Projects All The Twos: 1962 Mercury, 352cui, 2bbl, Too Many Doors.

Waiting for the ferry in Caen by Bill Millin's statue on Sword beach. The story goes that the German soldiers thought he was nuts wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes so they didn't aim at him

 

Back in England now. Just stopped off at Membury services. Doesn't look much now but it was RAF Membury. Some of the 101st Airbourne Division took off from here on D Day.

 

Back home in the garage. Only issue I had was when I pulled into an underground car park and stopped at the barrier it stalled. I’d been sitting in traffic on a hot day for 30mins so I’m wondering if it was fuel vaporisation and the ramp down into the car park pushed it over the edge. Not a fan of the steering at high speed though. I think I need to do something with the power steering control valve. I’ve rebuilt it already and replace the sliding sleeve but I think the body may be worn.

 

Got the PS control valve off and I can't get my head round if there's anything wrong with it. There's more play than I would consider normal at the wheel and it seems to be within the control valve as you can see the shuttle moving more than I'd think but on the bench can't find anything. The book says 0.06 inch of movement when assembled but without the centereing spring there is a lot more. It wanders quite nastily at speed but I can't work out why. It's better than it was since I've rebuilt the front end but I'm still not happy.

 

I can’t find anything wrong with the steering or the front suspension. There 0.060” of movement in the control valve which is what the book says there should be on the bench. There’s no play anywhere else. There’s 1/8” toe in and 3deg caster and it’s still scarily moving around the road speed. I’m utterly out of ideas.

 

Wheel offset other than stock can change the scrub radius and cause wandering/darting. Some cars are very sensitive to even a small amount of change

 

I did look at that, I might put the originals back on just to rule it out but tire width, rolling radius are as per stock and offset is very similar.

 

Been through the whole front end with the Ms waggling stuff and there is absolutely no play anywhere. Next job I’ll try putting the original wheels on and if that doesn’t work I’ll change the geometry. Part of me is thinking this might actually be a rear end issue.

 

That much caster may cause bump steering.
Also you could try add some toe in.

 

Had a proper go at the front end geometry last night. Got 4 deg caster, -0.5 camber and 0 toe and it’s so much better. One hand cruising on the dual carriageway. Think it might need a bit of attention to the rear end around spring mounts but I’m a lot happier.