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

The boat has docked and I’ve got transport from the port for next Friday as it’s too heavy for me to tow!

I’ve also found some old shiny stuff! So I’ll be able to put 15” tyres on. The 14” choices here are really limited.

 

It’s off the boat and through customs, one more sleep to go!

 

Super nice car.

 

Fingers crossed, I’ll see it for the first time tomorrow

 

It’s arrived, unfortunately dark here so not had a real good look. But it seems a really good solid car.

The interior is fab.


Took a bit of effort to start, battery was pretty flat and after sitting so long I think it was struggling to pump fuel up, but poured some in the carb, put a new battery on and it started up. I might have broken a cable to one of the vents as it was sticky and then want kerpling!

Torque converter seems very tight compared with what I’m used to, it properly loads up when you put it in gear, and take a fair effort on the brake to hold it.

 

Had a look to see what works. Didn’t have to do anything to the radio, I thought it wasn’t get power last night but seems ok. But it made me chuckle, turned it on, took a while to warm up and the first thing I heard from it was “I tend to steer clear of pig’s anuses”!! Apparently something about cooking offal.

Haven’t got the clock working. It’s not connected and can’t find the power lead, wiring looks really nice though.

Reverse light needs a bulb and a/c has no gas but I think everything else is ok.


Hopefully it’ll stop raining long enough to give it a clean and investigate underneath.

 

Still scratching my head with the clock. Found the exhaust manifold leak.


Don’t think a new gasket is going to fix that. I was trying to avoid going down the header route.

Underside looks really solid




Before we get on to engine tweeks, wheels and suspension I need to come up with a plan to protect the underneath, I’m not sure if I should go for painting it all or under seal. Any thoughts?

 

Hard to beat a product like POR-15 to encapsulate the rust and stop it from spreading.

 

I am leaning towards painting it under there. Problem with paint is you have to do it really well and concentrate on getting it into all the knocks and crannies.

It really is one of the nicest cars I’ve owned. I’m genuinely astonished that a 60 year old car can be like this. Our weather here is so crap your average 60s car was rusted to death by the 70s.

 

That car is amazingly clean...

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of FE exhaust leaks Looks like a super clean start.

 

I used to restore cars for living when I lived in the UK where we were expected to give no-rust guarantee and to me, if you want this protected properly, it's off to the blasters for a session of dry ice stripping (or similar) followed by paint and then rust proofing with something from Fertan or Mike Sander (see links). Yes, you'll have to dismantle the tank too to do the boot floor... And I would get all the cavities done too. The problem of living on an island is that the salt is in the atmosphare no matter where you live - plus it's pretty humid, so even if you only drive in the summer the metal gets attacked CONSTNTLY. I know it's a pain in the arse and costs a bit but once you do it you'll be able to forget about this problem as long as you have the car.
UNDERBODY COATINGS – Fertan
Mike Sanders | Scparts.co.uk

 

Thanks for the links. I’ve got all the kit to do cavities from cars I’ve restored before and dropping the tank was on my list of winter jobs. I do have a dehumidifier in the garage that makes a real difference, it probably pulls half a gallon of water out of the atmosphere a day.

 

It’s is amazingly clean, it’s also, weirdly, amazingly dirty too. The outside is kind of covered in a grey/brown dirt from somewhere, probably lived up a dirt road half it’s life.

The first owners name and address is in the owners handbook so I had a google and came up with a tombstone, I thought that was rather sad for some reason.

 

Really not looking forward to that! What are there 16 rusty bolts to come off?

 

Battery is dead. 8v so must have lost some cells. I’m pretty sure every car I’ve bought in the last 20 years has needed a new battery within a month, no one else seems to have this problem!

And another death!

 

Bloody hell, that's British humidity for you That would deal with conditions in your garage but summer in the UK is, well, wet. My concern is with the adhesion of any Schutz-like material which can act as water trap once it dries, and even POR-15 has to be applied directly on metal, hence my suggestion of blasting the underside. There is of course the option of spending days scraping with a spatula or brush etc. Don't know about you but at 62 this kind of activity is no longer something I'd like to do (I am a masochist, just not that kind of a masochist). A job for a young lad who wants to earn a few quids during the summer holidays?

