a.k.a....AREA 51
1951 Mercury Convertible
| John Stanford's Mercury Project
a.k.a....AREA 51 1951 Mercury Convertible |
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Goal: Restore original body and update driveline and interior.
Using the stock mercury body and frame, I am going to install a Chevrolet 350CI engine and automatic transmission with overdrive. I have an old '52 Ford PU Dana 44 rear end with 3.71 gears that will run behind a 700R4 overdrive transmission. I hope to add a full digital dash later which will include a CD Player with a Bose Sound System. I also plan to update the hydro-electric top, power windows and seats systems with a newer fully electrical system. I will keep the interior as original as possible. The seats, kick and door panels will be refurbished and upholstered in two-tone Tan leather. As for the exterior color, I am currently leaning toward an acrylic enamel metallic "Midnight Blue". The car will be built for cruising, so it will be lowered, full skirts, lake pipes and Wide Whites. I am also thinking of chopping the top on the old convertible to give it a little longer appearance.
Brief history..
I bought this car in Texas in the early 80's from a fellow who was dealing in tri-five (55/56/57) Thunderbird parts.. He had obtained the car in Kansas near his childhood hometown and brought it back to Houston. I found out about it through a mutual friend and just had to have it... Well the car had been outdoors for many years resulting in a floor that had all but rotted away, along with the top and interior. Needless to say.. I could still see life in this old car..
Here are a couple of the first pictures so far....
First Time Home (Houston)
I started to work on the car in '85 but was forced to place it in storage due to my job being relocated from Texas to Pennsylvania. Just about the time I thought I would go to Texas and get the car, I found out I was again being re-located. This time to Tennessee. Well a year and a half in Tennessee and I was moved a third time, this time to Ohio.
The car was in a climate controlled storage building in Texas so I decided that I would wait a few years to get settled in Ohio and build a shop and then go after the car. Sounded like a great plan to me.
Well as luck would have it, in 1998 the company made me an offer that I couldn't refuse...RETIREMENT.. YIPPEE !!!!. I sold our place in Ohio and moved to Kansas to retire.. (my wife's home state) but a really really bad choice as far as taxes and other miscellaneous fees go.
I also was lucky to find a good frame for the old car as well. A friend of mine decided to use an Oldsmobile frame under his '1950 Coupe. I will box place the frame to beef it up to accommodate the convertible body and reduce overall frame weight.
In the summer of 2000, I purchased a car trailer and then traveled down to Texas to retrieve the 'Ole Merc. On the way, My wife and I stopped for a couple of days to attend the Swap Meet at the Texas Motor Speedway. Picked up a few goodies, and visited some old friends.
As you can see... I have lots of work to do on the old Mercury. so stay tuned and visit back to see what progress is being made.
SPRING 2005
Well the ole' Mercury project was "PLACED ON HOLD".....for a while..
Seems as if some of the local officials in Kansas just want to be hard on car enthusiasts when it comes to title and registration.
Example: This is what I had to go through to get my 1934 Ford 5W Coupe titled in Kansas.
I had build, titled and registered the 1934 Ford 5W Coupe in Texas back in the late 60's early '70's when I lived there. The '34 was also re-titled and registered in Tennessee (when I lived there late '80's / early '90's with no problems. Because I was bringing the car into the State, I had to have it inspected by the Kansas Highway Patrol / Kansas Department Of Transportation. When I took the '34 to get it re-titled and registered in Kansas, the Kansas Inspector told me that the frame number (VIN) was not valid. He said that the number appeared not to be an original. I explained that the number on the frame matched the Tennessee title as well as the old original Texas Title that I still had. I even showed him all of the original paper work from Texas. He indicated that I would need to let him pull the body off to verify that it hadn't been messed with. Well this didn't seem like a realistic avenue, so I asked him what my options were. He just said that I would have to either remove the body from the frame or find a lawyer to get it titled in Kansas. Well I went through a lawyer and filed a law suit against the Kansas Highway Patrol Department of Transportation. After a few months, and six-hundred dollars later, my attorney informed me that the judge had decided the case and I was issued a clean Kansas Title and Registration.
Well not having a clear title on the Mercury , even though it was an original Kansas car made me a little nervous. I just didn't feel like going through the hassle that the Kansas Highway Patrol had put me through with my '34. So taking a slightly different approach and a few extra bucks, I went through a valid antique auto dealer, and later I had a good clean clear Kansas title for the Mercury.
FALL (October) 2005...
I have started back on the Mercury project and decided that I would go ahead and prepare a better chassis. I have cut boxing plates for the x-member to strengthen it for the convertible body. The frame had previously been set up for a Big Block Chevrolet. I will have to remove the BBC mounts.
I will use a mockup SBC (Small Block Chevrolet) to set up the chassis. This will enable me to weld the new mounts in place. I will still have to made a small mod to the transmission cross member so it can accept the 700R4 transmission mount.
