Projects Project "AREA 51" 51 Mercury update

Looks awesome. If you want to sell the rear '51 bumper stuff that is bolted to the bumper, I think it's called an over-rider, I'm interested in getting one. Also, does your '51 rear bumper basically fit flush with the bottom of the rear quarter? We are going to trial fit the bumpers on my car on Friday.

 

Prostock, The bottom of the rear bumper is flush with the bottom of the quarter. I dont have the over-rider for the 51 rear bumper, just the bumperettes on either side. Let me know if your interested and ill dig them out to check their condition.

Abone, damn right Ill post some primered pics!!! I have been toying around ridding of the door handles but not too sure of it. It would look cleaner but I really dont have a problem being able to not have to worry about poppers and some ass finding the emergency override or something.

Uvillehuh, I made my own rockers, inner and outers, and it is a chore to do it right. Looking at the ones that stude guy is selling on Ebay and seeing the quality, I may have gone that route. They are worth the money by the time you figure the price of steel and your time. I had access to a 12 foot straight brake that helped out a ton. I also made mine out of 18 guage, thickers better when it comes to the rockers!!!!!
ETHER

 

Yeah MikeStude's are the only way to go. The other Chino ones are junk. I dont have anything to make them well, so Ill prolly just wait till I can sneak in a bid on a set at like 5 am haha.

 

I vote for leaving the handles. I left the ones on my 49, they are so simple even a little kid can use them. Or an old man. Yer Merc is sure comin along good, lots of nice work. I'm sure you will keep it forever....It is you!..........OLDBEET

 

Thx ether.

 

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! Started hacking at the bumpers. Ive decided to go with the 51 Merc front bumper for sure but it still needed some work. I cut an inch out of the middle and trimmed the ends 2 inches. There is still a little finish work to do and Im going to radius the top to better fit the fenders and grill later.

I also started the rear license guard surround. I had to cut up two 53 studebaker guards to get it right, you can see the left over carnage from them on the shop floor. Still got a few things Ive got to do to it, not sure if im going to bolt it on or weld it permanant before plating.

Amazing how much work goes into the little things most people wouldnt notice!!!!! ETHER

 

Merc and Custom guys will notice! Nobody else really matters....

 

Actually, everyone will notice if you don't do it. Not too many people will notice if you do....

I took the same 2 inches out of my bumpers to match teh 53 wheel lips, so if you and me are doing teh same thing, that MUST be the way to do it........

The car is looking killer, but you better hurry if you are gonna make the Drags...


-Abone.

 

You are gonna round those hood corners next, right????? Then, you can loose the door handles....

-Abone.

 

Abone, man you got me chuckling on that one!!!! You are going to HAMBer me till I rid of the handles!!!!

I am going to round the hood corners and I have a couple spots to fix in the rear of the front fenders.

One of our fellow HAMBers last weekend said he has been watching our threads and thinks we are in a freak compitition or something!! Its like you and I are chasing each other as we go. If I make it to the drags there WILL be some hard core chasing!!!! Im just afraid it will be me chasing you!!!! LOL

Im trying to get it on the road and if I get it there in time for the drag Ill take er. If not I just may go anyway or you will have to stop down on the way. I would love to drive it to the LA roadster show next year!!!!!! keep it up and let the chasing commence.......... ETHER

 

It bothers me so much to se the blackwall tire with a '57 Cad cap, haha. The bumpers look cool. Its the little things that seperate someone who builds cars from someone who makes them their own.

 

You know know what I meant. It's usually the Custom guys who notice the little details. I KNOW the obvious stuff will be noticed! I bet half the people who look at his car won't even know the fender wells were changed. I get guys ask me all the time if my grill is stock! There are very few things customized on my car. A car with all kinds of stuff done is hard to notice by the "untrained eye".

 

So bitchin, Hands down one of my favorite Merc projects going on right now.

 

BOB, sometimes I have to hand it to ya,,,,,,You sure got a way of sayin things!!!! Couldnt agree more!!

Phsychobilly, You just made my night, I feel like going out to the shop and puttin in a couple more hours now!!! ETHER

 

Amazing as usual!!!! Keep it up bro.

