Projects My 1951 Mercury Restoration Part II

WOW!!

John your car looks fantastic.

With or without the grill and even if it has a messed up fender

 

Looks great. A job well done to be sure. Where did you buy the vent window rubber? Thanks, JIM

 

Ask Matt, he put the entire assemblies together. He has my old wing windows that got boogered up by a local guy and the rubber would not have been the right size.

 

Looks great John. They really finish off the side profile nicely.

 

Thanks Ian.

I know you guys want to see the Sam Barris style grille in this heap. I've got all the parts to do this.

Mocking up the grille is not the hardest part, I think the trickiest part is how it would be attached to the body. Maybe when I have the radiator out I could look at having the brackets fabbed then. Hmmm then I need the grille done before hand. Last time I looked into this, I think our thinking on this was that the center bar was made from two bars, one was cut in half. That would account for the visible seam. To that end, I bought a second center section bar. I also have 2 sets of the rear ridged sections.


Some pics I snapped last time:



Would NOT go this way:


Some ideas:




GOAL:

 

The vent windows look great John! I know you are glad to have that behind you.

 

Yeah it was just annoying to have to do two sets of them. First set are rubbish, the second set are amazing, exceeded my expectations.

[Knocks on the mic]

Okay so what do you guys think on the grille? I'm thinking I pull all that stuff out and look at how well the ends would bolt to each other. That would answer the question about whether that they will fit nice. Assuming that, then I need to have the cut ends worked on, basically have a plate welded to each side. Then I could run two bolts on each side into the bullets. After that the rear sections could be mocked up. Come to think of it, maybe the vertical plates for the ends should have brackets attached to them and that's what I tie into the body. Sound good?

 

I think the grill looks good and it sounds like you are going in the right direction with it. As for mounting it I would think you would want mounting points located so that you could bolt it on to the rad support (may need tabs or brackets welded to that as well).

 

Sweetness.... Looks great.

 

Thanks Doc. One of these days we have to organize a Merc day at your shop I know of at least two other local guys and I've seen pics of 2 others too.

Oops.. so I need to tig all this stuff right?

 

I assume it is all chrome plated steel so you wouldn't have to tig it although having it tigged may reduce the amount of HAZ.

 

Hi I'm in the market for a nice upper radiator support, the horseshoe looking deal. Then I can mock up a new radiator and get rid of this stuff that's in the car now.

 

To clarify, are you looking for the shroud panel that lays on top of & bolts to the inner fender panels or the big U-shaped main support that bolts to the sides of those panels and to the cross member on the center front extension bracket? The shroud panel is the only upper piece I'm aware of but it doesn't support much on the 50 & 51 models. It mostly just keeps the air from going over the top of the radiator.

 

The U-shaped main support I don't have. Not sure what other part you mean.

 

John, this pic shows the upper shroud piece mentioned above. It bolts on top of the inner fenders in front of the main u shaped radiator saddle that is pretty much the main support piece for the whole front clip. Which is the piece you are looking for?

 

Hey John,
Here's a few pictures for your reference. The piece that's above the radiator painted blue is the Deflector. The picture after media blasting is misleading, because the parts are just laid on the floor, not in the orientation they are assembled. The U shaped channel, I think is called the radiator support, and is what the radiator bolts to. The Deflector is above the radiator, but bolted to the fenders.

The rusty radiator in the before pictures is that stock Mercury Flathead radiator. The black radiator in the after picture is a narrow, taller radiator for a Flathead. I know you have a different engine, but these are good reference pics.

 

Thanks guys. The upside-side down U I'd like to get. Not sure the other part that Dave is talking about. Basically I'm thinking I should ditch the whole rig I have for the top of the radiator the bracketry and the beauty cover.

Yikes

 

I can't see how your car was modified to support the front clip. The original tall legged skinny U-shaped core support also held the inner fenders together and supported the whole front end to the front cross member. I would hope that yours has some kind of structure down under there to repace the original core support system or the whole front end could move around & put undue pressure on all the fender to cowl/frame bolt locations. If yours has a fabricated support under there then disreguard.

I can tell by the current location of your radiator and the visual alignment of the bolt holes for the shroud, that your radiator is setting right where the old upper air shroud was originally placed. The shroud placement was such that it fits pretty tight to the hood in that location. Any farther forward and I'm cetain it would contact the hood. You may have to settle for a happy medium somewhere until you get your radiator issues the way you want them.

 

John have you thought about running another radiator? Maybe 4 row and lower profile, (possibly aluminum) and paint it so it doesn't look like Jesse's? Just a thought.

 

Back from NYC for work...

Rotor: I'm on a 70's GM frame, it's all different under there. Might be supported well not sure. I see what you are saying about the holes for the u-bracket, I might not be able to run it in the stock location and I might not be able to more it more forward in the nose either it might then contact the hood.

chopn, I'm for sure going to run a new radiator, we have no idea what this one is out of and I want to start fresh. I will paint it black so it won't stick out like Jesse's. I was targeting 28x19 ones. My core support opening is 29 inches wide almost exactly.

I was thinking of pushing the radiator out even more out to the front of the car so I can fit a thicker fan.

Is there any other creative way to mount an a/c condenser?

 

Wassup y'all. Here's sleeping beauty, waiting her turn to have some money thrown at here...



Check out my chop, never took a shot like this before:



Okay, Sam Barris Grille. QUESTION. How should I have the grille bar ends cut, chop saw? I have a show coming up in a few weeks it would be nice to have the grille in the car even not chromed. I was originally going to use the outside bars and move them to the inside, but I think Rik and other believe that the whole bar was made by using a complete center section that was bolted to the cut-off parts of a second grille. I went ahead and bought a second center bar and I have 2 sets of rear trim sections too. I swear I'll get off my ass and get this down now for the Aug 18th show.

And for attaching the bullet ends, should I have someone tig in finish plates at the end of the bar and then run say 2 bolts through each side?

What I had been thinking:





Should I push the grille assembly back a bit?




Rik or Dr Dave pics (thanks you guys):

 

John are you talking about the cuts on the ends where the bullets go? If so probably a cuttoff wheel in a die grinder would be the best as the cut probably won't end up just being a straight cut it you want it to conform to the shape of the bullet.

 

Thanks Ian. An idea just popped into my head. I could bring the 2nd grille bar over to my local muffler shop and have them cut it in half for me, maybe get it close. For the final detail work I could see if any of my buddies could do it. But I think I'll need to have a plate welded on the end to 'box' the grill end. Thinking about it though maybe a rounded plate would work best.

 

I see where the ends might need to be contoured to flush in the bullet:

 

If it was cut a little long (muffler shop)you may be able to use an angle grinder with a grinding wheel on it and just slowly grind away until you get the shape you need. You could buy a cheap angle grinder and wheel and do it yourself.

 

I believe I have said grinder, maybe I should take a pic and post it to see if you think it would do the job.

 

Pro Stock John
I was looking around on flea pay and ran into this thing. I'm including the link because it has an FE Ford big block in there and he did some interesting stuff with the radiator utilizing the stock upper shroud. Anyway you might have a look at it before the things time runs out.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fram...7794597?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item416899f5a5

It sort of looks like the shroud goes right over the top of the radiator.

 

The interior on this one is killer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks I'll study the pictures. I recall that car selling somewhat cheap at an auction and then put for sale like a few weeks after by the new owner. Great build btw.