1951 Mercury 4 door

[Torch]

Hi
My brother and I just dragged home a sled that hasn't been on the road for 50 years.
It's a field car not a barn find.
It's still up in the air if he is going to trade for my 68 nova project or not.
He has an LS7 454 and has been begging me for my nova for a while...



https://www.facebook.com/100006667694723/videos/1671247716440802/

 

[Torch]

I'd like to get the 255 flathead and 3 speed OD going, rebuild the brakes and just focus on the interior leaving it ratty

 

[Dirtyrat]

That looks pretty dang good for a field find!

 

[von-zipper]

Awesome you lucky dog! [dr

Zipper

 

[Torch]

Marv is looking for me
He wants his ride back!
And he wants my jacket lolz

 

[Torch]

I'm thinking this patina with black tuck-n-roll naugahyde interior
Rebuild the 255 merc with Offy 10:1 heads a mild torker cam, MAYBE a stroker crank and keep the 3 speed OD manual, dana 44 rear and all the stock engine compartment stuff.

There recently was a 337 flathead locally on CL but the ad is gone.
I read the 337 crank can be offset ground to use smallblock chevy rods and bored to 400 ci

 

[Torch]

I found it on accident
Greg told me to go to SD CL and look for a mercury truck a guy wanted to trade for hos 60 apache he is selling. The apache is the barn find one of the South O Turds had for sale a few years ago.
I stumbled on the ad for this...sent it to greg and the guy got back to him saying 1500 by saturday or it goes to the highest bidder.
he also had a 41 merc convertible he sold and still has a 63 split window vette he wants 9 grand for.
Also he has a fairly cherry 57 ford fleetside for 5 grand.

 

[Torch]

cool

Lil brother got the title in the mail. Seller has a 36 ford half ton he's digging out next year!

Title says
(year) 1951
(make) Mercury
(model) Meteor

Kinda wierd... I was expecting it to say 4 door sport sedan.

The guy said it was originally bought in Minnisota and is a canadian model with the higher horsepower engine.
I looked and the Canadian Meteor looks either like a 51 ford... or a 51 merc with a different grill. can't tell for sure. this my brother is swapping me looks like any normal American mercury sport sedan.

When I get it in the garage I'm going to do some layout work on the front end to see if I can design a front steer linkage system to work with the stock a arms and a fast ratio grand national or jeep saginaw box.

Guess what? I junked a 79 olds regency with a good chassis 12" rotors and a bad engine to make room for the 57 ford last year

I'm leaning on a mild cam and heads for the flatty with a rebuild and keeping it stock. too many projects to dump 5 grand into the chassis.

If it wasn't for the steering box and rear steer linkages I have a hot fresh 460 and C6 that would otherwise fit right in there. and would free some money up for new glass and interior. it would be a mid 13 second car with that engine in it.
And I have a 62" 31 spline 9" from a 69 f150 for it too.


Do these 51's have the right brakes to work with the finned buick drums?

black tuck n roll interior, ac, new smoke tinted glass, fix the rust. no top chops or custom stuff. I might even just clear the patina.

Might take the stock steering wheel and put a smaller ring on it.

 

[White Trash Renegade]

Man I wish i could find something that cool!

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Title says
(year) 1951
(make) Mercury
(model) Meteor

Kinda wierd... I was expecting it to say 4 door sport sedan.

The guy said it was originally bought in Minnisota and is a canadian model with the higher horsepower engine.
I looked and the Canadian Meteor looks either like a 51 ford... or a 51 merc with a different grill. can't tell for sure. this my brother is swapping me looks like any normal American mercury sport sedan.

Torch? No such thing as a Mercury Meteor. (In Canada for 1951)

Meteor was a Ford-based car sold at Lincoln-Mercury dealers... a Ford in different guise to provide a lower priced car to Lincoln-Mercury dealers.

Monarch was a Mercury-based car sold at Ford dealers... a Mercury in different guise to provide an upscale product to Ford dealers.

The Meteor and Monarch lines were made for small centers that could not support two FoMoCo dealers. (This is also the reason for Mercury trucks.) These products were made in an effort to create parity among "neighboring" FoMoCo dealers.

At any rate, I won't argue the fact you have a Canadian Mercury... I simply suggest you have a Mercury of Canadian manufacture, not a Meteor, but a car (outwardly) identical on both sides of the border.

I"d expect MercuryMac to know more and hope he'll correct me if I have my head up my ***. (It happens once in a while.)

.

