I, uh, have no clue why that door is, um, bent... Not that I was trying to straighten the door pillar with a floor jack or anything (cough cough) FH, some Saturday soon we'll slide out to the supersecret junkyard that has that body. He says everything is for sale, and there's a really sweet Diamond T cabover too... Jay
Racer Rick Tommy now that,s what I,am talking about.Nice work guys.How are you doing yours 51 gringo?
Of course, what would the menage a trois be without you? PS, the Monkey looks sweet... sweet enough to motivate me! Jay
This thread just got brought back up, and I saw this reply to my post. No, I still think this makes absolutely no sense. So....essentailly you are going to put a "new" frame under it, THEN use a disc brake kit? What sense is that? I thought the new frame was the "kit". So, they make a kit for the Merc...and if you put a 9" in there, BAM...ebay cheap disc conversion kits for one of the most popular rear axles Detroit ever made. I understand the low part, but man oh man, once you are done brake kitting and air bagging, you are saying to swap a frame out to essentailly gain motor mounts. That is *** backwards.
Does anyone know if the '52-'54 Merc front supension (A arms and uprights) can be easily fitted to a '49-'51 Merc? This would give you balljoints and I think the disc conversion kits are cheaper(?), this would be far cheaper than the Jamco balljoint kit!
I got my front end from Jim Weimer Rod Garage, its complete, just cut the old one off, this slides in.
I had this idea a few years ago, but it's a no go. First off, if memory serves me right, 54 is the first year of ball joints. It was also the first year of teh Y block, which moves the engine cradle crossmember back about 8 inches or so for it to be a mid mount motor, not the front mount like the flatheads were. So, lower control arms mount differently, waaaay differently.
i built a perimeter frame of 2x4 rectangular tubing and used the 95 lincoln Mark8 floor pan and suspension on mine i used the lincoln floor pan because it drops down and gives you much more head room for the chopped top . in fact my mercs going to be called the Merc VIII im also using the drive train
Here's a 79 Trans Am front steer subframe with Heidt's 1in. narrowed control arms to pull the wheels in.
Just wondering if anyone has used a GM B body frame ( 77-mid 90's Caprice impala Parisienne etc) under a Merc I know it would have to be stretched a couple of inches, but I am wondering if the front track width might be a bit narrower than the Olds 98's that Dean used to use. I have a super clean one for a donor and a 51 Merc with no floors and a good chunk of the frame missing.
When I got my '50 4-door, the previous owner had tried to graft an old Buick front clip on with a homemade rear section. I would have used it the way it was without any issues, but when I pulled the body off, the frame sprung and damn near lifted the front right tire. I found a complete '70 T-Bird as my donor. The 429, C6 and Ford 9" were in great shape and didn't need anything except some gaskets. The wheelbase was within 2"s and the trackwidth was pretty close. I was going to use the T-Bird frame, but the siderails were too wide. I ended up keeping the front clip with the front disc brakes, 429 and C6 already mounted in it. I made a new center and rear section out of 2"x4" tubing. For the rear section, I narrowed it and stepped it up to allow for the airride I am planning on running and the 16" wide rear tires.
Mine has a 69-70 T-bird front clip. ****in HATE it! Recently got a stock '50 Merc frame,complete! Plans are to swap over the body,after doing some suspension and brake upgrades. There are so many suspension upgrades available for stock Mercs,that I don't know why anybody would want to clip one! I can understand a Mustang II,if you want to lay it on the ground,but that would be the exception.
When I subframed my 51 Coupe I used a first generation Camaro/jrear steer Nova subframe. We cut the Merc frame just behind the original spring buckets and slipped the subframe between the rails. A little extra t******* of the Merc frame is required but it takes trial fits to get it right. The rear end of the subframe rails will tie into the X member after they are trimed to fit. The stock Merc core support bolts to the front crossmember that holds the sway bar on the subframe after a couple of holes are drilled to match the ones in he core support and proper shims and rubber spacer are used. I used a piece of sidewall out of a tire. I used a column that wouldn't cut it on here but a proper HAMB friendly column could be conjured up without too many issues. I swapped the brakes to disk off a 72 Monte Carlo/Chevelle which is a bolt on swap. I drove that setup about 80 or so k without problems with the suspension or steering. I ran a 350 Olds in it an clearances were pretty good.
I used a Jag subframe complete in mine. A lot of work but will be an awesome ride. Also boxed the complete ch***is and installed new x members and a Jag diff. Front and rear are completely rubber mounted just like jag did it.
Just to add another to the pile... I put a 79 Olds Cutl*** front clip on mine. The trick is to use a clip that has the correct track width and doesn't make the front wheels stick way out. I have posted these pics a million times, so don't look if you have seen em before.. See ya, -Abone.
The frame under mine is really rotten...back end was sittin in the wet ground for over 20 yrs with no wheels on it,almost a foot of it is missing infront of the driverside rear wheel, I am surprised it didnt break in half when we pulled it outta the woods ! Not likely I am gonna find a usable orig frame around here but I have put the word out . I am pretty sure the caprice will be just about as wide as the Olds 98's but the car isnt here for me to measure it, I will have to take a run over tomorrow . If its too wide I am tossing around the idea of using a G body clip like FlamedAbone did, but stick it on the front of the caprice frame, or caprice rear clip g body front and make my own in between.
guys I do full floorpan swaps all the time. they are just like chop tops or anything else to do with car building. grab you a tape,go to a salvage yard and start measuring.measure twice, don,t worry about what joe blow put under his ride.there,s a floor pan out there that you need. right now I drive a 1960 buick with a late model floorpan, a1959 olds with a1992 chevy floorpan and just finished up a 1952 willys ace with a1982 olds floorpan come guys puts some work into it,you can do it. hey i,m 69 years old and this keeps me going
Mine has a B Body Parisienne frame but I've not verified whether it's Pontiac, Chevy or olds, I have 15x7's on my car:
we just did a 50 merc bagged with stock front susp. and used a disc break conversion from a ford f-100 straight axle. with a chevy saginaw p.s.box. we also sale a 2 link rear suspension. you dont have to hack up your floor as much as a 4 link and a lot better ride. call us @ jimenez bros customs 951 781 1268. i have some pics i can send.
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