51 Mercury Mordoor Freshening

This installment deals with rocker panel and door corner repair. Once we had the car stripped we were able to get back to making patch panels to fix rust damage.



As can be seen from this photo, we had to remake the complete inner rocker panel corner at the rear wheel. This side was damaged the worst. Here the inner patch panel has been fabricated and welded in place.



The new rocker panel inner support pieces tacked in place.



A photo taken from below of the new inner rocker panel patch.



Good view of the amount of the rocker that was removed to facilitate the repair.



Passenger side outter rocker panel rust damage.



Back edge as seen through the rear wheel opening of rust damage to back corner of the rocker panel.





Rust damage to the front corner of the passenger side rocker panel.



Patch installed on the bottom of the passenger side rear door corner.



View of the inside of the door where the seam was folded and pinched.



Repair to the corner of the other passenger side door.



The passenger side rear rocker panel corner has had the spot welds drilled out and has been cut away from the rest of the structure.



Another view of the removed rocker panel corner.



Back to working on the driver side rocker panel. Here the piece has been fabricated and is being fitted for the rear door post.



Rear door post repair seen from the side.



Photo of the inner rocker structure as seen from inside the wheel opening.



View from below.





Inner rocker panel structure as seen from the wheel opening has been primed.

 

Wow! lots of work! Nice transformation, great car, keep posting updates.

 

Green is probably the best color for these old mercs, IMO. I wanna do mine in a candy green like the OZ Merc. Keep the pics coming....

 

Cool...but I think you need to take more pictures!

 

Looking good. Keep it coming!

 

For the love of Pete, pull that junk 48 Kaiser sunvisor off of that beautiful car and drive your tractor or forklift over it 52 times so you'll never be tempted to do that to any other car you have.
Great work, great car.

 

Looking good. keep it coming!

 

Ok folks, these photos continue on with patching the rocker panels and fabricating the dog legs for the passenger quarter panel.



Here we have the newly fabricated passenger side dog leg being fitted to the quarter panel.



The quarter has been bolted to the car to allow us to test fit with the new dog leg tacked in place.



Closeup showing rust damage at the rear corner of the passenger side quarter panel.



View showing the curves to the inside of the newly fabricated dog leg.



Checking the curvature of the dog leg in relation to the door opening.



Picture taken from in the wheel opening showing the support brace that bolts to the body mounted behind the dog leg.



View of the front of the dog leg at the door opening.



View of the back of the passenger side dog leg after it has been welded to the quarter panel. Inner support bracket has not yet been installed.



Here the inner support bracket is being trial fit.



The newly fabricated passenger side back corner for the rocker panel sits beside the original piece that had rotted.



Another view of the new and old pieces.



The final patch that closes off the back of the driver side rocker panel in the wheel opening has been spot welded in place.



Another view from inside the wheel opening.



The lower door post has been spot welded to the patch that closes off the rocker panel to the inner wheel opening.

 

The inner wheel opening patch after priming.



Driver side inner rocker panel, lower door post and inner wheel opening patch after priming taken from the side.



Driver side inner rocker panel, lower door post and inner wheel opening patch after priming taken from below.

 

You have a beautiful car and you do some kick ass work but PLEASE ditch the visor for one that fits, if you could not justify using the ill fitting Foxcraft skirts I am surprised you can deal with that.

 

Working on finishing the patchwork to the driver and passenger side outter rocker panels at the rear corner.



Passenger side rear rocker panel corner after installation. All that remains now is to replace the factory spot welds on the rear tab.



Installation of the passenger side rear rocker panel corner as seen from below.



View of the rear corner of the rocker panel corner taken from above.



Top plate of the driver side rocker panel has been reinstalled. Note rust damage to rear corner.



Photo showing joint of top plate to remainder of top rocker panel bracing.



Closeup of rust damage to rear corner of outter rocker panel.



View of the top of the passenger side rear rocker panel corner after final welding and factory spot welding.





Welds after being ground off on driver side top rocker panel joint.



Test fitting and installation of driver side outter rear rocker panel corner.



Rear corner of driver side outter rocker panel as seen from inside the wheel opening.

 

Man that is a bitchen merc....

 

Very nice Merc. I love the interior. Great job on it.

 

Sweet car interier is awsome!

 

Ok, for everyone that has made comments about the sun visor. That is the correct Fulton Sunshield for a 51 Mercury. Remember, Fulton was an aftermarket piece (like Foxcraft fender skirts) and was not produced by Mercury. It was an accessory that would fit many different makes/models. What is throwing everyone off is the fact it is not painted body color. Also, this camera has a tendency to exaggerate the angles and shapes of an item. The visor looks fine on the car in person...... That said, I have made the decision to not install it after the car is painted. I have a large collection of magazines from the 1950s that feature mercury 4 doors that have been customized, and none of them have featured a sunvisor. That and the fact I have gotten used to the car without the visor are the only reasons it is not going back on. Also should note, trying to see stop lights with it on is a royal pain in the ass. If I was determined to put the visor back on, I would. We all have our own tastes, so there is no right or wrong in the hot rod/custom car world. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean the owner has to agree.

 

Im thrilled to hear that the visor will be deep sixed!You are an asset to merc-kind! If this is your idea of a little freshenin up, I cant wait to see you really do a resto!

 

hahaha i hated the visor as well, but your explaination or should i say "kiss my ass if you dont like it cause i do" pretty much summed everything up

 

THAT IS A VERY GOOD DECISION,some parts that where used at that time do not pass in the eyes of todays car guys,unless its a chevy.Since it is an aftermarket piece,try a different visor , there are several that could fit..and look better.Try a "baseball" cap type visor,it has smoother lines.Good move,anyway.I dig that Tijuana style interior.

