Projects my attempt at a '54 Merc

trans sat a little high so I took the '54 cross member and grafted in the mounting plate from the stang

 

body came off the frame again so I can get serious on the under bits

 

ready to rock

 

initially i tried to use the existing '54 spindles and mate the '94 mustang discs. Squablow mentioned a potential fitment issue with the backspacing with the newer style callipers. Bang on, brother. The whole thing turned into a giant PITA. So, as much as it pains me I broke out the wallet.
Granada style drop spindles with callipers, master, and booster. Nice kit. I hate admitting defeat, but this is really the way the way to go!

 

bolted the sway bar in.....upside down.

 

those inner tie rods are just crying for a nice cavalier rack and pinion swap

 

rear brakes done. Had the leafs de-arched about 4" at the local truck shop.
2" blocks are about as much as I want to go. Hope it sits low enough...

 

new pilot bearing. Didn't have a puller. Tried the bread/ wet paper trick to pop the old one out. Ended up making a tool with a slide hammer end to pull it out. Redneck engineering strikes again.

 

cleaned up, painted, and ready to drop back in and get bolted down.

 

little bit of plumbing while its easy to get at, and
i can focus on the body

 

I like it too.Makes us poor guys HAPPY! Bruce.

 

Grower. Since I work on a heavy 56 Chrysler. I use 2 jacks and 2 3 ton jack stands when I work under the old girl. No ones here at home during the day if something like that fails. Just sayin be careful buddy. Bruce.

 

Grower.Looking good buddy.Bruce.

 

Awesome car! Nice to see how solid that car is. I have a 53 and a 56 merc neither one are as solid as yours and I'm in the south! I say chop it I chopped my 53 and if I wasn't tring to just make a driver out of my 56 I'd chop that one too! Good luck

Ruan


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

does anyone know if 53/54 Merc and Ford chassis are the same? I also thought the perfect chop for the 53/53 Merc was 3" front and 4.5" rear.

 

as far as I've seen with all the parts I've looked up or ordered, the ford/merc is pretty much interchangeable. The only thing you have to watch is the 53 front end on the US car has king pins and 54 went to ball joints. The 54 Canadian car was still king pins.

 

found this old girl at a local yard. Came back when the weather was a little nicer and cut out the rear housing along with a good glass and seal for only $200. One step closer to making up my mind on the chop!

 

any idea what year this ford is?

 

Looks like a 51 to me. 49-51 all have that same rear window but i dont see the bullet hump on the top of the core support which would point to a 51 model.

Sent from my LG-M153 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

better pic?

 

A pic of the dash would tell me for sure what year, from the side there's not much to differentiate a 49-50 from a '51. Plus this seems to be the cheapie model without side trim so that's not helping.

 

cavaler rack going in. Drivers side bracket fabbed up. Bolted into the existing frame holes. I feel it will be stronger if i really pile on the spray paint!!

 

passenger side

 

Drivers side. Tucked up nicely out of the way

 

working on a bracket to attach OE tie rods to the rack. Lots of examples on this site. Love the HAMB!!

 

Nice project, cool car. I'm along for the ride.

 

made me a bracket.

 

I cut the tapered holes off of the old center link and welded them to the plate/bracket. The OE inner tie rod ends seat like they are supposed to. Bolted together nicely

 

ok, so update time. put all the linkage together for the rack.