If you are still looking for a shift collar for you 56 Merc I have an NOS one that I am willing to sell for $75. Contact me if you are interested.
@56MercMan , let me just say that the day you finish your project mama needs a steak and lobster dinner.
Late to the party, look at channel Y619 and Y620. Restoration Specialties has them, CR Laurance, Metro Glass and others. One is hard-back and rigid, the other soft-backed and flexible. You should be able to match up dimensions from the descriptions. RS may be able to tell you exactly what you need, start with them 1st. They come in 6' long pieces, so measure up what you have as not to waste much. I think I wound up with 6" of the rigid leftover. On the rigid, on my car they wound up being 31.25" long for each door, this ties the vent window into the door. I cut it in a vise with plywood to keep it from collapsing, I used a razor hobby saw to cut it. I had to mill some slots in it to match the OG ones and drill new holes. I pop-riveted them into place with flat-head rivets.
Late response... Sorry. I mounted LED trailer lights inside so it is brighter then the halogens: Hope the pic is allowed To mount the lens I actually put some clear silicone to hold them on
Picture of inside my light: Lit up on car. Night running and brake lights. LED on right Stock on the left.
I didn’t even think to use an existing led unit under the lenses. From your pics, it appears to be very effective. I’m glad I have not started on my overly complicated light array I designed!
I have used simple replacement LED bulbs and have not been happy with them. Eventually the socket connection seems to not work well. So that is why I wanted to wire in some LED's on this one. I have a simple plug like a stock light and they are brighter which will hopefully help others see me.
My first thought was to use led replacement bulbs in the brake/running and back-up sockets, but they didn’t appear very bright. I was going to solder together an array of led lights for more brightness. But, the trailer lights look perfect and are already wired for turn, brake and running light functions!
I found out why I lost oil pressure: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/sbf-302-oil-pressure-help.1242266/page-2#post-14465796 While I was getting dirty I figured I would try and dress it up a little. New valve covers. I tried finding some old Cal Customs but was striking out. The ones I could afford flew out the door before I could grab them and the ones that I could get cost WAY too much:
Took her for her first drive after oil pressure fix and new valve covers. SHort trip to pick the kids up from school. Oil pressure held hi and no noises. I did notice some leaking coolant. I think it is coming from that stupid thermostat housing. Will do a little more digging but she is running again so I can go back to working on luxury stuff like windows, lights and maybe more body work. Fix the small rust spot on my new hood and get that on it.
Does anyone have any tips and tricks to get these gaps smaller and more uniform? I have the bolts slightly tight allowing me to move it around but it is either good on one side and bad on 2 or bad on all. I tried loosening the fender and moving it around also.
^^^^ Welcome to the world of 1956 assembly. Mallets and rubber hammers. Sorry to say these are not new Hondas or Volvos and Kendig is not assembling your car at $100+ per hour. Just do the best you can and paint it a dark color.
Adjust the hood for best fit at the cowl, then adjust the fenders. You'll need some body shims (U-shaped washers) for the fenders along with tweaking the inner fenders. It's an exercise in patience....
Thank you Steve. Still playing with it but got closer tonight. I believe I need to slot some holes a little at the very front of the car as the fenders are sucked in as much as I can and the gap still gets larger towards the front.
Keep in mind that it's sometimes better to use shims rather than move an attaching part and possibly mis-align some other part.
Hey everyone. Been a little since posting BUT I am still working away. I am working on the roof. Trying to get the metal straight so I can put some color on it (Need a little color to keep me motivated). In doing that plenty of side things come up like having to fix my air compressor so I cna spray and such. I have another ? for you all. Around the holes in the roof where you bolt down the stainless trim... What do I use to keep water out? Would you recommend butyl? As an update: I re ran the fuel line from the tank as I think I was getting vapor lock. I got a set of 4 hub caps for a 56 so I am happy about that. Got some rubber parts so I can start sealing the doors and such The holes I am looking to keep water out of: The stainless trim has a stud and I add a nut from inside the car. There was some sort of putty on it before.
Yes! I used it around the backside of all of the trim fasteners on my ‘55 Mercury. In fact, it’s fantastic for plugging up rust holes on my off topic Olds station wagon!
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