Technical Bought a 56 Mercury lead sled. Questions

I saw it last night

 

Noooo. I've been busy with work and my 56 Buick supposed to be ready for me soon, it's been gone 2years

 

Yes .I will be interested in your lights PM Me anytime

 

Funny you said that..A couple of my buddies said that

 

Glad you're back @Sgt. John I'd really like to watch this car come together.

 

Yes.Im going to take my time..1 thing at a time

 

I bought ot from a gentleman name Gary in Norfolk Va..That car looks identical to mine

 

Hello...I found a set of taillights

 

Hello...I found a set of taillights

 

The roof was Chopped

 

Well I found a set of 56 Packard taillights with extra lenses 4 hours away from me and bought them...Found a OUTSTANDING Gentlemen..Bought them UNDER 700.00...THINKING ABOUT A 53-55 DESOTO GRILLE IF IT WOOD FIT

 

That was a good deal for those lights, they look right at home on the car.

 

Nice going on the tail lights! That's big step!

 

Yes..Even with extra lenses..I have found a windshield. I'm waiting on the guy to call me..3 hours away..

 

Thanks

 

There is a guy on IG bernie the glass guy...he can do it. He has lots of experience. You fly him out,normal rules apply...you pay for labor,parts ,plane tix.

 

Hello Greetings..I got my windshield and I also got a 390 V8 with all the accessories..drained the oil no water, oil only..transmission oil was clean..pulled the valve covers a little water stain on the rocker shaft from the pcv valve was sitting little while..C6 transmission oil was clean and had all the linkage..$600 for all

 

Hello Greetings Everybody..Little update. Windshield is getting cut and installed next week..The 390 engine is TRASH LOCKED...I broke 3 breaker bars using a 5ft pipe. Used mystery oil..I got a GOOD running 351m ALL accessories and great compression...Motor and Transmission together...Just Trying to Cruise.. Are these good engines ?? I Just put the air breather on it ..The Distributor is being changed to a 1 wire type

 

This thing is MINT!

 

Well, I'm a hard-core Ford guy and the 351C/M/400 would be my last choice as a swap candidate. They're generally unloved for a variety of reasons, but the biggy is the oiling system. For some reason Ford prioritized it to where the lifters were first in line for oil, then the cam bearings, and finally the crank/rods. Every other motor they built oiled a main galley that split, oiling the lifters out one opening and the bearings out the other. Don't rev the motor on a cold start until oil pressure has been established for at least 30 seconds or you may spin a rod bearing. When I was still working as a mechanic in the early '70s I had a customer who blew up the 351C in his LTD twice by flooring the gas and cranking the starter until it caught. Rod bearings, both times. 'Back in the day' when the 351C was Ford's Pro Stock choice for power, the racers went through all sorts of monkey-motion attempting to fix this including sleeving the lifter bores, fitting restrictors, or even blocking most of the passages and running external lines to ensure oil went where they needed it. Ford never corrected this on the production motors (which was one of the reasons it was short lived) but when 355" size motors became standard in NASCAR Ford finally came out with a race block that had the 351C deck height and main bearing size but used the Windsor oiling system. Problem solved, but you won't find any of those in the boneyards.

With all that said, it's not a bad motor if used as intended; a lo-po grocery getter. They do have a number of unique parts not found on any other Ford motor however. Fuel pumps are a PITA to change.

One issue with swapping a later Ford V8 into the Y-block cars is Ford changed the 'cylinder offset'. The Y-block had the drivers-side head as 'leading', i.e. the rod bearing/cylinder is centered on the front half of the rod bearing journal. This pushes the head forward about 1" compared to the passenger side. Starting with the FE, Ford reversed this, the passenger side is now forward. This was done to give more room for soon-to-be factory installed AC. As Ford contoured the firewall for this offset, when installing the newer motor the driver side head now hits the firewall if mounted in the 'same' position. This will push the motor forward about 2", causing issues with motor length into the radiator which on the Mercury is already tight. If you had a Ford, swapping to the six radiator location is an option but Mercury didn't offer a six. Getting the drivers-side head as close to the firewall as possible will help (1/4" of clearance will be adequate) but will require new throttle linkage, or possible notch the firewall. It's all doable, just measure very carefully before deciding on what to do. The larger bulk of the Cleveland head doesn't help here.

Cool custom, good luck!

 

And for what it's worth, $600 for a complete FE core with the C6 isn't a bad price at all. Those aren't as cheap as they used to be. That one looks like it's rebuildable, it'll just be a matter of getting it apart.

 

Okay Thanks..I'm not a Ford guy BUT I'm just going to Cruise it..I wished I known this..I would have bought a 302/C4...The Gentleman that I bought it from said he had that in it and he took it to a shop and never got his engine and transmission and radiator

 

Good morning. Have te Merc getting her windshield cut. I fired up the engine 351M, no knock.no smoke no Ticking..Engine was rebuilt fully. Noticed new head gaskets,Oil Pan Valve Cover gaskets,water outlet gaskets...Cranked right up...Getting ready to install new plugs and wires and new 2 wire Distributor and paint this weekend

 

Good Day Everyone..The Merc Project is moving along great..Windshield will be cut and installed by the weekend... Cleaned and painted up engine, new plugs,new Dizzy, Bought black powder coated valve covers with gaskets $20.00 NEW...Went ahead and put some Chicken Breasts and lambchops on the grill and a 12 pack of Coronas...Thought somebody was going to show up but didn't..

 

Where do you live? With food and beer like that I would be there in short order.

 

Moving right along on this project, that's great to see! Once it's got a windshield in it, everything else is gravy. You're doing this right.

 

i saw a show where they had a problem finding glass for the car, and they paid a visit to a shop (los angeles?) where they cut existing stuff to fit your application.

 

I'm near Virginia Beach Virginia