Projects 1953 Mercury Monterey intake swap

My 1953 Monterey has a flathead and originally came with a “teapot” carburetor, but when I got it there was a Holley 94 hacked in its place. The teapot has a 4 bolt base and the 94 has a three bolt. I decided to swap the intake with a 8BA Ford, and while I was in there, I was going to adjust the valves. I’d didn’t quite work out as planned.






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Great that the valve guide came out easily and that you
found the problem. Just curious, will you be reusing the stock head bolts?

 

That engine looks really clean inside; is it a recent rebuild? The grey painted valve springs and the lifters look identical to those that came with the Iskendarian MAX-1 cam I just put in my 258" hot rod motor. I would expect it has a camshaft to match.

Now that you have it torn down this far, I think you should reconsider installing the Ford carburetor and manifold, That engine could use more carburetion. If you don't want to go with multi-carbs, I would consider getting the proper Holley 885 and having it rebuilt, or even better, find yourself a small base Rochester 2G out of a 283 Chevy or some such. I have them on two flatheads and they are the answer for a street motor. They flow as much as two 94's and are still just one carburetor, and a better, more modern design at that. The bolt pattern is the same so they will bolt tight on the Mercury manifold. If you mount the carb backwards, the fuel line and throttle linkage fall right into place. I see you have the manifold with the "divorced choke" mechanism on the intake manifold. If you get a 2GV version, they also have the divorced choke and that also literally falls into place with a slight bend in the actuating rod. There are a couple of cautions; first, the throttle bores in the Merc manifold are smaller than those than those on the carburetor, so though it will bolt right on, you should enlarge the bores in the manifold to get the maximum effect. Any competent machine shop should be able to do this. Second, the base of the 2G has some relieved areas for exhaust heat purposes. You have to be cautious with which gasket(s) you use or you will end up with a big vacuum leak. What I have done is to have some aluminum plates made of 1/4" stock that solve this problem with a GM carb gasket on both sides. I have a bunch of extras if you want to go this route (It cost about $2 more for ten than making two.)

Here's a picture of a 2GV on a '51 Merc manifold on one of my engines.

 

I will be reusing the head bolts. I’m kinda cheap that way.


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The Rochester carb sounds like a great idea, but my manifold has been modified by someone drilling that third hole so the 94 would fit. I may think about the Rochester swap in the future. The engine was rebuilt by someone I’m guessing 20 years ago and then the car sat. I have no idea what cam or compression pistons are in it.


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I'm sure the aluminum plate I mentioned will cover up the fifth hole in the manifold and solve that problem, If you're interested, I can send you one and you can check it out.