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

My second hand Holley turned up, primary float bowl screw threads are stripped, should’ve just bought a new carb! Need to find a some helicoils now

 

One helicoil in


one drill bit broken


Need to find another one of those, bugger. So to cheer myself up I then covered myself in fuel by changing the 60 year old rubber pipes from the tank.

 

That’d be why the threads are stripped


How do you bend a float chamber screw?

 

I'd be worried about what ELSE is wrong with it! You might want to get some pin drills and make sure nobody hogged out any passages for "more performance."

 

Can’t see much else has been apart. It’s got two different floats in it so I reckon they’ve had the primary float bowl off to replace that. It was also missing washer/gaskets on the stripped screws so would’ve leaked. They knew it was buggered and probably replaced it with a new one as it came in a Holley box!

 

I got a "remanufactured" Holley.... what a POS that was. Long story made short, I went and got a new one from Summit.

 

You need to check the carb body where the floats attach. Those surfaces are supposed to be flat and if they're not, the carb is probably junk. Sometimes you can sand them flat, but usually not. What happens is somebody goes just a bit gorilla putting the float bowl on and it leaks. They then go full gorilla and warp the bowl and probably the carb body. Realizing their error, they replace the bowl but the bent body still won't seal.

There is a torque spec for those screws... it's only 2.6-3.3 ft-lbs (32-40 in-lbs). That's not very much...

 

Holley back together and fitted.



Runs much better now, vid:

https://oneball.smugmug.com/Cars/Merc-Original/n-5ZtcCv/i-TSDNtZn

Need to put something proper in place for the fuel lines from the pump and my air cleaner doesn’t fit , because the factory book says it’s ok for the Holley equipped cars I thought it’d be ok but it won’t clear the adjusters on centre hung floats.

 

Still wasn’t running right, so eventually traced it to the intake leaking from the valley. Got it apart today and it’s leaking pretty much all the way along the bottom edge.

Contemplating options now. I may go with a different intake but it’ll mean losing the valve covers as it’s not got a filler tube.

 

There Really isnt anything wrong with original 2v intake/carburetor combo.

 

Apart from the carb that’s knackered! I’m kind of stuck in a circle of broken stuff!!

 

Just got mine painted.hood underside, hood springs etc, yes i know cleaner and covers are wrong color tone.
Il correct that by mext winter, i do have correct castillian gold paint allready waiting.

 

Whats wrong with 2100?

 

The choke mechanism is broken and it’s different to the 4100 as that has the spring loaded flap in the choke plate where’s the 2100 has the spring to allow it to open under load in the thermo mechanism. So I can’t swap them.

 

I’ve had a better look at the Offenhauser intake and it looks like it sits low on one corner and even though the gap seems consistent to the intake gasket I’m wondering if there is a fit issue or if using the cork China wall gaskets held it up. I’m seriously considering going with Pontmerc’s suggestion and fitting the original cast intake even though it’s not something I really want to do.

 

Your original 62 carburetor will accept std holley jets.you put that orig int and carb combo in and tune it up to perfection.
You gonna surprise yourself how good it will perform.

 

You get that thing running yet?
I have mot and museum registration check tomorrow with this.interior came out pretty nice even with t-bird floor mats.

 

Not yet, won’t be till next week, waiting on gaskets.

I’ve removed the wasps nest and painted the iron intake.


Test fitted the Offy one

and the iron one

The Offy one has a 20 thou gap at the left rear, the iron one sits flat so the iron one is going back on.

I’ve never knowingly made a car slower before!!!!

 

You could put a Holley 500 cfm 2 barrel on there. They like gas, but perform well!

 

I did think of that for the future, the holes in the intake are way bigger than the carb. I could also get the Offy intake squared up.

 

yes on the square up!

 

Hey i got mot passed and later we had local cruise in and couple friends stop by at my ranch..
You better get that thing on the road.

 

Intake is on, just waiting for some carb gaskets.

 

2100 rebuilt and all back together.

Runs better, doesn’t shake you in the seat at idle. Somethings not right with the accelerator pump, but at least it’s now mobile and I can get on with fixing the race car for the weekend!!

 

Went for a bit of a drive today. Bunch of stuff still to do but couldn’t resist. It’s definitely not as snappy off the line as it was with the 4bbl, need to check it’s going full throttle but I think it’ll be a winter job to put it back on. Bit of driveline vibration and steering is all over the show but it’s pretty tidy, might drop the tyre pressures a little as it’s a bit jiggly.

The cool air vents impressed me, not got the ac working yet but at anything above 20mph it’s chilly inside.

 

Wait till you got yourself a 63 or 64 with breezeway roof.those really get some fresh Air inside when driving.
I dont even mention my 57 turnpike cruiser with floor and roof air vents, hard top side windows and breezeway rear glass..
All the good things convertibles have minus sun baking.

 

I ran a 429 and a 460 Ford in a stock car, a claimer class, who would want a monster Ford engine? You could run a 4-barrel, only not a Holley. So we ran a 2-barrel Holley 4412 (which I still have a couple of).

After a win one night we get protested. The officials look... and said, no HOLLEY 4-barrels... we said , take another look. Then they said no Holleys, period. So we put an Autolite on it, it was just as fast as it was with the Holley.

 

If I come across a 2300 or one of the bigger Autolites I might stick it on. I’ve not actually decoded the tag to see if that’s the proper carb, it’s a fair bit smaller than the holes in the intake.

 

Checked the tracking, it’s miles out but we knew that.


Put the stainless trim on


It was so close, but no cigar, bloody thermostat housing is leaking. Not only did I fix it in place I checked with an endoscope through the heater hose hole. Fxxxing Ford!!!

 

Got the header tank/thermostat housing off, the gasket is obviously leaking but I can’t see why, thermostat is in the right place and nothing else obvious. I chief the bolts don’t bottom out too. So put it back together with a thicker gasket and used some sealant after putting a file over both surfaces. Refilled the coolant and ran up to temp, will see what it’s like tomorrow.

Started cleaning with the trunk and swapped the 50 year old spare for one of the wheels it was running on, not much use as I’ve not got a wheel brace, but it’s the thought that counts!!


Spotted this at the weekend