Hey fellas, so I recently just picked up the 53 Merc and want to see if I can get it running. The previous owner unfortunately passed away and it hasn't ran for around 9 years. With that being said it looks as if he took great care of it as you can see all the wiring has been updated. My question is, I’ve read to put Marvel mystery oil in each cylinder and let it sit for a day or to before trying to start it. Is this true? If so how much? After a day or so should I turn the motor over by hand to lubricate everything? Any advice or wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Yeah I'd turn it by hand, just to make sure everything is still moving inside before you hit the starter. Congratulations on a nice car by the way.
Nice find. It looks like it’ll fire easily. Drain the fuel system from the tank clear to the carburetors. Install a new fuel filter afterward. drain the gas tank and flush it. unhook the fuel lines at both the carb and tank. Apply 10 lbs of air pressure to the fuel lines. Drain the oil, clean the filter and fill with five quarts of 10-30. Replace your battery. 6 volt systems are hard to start with less than desirable cold start amps. Keep us updated on your progress or problems.
Then, before attempting to drive it, flush the brake system and coolant system. Make sure those are up to snuff. Stopping is infinitely more important than going.
Where’s that “ how to was a barn find thread “? drain and replace all fluids . you can run the carb off a jerry can snd bypass the rest of the fuel system check your point , wiring connections from the battery, ground etc for dirt snd corrosion pull your spark plugs snd put a few squirts of oil in the cylinders and crank it over by hand with the plugs out. Flat heads like to stick valves easy enough to unstick them, but better to find out before you try and fire the motor
I take a bit more practical approach than some others....I do what needs to be done, and don't do what doesn't need to be done. First, carefully check the wiring so you won't smoke things when you connect the battery. If anything is questionable, I disconnect the main power feed wire, and use a hot wire to power the coil. Check the smell of the fuel. Open the gas cap, if it smells bad, don't try to use the fuel tank until you get it flushed out. Instead, put a small gas can up front, with the fuel inlet to the pump, going down into the can. See if there's coolant, water, or sludge in the cooling system. You don't need anything in it to just get it running, but if you run it more than a minute or two, you want some liquid in there. Check that there's oil in the engine and transmission. Get the brakes working. Really. Before you try to start it. If you're not going to do that yet, then get the rear of the car up on stands. Put in a battery, see if you can get the starter to turn. If it spins, the pour some gas into the carb, put the air filter back on (to prevent a backfire from turning into a disaster), connect the hot wire, see if it will fire.
My experience from my work at a private car collection, is that any car sitting for more than 5 years needs a new master cylinder, new wheel cylinders, and the brake system flushed. And this is in a climate controlled environment.
And once it's running, replace those yellow plug wires with black and tape wrap the rest of the wiring. Someone did a pretty nice job of wiring it but apparently had a 500' spool of yellow wire on hand. Car looks really nice and looks like she'll clean up real well. Let us know how it goes.
In addition to the above, personally Id drop the oil pan and give it a clean, particularly if you plan to run it. Who knows how well its been serviced prior to parking. Feel you on the one colour wiring too, been down that road but luckily only on a chopper.
Go buy a fire extinguisher. See if the exhaust is plugged up with rodents. Or just cut it off. Put in the marvel mystery oil or ATF/acetone mix, and give it a try with a breaker bar, there's no magic number of days, or guarantee it will work. Good luck, keep posting updates.
Stupid question, but do I put the car in neutral and do I turn the crank pulley bolt clockwise or counterclockwise to tighten the bolt? Thanks
I recently fired up the engine in my 56 Nomad, that had been sitting 23 years in my posession, and unsure how may before that. Pulled plugs, cleaned and gapped them. Oil on dipstick looked good, so left it, but would've changed it, if it smelled of gas, antifreeze, etc. Topped off radiator. Replaced distributor with one I had that had cleaned and gapped points. Accell dual point was in it when I bought it. Replaced carb, as gas in the Q-Jet looked like Coca-Cola. Finally, bypassed fuel line and tank, and ran off of a 2 gallon jerry can. I had good luck with this process.
Guess I like to live dangerously. The engine now in my Lincoln sat in a pickup for 12 years. Pulled it out, changed the oil, new rear seal, cleaned the plugs, swapped intake from FI to aluminum 4 bbl, changed distributor from FI computer control to small cap HEI. I did turn the engine over by hand before I did all this to make sure nothing was stuck. Put it in car, wired and fired [after I got the timing set with the correct mark, lol}. Smoked just a bit on first start, when it got warm smoke went away and has not returned. I did end up changing the head gaskets due to the ones on it rusting out and letting water leak out from under them. Cylinder bores looked like new, not even a ridge at the top. Not the first one I got away doing it this way....
Good news boys, it spins freely. It’s supposed to rain for the next couple of days but when it stops I’ll see if I can get her started. the fluids all looks fresh too. This car was well taken care of.
I would drain the oil and filter and replace them. I have/had a rig where I can put oil in a vessel and connect it to the oil pressure sending port and put the oil in the engine via that port. That will oil everything in the engine with fresh oil prior to start up. Bones
day before yesterday i just started my lil brother’s OT 71z after sitting ten years. a week ago i poured into the tank a gallon of e-85 to start cleaning the remaining residue of the evaporated e10 gas and shook the tail of the car side to side for a few seconds each day. i pulled the plugs, put maybe a teaspoon of marvel mystery oil in each cylinder, let it sit for an hour while disconnecting the fuel line after the fuel pump and put a 3’ length of old hose from the fuel pump into a oil drain pan. rotated the crank pulley a couple turns with a 1/2 inch ratchet, put on a five foot length of clean fuel line to a marine hand pump and then into a one gallon of fresh chevron supreme, cranked it ten seconds without the plugs (with a piece of cardboard to catch the expelled cylinder oil) replaced the plugs, hand pumped the fresh gas a few times and cranked it over. it started after a minute with the starter. it would not idle at first but after a few minutes of the fresh gas running thru it started idling fine. the fuel pump started expelling the nasty shit in the tank and fuel line into the drain pan. tomorrow i’ll start it up again and let the fresh gas do its job in the carbs and hopefully the old gas and e85 will clean up the tank and line. then check out the brake system. replace the filter and rubber fuel lines, put in a couple gallons of fresh gas and drive the bugger around the yard.
My 2 cents worth. Fire extinguisher already been said .At the very least a 5 gallon bucket of water. I also get VERY THICK pair of Leather gloves to use if i need to get battery cable off in a hurry. Last if you tighten the battery cable down, keep wrench that fits the bolt on bat terminal. And above all else, keep us posted!! Good Luck!!!
I hear ya. Dump some gas in the carb, throw some jumper cables on, and see what happens. Keep spraying starting fluid bursts until it runs. Turn the idle up, put it in gear and see if it will move. those were cars I didn't care much about.
When you feel you are ready the first turn over by the starter remove the plugs first. At minimum it will help to get oil pressure or at least feed the mains. Looks like a great find.
The Jalopy Journal
