Saved from the clutches of doom - 1963 Mercury Monterey Custom Breezeway

A few more

 

Spent a little time on the merc after work today.

First: Confirmed I have a bad connection at the solenoid. That was easily fixed. Hopped in and started it - and it creeped forward . I'm not TOO excited about it as it was a LIGHT creep. I jacked the rear up and let it run for a bit in low. The wheels spun for a while - then ran out of gas. No problem. Whole point of running it was to see where the oil is coming from.

Got under the old girl and it looks to be coming from "the back of the engine." I know this is a nebulous statement - but the majority of the oil seems to be coming from possibly the rear of the heads / intake manifold. It drips down the face of the transmission and drips off the bell housing. Definitely need to get this thing in the air.

Then I crawled under the dash and had a look around. I "THINK" there may be a bit of a kluge on the brake lights as there is some type of pull switch on the brake pedal. Unknown for sure yet - didn't trace wires.

Found out why the lights didn't work. As PO was rummaging around trying to get his $30 wal-mart stereo to work he pulled the fuse box off of the light switch. Put it back on and bam - lights. Only reverse and brake lights don't work. Dims, brights, turn signals, parking, all dash lights (stock guages, radio and clock), even the small cluster lights work! Also the interior lights work - under dash, dome, and side rears!

So far repairs have been light and easy. They are about to get complicated and expensive.

I did source a good rebuild kit for the transmission. I crawled under her yesterday and found she has her stock Cruise-o-matic MX. So finally after about an hour of searching I found the Thunderbird Headquarters carries the rebuild kit for it - B7153B (with bands) for $239.95. Going to yank the transmission this coming weekend.

Also need to see why the alternator is not charging. I'm wondering if PO accidentally crossed the streams

And now some light action

 

This weekend was the start of the transmission pull. I say start - but not finish. Co-worker came over and we got to work. Removed filler tube and drained the fluid.

YUK!

Now THAT is what i call BURNT! It's very dark looking. I could see where PO Mechanic pulled the cross member back and pulled the pan off. He only got it part way back on though.

Got the drive shaft out, shift linkage off, speedometer cable off, and the cross-member part way out. I'll probably drop the exhaust in order to get a little more room in there. Need some flare wrenches to get the cooler lines off. I also broke free two of the four bolts that bolt the transmission to the bell housing.

Then I got distracted with beer making. Driving 60 miles just to get the right wrenches - meh. I'll try to get the lines off one night after work this week.

 

Under a $1000 bucks!!

So much for my day.

I gotta go lay down.

 

Good save, and a 2 door hardtop to boot, much too nice to be an engine donor. Hope the trans goes together easily enough.

 

Can't help but wonder how the PO ended up with the car in the first place, when they obviously don't care about old cars. Anyway, regarding your oil leak, if it has a mechanical pressure gauge, check the line connection at the engine, might be an easy fix.

 

Did ya check the valve covers and gaskets?

 

Story went that the PO just needed a car, and happened to have the money on hand to buy it. As he told the story, the drivers side damage was already done by the daughter / granddaughter of the original owner who he got it from. He got it, and just drove it as a daily driver. His "mechanic" told me that the PO didn't realize old cars needed regular maintenance until the damage was already done.

Suposedly the guy I got it from (PO mentioned in story) has the contact info for the original owner. I am going to text to see if he can pass that info along.

What little time I spent with the PO - I came along at the right time. Any BAD PO story you have - this guy could probably top it. Some of his stuff was funny - some scary. Mostly just bad-scary. Wanting to rip all the chrome trim off. Wanting to rip stuff off that stopped working. Wanting to swap stuff out.

I think the one story that just highlighted how bad he was is this:

One night he got a flat. The next day he took the rim to a tireshop and had them put "anything used that would fit on the rim." Needless to say it was a VERY tall reidiclous tire size and went on the rear. It rubbed BAD. He just drove it - about 15 miles till it blew and THEN complained about it being the tire shops fault. Their response (his mechanic told me) was "you should have brought it in when you noticed it was rubbing."

Yes much too nice for a donor. I originaly thought thats all this was going to be, but after looking it over - and hagling over the price I decided I did need another project after all!

Thats next on my list. I'm pretty sure I've narrowed the leak to the valve cover gaskets AND the intake gasket as there is oil on the top of the bellhousing and the rear of the heads under the rear of the valve covers. It looks dried now (we washed the engine off at a car wash before dragging it home) but you never know. I've been researching how to fix this (I hear "the right stuff" is good).

Some other info:

I did get a new battery for the car when I got the solenoid. Even though the battery was new, it turned the engine over s l o w. Also I ran it for a while after replacing the solenoid to see how she ran. I noticed that the aftermarket charge guage was showing only 12 volts or a little less than. I thought it MIGHT be an issue - reved it up a bit, no increase in volts - just a slight drain (so it looks). I did note that the alternator looks new. The belt squeals BAD when you rev it - and it looks like the alternator is at its limit on adjustment.

