Projects A Speedster Comes Out of the Weeds—Build Thread

Better man than me, just never will understand why three gauges need all that wire. Bob

 

Looks Great Clark! Thanks for the update, Gary

 

So the only thing left to do before attaching the doors is to install seats. I’ve been putting this off for a while for a couple reasons—one, because, well, it’s seats, which everybody does last, don't they? The other reason was because I could not find a satisfactory solution.

The cockpit of the Mercury is 35 inches wide at the back, tapering to 34 in the front. That’s like 6 or 7 inches narrower than a Model A. So, anybody got any stock seats lying around that would fit that? Didn’t think so. The best I managed to find over the years was this pair from an old Anglia:

As you can see, they’ve been stripped of upholstery and pinched, giving them a faux bomber look. Even so, they’re too big, and only fit in an offset configuration with the driver’s seat ahead of the passenger. You could argue there’s some historic precedent for that from the old racing days of riding mechanics. But it’s odd, and the seated-in-the-rear vibe was a little too “Driving Miss Daisy” for my dear and extremely patient wife.

Nevertheless, I was resigned to using these as placeholders until a few weeks ago, when Matt—known to most of you as Hitchhiker—showed up at my garage door with this:

It’s a seat out of a ‘30s-40s school bus that he scored off of Craigslist. Smallest one either of us has ever seen (insert "short bus" joke here), and damn near perfect. So yesterday I declared an official end to wiring, wiped my hands, and went to work on something more gratifying.

The patient is stripped and prepped for surgery:

The patient goes under the knife:


Oh god, do I have malpractice insurance!?!?


No, we can rebuild him (cue Six Million Dollar Man theme)…stronger…faster…


Or more accurately, shorter… narrower…


DONE! Fits like a glove.


Now I just need to make cushions and covers. I’m thinking distressed oxblood or burgundy would go good with the blue.

 

Who makes heavy duty/quality connectors? I could use some myself.

 

I got a nice USA-made set off Amazon from www.connectorsupply.com. Something like $40 for a 450 piece set. Also, my local hardware store stocks Noble Wire & Terminal connectors, which are very high quality, especially the marine connectors. This which was a godsend whenever I got into a bind. A byproduct of living up the road from several shipyards and yacht buiders. I also recommend a search on threads by wiring guru Crazy Steve.

 

That's great info, thanks.

 

Not short bus, that is a Bugatti seat frame. Bob

 

Or was...

 

She runs!

 

Huge shout-out to my brother Ric (Part Junkie) for killing a Saturday morning on start-up diagnostics. In the video she's running on a remote gravity-feed Jerry can, is straight-pipe loud, and still smoking out a half a cup of MMO per cylinder.

Wa pump leaks, remote oil lines leak, ex manifold leaks. Carb needs a rebuild (acc pump shot) and the charging system isn't working (polarized it twice--something's up.) All in all, about what you'd expect after 7 years of sitting.

 

That is soooo f'n cool!

 

Good for you!

 

Hearing them run for the first time is always an exciting moment!

 

Man, can't believe I've been skipping this thread! Great job! And she sounds awesome!

 

Fantastic! Sounds great!

FWIW I vote black upholstery and Brooklands screens...

 

Thomas and Bets crimping tool is one of the best. They look just like yours. I love mine.


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Hot Dogity Dog sounds wunnerful . Great job Clark.

 

It awakes from a long slumber.Caughing and snorting.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Cool little car !! I can only imagine how much fun you are having with it.

 

Nice to hear it run

 

congrats, Clark, she's living!!! i'm happy with you

 

Before I get started on updates, did anybody see the Mercury Speedster in Jay T. Judd’s 2017 TROG ON THE BEACH thread? It’s in post 37. Here’s a copy, with all due credit to Mikel50:

Man, that's inspiring. It’s an early one—no passenger door—and you’ve got to love the exhaust. It runs right under the step plate. That’ll give you a hot foot!

Anyway, on to my updates. When we last left off, I had roughed in my school bus seat (kudos again to Hitchhiker on that little find). I then realized that while I had the width right, I had miscalculated height—needed to allow for cushions! So I cut it up again, shortening the legs and lengthening the back. I also canted the seat to put me in a more comfortable position. Here it is now:


I designed the seat to fold forward for easy access to the battery:


The front legs pivot on marine anchor quick-releases. I beefed up the tubing where the legs pin into them.


Also made rear tabs that pin into a cross-member positioned under the floor. The cross-member is plenty stout because the seat belts will also bolt into it.


To be honest, my original intent had been to have the tabs come up through the floor from the cross-member, so the pins could be up top. But after I shortened the seat legs, there was no easy access. I debated a remote actuator, but finally decided to Keep It Simple (Stupid). I've got too much on my plate to start messing around with that level of detail. Besides, I’m not going to access the battery very often—it will have a remote cut-off.

 

I like your " just do it" attitude. If it doesn't work , change it until t does.
Worked before the internet and You Tube , thinking for yourself.
Enjoying the process.

 

When you started out this project, you made it sound like it what's gonna be a down and dirty build, but you keep amassing me with the quality of your craftsmanship and engineering!

And you have long since redeemed the fact that you found a rare mercury body, in the even rarer Chevy version of the mercury body and put it on a
Ford

Keep at it, lad!

 

More minor progress.

I installed the taillight lenses; fabricated gasket/spacers for the housings because the original clips were gone (not super-exciting to most, I expect, but made me happy).


Also tracked down my oil leak—the culprit was the crappy braided lines for the remote oil filter. I had a new set made (NOT braided), and killed two birds with one stone by added a fitting for the pressure gauge.

(leaky junk top, nice new hoses bottom)

I had the hoses made at Nebar Hoses and Fittings in Ballard. Great place to know about if you’re in this area. I think they mainly supply industry and fishing boats, but have no problem with small jobs like mine. They assembled the hoses while I waited, and in the meantime I got to kill time checking out their cool old building, which was the Ballard Ice Arena back until the ‘70s. That may not seem as cool to you guys as, say, a vintage gas station. But it warmed the heart of this old hockey player.

Lastly, I’ve been scratching my head for a while about some kind of protection for the radiator and shell. I didn't want a full-on bumper, more of a spreader bar or hoop you'd find on a race car. I found my answer last month at the Monroe Swap Meet, in the form of this home-made chrome headlight bar:

The thing is solid steel, not hollow. All I had to do was introduce it to Mr. Torch and Mr. Vise:

And here’s the result:

 

Great looking progress, nothing minor! The devil is in the details! Gary

 

Good stuff, i like the bar, gets the job done and looks clean and period-appropriate.

Sent from my LG-M153 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Good deal making something useful out of someone else's junk.

 

Figured I’m far enough along with wiring and seat that I can install the doors. It suddenly has a “complete” feel, and now I can stop worrying about knocking the loose doors off the workbench.


Those ’35 Ford pickup handles were in the boxes of stuff that came with the car. One was really messed up, but I found a replacement in the Hamb classifieds. Installed the prop nuts for the roof while I was at it, even though an actual top is just a daydream at the moment.

As always, nothing is as simple as it should be. Those darn doors—I had them mocked up and shimmed perfectly before removing for paint. Then I go to install the right side and it’s like 1/16-1/8 of an inch out—jammed to where it won’t even open. Wha???? You can’t tell me a few microns of paint did that, and I know that body hasn’t shifted. Had to use a different shim. All I can think is I set the wrong shim aside—I did a lot of test fitting initially with different shims, and thankfully could still find them. Anyway, it’s good now.

 

Now we both can Adoor your car, LOL ! Looks great! Gary