Projects Nothing to see here - Just another boring Merc build

Symco '12: My fiancée at the time, now my wife. by 1pickup posted Oct 21, 2012 at 11:43 PM

That's my second favorite pic of my '49 Merc. My favorite is of both of us, standing in front of it at our wedding reception.

Backstory: I wanted a chopped '49-'51 Merc since I was a kid. Too many car shows /swap meets with my old man, I guess. I had the chance at a couple when I was younger but didn't have the money. Even a chopped one for $2200 in the early '80s. I should have scrounged up the cash. Sometime in 2010-2011, I went to an estate auction that had a '49 & a '50. I was hoping to come home with one of them. The '50 looked better. Better paint, better interior, etc. But upon further inspection, they really both needed the same work, except a shattered back glass in the '49. The '49 came up first, and I bought it. The '50 went for something like $1500 more than mine. After the auction, the PO's daughter told me the '49 was his baby. He drove it all the time. A new back window & a new battery, and I was on the road.

I immediately got and installed a Butch's Rod Shop lowering kit. The front seat was out of a sedan, so no using the back seat, until I got some '66 T-bird seats. Might as well use the back seat too.

'66 T-Bird seats installed. by 1pickup posted Oct 21, 2012 at 11:43 PM

I shaved the hood and rounded the corners. Threw some maroon paint on that. The only other thing I did, was to convert to a floor shift. The column shifter fell apart. I would have left it, if it worked. And a stock split back front seat, if I had one. Well, it's gonna get customized anyway...

 

After driving it for a few years, it went on the back burner while I did a bunch of work to my '39 Standard,

My old '63 Wagon,

63wagon28 by 1pickup posted Jul 5, 2016 at 4:23 PM

My Triumph bobber,

'67 triumph bobber by 1pickup posted Jun 5, 2013 at 6:08 PM

and even spent some time on my '36/'37 pickup project.

PXL_20221024_145830030 by 1pickup posted Aug 31, 2023 at 11:54 PM

And the big Caddy powered Buick.


But, after taking the chop class with @Pinstriper40, I knew it was time to get busy.
And so, it begins...

10/19/25 Day 1. Removed the front bumper, hood, and the rest of the front clip in one piece. A little lifting help from my son made that easier. All it needed was fresh gas and a new battery, and I could be driving it. Except I stole the tires on it for the Buick project. Maybe this was a mistake.

Hmm... found this on tear down. Didn't know that was possible.

 

10/20/25 Day 2. I pulled the driveshaft, trans cover, shifter, engine/trans.

I've got new front floor pans. The rest looks pretty good. But I'm concentrating on the chassis first.

 

10/22/25 I did pull the front seats before to get the trans tunnel off. It was time to get the back seat out & try to get the trunk lid open. It worked great, until it didn't. Sent my wife through the interior, into the trunk. She's smaller, younger (5 months), and more agile that I am. She managed to get the lock unbolted and the lid opened. The latch was stuck on the striker pin. I tapped it with a hammer and got it off. The latch works great. I have no idea what was holding it. Maybe the pin has a little damage? I'll check it out later. The rear bumper is off, and front (firewall) & rear (trunk) body bolts out (1 rear broke off).
Here's what I'm working with:
Front floor is better than most Wisconsin cars, but needs to be replaced:

Rear floor looks really good:

Trunk floor:

I had previously done some clean up on the trunk floor and put some POR-15 on it. Underside too. Even the spare tire well looks good. Forgot that I put a new fuel tank & line in before as well.

 

Looking good so far

 

10/24/25 Day 4 I got the steering column/box out as one unit. Unbolted the master cyl from the frame. Got the rest of the body bolts out.

Ready to start raising the body. As I did that, the front tire came off the ground. Hmm... Another look finds the front seat mount bolts also go through the frame. Broke the pass side off and couldn't reach the driver's side with both hands (working alone), so improvise:

I was gonna replace it anyway. Success!

 

Saturday was kind of wasted, except for a trip to Harbor Freight for another floor jack (this job requires 2), a tarp and some heavy-duty castors to build a body cart. Sunday was a wedding and watching the Packers beat the Steelers. Today I'm back on this project. 10/27/25 Day 5. With some help from my wife, 2 floor jacks, some 8' timbers and some cement blocks, I managed to get the car up high enough to roll the chassis out from under it. My shop has a high ceiling. The plan is to build a body cart to roll the body outside & cover it for the winter (thus, the tarp), while I tackle the chassis in the shop.

There will be plenty of work to do stripping the old stuff off the frame and hopefully get it to the sandblaster.
Somebody has been here before. The rear pan is pretty beat. You should see the butchery where they opened it up for dual exhaust. Looks like one side may have been torched off. Whatever, metalwork comes later.