After running for about 10 minutes and getting up to temp, she started running rough, backfired a few times and died. I spent about an hour trying to diagnose and then noticed that it would backfire pretty bad, which seemed strange. Distributer cap looked new....pulled it.

Ah hah! Electronic ignition module. Looked nicely done. However --- after reading online, these need a GOOD supply of 12 volt power. If voltage drops, there can be issues. Dunno if its fried but will check again later after the transmission is done.

Lastly - transmission rebuild kit came in. I went through bulkpart.com instead of the Thunderbird HQ as their parts were easier to search (online database vs catalog. The kit came with the following:

106006C Master kit, CI MEDIUM Case (1955-1971)
106034 Bushing Small / Med case pump
106064 Bushing CI Small / Med case, case.
106034B Bushing Small / Med case rear pump.
A106010C Filter, CI Medium Case (1955-1971)
M465SC Assembly Lube

Total was $149. The Master Kit came with all gaskets / seals / etc plus clutch disks.

Once I get the transmission apart I will send the bands off for rebuild. I havent seen anyone do a Ford MX rebuild thread on here so I may move the topic to a seperate thread once the transmission is out.

 

Hey Fugly! Yah - I skipped on work to go see something this cheap. Glad I did. Each day I like the design and concept this car represents more and more! I really don't want to say how much I gave but it was WAY cheap! He may have made more on scrap.....I leave it at that....

 

Taking a break from school work right now. Logged in to Ebay this AM to see about trim parts for the Monterey - nothing I need right now. BUT....I did snag a set of Mercury penthouse valve covers for a good price. They are a hideous lavender purple - will need to figure out a better color for em!

 

The dreaded Intake leak.... FE's seem to be good at those

 

Im glad im not the only one that spends money they don'thave to save these cars. I dont have money to fix the one I have, but I can't let one be made into a wedge kia.

1shot

 

I hear ya! At first I thought "well - I can save the engine" - then it was "well - maybe I can save the unique parts" then I degraded into "I gotta save the whole car!"

It's like the 5 stages of grief:

the 5 Stages of Saving a Car:

Stage 1: Denial:
Awwww.....its a piece of crap - at least I can get scrap price for it and yank the engine for another project!

Stage 2: Anger:
Darn it! Why are they forcing me to scrap this car! It's too good!

Stage 3: Bargaining:
Honey - if you let me keep this car I'll let you refurbish/upgrade the porch/bathroom/kitchen/garden.....

Stage 4: Depression:
Man! Now I can't afford to fix my other project / buy a new TV / buy season tickets for the game!

Stage 5: Acceptance:
You know - when this thing is finished - it's gonna rock!

 

Nice save.A friends Dad had two of those beauties.My friend has them now that his Dad has passed on.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Lesson learned on those. ALWAYS replace the hose from the intake to water pump when replacing the pump. Father in laws car.

 

The bypass hose... always get the molded one, anything else tends to kink.

Bob

 

My son has a '64 4 door sitting beside my garage waiting for the weather to break so he can get started on it. You'er right you could sleep a family of 5 in the trunk, these cars are big.

 

Glad your making good progress on this. Makes me want to work on mine.

 

Hints on where to get one? I tried finding one for my Edsel and sorta kuged one together....

ONLY a family 5? I guess....if they were really BIG people...I was thinking about 10 people....

Thanks! A little at a time and eventually it will get done....

 

Nice score rprice76. I'm another fan of huge '60's FoMoCo products. I'm not sure on '63's, but my '66 had a rubber hose from the master cylinder to the junction block on the frame. In your picture, it looks like it's been replaced with a hard line. I did the same on mine, since I couldn't find a replacement. I did, however, put 3 coils in the tubing so it could flex and move a little. Looks like you did real good on the find, glad you saved it before someone put 20 inchers and a megawatt sound system in/on it. Good luck with your transmission rebuild.

 

Thanks s55!

I actually took tomorrow off for a "Me" day. Got my flare wrenches and a cheapie floor jack to get the transmission out. Wish I had my BIG OLD 2ton Sears jack (late 60's) with a 2 foot rise. But the cheapie was $24 which is almost cheaper than gas to get back up to Tucson to get the OLD Jack. Plus it needs a rebuild.

I hope to have pics to post in THIS thread and my Edsel thread as well by COB Tomorrow - or COB Sunday.

 

Exactly! I don't recall ever seeing a 2 door hardtop with a breezeway rear window, the only ones I have seen were 4 doors, anyone know how common the 2 doors were?

