Projects All The Twos: 1962 Mercury, 352cui, 2bbl, Too Many Doors.

The HAMB is jealous now. The Ford/Mercury haters and the 4 door haters all want your car. You did very well by the looks of it.

 

It’s sharing the garage with a Chevy, so all isn’t lost

 

Any brands to go for or avoid for basic service items, I need to get some bits for the OT car and was going to get some spare bits to stick in the trunk of the Merc?

 

Sill covers off and no nasty surprises.


The leak on the drive wasn’t the steering it was the fuel pump diaphragm, so I’m assuming that’s pissing into the sump too.

 

About 12 hours later I think I’ve got most of the mud and sand off the bottom



Think I’ve found why there’s no gas in the AC



Power steering grumble is the pump, it’s a newly rebuilt one but the oil has a festive sparkle to it. I’m going to leave the underside till the New Year to properly dry out before coating it.

I think the bonnet needs to come off to get the engine out so I’ll see if the Ms is up for a bit if heavy lifting over the weekend and the try and get the engine out.

 

It’s the little wins that count, exhaust to manifold nuts all came out.

 

Engine is ready to come out, just trying to come up with a plan to support the transmission whilst keeping it mobile.


Whoever posted on here somewhere about using washers to help get the bonnet springs off is a genius.

 

Ratchet strap between frame rails and piece of 2x4 between strap and transmission.

 

Thanks. Ratchet strap is what I was thinking. Block of wood is a good plan though.

 

Bonnet off


And engine out, it’s going to have to sit there a while. I’d assumed I could mount it to the engine stand with the same bolts I use for Chevys but they’re too small so will have to get some after Christmas

 

Your car looks like it should have a hitch on the back with a loaded open race car trailer…

 

An extra couple of inches for a hitch and it genuinely wouldn’t fit in the garage!

 

A friend of my folks actually did that to his garage door to fit an E-type in.

 

Got the LH exhaust manifold off with out too much trouble. The RHS is proving a bit harder.


Took a valve cover off, top end looks pretty good for a 60 year old motor

 

Broke one bolt but got the other side off too.


Choke heater is blocked. Not sure whether to keep it or convert to electric

 

Back from the in-laws and got the engine on the stand today.


And stopped the inlet and heads.


Think it’s probably going to need a re-bore, there’s basically no wear but it looks like it’s got seized some point in the past.

 

A good honing may clean that up. Who is doing the prep work, you or a shop?

 

Me, I do pretty much everything myself unless I don’t have the tools like machining.

It’s borderline. I’ll give it a try but it catches your fingernail. Bit of a shame as you can still see the crosshatching in some of the bores. I’ve not actually looked at all of them so it may be the worst or it may not.

 

Only one bolt? Some people have all the luck!

 

Hmmmm. For a daily cruiser, I’d probably hone and go.
About 6 yers ago a friend had a stuck 318 polly. Soaked for a while, no good. I bowed up in a pry bar an got it to turn.
He changed the oil and been driving it since.

 

There was about 3/4” of it sticking out so I welded a nut to the end. It broke. I did that 3 times and it just got shorter. It ain’t coming out so going to have to drill and tap it.

 

18 year old me would too. I’ve become more accurate/risk averse/anal as I’ve got older. Could also be that there less beer and fags involved.

 

Only one slug was involved? Check that cylinder and head carefully, something may have let coolant into the bore.

 

Thanks, good tip. It does have two different head gaskets; a metal Ford one and one of those nasty silver fibre ones. Will have a proper clean and look tomorrow.

 

Which side was the bad slug on? Odd that someone would pull one head and not the other side too. On the "bad" side, look closely at the gasket for damage or sign of a water track.

 

Got the sump off and that piston out. Bearings look good, piston is ok, rings aren’t bad, if it wasn’t for the water I wouldn’t be doing anything.

About that water, it’s had a sump full by the looks of it at some point, that’s water dripping from the main’s bolt.


This is on the original gasket side, the only bit of the gasket surface that might just might be compromised is this bit. And I’m sure

The other option is the sump has had water in it because of a failed gasket on the other bank and this bore is wet via the carb. The air filter element was in upside down (they’re like a top hat) and there was evidence of water sitting in the air filter housing or there’s a crack in the bore but I think that’s really unlikely.

 

Oil pump is a bit rough.

Think I’ll change the pulley spacer as that groove will probably not be in the “right” place with a different seal


And a new damper too.

 

I’m struggling to find a definite answer about balancers. Do the aftermarket ones allow you to bolt up the extra pulleys I have.
Stock balancer has one pulley.


Bolted to it is a two pulley arrangement for PAS and AC


Can I use that with something like this

 

When i replace damper in my 63 390, there was only 427 dampers avaible.it is bigger diameter but was direct bolt in.even came with new pointer for advance.
So yes, that should work.

 

Thanks @Pontmerc