Projects technical

I have a 51 Mercury, and I need the alignment specs for it.

 

My Motors Manuals are priceless to me. If you don't own one you need to buy one. They are plentiful and cheap for the world of info that is contained in them.

 

You want about 1/4 of a degree more Positive camber on the drivers side tire than the passenger side to compensate for the crown in the road. Drivers side meaning the legal drivers side in the country you live in. Or the side that is next to the middle line of a two lane road. That compensates for the crown in the road and helps the car track straight. Otherwise it may want to drift off to the side of the road. Depending on the amount of crown on your local roads it may take slightly more or slightly less but when it is right you should be able to run down a straight road hands off the wheel for quite a ways. That was my test after doing an alignment. the car had to track straight for more than a hundred yards on my test street a couple of blocks from the shop.

 

That's some align finesse right there.

 

@Mr48chev Excellent advice.....and a touch of additional caster on the same side was common in my neck of the woods. Lots of rural two lane blacktops with lots of crown.

Ray

 

We set stuff to have half a degree of “pull” to compensate for road crown, sometimes more if it’s something heavy


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Camber?

 

I think camber, used as directed, would exert some pull. A cambered disc (tire/wheel) if rolled on a level surface, would tend to turn in the direction of the tilt. However, more caster on one side than the other would also produce similar results. Either, or in combination, will counter a crowned road’s pull.

Ray

 

OK. Always thought caster was the usual method.

 

Some more modern stuff calls for camber to be used some calls for caster, I’ll use either or a combination of both depending on ease of adjustment.


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If your that anal, your not traditional.

 

Back in the dark ages when I did brake and front end for a living , I would set the camber a half degree more positive on the driver side static. Most cars have only the driver in it. With the half degree set, the tire would negative that amount when the driver was in the car and match the passenger side. On caster, I would put an additional half degree of positive caster on the passenger side to compensate for road crown. Never had a customer complain of pull or excessive tire wear.

 

Wow +6 3/4 degrees positive caster! No wonder those old Fords handled so well..

 

Jim - do you ever think we'll get them to buy a manual ? Always take a few to the swap meet but have few buyers.......

 

why should they, when they have the internets?

 

It MUST be true, I read it on the internet...

 

The manual would have specs for bias ply, which of course he is running as he didn't mention the R word.

 

Some of the most used tools that my grandfather and dad left me...

 

Wow 46-48 got 6 degrees positive caster with 8 degrees KPI.. Then Ford went down in 49 for easy steering and back up in 54 for better handling again... My dad always said those old Fords handled great compared to the 60s and 70s cars... He was referring to his 47 Merc, 46 Ford, 40 Ford that he had when he lived out in California after WW-II.. He said the Hot rod scene was just starting and you had to build everything..

 

Axles seem to need a lot more caster than IFS, eh?

 

Collected over the years. Can't have too many reference sources, can't always rely on Squirrel and others here on the HAMB.

 

Wow. All good information. I also have a 1951 Mercury with stock flathead. Question has been asked where can I locate spark plugs and what size? Also which points Cap and condenser to use and where to find? Thanks for any help.

 

Autolite 216's are what I run in my 8ba with EAB heads. I used to run Champion H10's per my old Motors Manual but I like the Autolites better. For what its worth the H10's come packaged as lawn mower plugs. I got a cap and points from my local parts store when I had the Loadamatic distributor but I'm running a Bubba Chevy conversion now and I don't remember part numbers. If your local parts store can't help you every early Ford on line company will have them.

 

Mr. Google is your friend.
https://shoebox-central.com/1949-1950-1951-1952-1953-ford-mercury-flathead-v8-distributor-cap

 

Exactly !! I have a couple that run back into the teens and I find just reading them interesting. It’s like a little bit of a history lesson seeing repair and adjustments fixes for teens , 20’s,30’s, and that back then they had no idea what would be ahead.

 

A well written manual is a thing of beauty. Following the Shop Manual for 1950 Buick, I just recently rebuilt the standard transmission. I had never done one.

Ben

 

51504bat. Thanks for the Information.