You guys make me ill, finding a car like that and debating whether to part it out or not. You can't find anything like that around here unless it's got a tree growing through it or it is beat to shit.

 

From mercurystuff.com

1963 Monterey 2 door hardtop coupe (breezeway) 3,879 $2,930

1963 Monterey Custom 2 door hardtop coupe (breezeway) 10,693 $3,083
1963 Monterey S-55 2 door hardtop coupe 3,863 $3,650

It's not like it's a Maurauder but at over 21,435 its a LOT less rare than my 59 Edsel Wagon but still not VERY common!

 

BTW those prices are between 21k and 27k today - compared to the Comet at $15.8K

 

Sorry for the delay in getting any substantial progress info / pics. I hope to remedy that by tomorrow evening.

Yesterday I got back under the Merc and tackled the coolant lines for the transmission. Let me tell you those suckers were on TIGHT. I don't think I've EVER encountered any type metal line that was wrenched down THAT hard. What I did notice also is that the "Adapter" at the back line of the transmission is actually some type of check valve. Makes sense. I can only assume the one on the upper passenger side is as well (line came out easier on that one).

I had to use vice-grips as the flare wrench only stripped the back line. Like I said - TIGHT. I may have to replace a section of that line because of that.

Also - if I NEVER have to remove the transmission from this car while the engine is still in - it will be too soon. The 1965 Motors manual says quite simply:

"The transmission can be disconnected from the converter and removed from the car, leaving the converter in it's place."

What it should say:

"The transmission can be disconnected from the converter and removed from the car, leaving the converter in it's place. This will require the removal of several layers of skin from your hands, much cursing, the removal of the exhaust system, crazy positioning of the transmission using two separate jacks, and an ability to lay on your back for hours unless you have a hydraulic lift. An advanced degree in mechanical engineering and design is suggested."

It took about three hours to get the lines of by themselves , and by that point I had to go on to other household projects. I used a LOT of patience in doing so as I did not want to ruin some perfectly good lines. At one point I was ready to just cut them out....

Tomorrow I plan on trying to position the transmission using a jack low enough to get a wrench / socket on the passenger side upper transmission to bellhousing bolt. The driver side are broke free - I just need to break free the passenger side. Then I can have all the fun I can eat in trying to get the transmission out with my sanity in one piece.

 

This brings back some memories. Here is a couple of boring gray hair stories that might just help save you some aggravation. Ignore if redundant.

I took my apprenticeship at a Ford dealer and the parts room was in between the show room and the shop. There was a ’63 Merc 4 door (with power rear window?) in the showroom and the parts guy looked at for so long that he ended up buying it.
Fast forward many years and I had my own shop and the now retired parts guy had self diagnosed the same car with a front pump seal leak so I pulled the trans and replace it only to find on refilling that it was just a cooler line leak. Fixed that with a brass coupler and never told him. Cooler line pressure is low so you could replace some of your steel line with hose; the push-on fittings look nice.

I few years ago I had built a 37 Ford coupe with a Chevy BB (pictures available upon request) and after getting it on the road the rebuilt (?) turbo 400 laid a egg, fortunately close to home. Had it towed and pulled the trans on the shop floor and sent out to a different rebuild-er. After I got it back, the next morning I started putting it back in, because the torque converter has to be installed in the trans first (dogs into the front pump) I had this teetering monster setting on the floor jack that wouldn’t fit under the car. So the trans and jack go separately under the car and I try and lift the trans on to the jack on my back, for two hours. Couldn’t do it, so totally exhausted, I went for lunch, came back to the shop and immediately saw the problem. The car was too low on the jack stands and had to be higher so that the trans and jack could roll in together. Old but not very smart.

 

Ok - so while it may be POSSIBLE to remove and replace the transmission with the engine in the car, I definately would NOT recommend it. After three hours of gymnastics, creative tool placement, and jockeying with the jacks I have come to the unwelcome conclusion that this requires more advanced tools / knowledge than I myself have. I may break down and take the car to an older mechanic I know of to have the transmission rebuilt. Its sad - but true.

There is precious little room to maneuver, and no matter what position I get the transmission in it does not help. Angled, up, straight. Etc. I'm also afraid I'll damage something. Its not fun. I think if I had an engine hoist or a lift life would be better but it isn't. Much sadness and bitterness - I need a beer!

 

Any update?

 

Would make a great custom...

 

I did a couple on old Ford Galaxies years ago, Cruise-O-Matics on my back, the hard way. I had the car up high on 4 jackstands, can't really do it on just 2.

Drop the driveshaft, crossmember, starter etc. With the floor jack under the transmission, lower the whole deal down for access to the top transmission bolts. It really helps to have a helper and 2nd floor jack or bottle jack & piece of wood to support the engine.

Bob