Ok. I am almost too embarr***ed to post this question, but I am hoping you guys will have pity on a noob who wants to learn. My '50 Merc project is coming along nicely if not slowly. While I wait to accrue enough cash to buy some of the pricey things I want to buy for it, I can do smaller projects. First, i want to shave the doors, trunk, hood and remove the trim on the sides. Obviously I will need door opening mechanism to replace the handles. so I figure someone like iDidit should be able to help with that, but how do I actually go about filling the holes. I would think welding up the holes using a br*** or copper s**** behind the hole in the metal would be good, but I figure some body filler would also work. What do you guys recommend? I want to french the headlights as well so I guess some frenching rings and a welder are required for that. I don't suppose they bolt on and use filler? Again, I am a newbie so don't get annoyed with me right away for asking such basic questions. BTW, I did search the forum before I posted this question.
Remove the outer door handles and the inner mechanism should still be inside the door. Leave it and attach your door poppers to them. Unless they're one piece there's no need to get new mechanism and make more work.
Welding or brazing is the best way to fill the trim holes. Fibregl*** or bondo will work if you dimple the hole slightly. For Frenched headlights you need to buy or make steel rings to weld to the fenders, fill in gaps with pieces of sheet metal. Remount the headlight from the inside of the fender so you can remove it when it burns out. Make sure you can get at the adjusting screws from the inside if not from the outside. Some filler will be needed in any case, to smooth the surfaces after welding and grinding. There was another method of filling trim holes using tapered copper rivets but I don't suppose they have been available for 40 years.
Filling and smoothing simply with bondo is a recipe for future failure with cracks, etc. Your best bet for shaving the door handles will be to cut a piece of metal the size of the resulting hole and then welding it in place. Simply backing the hole with copper and then welding will result in too much heat and warpage from a hole that size. The smaller holes can be backed and welded. The headlights are best done by welding rings such as 52 Mercury rings to the fender and then blending them in. Post pics of your project!
Yep, you're going to need to weld the holes up. You are correct, for small holes you can back them with a copper s**** (I use a flattened piece of copper pipe) and just weld them up. For bigger holes you'll need to cut a piece of metal and weld it in. Body filler isn't going to do the trick unless it's just to smooth out the panel after welding. If you're really good at metal work you won't need any filler at all. But if you're like me, you'll need a skim coat and a little block sanding to make 'em perfect. ^^Oops! Dr Dave beat me to it.
Here is a tech post Brad Masterson did on frenching headlights. He gas welds and uses lead but the same could be accomplished with a mig welder. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=591399
never braze a hole, and never use fibergl***. weld them up solid. I never use a copper backing, I can see how that could help, but it is not needed, besides many times you can't get to the back for trim holes I try to use a sheetmetal plug for holes over about 1/4". you need to watch your heat both in the welding process as well as when grinding. I like to have several holes going at the same time and skip around some. if you can't touch it with your hand it is too hot and you need to wait or go to another hole. I grind down welds using the edge of a thin cut off wheel, hitting only the weld, and not the surrounding sheetmetal. if you grind using the flat side of a grinding wheel and hit the weld and the metal around it you thin the metal out and add unnessesary heat. small holes should need no more than a dab of filler if any. I know a guy who chopped an F-1 and ground the **** out of his welds until the whole area was paper thin with pin holes. he was so proud of himself.
Thanks guys. I do have a pic or two of the project She is really sweet with good metal throughout. My goal is to not make her worse-Do no harm, you might say. She will eventually be my daily driver. So far I have installed disc brakes up front and lowered her 2 inches. The entire front suspension has been rebuilt. New heavy duty springs and HD shocks all the way around should help the ride as well. I am going to re-install the flathead if I can figure out how it goes back in. LOL! I may need advice on that later.
You can get the cut off wheels in 1/4" thickness for weld removal. Works much better, easier, and way cheaper in the long run
in addition to links given do a long search of threads here on the work you plan to do, you are not the first to do this. you might reconsider the HD springs since they might take away the 2" drop. shoebox Ford Fords use Ford Aerostar springs for a good ride with built in lowering. might be best to have a shop got through your engine with hardened valve seats, etc to use modern gas and make sure it will give you many reliable miles.
NightProwlers sells the '52-54 Mercury headlight rings for frenching the headlights. It looks like their website is down right now, but here's their ebay link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-1953-1...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item2a245d7ccf You'll find links to a lot of '49-51 Mercury info in my build thread link below.
What he said...the only way to fill a hole is with metal. A good trick for filling trim holes is to take a steel nail, put it in the trim n hole nail up, head down, tack it, cut the nail off and finish welding, clean it up, put some Margl*** over it, and finish accordingly
What a sweet ride...it looks to be in very nice condition. By all means nose and deck her, shave the door handles too if thats what you like, but PLEASE do not take the side trim off. First off, its a difficult job without warping the side panels, secondly, it makes the car look naked. It needs this trim to break-up the sides so as not to look so thick. You said you didn't want to do the car any harm...my opinion is that this would harm the car. Look for pictures of other 4-doors that are done conservative. These 4-door mke great looking conservative customs and your looks to be areally nice car.
I installed dropped uprights from Fatman Fab. I got the springs because I was going to put a 460 in the car, and it is heavier than the flathead by 150 lbs or so. Basically there isn't much difference in the weight of these springs and the OEM springs. But with the dropped uprights the spindles are higher than they would have been.
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