The steering box presented a small clearance problem and I have discovered that I can use a set of older Hedman Headers that will clear the steering box.
I have already installed the Dana 44 on the stock springs. I haven't welded the spring pads in place yet. I will wait until I get the body mounted on the frame, so it will have the proper weigh. I then can align the rear end and the transmission.
Here's a few pictures of the chassis so far..... (Just click on the small image below to see a larger view)
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Well I had spent the fall of 2006 dismantling and repainting my 1934 Ford 5-w coupe, so the 'ole Merc didn't get much attention.
With the 2007 bad spring in Kansas, not much car building was going on, as most guys spent they time ordering parts or just trading parts and stories. Well around late spring/early summer, I did however run across a set of new floor panels that where priced right, so I picked them up. I of course waited until the hot part of July and August to rip out the old floor and start the installation of the new panels.. Not really the smartest move on my part..!!!!, but who said I had any smarts to start with.
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Pictures 30 and 31 show the front and rear sections of the passengers side floor being replaced.
Pictures 32 through 33 show the old door seal plates before I cut them out.
Pictures 34 through 37 show how I used a paper template to layout, cut, form and weld in the rear portion of the passengers door top seal plate. I had already cut, formed and welded in the front portion.
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Picture 38 shows the passengers side of the floor almost finished. I still need to form and weld a few pieces between the rear floor panel and the rear seat platform.
Picture 39 shows both sides of the floor almost finished. I will still need to form and weld a few pieces around the rear seat riser.
My next step will be to add a small strip approximately 4 inches high across the toe board, where the floor meets the firewall.... I will also replace the inter rockers from under the car, once the floor and existing outer rocker panels have been repaired. I had previously cut and formed patch panels for the existing outer rockers from good metal donated from a early 70's Chevy Monte Carlo hood.
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01/20/08
Well the start of the new year has brought a ton of cold weather including snow ( I really hate snow!). Not having a heated garage, I tend to stay in the house as much as possible, so I don't get much accomplished on the Merc.
However; during this period, I have been reading about using an Isuzu Power Steering gear in place of the stock mercury unit. It seems the Isuzu and the Mercury steering gear is close to being the same size and shape. This really got my attention, so I have been beating the bushes looking for a reasonable priced unit. So far no luck, so I am thinking of maybe going with an alternative source (maybe a Ford or Chevy unit).
I am also pondering the idea of using the front upper and lower control arms and spindles along with the disc brake units from a mid to late '80's Lincoln Towncar. I would like to merge them into the stock '51 upper and lower control arms. This would give me disc brakes as well as ball joints to replace the stock drum brakes and king pin spindles on the Mercury. I would also use the rear end out of the Towncar because it has disc brakes as well.
02/11/08
Well, over the weekend, Jon, Glenn, Tom and myself moved the ole' Mercury out of my shop and pulled the body off of its original frame. We rolled the original frame over to the side of my shop. After that, we rolled the new frame with engine and transmission intact under the convertible body. . I had been a little worried that I had set the engine in a little too far back and that the distributor would hit the firewall, but much to my delight, it appears that everything fit just right. The transmission dip stick tube was a problem, as it did hit on the firewall behind the head. I removed the mounting bolt and moved the tube towards the outside edge of the head and gained the clearance I needed. I will need to make a new mounting tab for the tube and bolt it down later.
Here's a shot of the old chassis, and a couple of the engine compartment.
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Picture 53 - This is the old chassis complete with original flathead and automatic transmission.
Pictures 54 and 55 are a couple of shots just to show the body on the prepared chassis.
My next step is to get the body bolted down, then I will begin to install newer style bear claw latch assemblies in the doors. I had obtained a set out of a old Chevy Suburban complete with door-lock solenoids. Following that, I will modify and install a swing pedal assembly that I removed from a 70's Monte Carlo.
02/16/08 - 03/31/08
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I picked up a complete serpentine system off of a 1990 Chevrolet Suburban from a local wrecking yard. After mounting it to the engine, the system fits the Mercury chassis just right. The only modification that I had to do was to bend the high pressure hose tubing on the power steering pump closer to the bottom of the pump to clear the front cross member. The rear bracket that was on the power steering pump which also mounted to the rear of the alternator, and then to the front bolts on the drivers side exhaust manifold will also be modified to mount to the front header bolt.
Picture 56 above is a shot of the serpentine system mounted for fit on the front of the engine. I will be removing it for cleaning, plus I will need the engine out to prep and paint the firewall. I will also be installing the GM factory style fan blade e/w clutch assembly. I will also modify the radiator "U" bracket for fan clearance.
