Projects All original 50 merc

The frame in the Merc is super beefy and would handle the power just fine, but a 460 weighs a ton and isn't going to be very friendly with manual steering, plus it's not very period-correct which is what the HAMB is all about.

There's no way I'd pull out a running flathead to swap in a newer 460. That time would be way better spent doing sheetmetal repairs. Unless you want to tow a horse trailer with it or something, I just don't see the benefit. Especially if that engine is already in another old vehicle that also currently runs.

As for the rearend, the one you want is the '51 Merc rear, that's a Dana 44 and has parts interchangeability for 50+ years on all sorts of ****. Bolts in with no changes whatsoever. The 49-50 Merc rear is an oddball Dana unit that's fine behind a stock flathead but is nothing special.

 

We don't talk about EFI anything here

 

What I have found the 460 weighs about 200 pounds more than the flathead. My 460 has headers that are easily half the weight of the factory exhaust manifolds.
The 460 is sitting on a different ch***is than my willys truck now, I did a body swap to another vehicle with a plan to put the 460 back into it at a later date. For now it's just sitting on my car hauler.
I was just looking for someone to talk me out of doing it, and I came to the right place. Thanks, the flathead will be staying. The efi 460 is an ugly motor compared to the flathead. If something happens with the flathead in the future then maybe I'll consider it if the BB isn't in the willys by then.

 

Alright guys. I took a break from working on my Willys. I got the merc running decent enough to take her down the road, new starter relay and I pulled the started off and cleaned the internals to remove a slight build up of rust off the starter. I got her up to 41 mph and went 8.2 miles. She was gutless to say the least and hardly reved past 2k rpm. When I would attempt to downshift from 3rd to second or second to 1st it would act as if it was neutral until the motor slowed down more. Clutch slippage?

When I got her back home I decided she was running good enough to take to a car show 2 miles from my house yesterday... I made it half way there and she gave up. Teying to crank it on the side of the road fuel pressure jumped to 7.5 psi and started dripping out of the carb. I had to trailer her back home.

I got her back home and got her running again but now she's popping out of the exhaust. I pulled all the plugs checked the gap .030, all plugs look good and are firing. I adjusted the points .015, it was a little bigger than that to start. Then I bought a new fuel pressure regulator and no matter what I have done with fuel psi I can't get it to stop popping out of the exhaust. I have tried everything from 1psi to 4.5psi, 3-3.5 psi seems to be its happy spot but doesn't stop the popping just minimizes it. It sounds like it's coming from the drivers side rear cylinder mostly. I pulled the air filter off and breather also just to rule clogging out. I also noticed the "flapper" that on the p***engers side exhaust manifold that connects the driver's side exhaust has unwound itself. I put it in what I believe is the open position, the flapper isn't something new just something I noticed.

It's also not wanting to idle for too long. Once the choke opens all the way it sounds like it is loading up, fuel psi hasn't changed this at all. I noticed what I'm calling wear spots on the idle bracket where the idle screw rides, I'm not sure if this is normal but until I press the gas pedal it stays in the same place... I can get pictures if it'll help. I upped the idle rpm and this helped slightly but not enough.

My next plan of attack is to do a compression test. Everything as far as I can tell is in good shape on the ignition side. No big loss of voltage while cranking though it does slow down very fast after the first few revolutions. It also acts as if the battery is dead after it has run. I have verified the generator is charging.