1950 Mercury Steering Column Guidance for FNG

Thanks for the thoughts guys and thanks for the pictures as well. They will come in handy. I had the same thoughts of adding to the tranny cover and not the firewall. I'm not too concerned with the paint on the other side as it needs to be repainted anyways, but I think modifying the cover will be the easier path anyways. I really want get this hurdle situated so I can tackle the nasty steering wheel and column.

 

Here are some small, but tiny steps forward. Two weekends ago I cleaned up the tranny cover by chiseling the tarlike factory sound deadening material off the cover. I was thrilled that I was able to use one of my carpentry tools to chisel away the material.

 

This last weekend I put my dash back together again after being dissassembled for 8 months getting gauges reworked and pieces re-chromed. I also put my new steering column back together with the MACs wiring kit. No extra parts were leftover so that was a good sign. Fishing the wiring through the column was a task in itself. I also ordered a floor mount gas pedal because the gas pedal that was in there was attached to the metal plate that was covering the hole in the firewall that has since been removed.

 

Wow does that dash look great! Now you have me wishing I had sent my insert out while it was all apart. But alas, driver quality chrome is going to have to suffice.

Making great progress. At this rate you should have it back together in no time and ready for spring cruising (but of course being down in Texas you coulda driven it today like I did mine....but lets keep that our little secret from the snow bound northerners. LOL)

 

Wow, you've got to post more pictures of the chrome dash... that looks great.

 

So I bit the bullet and bought a MIG welder (I'll blame that one on MIKES51). I'm still waiting on the 19 gauge sheet metal I ordered to start practice welding in order to fix the tranny cover. Depending on how fast I learn will dictate how fast I finish this little piece of the project. In the meantime, I've scored my new steering wheel and will be sending it out for repair and repaint tomorrow. I was planning to use the 1950 Mercury Steering wheel I already have, but I'm going to go with this one just as a little personal touch. I can always switch them out later if I need to. Here's the before picture. Funny how I started out this thread thinking I would go with a CON2R steering wheel (2nd pic).

 

I just tried doing this, and it was such a pain in the ass. Would you share the method that you used to get the wires down the column? I tried a few different things, and none of them succeeded 100%.

 

Be sure to use a sturdy string because what I encountered was the string breaking half way through the column because the wire was getting jammed with those that were already pulled through the column. Therefore, try to use a sturdy string or perhaps fishing pole string.

To start, I tied a long piece of string to each wire. Be sure to tie the string as close to the end of the wire as possible. This will help when you start pulling the wire to keep it from folding up on itself and getting stuck. When I had each string tied to each wire, I tied all the string ends to a hook on a bendable utility wire. I used 14 gauge galvanized utility wire from Lowes, but something else like a hanger or the like can be used since you can’t push a rope. I pushed the utility wire through the column, which in turn pulled all the strings through the column as well. Once I had all the strings through the column, I worked one string at a time to pull its corresponding wire through the column. This is where patience and luck comes into play. You don’t want to pull too hard or you’ll break the string and have to start over and you want to pull them in a sequence that will keep them from tangling up inside the column and getting jammed. I would love to know how they did all this back in the day. I’m sure the person who had this job drank a lot. I also drew up two figures in case my words don’t make sense. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the info and pictures. I tried something very similar, so it seems like I just need to try again, with a little more patience. I had picked up some "pulling line" from Home Depot, which is like a fine rope made from about 8 strands of thin fishing line, but it wouldn't tie small, tight knots. The knots kept getting in the way of pulling down the small channel. I think I need to get a heavy duty fishing line that is one strand and try that. I was also told that putting some dish soap on the wires helps them slide through the channel, and it did make it easier. I just couldn't get all 8 wires through. I agree, I don't know how they did such a tedious task in the factory.

 

Sorry I can not help, because I am new to this forum. I was wondering if you could answer a question for me because you have removed the dash. I need to replace the windlace on my 1950 merc and it looks like it goes between the dash and the piller. Can the dash screws me loosened and the dash brought forward a few inches to put this in. Can the dash be removed without the guages, etc.. Thanks for any information you have. Good luck on your project.

 

Not sure I know what you mean by the wind lace. The order I removed my dash was:
1) remove the internal window trim around the windshield.
2) revoved the waterfall insert that has the gauges.
3) removed the dash surround by removing the fasters along the top of the dash surround and then the two bolts on each side near the bottom.

 

On the windlace I discovered that problem area after I installed the dash. I just got the windlace pushed in with the dash left in place. Removing the dash
didn't seem worth the trouble for that short a section of windlace.

I didn't have any problems running the turn signal wires. Probably because I used modern 16 ga vinyl covered wire. your 6 volt cloth wire's gotta be much larger.

 

do a search on double d. there is a tech week post about a cheap way to home make your own DD shaft

 

Hi fellas! this has been a useful thread for me as I've been rewiring my column too. Here's a couple of tips, I managed to do it quite easily.

1) make sure the wires aren't too big that you're putting in, you have limited space.

2) If you have old wires in the column that you'll pull out, solder the new wires to them first, then pull them through.

3) If there are no wires in the column, get some 1/16 welding rod and solder the new wire to the end and push them down the space in the column. you might need some needle nose pliers to pull the end out of the wire exit.

Hope that helps!