Projects All The Twos: 1962 Mercury, 352cui, 2bbl, Too Many Doors.

Having trouble with valve stems for the slot mags, had to order some tractor ones, is 5/8” a normal car valve size over there?

 

Phew! Glad that’s over.


Beer time!

 

With my pillar garnish, I took an old bolt cut off the head and turned a point on one end. Threaded it into the mounting hole with the pointed end sticking out. Laid the garnish in place, tapped it with a mallet and I had the hole location.

 

I put some masking tape on the pillar then screwed the trim on and marked the hole. Took the tape off and put on the front of the trim, locating it with the screws. Then drilled the hole.

 

Hey if it works, it works. My pillar bolt had a large shoulder on it, so I drilled a pilot hole and had to use my mill to open the hole to the final size, it was around 5/8" or 16mm-ish.

 

Bumper irons and inside of the chassis rails painted


Painted the tank


And made a list of things to do before I can have a proper drive.

 

Paint polishes up better than I expected

 

Bumpers back on, needs the stainless lower trim putting back on and a good clean, then it’s just a case of sorting the carb

 

PS that shocking bit of fencing is next door’s, they paid for that!!!

 

Took a while to get the correct size valves for the wheels, eventually got some from a tractor place, well it is a Ford!

 

She cleaned up nice. Looks great!

 

Also 63 buicks has those large valves.
If you need new ones, you need to ask valves for mercedes-benz 508d.

 

Power steering pump went pop!

 

Was it a hose failure? Pressure side or the return hose?

Have a fun weekend at the races. Good luck. Knock 'em stiff!

 

No, it’s coming from the front seal, either it’s popped out or the bearing has failed completely

Thanks. There’s a guy racing with us with a Thunderbolt this weekend. Looks fab!!

 

I lean mostly to MoPar stuff, but that Thunderbolt sure looks like "BIG FUN"!

 

We love T-Bolt porn...

 

H&M stickers on the valve covers......is it a real H&M motor, or just a nice set of stickers?

 

What series is this? Looks like Brands Hatch... Last time I was there for race support was 1993 with Hal Danby's Corvette, Gerry Marshall drove on that day. Both are sadly no longer with us

Mercury is looking good, I doubt there's a better example on our side of the Atlantic!

 

Full race motor but not by HM, it’s one of the nicest prepared race cars I’ve ever seen

 

Bernie’s V8s. We’re were at Donington, we’re at Brands in June support the UK round of Euro Nascar, we will be running open headers so bring you ear plugs if you’re coming!

 

I would love to come, but my wife and I have different opinions on our mode of transport once we land in your country. I won’t go unless we can make a proper tour of England on a proper motorbike such as a Triumph. She wants to be boring and rent an auto. Man, I miss my Triumph……..

I’d also love to see the TT at The Isle of Man, I think she would be bored to tears, maybe I could drop her off at a pub?

 

You can watch the TT from a pub right next to the circuit. Problem solved

 

Pump the off and the front bush is really sloppy, it was rebuilt not long ago but before my ownership. There’s a lot of debris in there too, some quite large chunks.

Isn’t there supposed to be a big round filter in here?

 

Looks like there’s a bunch of stuff missing from inside the reservoir

 

Most people don’t know about power steering filters, but pretty standard on Lorries. (Trucks).

 

I’ve ordered a new pump as it seemed simpler than trying to sort the front bush and I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do to the Vette before June after being punted off by a Mustang at the weekend. I’ve also ordered an in line filter for the return line. I’ll clean the leaky pump and use it to purge the system properly before putting the new pump on. I’m pretty sure this one has failed because no one cleaned the swarf after the original failed

 

If I could I would but it seems my employer decided to make my last two years before pension into a nightmare so that if I can get away any free time will have to be spent on my Comet - if I want to get it past our MOT... Maybe next year. Open headers on a classic series in the UK?! How is this possible if the Earl of March isn't the organizer?

 

Dropped the trans sump and changed the filter too, didn’t look like it’d ever been off, gave the sump a lock of paint before I put it back on and refilled with fresh Ford fluid. Couldn’t really work out the two o-rings the filter came with as it didn’t look like the larger tube had one on but put it on anyway.


Also put the new pump on, along with an inline filter and flushed the system. I thought I’d put the pressure line into the chassis bracket it’s meant to fit in as someone hadn’t when they’d changed the pump before. There was a reason why 2 1/2 hours of swearing. It’s in 3 pieces and held together and on to the chassis with one bolt, your can only get one had in there two. It’s at least done now and I can move on to cleaning stainless trim


I’ve bought a 600 Holley off eBay, I’ve got all the bits to rebuild one and I’m used to them so hopefully that’ll fix the running issue and I’ll be able to actually go for a drive soon!!