Technical Bought a 56 Mercury lead sled. Questions

I bought ot from a gentleman name Gary in Norfolk Va..That car looks identical to mine

 

The roof was Chopped

 

That was a good deal for those lights, they look right at home on the car.

 

Nice going on the tail lights! That's big step!

 

There is a guy on IG bernie the glass guy...he can do it. He has lots of experience. You fly him out,normal rules apply...you pay for labor,parts ,plane tix.

 

This thing is MINT!

 

Well, I'm a hard-core Ford guy and the 351C/M/400 would be my last choice as a swap candidate. They're generally unloved for a variety of reasons, but the biggy is the oiling system. For some reason Ford prioritized it to where the lifters were first in line for oil, then the cam bearings, and finally the crank/rods. Every other motor they built oiled a main galley that split, oiling the lifters out one opening and the bearings out the other. Don't rev the motor on a cold start until oil pressure has been established for at least 30 seconds or you may spin a rod bearing. When I was still working as a mechanic in the early '70s I had a customer who blew up the 351C in his LTD twice by flooring the gas and cranking the starter until it caught. Rod bearings, both times. 'Back in the day' when the 351C was Ford's Pro Stock choice for power, the racers went through all sorts of monkey-motion attempting to fix this including sleeving the lifter bores, fitting restrictors, or even blocking most of the passages and running external lines to ensure oil went where they needed it. Ford never corrected this on the production motors (which was one of the reasons it was short lived) but when 355" size motors became standard in NASCAR Ford finally came out with a race block that had the 351C deck height and main bearing size but used the Windsor oiling system. Problem solved, but you won't find any of those in the boneyards.

With all that said, it's not a bad motor if used as intended; a lo-po grocery getter. They do have a number of unique parts not found on any other Ford motor however. Fuel pumps are a PITA to change.

One issue with swapping a later Ford V8 into the Y-block cars is Ford changed the 'cylinder offset'. The Y-block had the drivers-side head as 'leading', i.e. the rod bearing/cylinder is centered on the front half of the rod bearing journal. This pushes the head forward about 1" compared to the passenger side. Starting with the FE, Ford reversed this, the passenger side is now forward. This was done to give more room for soon-to-be factory installed AC. As Ford contoured the firewall for this offset, when installing the newer motor the driver side head now hits the firewall if mounted in the 'same' position. This will push the motor forward about 2", causing issues with motor length into the radiator which on the Mercury is already tight. If you had a Ford, swapping to the six radiator location is an option but Mercury didn't offer a six. Getting the drivers-side head as close to the firewall as possible will help (1/4" of clearance will be adequate) but will require new throttle linkage, or possible notch the firewall. It's all doable, just measure very carefully before deciding on what to do. The larger bulk of the Cleveland head doesn't help here.

Cool custom, good luck!

 

And for what it's worth, $600 for a complete FE core with the C6 isn't a bad price at all. Those aren't as cheap as they used to be. That one looks like it's rebuildable, it'll just be a matter of getting it apart.

 

Okay Thanks..I'm not a Ford guy BUT I'm just going to Cruise it..I wished I known this..I would have bought a 302/C4...The Gentleman that I bought it from said he had that in it and he took it to a shop and never got his engine and transmission and radiator

 

Where do you live? With food and beer like that I would be there in short order.

 

Moving right along on this project, that's great to see! Once it's got a windshield in it, everything else is gravy. You're doing this right.

 

i saw a show where they had a problem finding glass for the car, and they paid a visit to a shop (los angeles?) where they cut existing stuff to fit your application.

 

I'm really enjoying your thread. Once you have a windshield, you're there. Sad about the FE motor. I saw a few '56 Fords with 390s in them. About the only time Ford made it relatively easy, like for the Chevy guys. I'd put that 390 in a corner of the shop and pull the plugs and keep putting some sort of penatrating oil or trans fluid in the cylinders. If you can get it freed up, you'll easily get you $600 back and then some. Loving that Mercury!

 

I just realized you said you're around Virginia Beach. I'm up in Dover, DE. When you get ready to take her out to her first cruise, post that on here. I would absolutely drive down to see your Merc.

 

Hello. Sorry for the late reply...Trust me I will

 

I like where you're taking this, Sarge! Good finish work on a great Kustom!

I was shocked to see the first pics in your post, 'way back in time (1956) I bought a Revell 1/32 scale '56 Merc 4 dr. hardtop model, chopped it a scale 5" and lengthened rear fenders, made a long pair of skirts...
Man, I thought someone 'found' that old model and did it up 'right'! There were very few full custom '56 Merc 4 dr. hardtops then, even in model form...
Congrats.

 

Good evening to everyone..I been busy but finally got the windshield done. Had 2 windshields cracked but the 3rd one was the charm ALSO he put 4 laminated side glasses and eliminated the vent glasses

 

I’d drive it

 

I drove her today and rides great!!!!

 

Congrats on getting the glass complete!

 

Thanks

 

Thanks

 

Hello. The Sarge Is Back!!!!