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

No update right now...involved in non car things. Co worker may stop by and give his
hand a try.

 

Hey all!

No progress to report on the transmission - taking a break for classes right now (next week or so).

However some new goodies arrived. I found these for a VERY reasonable price on 3-8ay a few weeks ago. Should look NICE under the hood - eventually.

 

Color will have to change tho....

 

Quick update. So co-worker and I are going to go pick up a few more tools in Tucson (stored at my moms)....extra stands, jacks etc and try again tomorrow to get this transmission out. Its apparent the ENTIRE exhaust will have to come out. We MAY have to undo the motor mounts to tilt the engine enough to get to the upper bolts. Maybe I should just break down and bring the engine hoist down from Tucson. The carport is getting cluttered with all the larger tools. But....I may bring it down for now....

 

Good luck and be safe.

 

So after going in a cruise in the Edsel over to Bisbee and back, I did some homework, and decided to try one last time to remove the transmission from the Merc.

She resisted at first. I could NOT get in there - the bolts were too tight on the manifold brackets....so...I sweet talked the old girl - tried to convince her she doesn't want to just sit in my carport - that she wants to be back on the road - roaring past all those stupid import cars - showing them who's boss....

And the clouds parted - I got the angles right - I found the right position to get to the exhaust port on the drivers side - got the exhaust removed from the manifold - lowered it down - got the cross member out - and once the exhaust was out of the way -angled the transmission down about 10 degrees - got the last four bolts out...and out she came - easy as 1 2 3.

Looking the transmission over - its fairly clean. To me it looks like maybe it was a rebuild at some point. Anyway - pics. It happened.

I'll be starting a transmission rebuild thread when I begin that phase of the project.

 

Some need more sweet talking then others lol. Keep up the progress dude.

 

Where there's a will, there's a way!

 

This one took a LOT of will. Also took a lot of patience as well. I think this qualifies me for a degree in "Advanced Mechanical Engineering." It definitely is a reverse Tetris move to get that thing out of there. Now that I know what I'm doing it should go in a LOT easier!

 

So before I delve into the whole conundrum of rebuilding the transmission I decided to definitively identify it:

Markings are:
C5MP 7006 A
DIF 24
Tag: PCE-BJ-38468

Passenger Side of Case:
5A724

Based on this information, and according to:

http://mmerlinn.com/catalog/ballet_babii/fd_b1f/fdb1f010.htm
and
http://mustangtek.com/transmission/FordFMX.html\
and
http://www.tpocr.com/thunderbirdtc.html

This is probably a 1965/66 Thunderbird Transmission. Meaning at one point the transmission was replaced.

 

The FMX isn't a bad tranny to overhaul, just heavy as hell. Although you can pull it without the torque converter, it might be easier to remove the bell housing and torque converter from the back of the engine before installation. It's hard to get the splines lined up on the input and stator shaft, and you can break the pump drive gear trying to stick it like a manual tranny.

 

Quick Correction this is the MX not the FMX. FMX came out after the MX (I think in 1967 or 68). Be that as it may - Thanks for the advice! I definitely do not want to screw anything up!

 

Whoa! I just realized that you pulled that and left the bellhousing and convertor behind. FYI, I pulled a powerglide on a '64 Impala once, to change the front seal. Being the not so genius I am, I left the convertor in place, thinking that nothing would move and everything would line back up. The thing did bolt back in, but the misaligned drive for the pump, wiped the pump out pretty quick. 41fordor is right on here.

 

s55mercury66 Good point - will address when I'm ready to get it back in.

So.....

Every time I work on this car I find yet more evidence this car was loved. When I pulled the transmission I found that it had been replaced at some point. Now I'm wondering if that hadn't been VERY recently.

Co-worker is coming to pick up the transmission this afternoon and we'll work on it in his garage. So I pulled the tail housing.



So this transmission was rebuilt VERY recently or at least installed recently with a "new" tail shaft - probably JUST before the PO got it and trashed it. The pics speak for themselves. If that gasket is older than 5 years I'll eat my hat.....

 

Only someone who loved an early 60's Merc would bother replacing the transmission in the last few years. All work on this car looks professional.

 

So I had one of those "driveway moments" - no not those espoused by NPR - but a literal "driveway moment."

Was on the way in to work this morning - big hurry - glanced right and....there's a black and white 1963 Mercury Monterey 2dr HT!

Um.....they aren't common - so thats strange.

After work I drop off the transmission bands to USPS to send off for relining and head over to where I saw the car - and someone was in the front yard.

I'll keep this simple and sweet. The car is for sale. Owner does not want it - got it in trade.

Good: 1963 Mercury Monterey s55 black/white - s55 interior (door panels and headliner are awesome) - has 390 2bbl with 4 speed, manual steering and brakes. Not a Marauder - a Monterey s55....

Bad: Quarter rust and thrown rod. Been sitting a while. Some minor damage to belt line trim (no where near as bad as mine though).

Man - part of me wants yet ANOTHER project - but the adult in me is saying - BAD idea. The rust is in the rockers and quarters, and bits of the trunk (non AZ car). But --- a 4speed would be awesome - has the buckets and the console....but.....

nomoreprojectsnomoreprojectsnomoreprojects.....

Anyway - was odd to see something like that local - when I've never seen another car like this in person save the one I have. Just odd.

 

I passed on the other mercury....

Did some more work on the transmission the last couple of weeks.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=794669

Also as I was working to get the bell housing off I found out the starter was "new" - within the last 2 years. *sigh* - more signs of love amongst the neglect.

