Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

Have some more info on my mystery 2300 holley.
Its a mercury carb, but not just any mercury carb, its a 383 mercury two barrel. Code on the carb is 1798.

My poor 292 is probably being drowned in gas. The 383 merc is rated for 280hp 400ft/lb, 10.5:1 compression, and such. I might have to give it a bit of extra advance to help with that extra fueling. 350-400 cfm two barrel, mercury is a funny brand.

 

Probably correct. The whole heater box had to come out, it was well protected. The reason why the core looked new. It was a western car so I doubt it was used much, hence the good internal condition. Or I got lucky.

 

How about a Holley 4412? It would be a matter of spending your $$ once. You can shop around for the best deal. Even a used one would work and they are a cinch to rebuild.

 

This two barrel has the cfm of a 4 barrel that would have came on a 292. So it should be fine, i just have to give it a bit of advance. I got really lucky with this find i guess!

 

Would a restrictor plate work to cut down the CFM?

 

It might, but i have no reason to turn down an upgrade like this, might make more than 212! Who knows?

 

He found out what i couldnt diagnose, the metering block is 10 thousandths warped. One new (old) metering block and itll be good as new...

 

Looks like i wont be using the new master as it decided blow the seals out, so im going to try my hand at rebuilding a master. Ive already got it blown apart, the bore definitely looks savable, the reservoir had some crystalline stuff in it but a bit of penetrating oil and air freed it and removed it

 

while waiting for the master hone, i got my carb back. She runs very well, but she doesnt quite like the 35 degree weather.

 

went ahead and reinstalled the radio, wired it up and... function, somehow.

 

Reminds me of something...



Be careful. Don't let that old Fairlane go on any murderous rampages.

 

Oh it probably wont... then again it has run with the carb mostly disassembled before.
Btw I love that profile picture.

 

Fully functional, no leaks, and works as intended, now to install it into the car.

 

I give up for tonight. I honestly dont know how i got those bolts in there the first time.

 

I left a drift pin in one of the 4 locations until I got 2 bolts into it. I only use 2 since I have a later master in mine.

 

More than anything, i cant see how to stick the cage nuts back where they were.

 

Was that pits and a rust “line” I saw in the bore of the MC? If so, no matter the shine, you can’t clean it up (unless you were to go oversized) enough to be proper.
Having it sleeved is an option, not cheap) or replacing it. I know you mentioned the new one “blew out the seals”, but that could be from poor quality parts

Anyways, if the pic deceived my eyes, carry on

 

there was a lot of rust (or something) inside of it, but its still within spec. no leaks, and works as intended. the new master had other issues as well, so i decided to rebuild the old one. the book states that so long as its within .003 of a 1 inch bore, it doesn't need over sized. i will find out about its pressure when its on the car.

 

I forget what hardware was on my bracket under the dash, possibly cage nuts. My Ace Hardware has a selection of cage nuts that have saved me a couple of times. IIRC, the thread on mine was 5/16-24.

 

I have a new plan, its going to be a two person job initially. The first part is lining the master up and having the bolts through the holes, then having my dad hold it there. The next part is then taking the cage nuts and threading them all on. After that i can simply use a pair of vice grips and hold them in place.

 

master cylinder is installed... looks like the brakes will need bled again, of course.

the way i did it before was pump the pedal a bunch, then run and pop the bleeder, but ive determined the old master had a problem with "keeping brake pressure" so whenever you pumped the brakes, it kept pressure in the lines, amazing for bleeding, bad for everything else. also, doing brakes on the ground sucks, gonna get it in the air once it moves again.
Thank you @57 Fargo for providing the throttle linkage off his 58 meteor parts car, I am eternally grateful.
it really does mean a lot to me.

 

Hey I’m glad to help out, I’ve met some great friends here that have helped me out, just passing it along. That’s what this whole thing is supposed to be about.

 

Update, i got it running and revving again, its just running rich now, the .54 jets might be too much but the only alternative i have is a set of .48s. I will try to tune it from what i have, doing some reading my 1.5 turns out will be entirely too much for this carburetor. I might have to set it to .5 turn and tune from there with a vacuum gauge.
No clue how to do that but i can try at least

 

still runs entirely too rich, 1/8th turn out, ive determined it might idling off the primaries... could be a DOA power valve. Or a misaligned gasket... and sadly my brake master gave out while i was trying to bleed it... once again, back to the drawing board.

 

The mode you’re in now is called getting experience. It’s part of your education. We all went through it. Some of us who are honest about things still go through it occasionally. Keep your chin up and nose to the grind stone!
You’ll get there!

 

Save yourself the trouble on this one. 1967 Mustang master cylinder. Rock Auto has them brand new for like $50 and no core charge. Plus it's a dual master, which is a solid safety feature over a single jar. Just T off your fittings now to separate your front lines from your rear, and plumb front cylinder to the rear, rear cylinder to the front. The master is a bolt in with no modification whatsoever. using only the bottom two bolts. Use the factory hardware. I've had one in my 57 for 20 years without fail. Keep up the good work.

 

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From what ive seen those masters have two bolts, and the factory has 4, none matching locations. Would i need to drill holes? Plus i'd need to rewire my brake lights, and other things.

 

No, the bottom two holes line up, the top two holes simply aren't used. There is no drilling required at all. It bolts straight in.

There is also no reason to rewire your brake lights either. The 57 Ford master has the provision off the front of it for the pressure switch, which I'm assuming you're using. All you have to do is use a 1/8" NPT T fitting in line with one of your brake lines right off the master and screw your pressure switch right into it. It's a $3 part from the plumbing section at Home Depot. I did this to my 57 years ago. I'll take some pictures tomorrow if I'm out in the garage. It's cake. Easy bolt in install and the upgrade of a dual master.

 

Thank you, this actually sounds pretty easy to do.

 

I used a Speedway Ford master in my car, lined right up with the 2 bottom holes. IIRC the bore is 1".