying artwork of Yellowstone reached Washington.

So here is where I go and say something that is probably controversial: I did not find Yellowstone to be jaw-dropping in the way that Badlands or the Grand Canyon where. Sites like the Great Prismatic, Old Faithful, and Yellowstone Lake where certainly impressive and worth seeing (although surprisingly dense crowds meant that we had to find creative ways to see them while avoiding people), but I was never stunned the way some other parks have stunned me.

But that's okay, because I think that especially into today's modern age, that's not the point of Yellowstone. Sure, the famous sites and brochure pictures of geysers and bears tell one story, but I think the best parts of Yellowstone are the parts most people don't see. The parts I am talking about are the places in Yellowstone that so completely separate you from the rest of the world that you can do nothing but be present there, surrounded by nature. It is so easy to find a gentle peace in Yellowstone once you leave the crowds that are too busy smelling sulfur from the geysers and taking blurry pictures of caribou. Walk 10 minutes into the woods, and you can easily forget that the rest of the world exists.

Yellowstone isn't a roller-coaster, it's meditation. It's a gentle reminder that the Earth and nature existed before us and without us. Like most things worth doing, it takes some effort to find those places of peace, but it is so incredibly worth it.

My advice? See the geysers, drive around until you see some wildlife, and visit all the undeniably cool places they highlight on the maps and online. But once you have done all of that, drive around until you find a small trail on the side of the road with no cars parked outside it. Grab a water bottle but leave your phone in the car; you won't have service and taking pictures so often distracts you from what is actually going on. Follow the trail in until you can't hear the road anymore, then walk for another 5 minutes. Then, just sit down and focus on everything going on around you.

That's the real Yellowstone.