Projects My 1951 Mercury Restoration Part II

Mercuryland sells the safety latch kit from the catalogue I'm looking at.

 

I have the opposite problem. I have the safety catch but need the spring and cup for the main pin. The new hubcaps look GREAT. What a far cry from the "McDonald's Merc". No offense meant PSJ. Just noting how different the car looks now.

 

I'm glad the McMerc look is in the past, I laugh about it too don't worry I am quite the jokester in person.

I have no hole, is smooth like bottom of ken doll/russian accent...



Skirv I'll keep an eye out for you, lots of Mercs get parted out.

My hood is now up about 1.25 inches in the back, Matt was thinking the hinges need to be adjusted I hope they are not permanently jacked up but then again I know where to find them.

I need this latch so I can get back to driving 70mph on the highway. Now I'm scared to.

 

Man, that is a total bummer John! Hopefully yours will adjust back down. When mine blew up on the previous owner (I am also missing the catch), it bent the hood, the fenders and it appears rolled the fenders in at the bottom and bent the lower grille pan.

 

Wow that sucks Dave. I know for sure that the passenger side fender is tweaked up a hair by the hinge, I can see it, but the driver's side I'm not sure.

Does the factory latch just catch the inside of the hood or is there a bar or anything in there?

 

Shoebox Ford and Mac's both sell reproduction safety latches, I ordered the stuff from Mac's because it was cheaper and looks like the exact same thing:

http://macsautoparts.com/search.asp?sb=0&ls=y&camid=F50&year=0&make=&ss=8M-16897-B.&x=14&y=7

 

Hey John- Wow-Sorry to hear of the hood deal-hope it's not that bad.
First- as for the caps....I like the red set.maybe start a poll?
I somewhat freaked after reading things and had to go look- Had the safety latch "groove" been filled in? And,does it have the provision for the catch latch itself? Not an expert by any means,so do not know if some came with/without. You can buy the catch arm,but mounting? Just checking. Enclosed are a couple of pics for reference.....Let me know if you need more shots-M

 

Hey Mike thanks for the pics I haven't looked at the underside of the sheetmetal yet. From your pics it looks like the latch is bolted just underneath? Or what is that black plate to the left of the latch?

I ordered:

 

John- Your 3 screws going thru around the hood popper catch-it bolts undernieth..... The parts you bought are correct,but if theres no provision there,your gonna have to drill bud.Mine's spot welded to the underside. No sense in welding it as your painted,just a couple of shiny button heads should do it.!.!. Hopefully when you "groove" for the safety arm,you'll be spot on. I would recommend trying to have one with the groove to look at for reference,but if not,I can take pics and measure as best I can!

 

Hey John. I took a couple of pics of my stock 50.



I think the latch hooks into that circular opening
I'll also see if I can extract a page from the OM.

 

You guys are the best!! I totally get it. Yeah I'll look for the slot in the underside of the hood or will add one, and I'll plan to bolt the bracket. Mike you said three bolts, I'm thinking this little bracket will use two right, just one on each side?

 

one more.

 

yep!

 

Thanks guys, and Jim thanks for the OM pics (I got roots near Atlantic City my dad lives in Absecon)...

I looked at my hood has I think those holes. Is the latch actually off center, or centered?

I know why ole billy bob (my car came from SC) shaved the safety latch, so he could weld in round tube that runs from one side to the other. The good news that the car could withstand me putting it into the side of a dumpster the bad news is I would probably hit a dumpster if the hood flew up again.

Mac's is backordered on that latch, I'll see if Shoebox has it in stock. Otherwise I'm going to start thinking about using that Jeep latch I bought.


*Edit* I ordered it all from Chris @ Shoebox Fords. He said the '51 is a bolt in for the Ford and the 49-50 is a weld-in. Doesn't matter to me, I need to do some cutting to fit mine.

 

It's a wonder Ole BillyBob didn't use a piece of chain and a hook

 

no prob PSJ. safety first!
definitely off center.

 

I have a '50 shell hanging on my wall with the stock safety catch in it yet if you need the catch part or if you just need pics of what it looks like underneath, let me know. Caps look great.

 

Damn man, just ready about the hood flying up. Good thing to hear that not too much if any damage was done!

 

Thanks Ryan. Yeah I just talked to my body guy who painted the car and the plan is for me to get this repop safety latch in and then I'll bring the car over.

I'm concerned that the front hinges look crooked. When the hood is up, are the front hinges pretty straight, I mean not crooked side to side? Like you could put a ruler next to one and it would line up?

I'm guessing that the latch has to line up with one of the oval holes in the underside of the hood, how much off center is the stocker?

 

Oh man John that sucks about the hood. I hope your body guy can fix it faster than he did the origianl work.

Love the look of the new caps way better than the spiders.

 

Hey Ian, I think it would go fast, he prefers stuff to go in and out. Looking at probably repainting part of all of the fender, hood (he's already supposed to do that), and then some work to fit the latch and then we'll see if I have to replace the front hinges. I should probably snap a pic of the hinges to get you guys opinions.

 

Driver's side front hinge, I believe the inner sheetmetal there is bent up a bit:


No slot for the safety catch, but I see a pinhole where I bet it's supposed to be, I'll have Paul cut this out when the latch shows up:


Passenger side, I need to take a better pic, you can see some body work cracks by the front hinge, the fender is bent up a little bit there you can see if if you look for it:

 

Better pic of passenger side, that's the bodywork cracked not the metal...

 

And the reason the builder shaved the safety catch, he wanted to install some round tube steel in the nose probably for crash protection (or stunts)...



Paul will have to notch this.

 

Hmm I have to fix some of the pics I see broken links.

My hood is up in the back, maybe 1-1.5 inches:

 

Latch is here. Waiting on my tax return before I move forward on stuff.

 

Sorry to hear about the damage, but at least you didn't have to try out their crash protection. The good news is you got to see whether you would like a cowl induction hood on the car. Glad you and the car made it out in one piece. It could have been so much worse.

 

Okay Mercury experts, I have a question about your front hinges. Are they straight up, and even, like if I put a rule up against one vertically would they move up and down very straight? Mine look like they are bending one way or another. Might have to replace them I think. I could try taking a vid.

 

Ouch, that's a bit too much excitement for one day. It does look like the hinges are sprung a bit.

From experience and some of it rather painful I'd hazard a guess that some previous owner got tired of getting the family jewels hung up on the safety catch as almost every owner or previous owner of a 49/51 Merc can testify too. Outside of having to learn to be careful of that you also become adept at closing the hood gently with one hand while holding the safety catch in with the other unless you get it set up just right.

 

Bummer John. Better than what i was picturing after we talked. Most important, you're ok. The metal seems to be able to repaired somewhat easily.