Hey guys I am new here, but no dout you will soon be tired of me LOL. I've got a 51, 2 door Mercury and have a long way to go. My goal is to chop and drop this old girl. My dad passed away not long ago and left me a 1990 Lincoln Towncar. I have a Merc which needs a floor, 99% of it. I am going to re-body the Merc with the Towncar. I realize it's not been done (not to my knowledge). My feeling is it will be a ton of work but to me worth every bit. I think they are made for each other. My thouthts are the towncar is built low to the ground nothing like a truck etc. The Towncar is bigger in most ways and will give the Merc a great drive-ability. I will keep all the Original Merc dash and such for sure. I did see where a member use an older Towncar and that did look like a ton of work. I am all in for that. I am a retired auto electric specialist, EFI, computer controls guy and my partner is a body shop owner. He is a great body man and welder. Needless to say we love a challenge ! The last pic is my 914, V8. It has a flipped and machined 930 turbo Carrera transmission. This car has AC and electric power steering. I built this car in a one car garage in Orange County Ca. I am new to Mercury's don't talk the talk or walk the walk but am willing to learn so I hope you guys go easy on me.... LOL Having said that, is this project heading in the right direction ?
First you got a great start !!!!I have seen a few merc bodies transplanted on late model chassis and the work very well!! I have found that the blunt of the work will fall back on you the owner ,,freinds are great but it usually hard as hell getting them as motivated as you will be,, but maybe yours are the few that will be there for ya !!Good luck ,,post lots of pic's !!!
DON"T DO IT!!!!!! It's alot harder than you think! Do a search for mercman51's thread about his Merc. He did what you want to do and it's a living hell!!! You're better off replacing the floor in the Merc than trying to make the body fit the lincoln floor. I know....i've talked quite a few guys out of this nightmare. BTW- Post your pic's on the HAMB Merc Club thread. I'll add you to the list of over 370 members. Lots of pic's...lot's of ideas...lots of builds and support.
Hey MAn, welcome to the insanity of a build. Join BadBobs Merc club, it's for those of us, who have to Sled.. Listen to the guys on here, I wish I would have..
welcome to the merc club!!! they can get kind of addicting have fun with the transplant, we've all watched and read mercmans hell!!!not sure of the track width on the towncar something that might need to be addressed when doing the swap..
great car! always a merc fan. Im w/ badbob its better just to replace the floors. Car looks to be in relatively in good shape. IMO i wouldnt chop it. Its refreshing to see a badass unchopped merc just slam it! But its your car and build. Good luck! looking forward to seeing build pics
Check with UnionVilleHaunt here on the HAMB, I think he has all the specs on making the transplant because he has been planning a similar swap. I am replacing the inner rockers/outer rockers and floors on my 50 Merc. It is alot of work. Buy the rockers from Green Mountain, he has quality stuff. Good luck on the build, this website has lots of technical info.
I'm in the process of doing it (for several years now.) It's a lot of work. I wouldn't call it a living hell, but I wouldn't recommend it. I used an '88 Town Car. Check my signature for a link to my build website.
Is there any chance of the body "bowing" being supported like that without the inner rockers? Are the door width openings the same width (top and bottom) as they were when the doors were attached an the body on the frame? I am no expert, but those thought occurred to me.
I've got a GM B-Body swap car, I don't know how a stock frame Merc drives but mine drives like a 1985 Caprice. My summer projects include figuring out if 91-96 Impala/ Caprice sway bars fit, and swapping those on, and maybe a different set of control arms in back too. That said, it looks like a big undertaking. I think most of us would be happy with with the modern updates to the stock frame. So that is what I would do if I had not bought a done car.
hey man, id say go for it!!!! a friend of mines just built a 50 merc and he had to redo most of the frame with a frontend kit and build most of teh rear to accept a new axle and so on.... this guy is doing a 62 continental with a 99 towcar engine and frame. he takes tons of pictures and has a real detailed diagram of how he is doing it. i think it will be straight forward, just measure measure measure!! start at ab page 6 and on http://www.layitlow.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=411745&st=100
This is going to be one hell of a transplant. I hope you like a REAL challenge. Good luck in deciding and of course the build!
Thank you for your input and support. I am having second thoughts about using the 90 Towncar. Studying the in's and out's of suck a project tends to make me lean towards using the factory build up. I would love to pass on my dads car in this way but maybe something else. I'm arranging to pull the car from Orange County Ca. to Everson Washington, a neighbor has a enclosed carrier and that would be a great place to store the car during its build. Washington State get cold and wet as you know. My friend in WA. is not a slacker and will be there every step of the way building the body up. My goal is to make a first class build. This build has its advantages to my 914, ROOM ! Thanks again
Funny we have a '90 towncar as our famiy rig. It's a great driving car with a simple 5.0/aod combo. It just passed smog, so we have about a year and a half til next time, but if it doesn't, I'll definitely consider using it as a donor vehicle. There's kits to simplify the fuel injection wiring, basically separating the engine from the windows and stuff, or just put a simple carb manifold to make it easy. I haven't done any width measurements to see what it would fit under though, but a merc would be a great cruiser. I've always liked the look of those steel police rims, alot of taxi's have them down here. Anyway, good luck! TP
I think green mountian makes floor panels also- I would recommend his sheet metal- more spendy then some others, but u get what u pay 4.. pm me and I'll send you his phone number and u can give him a call if you like.. I ordered the inners and outers for a 4 dr from him.. inners were about $650- outers 350 if i remember right
Green Mountain guy has good stuff. Mercuryland in NE has full rockers also. My Merc is on a 70 Monte Carlo chassis. Been on the road since 94 and has seen over 60,000 miles. Nice to be able to find parts in any state of the union when you have the inevitable breakdown...(i.e. bearings, water pumps, shocks, alternator, horn relay, etc...)
I suggest you PM sldnmatt who already posted in the thread, get his cell number and have him consult to your project. He's been helping me for 7 months and I've shot some bux his way since we've spent several hours on the phone. Like if you want to do something about the stock rearend... helpful.
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