Projects 54 Mercury Sunvalley Home Garage Build

This Mercury Sunvalley had been sitting outside in the Missouri weather for 17 years, before I got my hands on it. Was told the car was once ready for paint, but like many projects the funds ran out and the car was placed on the back burner.

 

Cool car, what are your plans for it?

 

Here's a local car for inspiration

• https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2016/...-and-sun-valley-offered-a-tinted-perspective/
• http://www.archer-plastics.com/project/ford-crown-victoria-roof-tops/

 

The pictures are a few years old. I got the car back in 2010. I will post some pics of the build up to this date. The car has been together and on the road, but as of today (Feb 2019) the car is back apart and getting bagged and having a small block stroker motor put in it. Should be a fun new build. Look forward to adding more pics and Info I have learned on this build.

Sent from my SM-N960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

This Missourian is subscribed!

 

please don't tease, ya gotta post pics asap

 

C,mon pics....

 

I ended up running the 256 Y – Block. The motor was locked up so, I replaced the 256 heads and manifold with 292 heads and manifold off of a 57 Y- Block.

 

I went with a set of 292 heads off of a 57 Y- Block. I also went with a 57 4-Barrel manifold. Since the 256 Y-Block has such low compression I decided to mill a little off the cylinder heads to raise the compression. I ended up installing new guides and exhaust seat’s through out. I cut the cylinder heads .025″ and had to cut the Intake side to make sure the Intake would bolt up properly. I’m going to deck the block as well and most likely put the piston .002″ in the hole. I believe somewhere in the mix of these photos is also the power steering assembly I found that will work on the car. It took a while to get that bad boy cleaned up and looking half decent.

 

I decked the block from the deck height of 9.770″ to 9.734″ a difference of .036″ I am going to be placing the piston .002″ in the hole. The block was not square from the factory at all, but with the help of a CNC machine really straightened out the block. Hopefully this and the amount I removed from the cylinder heads will give me a little more compression in a motor that only had 8.1 from the factory.









Since we have a balancer in house (Cemb Digital Machine) it was a no brainier to go ahead and dynamic balance my assemble. There are many benefits that go with balancing your assemble such as less wear on the main bearings and reducing stress on the crankshaft. Our bob-weight for this motor is allot heaver then what we usually see when we spin up race motors. The bob-weight on this little 256 Y- Block is “2009” that’s heavy! The pistons and rings alone were “751”. Here is the before and after balance information :

• First spin we were 16.2 grams out in the back and 5.6 grams out in the front
• Final spin we were .19 hundreds of a gram in the back and .11 hundreds of a gram in the front

 

The car was sprayed with high build primer roughly 15 – 20 years ago. So my first step was either having the car blasted or getting the DA’s out and getting to work. Since money is an issue, I choose to go with manual labor. Went to work with the DA sander’s and 80 grit paper looking for high and low spots on the body. We did find a few spots on the body we needed to cut out and replace. It was nice having my old man over and my buddy John helping me work on the car.

 

What an absolutely beautiful starting point. Glad to see it in the "Customs" file.
Looking forward to more!

 

Thanks for the links! I love gathering more info!!!!

 

Here's another local car I forgot about, it's different colour this time. A friend did the panel work many years ago; when I first saw it, it looked like your car.

 

Your Merc looks like a prom queen compared to the '53 I bought in a package deal back around 1993. I didn't know jack about Merc flatheads and gave the damn thing away because it was so rotten I was risking a tetanus shot just looking at it. The other half of the deal was a '53 Customline coupe that had black and white tuck-and-roll upholstery and had been running a 283 Chevy until I bought it. The seller kept the 283. I could have slipped that Merc flathead right in there (don't have a damn clue why I didn't do it) but I wanted OHV power in it and I had a couple of FE's handy. Trouble is, I never had the money or information to do shit the right way around back then. Still no money, but information is just a click away.

 

BTW the Merc was a glasstop as well. It was cracked in several places so saving the roof didn't cross my mind either. Damn I was stupid in those days.

 

I know the feeling when I was younger I had a 68 Courgar XR7 and I purchased two other 68s for parts. When I was done taking parts I needed, I just trashed the other cars. They had good glass, fenders, bumpers, one had good interior. Young and dumb.....I wish someone would of kicked my ass for doing that. Live and learn.

Sent from my SM-N960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I really like the color on this car.

Sent from my SM-N960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

A couple of Sun Valleys for inspiration (rod vs. custom), and a standard roof hardtop to show the direction I might take one...

 

If you want to go all out this thread goes on for 10 pages. They are making it brand new again LOL.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ury-custom-2-door-sedan-build-thread.1003685/

 

I follow this thread too. Lots of good tips and info on this build.

Sent from my SM-N960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I found a new gas tank for the Merc………….. well not really, this tank is designed for a 56 Ford, but the new 54 tanks were outrages. It seems it all workout in the end anyhow. The lower back of the car had allot of rust and we needed to do some work to smooth things out. So we just decided to take this beautiful new tank and cut the snout off . Then we welded it shut and relocate the filler neck . Now I can bring the neck up inside the trunk.






There was a lot of rust back here. I will be Frenching in a license plate box back here and building the inner trunk area up, that way I can install a solenoid to pop the trunk open.





Since this update has info on the gas tank, I figured I would add this cool video

"Down the Gasoline Trial (1935)"

 

Looking good.

 

Decided to french the license plate in. Bent up little box and went to work. Since I installed a different tank and mounted it up through the trunk I had no reason to leave the tilt license plate in place, besides like I said a few post back we had a lot of rust in that area.

 

These photos are from back in 2008 / 2009 when we put the car together for a few car shows. We really wanted to take it to the last few Hunnert car pile up shows. Basically we stuck some new brakes on it, dropped the old tank, added lowering blocks, and aerostar springs. freshed up the Y-block and ran it.

 

So how did you vent the gas tank? I'm guessing you didn't vent it into the trunk!

 

The tank had a vent in it and we ran a hose off of it and down under the car.

Sent from my SM-N960U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Long story short...we come back from the show and parked the car. I have a new born son and the ride takes a back seat. I receive an email form a gentleman on here wanting to know if I would be interested in selling my drivetrain. I decided I was going to pull the motor and build something different anyhow, so off the body goes and the complete drivetrain is crated and shipped to Switzerland this is around 2015.

 

Now that the drivetrain is gone its time to come up with a plan for the car. The decisions were to install a Windsor and stroke it out to 427 cubes. Slam and bag the car and add a 4-link to the rear. Let the mods begin.....

 

The Windsor needed to have different motor mounts made to sit in the Merc. I think if we would of build an FE, I could of used the same location as the Y-block set up. Made up some new motor mounts for the frame and the motor.









I will post some of the tranny and more up close pictures of the mounts tonight.