I installed the inter-fender panels to check for clearance of the serpentine system and to bolt the radiator "U" bracket in place. I found that the radiator needs to be mounted lower to gain fan clearance on the bottom hose. I will have to fabricate new mounting platforms for the bottom of the "U" bracket. The radiator will bolt to the front edge of the "U" bracket. I had previously lowered the front sway-bar by using spacers under the frame so I could lower the radiator if needed.
I cut a section out of the passenger side inner-fender panel to sink the battery box into. The original battery box was mounted on the drivers side inner-fender panel. Thinking it over, I elected to place the battery on the passenger side, closer to the starter on the Chevrolet engine, which resulted in cutting into the "fresh" air vent passage and reducing the size to about half of the original. The air passage will still route under the battery box and should still supply plenty of fresh air to the passenger side vent.
During the April/ September time frame, I tried to accomplish a few more things... I spend time removing the engine and transmission from the car so I could clean, sand, fill-in excess holes, primer and paint the firewall and the inner-fender panels. Here are a few pictures that I took during the April thru September time frame.
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The first shot (#57) is of the drivers side front header bow bracket that holds the front header bow over the windshield to the side rails of the convertible top frame. As you can see, the pot metal piece is broken in several pieces. I was unable to find a source for a replacement, so I decided that I would try and fabricate one myself. As you can see in the next picture (#58), I used pieces of flat stock and a little patience to fabricate my own. Picture 59 is a shot of the drivers front fender and inter-fender panel. I just left them bolted together to start the cleaning/sanding process.
While I had the engine out, I installed a 1978 F150 2 wheel drive power steering gear unit. (picture 60) I found that by using the front original mounting hole on the frame for the original steering sector, the power steering pitman arm mated up with the original steering perfectly. I had to drill and sleeve the frame for the top bolt and I had to fabricate a mounting tab and sleeve for the bottom bolt (Picture 61).
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Once I had everything mounted and secured, I continued to work the inner-fender panel and the firewall. Picture 62 shows the firewall and the inner-fender panels shortly after I painted them. You will notice that the top of the cowl was not sprayed... this is because I am going to paint it the same color at the body. Pictures 63 shows the engine installed along with the inner-fender panels and radiator. In picture 64, you can see the passenger side inner-fender panel cut out for my battery, In pictures 65 and 66(below) you can see the routing of the power steering hoses on the drivers side.
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Pictures 67 through 69 show the fenders remounted so I can begin body work on them. I will be adding the grille surround and the bottom grille panel next so I can work them as well.
I bought and installed a air-compressor delete pulley. This will enable me to crank the engine without doing damage to the compressor, because I don't have any of the other air conditioning parts installed. I cut two rust spots out of the passenger fender and made patch panels to replace the bad metal. I also welded the headlight rings ('52 Ford) on the fenders
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Picture 70 is a shot of the drivers side headlight after I had "frenched" it in. I left off the bezel ring so you could see the addition
of the screw tabs I had to install. I did this so I would be able to remove the stainless trim rings and adjust the headlights without removing them from under the fender. There is enough room so that I could change a bulb also if I needed, I did however mount the headlight buckets from inside the fender as to give the headlight additional depth. I drilled and formed countersunk screw holes in the bezels for # 8 stainless steel screws.
Pictures 71 and 72 are shots with the trim rings (bezels) in place.
Picture 73 shows the passenger door where I had filled in the door handle holes. I will also be filling in the holes where a previous mirror had been mounted.
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Picture 74 is a shot of the front of the car showing the stock grille with parking lamps and grille extension (Elephant Ears).
Picture 75 shows the engine compartment pretty much complete. Note the power brake booster is installed.
Picture 76 is another shot of the front of the car with a stock grille, minus the bumper (to be installed later).
Picture 77 is a close-up of the passenger side "french" headlight showing the stainless steel ring insert.
Well during the October through December time frame, I managed to get the swing pedal installed. I also had to replace the bottom seal on the power steering pitman arm shaft. It began to leak after I got everything connected. I also installed front shocks, and the drive shaft with new U-joints.
I managed to get my exhaust hooked up through a pair of new Thrush Mellowtone glasspack mufflers'.I still need to get the car to a muffler shop to finish out the exhaust back to the rear of the car. I added a pair of 45 degree turndowns after each muffler for the time being. After checking out the clearance around the exhaust, I found that I will need to enlarge my pass through hole in my frame.
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Here's a few shots of the car at it's current stage. Man!, I sure have a lot of work to do!!
I was searching on the web one evening, and I managed to find a rear convertible seat that might work in the '51. It was located in RI. and It is was an original seat out of a 1953 Mercury Convertible. Well I made a deal with the owner, and a few days later, it shipped to me.
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As you can see by the pictures, the seat will need a little TLC and new upholstery. The springs are in great shape, and I now have a pattern for the rear seat.
Stay turned.... more information and pictures are coming !