 

Ok, the next few posts will deal with the continuation of the fabricating/repairs to the rocker panels and dog legs/quarter panels. The areas we are working on here were amongst the worst of the damage to the car.



Once we had replaced the rear corner of the passenger side rocker panel, we found some rust in the portion immediately before. We cut that portion out and replaced it with a new section.



The same corner taken from slightly below.



Patch required on the passenger side quarter panel at the wheel opening.



Completed passenger side dog leg.



Closeup of the join line on the passenger side dog leg. This will get a skim of lead.



Newly fabricated and installed back corner of the passenger side quarter panel. Once again, repair will see lead.



Picture of the completed passenger side rear rocker panel corner.



Completed rocker panel corner as seen from slightly below.



Passenger side rear rocker panel corner as seen from the wheel opening. All that remains is a little finish grinding and some lead.

 

Here the finished quarter panel has been reinstalled. We are checking the fit of the dog leg at the rocker panel. There was a factory seam here that had been covered with bondo to hide the rotten dog leg.



Fitting the passenger side quarter and making any minor adjustments that might be needed.



Slight adjustment needed to the back corner of the quarter.



Photo showing the repair made to the corner of the wheel opening.



Checking the fit of the dog leg to the inner quarter panel.







Trial fitting the driver side dog leg to door opening. The driver side dog leg was taken from a used part that had a mint front section.



Checking the fit where the dog leg meets the rear of the rocker panel.



View through the wheel opening at the dog leg inner bracket where it bolts to the inner quarter panel.



View of the installed driver quarter panel taken from the back corner.



View of the installed driver quarter panel taken from the door opening.



Another view of the dog leg support bracket to inner quarter panel mounting.

 

Dog leg to rocker panel fit.



Final adjustment to the passenger side rear door gap.



Everything is looking good. a few more tweaks and we'll be all done.





Working on the rocker panel to door gap fit on the driver side.

 

Now that the rocker panel and quarter panel repairs have pretty much been taken care of, it was time to m ove on to the headlight frenching. For those of you following this thread that might not know, 54 Mercury headlight rings and stainless inserts were used to achieve the frenched look. While these pieces are getting more difficult to find, Night Prowlers makes a decent reproduction. The parts used on this car were originals.



The passenger side headlight has been frenched and in this photo the lead is being shaped.



View as seen from the front after lead shaping has been completed.



Frenched headlight as seen from slightly below.



View taken from the inside. Final lead shaping still has to be completed.



Outside of driver head light after frenching. Lead has been applied, but has yet to be shaped.



View as taken from the front.



View as taken from slightly below.



View as taken from the inside.

 

Wow!
Awesome documentation!!
You guys aren't fucking around.
Post 'em all!!!

 

Now we are applying the lead to the dog legs/quarter panels and finding more shoddy repair work on the front fenders.



The lead has been applied to the passenger side dog leg and rear rocker panel corner. Next step is shaping the lead.



Rocker panel showing lead application.



Stripped corner of the passenger side fender showing patches. We were going to have to replace this shoddy workmanship.



Closeup of the patch and holes in lower edge of fender.



Closeup of patch at wheel opening.



Lead applied to driver side rear rocker panel. Waiting to start metal shaping.



Application of lead to the driver side dog leg. Next step, metal shaping.

 

I liked the visor...


Doing a great job I always liked those moredoors ... keep up the awesome work!

 

Fixing the bottom of the front fenders and a little metal shaping too.



Passenger side fender patch installed. Needs a little grinding and some lead work.



Passenger side fender patch as seen from slightly below.



Driver side fender corner after being cut out.



Another view.



Driver side rocker panel after final metal shaping.

 

Looks great thus far.

You crack me up guy! This is the view from drivers front showing the 3/4 stance...I think 99.9% of us know where you are taking the picture from. Some of the inner structure may leave a few scratching their heads though.

 

Finishing up the lead work, and finishing the patching of the driver side front fender.



The final metal shaping of the passenger side headlight. Fender was tacked to the grille surround, then the seam was filled with lead.



Completed headlight bucket taken from the side.



Showing the filled in seam at the fender/grille surround.



Showing the filled in seam where the fender meets the grille surround on the driver side.



Finished driver side headlight as seen from the front.



Finished driver side headlight bucket seen from the side.



Driver side lower fender patch installed as seen from the side.



Driver side lower fender patch installed as seen from the wheel opening.



Metal shaping finished to the lower fender patch on the passenger side.



Dent in the door post was filled with lead, then finished by metal shaping.



Seam in the quarter panel under the taillight has been smoothed.



Lead applied to lower trunk sill where it joins with quarter panel. Factory seam was smoothed.



Repair of lower trunk sill at quarter by taillights. Car was hit just below the drivers taillight at some point. Area required straightening before lead application. Again the factory seams were smoothed.



Repaired area of the quarter below taillight opening. Awaiting metal shaping.







After metal shaping and finish sanding.



More of the same.

 

Final pictures of the lead work.



Finished upper quarter.



Had to add a bit of lead to the seam above the parking light mounting on the driver side.



Had to add a bit of lead to the seam above the parking light mounting on the passenger side.



Finished lower patch panel on the driver side front fender.



Side view.

 

Spraying the repaired areas with tank primer. The car is pretty much ready to go to the painter now. This series of pictures shows the primed areas.