 

Looking good, The Bumper is coming out nice I will be checking back for ideas when I finally get to mine, (It has Briz bumpers currently YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

There really are some great Merc builds atm.
Ether, Keep up the great work and Updates .

Thanks

 

Come on,Ether! Do you really care what the guy coming out of the AutoZone,with the lighted shiftknob,thinks about your car? Didn't think so, LOL!!!
But when someone at a get together or at a show says "I like the way you trimmed your bumper to fit the front better",you'll think to yourself, FUCK YEA!!! It's like Watson telling you "nice paint job!". You tend to appreciate their opinion, just a little bit more...

 

Great work as always Ether , thanks for keepin us posted .

 

Then its got some healthy healthy heads on it!

 

Ether,
the car is coming out incredible!! put whatever the hell you want in it and drive the tires off.you and the Merc deserve it.great work!

 

The front fender lips look very cool, also am liking how you have the bumpers tight to the body, I look forward to seeing that car with some new tires and a lil' paint. What transmission will you be running?

 

Yup GT40P's ! Ether is hoarding full roller 5.0's he's got a few of them stashed away.
Just needs a better cam and it should get going nicely.

Looking good Ether !

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate the words of encouragement.

Prostock; I am using a 4R70W trans out of an Explorer. The trans is a full computer controlled unit that is related to the AOD and AOD-E. I have a stand alone controller from Baumann Engineering to run it. By the way, I cant wait to see a few updated pics of your build.

Stragedy; Ya, got a few 5.0Ls in the basement. Cant beat the durability and gas mileage, Randy and I did a 188 mile round trip in the Galaxie a couple weeks ago and got 25.5 MPG with the same setup Im going to put in the Merc. Cant beat it!!! ETHER

 

Sounds like a fun combo, and if you want to make more power you can always throw in a cam like an E303 or somthing right.

I'm planning on putting an overdrive GM 4L60E in my Merc when I swap an LSx engine into it.

 

E cam might be a bit big for the stock converter... ? Comp Cam extreme energy 270 grinds are supposed to be a good thing.
I am told that a converter from a 2000 ish Police Crown Vic stalls higher around 1800 and would work behind that motor and trans. Thats what I'm going to try anyway.

Then there is this Ether
http://www.jegs.com/p/Comp+Cams/745023/10002/-1/11935
Still ugly as a hat full of ar$eholes but at least it's more compact so you could cover it up easier.

Anyway, iusn't it about time you stopped lounging around in Caliu and did some work on the Merc ?

 

Im running Jamco leafs in the rear with 2 inch blocks so the 3 inch 8.8 tubes are pretty close to the frame rails and I needed to do something for clearence. I may bag the Merc later down the road so notching the frame was in order. I bought a frame notch kit from a buddy of mine at Steadfast Customs in Huntington Beach Calif. Notching a frame is not rocket science but there are easier ways than others. First I trimmed the area around the notch for installation.

 

With the Merc level, I removed the Merc shock crossmember mount, located and leveled the frame notch side plates, tacked, and final welded. I then trimmed the top cap of the notch of its excess and had to trim it front to back since a Merc frame is thicker in the front than the back. Once the top cap was final welded, I trimmed the excess off the side plates, cut out the frame, trimmed the bottom cap to fit and final welded everthing that was left. I then modified the shock crossmember mount to bolt back in its stock location to the frame notch. I also located the axle snubbers into the frame notch.

 

Now the sheetmetal area that goes over the rear end has to be raisedto allow room for the differential. This area can be removed in the beginning of this process to ease accessability for the frame notch but I went a different route. I had done a bit of work in this area a while ago when I put the 65 T-Bird rear seat in the Merc, and all this work is lost. The outcome will be better and cleaner since the rear seat will rest on the sheetmetal tunnel rather than the mounts I fabricated. I used the front sheetmetal of the Merc by trimming it loose and lifting it up and and fabricating fillers that I welded to attach angles I welded to the outer wheelwells. The front is done, other than a bit of grinding and touch up. I will post the rear and top hopefully finished this weekend. ETHER

 

I stopped by today to drop some sheet steel off at Ethers, and it always stuns me what he gets done in a day.
The work looks fantastic up close and I was hard pressed to figure out what exactly he'd done.

Nice Job Ether !