 

Looks like you will busy for awhile on this one. I'll be watching.

 

Disconnected the E brake cable and rolled it outside. I took the body pads off as well. Bagged & tagged most of it. Now to build some kind of cart to roll the body out. All the things done so far make a big visual difference. Now comes hours of work that look like minutes of work. Hoping to have a completed, painted, rebuilt rolling chassis with 9" rear, 401 Nailhead & 4 speed come spring. Wish me luck.

 

So we're going to chop it next fall? I have two dates available!

 

Glad to see I was of some inspiration! Looks like a great start!!

 

Ha! Joel, you're awesome. Let me get the bottom end done before we start talking about giving it a haircut.

 

Take your time, do good work, eat your vegetables!

 

Just a sneak peek of what's to come.

 

11/1/25 I finished up my homemade body cart. I bought the casters & hardware but scrounged the lumber from here & my late FIL's farm. Total cost about $100.

Lag bolts, 4X4s, super long 2X4s lagged together, and brackets. Here's a close up of the shoddy work:

Body will be stored outside for the winter. It's survived 75 Wisconsin winters, so one more ain't gonna make much difference.

11/2/25 The chassis is in the shop. Man, I have too much stuff crammed in here. Already removed exhaust brackets, rear shocks and fuel tank bracket. Time to strip the rest.

 

Watch that front clip like a hawk if you have tweakers in the area..

 

Maybe I'll chain it to the body cart.

 

Factory frame lightening........awesome!

 

Frame is stripped & on the trailer. Scraped off 75 years' worth of grease, sprayed engine degreaser & pressure washed it. Found some damage at the rear spring hangers. A crack & they're bending in a little. I'm****uming this is common. A little heating, bending & welding (maybe a little reinforcing) should take care of it. The rest looks pretty good. Had a hell of a mouse nest in where the steering box bolts on. Next is pulling the rear leafs apart and then sending all to the blaster.

 

Just a heads up. When using cement blocks to support anything, use them the way they are used in a building, with the cores facing up, not on their sides, and always have a piece of wood on the top to spread out the weight. Metal directly on a cement block can crack them and cause a failure.

 

Got the leaf springs torn apart. My sand blasting guy is gone for a few days. Hopefully I can get it all to him by the end of next week. Meanwhile...

Here's the rear I'm planning to use vs the original. About 1/4" wider. Was told it was '60s Econoline Van. Preliminary internet investigation tells me that with a fill plug in the rear, and 2 dimples makes it a '60-'67.
Spring perches on the top = truck.

C5AW: C5='65 A=Big Car, but that's deceiving as they used it on trucks too. It's got 4 1/2" pattern.
5H21='65 August 21st? So, 1965 Econoline Van? Does this sound correct? The tag is gone, and I haven't opened it up yet to check the gears. I'll have to get some new perches for the 3" housing & 2" springs.

 

Looks like Econoline. They used 3.50 or 4.11 ratio IIRC

 

I had a 65 Econoline with the 240 6 cylinder and it had 3.50 gears in it.

 

Thanks @RMR&C & @J. A. Miller
I'm hoping for the 3.50 set. 4.11 might be a little steep for cruising a Nailhead/Saginaw 4 speed combo. I'm not trying to build a fast car, just a cool car that is fast enough to get me out of trouble if needed.

 

Something to just think about. I know lowering blocks are traditional and I grew up in that time frame. Everything had a stick shift trans in them back then. I hated the clutch chatter and spring wrap that they caused. Somewhere in the 60's I started changing how the springs were mounted to eliminate the issue. I've lost track of how many jobs I've done over the years. You need to do frame repairs now's the time to do it. Lot's of ways to do this job.

 

I pulled the rear axle apart. This is my first 9" (insert joke here), so I have no idea what I'm doing or what I'm looking at.

I did find some pretty bad pitting on the ring gear. Is it unusable? I probably could have left it together and used it as is and never knew there was anything wrong.

Had to count teeth, as I couldn't see any numbers. I think they're under the pits. 13 & 39 sounds like a 3.0:1
I have another Ford rear that I was told was a 9". '67 Fairlane coil spring rear. It's way too wide, but I looked at using the drop out (also 13/39 gears), but I'm pretty sure that one's an 8".

 

That gear is gonna make some bad noise

 

Yeah, you can put new gears on that one,(it likely needs other parts too) but it's much easier to find a different pumpkin.
Surprised it has a 3.0 ratio. Those were used mostly in 1/2 ton pickups w/ a v8 and auto trans

 

I have another. Also 3.0. Looks much better but has a weird shield around the pinion w/ a rubber snubber. It's supposed to be '67 Fairlane.

comparison:

 

Looks aren't everything. Don't tell it that it looks stupid, and it will work just fine for you. The snubber mount can be removed if it would help without any operational issues.