 

Those are my concerns too. I’m also having a look at some of the Lanolin based stuff too. I think a lot of my pontificating is due to not really wanting to crawl under there to do it. Give me an engine or gearbox to rebuild any day!

 

Lol. The oily bits can have their foibles too but hey we're masochists!

One more suggestion: my car came from the drier part of Oregon and it looked good when I inspected it under a lift, but when I took out the carpet and the rear seat there were a couple of surprises, so some welding followed. I would look under there if I were you.

 

Stopped raining long enough to give it a wash.


It’s had a little wee, I think it’s power steering fluid as it’s a bit grumbly.


The chassis is half full of sand. Not too sure how to get it out, I can’t see any drain holes in the bottom of the rails so don’t think washing it out will work. Maybe compressed air, any suggestions?

 

Mine was stored inside somewhere dusty, the entire car was covered in what looked like concrete dust. It however all washed off.

 

Pulled some of the trim off, doesn’t look bad underneath there, need to go and look at the manual to see how the sill (rocker?) trims come off



These are my new favourite automotive brand; pleasurizer



Popped one of the wheels I got on the back to check clearance, think they’ll be just right with a 215 tyre.

 

I had a bunch or crap in my Nomad's frame-dust, rust specks, pine cones, turds. I jammed my shop vac in openings, then stuck an air wand in opposite end of frame rail, and started blowing the stuff around. Think, I got most. Took several tries.

 

Sounds like a good plan. I’ll give it a go.

 

Please DO swap out the cam in it !!!
Nothing wild on the duration OR lift but a 108-110 LSA to give it some "testicles" when its idling and some jump off idle.
Big block Fords (even with factory manifolds) need 2.5" pipes and turbo mufflers!
Nothing sounds sweeter than a FE with a bubbly idle.
6sally6

 

Exhaust leaks and the incredibly heavy intake are the two worst things about the FE. Just a heads-up; don't be surprised if most of the exhaust manifold bolts break off when you go to repair that. If (more likely when) they do, bite the bullet and just pull the head(s) to have the remains extracted by a professional. Don't try to do it with the head on the engine, you'll just frustrate yourself and more likely make a mess. Learned that lesson the hard way...

You can probably save that manifold. Have the machine shop make a pass with a mill to bring it back flat, do the same on the head mounting surface. Reinstall it with grade eight bolts, not the grade fives Ford used. Ford used no gaskets or shim steel gaskets on these, if using the typical aftermarket exhaust gasket sneak up on the final torque so you don't warp the manifold or break an ear off. Use some copper-based hi-temp silicon sparingly on the gasket.

Very nice Merc...

 

I’ve spoken to Lykins Motorsport about a cam. I want to try and keep the existing manifolds and exhaust for the time being to save some money. But I’m going more for Cadillac than Corvette.

 

I’m going to pull the engine anyway, hopefully it’ll come out with the manifolds. But that gap on the drivers side is 80 thou, it’s been blowing a long time and has eaten the gap bigger. I’m a bit worried about exhaust mounting surface of the head.

I’ve already got an alloy intake and 4bbl Autolite for it.

 

My car was dry thankfully and came from Denver, born in San Jose CA in July of 1959. Every drain hole was like it just rolled off the line. The guy I got it from (Sam's Vintage Ford Parts in Denver), he and his dad called it the best '59 Ford they saw in the last 20 years.

I have told this tale before. The bottom of the car was loaded with spider NESTS. I got bit on the hand while taking off a brake drum. The car was up on 4 jack stands, wheels off. I power washed the entire bottom of the car, a lot came out of the frame rails. It left quite a pile on the driveway.

 

I had a quick go at cleaning the underside with water, a brush and some Scotchbrite.

Before:


After:

So I know have a cleaning plan, I don’t like it much as it’s bloody freezing here but at least there’s a way forward. What I thought was continuous surface rust is actually half the State of Missouri.