 

Rprice76: Love those NPR moments myself. Kudos on an interesting, well written thread. Click and Clack would love this saga.

 

I wonder if Click and Clack ever do read any of these?

 

Click and Clack are quite entertaining.

Also as a young starving college student some 15 years ago I worked as a student radio announcer for the local NPR stations in Tucson (KUAT/KUAZ). I worked nights during the week until I was good enough to take over morning shift on weekends for KUAZ. Loved that job - held it for about 3 years!

I don't know - but it would be cool if they did!

On another note: I'm contemplating some minor modifications to this car. Nothing that couldn't be undone. A light lowering (2" all around). Definitely need some duals on this. That breezeway will allow you to hear the exhaust note very well from inside .

I'm contemplating pulling the engine. I have so much disconnected so far with the transmission out, it would just be that much easier to do it now rather than later. That will either be this weekend or the one after. Once out I'll dress the engine up and get a good look at it and see if there are any other oil leaks. While under the car this last weekend I could really see signs that it had been rebuilt sometime recently (last 3 or 4 years at least).

Once running and driving well on to the next stages. Body work to repair the passenger rocker and door. Also noticed the top of the driver's door is a little off kilter. That window may have been broken by more than a drunk man's punch.

After seeing the other Merc, I would LOVE to do this one Black and White - that was such a winning color combination on this car - but that would require a full strip and re-do of the dash as well. The white would give it a nice "sleeper" look. Either way a nice drop would look very nice I think.

The longer I have this car, the more I love the lines. The backward rake to the rear roof is pretty neat!

 

i love this post. i recently bought a mercury monterey breezeway 2 months ago for a smoking deal at 1400. its all original and in great condition. i been searching ebay for parts and deervalley auto parts, im going to put in the power bench seat and convert all the windows to power, and have an eye on a factory ac unit, ultimate goal is to find a factory swing away steering colum.

 

here is the dash. i need to get more pictures.

 

Gotta love the big Merc's, here's mine. Picture was taken on the tour we did last summer, to the Hockenheim race track in Germany.It's a Marauder S55 but the emblems was not on the car when picture was taken. Good luck with your project.

 

Hey Guys! Great Cars!

Crazy - right after I got mine I saw yours posted on CL. I thought about going to look at it, but one of these in the carport is enough for anybody! Ironically there is a 63 Black on White S55 with the Police Interceptor about three miles from me. Its really REALLY rusty and the engine is toast - but I thought about picking it up for the 4speed, pedal cluster, s55 console and seats, and the hard to find lower trim....but like I said - I REALLY don't need another 20' long boat.

The Az Port Authority might limit me to the amount of berths I can have....

Hrm....so I have a rival for the 63 Monterey parts on Ebay eh?

 

the guy who posted the Merc on craiglist was hard to get ahold of. i litterally emailed him and text and called him for 2 weeks everyday, untill the last time i sent a text around 830 at nite, i told myself this is the last attempt if i dont get a reply i wont try again. i was already looking for another project car,
i had my phone on silent so i didnt notice but at 1030 i got a reply with a yes its still for sale, WHEN I READ THIS my heart started pumping fast quickly replied if i could call him and talk about the car. he replied call now if you want. trust me i didnt hesistate to wait. talked to him and at fist he said ,he wasnt ready because he wanted to do a few things to it before he sold it. i told him ill Take it AS IS!
after we met we negotiated the price i got it down to 1400.00 and he had it towed for me with his AAA insurance. Only bad thing is he had lost the title the nite before. we made a deal and contract i gave him half then and when he got a duplicate license plate from wyoming i would give him the other half. a month later he got the other half and now the car is solely in my name.
where abouts is the black and white s55 and do you know the asking price, sounds like a great parts car for me ide even share some parts if you needed

 

Just read this thread all the way through and loved it. Those FX and FMX trannys can be a real pain. I rebuilt one for a friend many years ago and still remember how heavy that beast was.
Regarding the black and white Merc, it might not be a bad idea to snag it for the clutch linkage & pedal assembly. Never know when you might want to go the "fun" route. Back in the '80s a buddy bought a '64 Mercury with a 390 and 4 speed in it. We ran the numbers and if I remember correctly the car originally had a 427 in it, plus it was an Arizona car, body in great shape. We hammered the hell out of it for awhile and when he decided to sell it for $400 I didn't have the money to buy it. I still shake my head at missing out that one.
Looking forward to following this thread. Eli

 

ill be turning these into pdf files to share

 

So - a little more.

My transmission service manual arrived via PDF Download. GREAT manual. Holy crap there is a lot of information. So I have homework before we attempt to finish this thing.

I also found a screwdriver big enough to get me into the trunk. The driver's side lip is WAY high and I wanted to see if I could figure out why. Got the trunk opened. MAN most of the junk is gone - but there is a lot left. What was left the PO didn't want. I don't want it either. Oh well.

You can see the hinge mount broke and was re-welded on at some point - a tad high. The welds look new - and I am pretty sure it was PO not Original Owner who did this. Instead of re-welding it - they bent the lip of the trunk down.

*S I G H*

At least I have my answer.

Also snagged a NICE 1961 Arizona Plate with 1963 Tags while in Bisbee for the car show with the Edsel.

 

here is the trim pic i got

 

Nice! Did they have the passenger side? My driver's side is fine - would be nice to have a spare just in case though....