Is there anybody out there that can help me with the front end of a 46 Merc? When I first stripped the front end down I thought it strange that the only thing holding the sheetmetal onto the chassis were the bolts attaching the rear of the front fenders to the sides of the firewall and the inner fenders being pinched behind the front upper shock mounts but decided hey thats how they did it in those days!! Well after a lot more research into this car and looking at every type of literature I can find, I have come to the conclusion that no, that is NOT how they did it in those days but it is how somebody 'customised' the front end during its lifetime. I have found that during its 'makeover' it has had a lot of front sheetmetal removed to allow the Caddy 365 motor and radiator to sit right at the cost of any structural integrity of the front end (they must have thought that they would be too busy cruisin' slowly to worry about the front flipping up when air got under it ). Which brings me to my question, does anyone know how the front end SHOULD be attached and where are the fixing points to ensure that I don't end up with a front end trying to rip its way to the back of the car. I have decided that the inner fenders must have been fixed to the chassis rails but none of the holes along the bottom edge of the fender and the rail line up. I also believe that the radiator brace (now missing from mine) seemed to play a major part in tying the two sides together. Any help that you guys can give me in solving this would be greatly appreciated as I know I could just bolt it down and make something that works but I do like to keep to original concepts wherever I can.
The radiator support frame holds the front of the front end assembly together, the rear is mounted to the body and that does it.
The radiator support frame not only holds the inner fenders together, it supports the whole front end sheetmetal. There is a simple rig going down to a spring-loaded bolt that goes into a small bolt-in crossmenber below the radiator. This supports the weight at the center and allows frame to twist a bit without ripping up the sheetmetal. Pictures at 11.
Drawings: Look here, on Mac's site: http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/FH_images/FH_rad-grill-pics/Flathead_radtr42-48car.jpg This is Ford...Merc is about the same. Looking at the partial part numbers, 5071 is a bolt-in crossmember on frame. 16138 connects support assembly to the 5071...single bolt with spring, allowing everything to flex without twisting radiator or sheetmetal.
Guys Thanks for confirming my suspicions, at least I can now work on the front knowing what parts I need to get. Bruce, I thought the inner fenders would not fair well being fixed to a flexing chassis, thanks for clearing that up and coming to my aid yet again! Got the original parts book for the car showing that diagram you posted up but for some reason the section on front sheetmetal omits this radiator brace and has it in the radiator section so wasn't quite sure if the two were intrinsically linked. Thanks again
mercurial: If you have a fax machine, I could send you some illistrations out of the ford books on the entire front end. If no fax, give me your address & i'll send you copies of them.Bruce's illistration is good, but some of it does not apply to the merc. sheet metal.
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