Projects My 1951 Mercury Restoration Part II

Local show today, a mix of cars:

 

Thats awesome!

 

Wife stopped by and got a pic of my 5 year old in front of the old pile... Nice shine courtesy of Zaino!

Maybe I don't need a grille....

 

Looks great John....You need a grill.

 

I drove mine yesterday, hadn't touched it in a while I've been helping a buddy with his 7 second drag radial car and occasionally racing my OT 2010 Camaro SS that running mid 12's right now.

Car drove well it was 80F out and the cooling system kept up. I'm just about done making changes to my OT car so I'm starting to turn my attention back to the Mercury.

I'm all ears if anyone has advice on how to pick a radiator, from a installing stand point. I'm thinking I buy one that does not have any tabs on the sides since I would have nothing for those tabs to bolt to, and just hold it in place from the top.

Pics from last car show:

 

You say you have nothing on the side to bolt too. Does this mean there would be an opening alongside the radiator? If so it should be blocked off as it inhibits cooling if air can move around the radiator instead of having to go through it.

 

yep open on sides, no good, and radiator is old:




Opening is 29 inches wide, so I could go 28 inch wide radiator. I might kill the AC and not run it until some future date.

 

All that open area on the sides and bottom needs to be closed. Also by closing it on the sides you have a place to mount the new radiator

 

John, I'd like to see some pics of around your radiator from the engine side. How is your front clip mounted to the frame? Is there some sort of structure near the radiator that is mounted to the inner fenders and the frame below?


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I can take other pics for you Dave but it might be a while as I'm heading to an OT race in Bowling Green this weekend leaving Thur.

 

That's cool John. I
Just thought if I could see how your whole set up now is done I could help think through a solution. I guess I never noticed those open spaces on the sides of your radiator before, so I am curious how it is all put together now. As stock, the inner fenders mount to the radiator support and help shroud the sides of the radiator. Clearly, you got something else going on there.


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It's not a problem for me to have one of my fabbing buds make an upper structure to secure the radiator. But I might as well go 28 wide since I can fit it.

 

Fun sig banner a friend made for me:



I really should get off my butt and get some stuff done on the car.

 

Drove around Sunday to charge up the battery:

 

Cool pictures... I like to see cool old cars parked among regular cars. It makes me think the people who own them are enjoying them.

 

Yeah people on the North side always enjoy seeing the car, asking me questions, thumbs up etc.

 

Perfect profile, awesome Merc!

 

Thanks Arkie, one of the wing windows that Matt whittled on for me came from you, thanks again.

 

Looking good John!

 

Hooked up with another local Merc guy, Joe V. who's down in the South Suburbs. Joe's car is also a '51, and he started a with a super clean roller that's he's currently got in primer... Nice to start with a 60,000 mile car.

Mainly got his advice on what radiator to run, and voila, I ordered one!

We had the first official Chicago Mercury club meet:

 

Joe's pic



He's looking for skirts and WWW's help him out!

 

Do you have 51 gringo's e-mail address. I would like him to rebuild my hood hinges.

My E address is jschlaeger@new.rr.com

Thanks.............Ron

 

He's right here in this thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8323872

 

Radiator came in, and I just won an auction for a stock radiator support which we'll use to mount the new rad. Starting to move forward again!!!

 

Fantastic! That oem support will be a big help getting things rearranged to the way you want them.


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Yeah though I'll have cut the bottom section off it doesn't fit in my car.

 

I missed the first official Chicago Mercury club meet? Oh well, it probably wouldn't have made the pictures any better with my Merc sitting on a flatbed.

 

Start cuttin' mr! Happy turkey day!

 

LOL we will once the support shows up Mike... Right back atcha.

Doc, hope we can sometime have 5-6 Mercs together, I know of a few others.

 

Radiator support is here woohoo!

Joe V noticed when we got together that my car has another custom touch I had never paid much attention too... The rear fender line at the bottom extends to the bumper: