After a winter looking for a 46ish block to replace my original, I found a running 53 to put in until I can find a good 46 blcok... Reminiscent of the San Andreas..... The donor... Brought home in the mini-van....Not having a truck SUCKS! She goes together this weekend....
All you need now are the correct water pumps?.Looks good all painted up & to nice to get it all dirty again?,LOL.
My flathead guys said that a couple angle brackets are even better than a pump-swap. Why open up a running engine I guess? Anyone else done that?
Using the old style biscuits as your truck and making up the mating pieces to the later pumps is the quickest way to use a running engine and will do the job just fine.
I like that Merc pickup...A LOT!! Whats funny is I'm taking an 8BA out to put a 59AB back in my 46 Ford pickup!
Yep - but it didn't show for an entire summer. Guess it widened while sitting over the winter.... I'll have the donor '53 in until I can mag the 46 block I found and get 'er all together. It'll be good to have a spare.
Care to clarify? Without knowing that I needed the waterpumps from the change-over years (47-48), I swapped on the 46 ones I had. Trying to fit the belts showed me how wrong that was... So I put the 53's back on, as well as the 53's centre engine mount. So at this point I can either run a bar across the rails to fit to that 53 engine mount, or ??? I'm not sure what you said....
The bottom of the '53 water pumps should have a couple of tapped holes on the angled pad underneath. You can make an angled bracket that bolts to the pump surface and extends upward and outward to rest on the original round "bisquit" mounts in your truck's frame. Ray
I'd use the correct pumps and stock mounts; you want widely-spaced front mounts or you'll have the engine rotating around the crank centerline, like when engaging the clutch. Henry knew best...
That's obviously what my flathead guy meant...and I saw thoseholes but didn't put it together - thanks muchly!
... but two wide-spaced rear mounts. If you put a late-style (single) front mount and use the '46's single rear mount, you'll have nothing to keep it from pivoting around the crank centerline. A new front crossmember with biscuit style mounts out at the frame rails, connected hard to the center mounting plate (no rubber) would work, but honestly, the pumps would be easier and cleaner.
Anyone know if there's a minimum thickness needed for engine mounts (the rubber insulator). I used a frame donut cut in half, which was about 1/2inch uncompressed. Maybe 1/4inch compressed.....
I must have been living on a different planet or something! I have never seen one of these '46-'47 Mercury trucks, never knew they existed. That is one cool looking truck. Most people in the south would have no idea what that thing was. I like it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Canada saw more Mercury trucks up there then we did in the states, thus they're not quite as popular in the States. I seem to remember reading that somewhere on here a few months back. I do agree they are nice looking trucks.
They where Canadian issue only. Lots of interest form the US for sure. "The Meteor, Monarch cars and Mercury trucks first appeared in April, 1946 because of Ford of Canada's postwar marketing strategy.Canadian-made Ford and Mercury trucks differed, for the most part, only cosmetically. Many years it was just "Mercury" versus "Ford" letters on the hoods and pickup tailgates, plus distinctive medallions that set them apart. Often there was a bit more glitz on the Mercury trucks, in keeping with their slightly-more-upscale image. Occasionally there were distinctly-different grille layouts. For instance, like the American-built Ford trucks, Ford of Canada's 1946-47 pickups were warmed-over pre-war models, but the Mercury trucks were treated to a heavily-chromed grille and bumper treatment, compared to the Ford's plain looks."
Mercury trucks were available in Canada much longer than 1950.......exactly how long I don't know, but I have seen them at least into the mid 50's and I think even later. Ray
After reading your post a bit more I recall our local Fire Dept. ended up using the old water pumps/mounts to put a 52 8BA in place of a cracked block 41 engine. Sat outside with not enough antifreeze in it in WI and F'ed up the 1st one. Its was a shame that motor didn't have 20,000 on it and was junk. Michael
Check out the March issue of CarCraft MAgazine - that's my shop in the "This Guys Garage" feature. Although my Merc isn't in the photo, they did write it up in the captions. Good write-up too!
Your old engine wasn't even a '46...it's a pre-war 221 with some of the external parts from the '46. Building out brackets from the slanted mounting surfaces of the 8BA psassenger pumps would work. Someone on here has done that and posted pictures of his design. Looks like you have the '49 pumps, which are wide belt, so it would be extremely easy to swap for '48-52 truck pumps, which are direct trade and have the '46 type mounting legs...readily available from numerous sources, as they are now reproduced. Options, cost versus work. An available alternative if this is a happy engine would be to get up some money for a cam swap, allowing use of the much better '46 distributor...then you can trade almost all of the external parts, pumps, and belts onto the late block and have an engine that looks original to most people. Only very minor mods are needed, aside from the cam swap.
Finally got started rebuilding the block I got to replace the original. It's circa 46 (distributor on front) and looks OK....so far. Once I strip the valve-train out I can have it magnafluxed to be sure. Removing the valves is the toughest part of rebuilding these engines, consisting of prying on the valvesprings with a long forked bar and then pulling out horse-shoe retainer clips with a tool (I made) that bends around the block top and hooks into them. Out with old: Getting started on the "new":
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