 

[earthman]

Really hate clear over patina personally. I vote for this invisable sealer from Eastwood. http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-patina-preserver-aerosol.html

 

[Torch]

Thank's doc. it didnt look anything like a meteor to me. Pierre looked up the 50 year old title to come up with a new one. the owner said it was made in canada with the bigger engine but looks to me like a normal merc.

owner also said he got 18 mpg with it which doesn't sound too bad.
since nothing is missing from the car i'd kinda like to get it running as is. engine is stuck and they filled it with oil to let it soak.

If I do stick something in to get it running i'm going to crate all the original stuff up for later.

 

[hansgoudzwaard]

When unstuck......

The internal rust is going to grind the shiite out of everything if you get it running.

If you intend to save the motor, best to rebuild it now, or replace it

My .02c

That's a fine car.

 

[Torch]

That was my contention. I like to take things all the way apart and cover all bases.
I read theres a 4&1/8 stroke crank available but if it has the 4"crank i don't see 1/8" stroke as worth the expense.
It has 6.5:1 compression so new heads are a mandatory
I kinda like the factory carb and filter assembly. it's all there. don't know if I'd mess with that.
I've recammed a lot of engines for more power using stock intakes and carbs. There's way more to be gained in valve timing and compression than there is in carb and intake on an engine that's for the street and not for racing.
The carb only feeds one cylinder at a time. people overlook that.
it all depends on the setup. if the stock carb is maxed out then yeah a bigger carb is needed but a lot of stock carbs run below port capacity.
max carb flow is restricted by valve size and port size, not by valve timing.
increase the carb cfm beyond port flow and the port restriction still flows the same.
Extending the intake event gives the port more time to fill.
it increases the intake charge by a factor of time rather than a factor of flow...
So... just grandpa driving and going for that bottom end and midrange torque I think the stock carb should work fine.

Once had a 390 ford with a 2 barrel running close to 300 degrees duration and .5 lift and was a screamer.
Circle trackers also use 2 bbls while running some high rpm's
The old commercial truck engines were designed to work near redline for extended periods on one and two barrel carbs.
Myself the only place where I noticed significant gains from a larger carb and intake were over 4,000 rpm.

 

[Torch]

I'm not sure which 3 speed it has in it. it might have the weaker one (toploader) or it could have the sideloader T-10 predecessor with the larger overdrive unit.
Unfortunately from what I saw when it was on the trailer I think it has the weaker trans.
The more I think about it the more i think I'd be better off with my 460 or my 389 pontiac in there. Looking at where the stock master cylinder is It'd probably be a good plan to convert to hanging pedals and power brakes.
I discovered the mercury center link is near the crossmember not farther back like in the shoebox ford and has better geometry than the ford so I'd be able to run just about any rear sump engine in there using the stock suspension and steering.
Thinking of doing the f150 disc brakes on the front and I have a good steering box from a 77 f150 there is a kit for to convert to power steering with stock suspension.
THAT requires modding the steering column so I might use the 77 f150 column as well. That would give me my automatic shifter.


Rear is going to be easy. The stock springs are in excellent shape with no sag and I have a 69 f150 31 spline 9" rear in the same 62" width as the merc rear.

The less I spend on mechanicals using what I already have the sooner I'll be able to replace all the glass and the interior and get it cruising.

The stock engine/tranny could be a good save for something smaller in the future like a bobber or a highboy. I'm pretty sure it has the 255 flathead. not really interested in running less than 400ci in the merc. It's a tank.
I sold my 400 ford a couple months ago and BLAM a set of 4 barrel Aussie heads for $500 pops up for sale all rebuilt and modded to fit the 351M/400

 

[MercuryMac]

Much as I enjoy disagreeing with Dr. Crank, I can't in this case because he's right. You don't have a Meteor. Meteors of that era have a Ford body with a Mercuryish grille. Quite often Meteors have the bigger motor, the Mercury [4" stroke] motor, but you have a Mercury so you will have the Mercury motor.
Nice project. Carry on.

 

[Torch]

I'm coming along nicely in getting my place cleaned up.
I still have a 77 and a 2000 f150 blown apart for restoration and dana 44 solid axle swaps (4x4 conversion)
And the 63 skylark gasser/superstock project
And the 57 ford 300 ex gasser restomod

So i decided to take a pass on the 1951 mercury.
I can't see working on it and getting any of this other stuff done.
Myself I just don't have the money coming in for everything.

it's been parked for 50 years
I sold my nova to my brother outright instead of trading and he's selling the mercury

asking price $4500.
I know he's looking for a 64 or 65 Chevelle or 64/65 GTO or lemans
The best offer he's had so far was $2500. He thinks it's worth more than that.
It's in Omaha send me a PM and I can forward your number or email to him. he's an executive with Ingersoll rand, not a Nigerian banker lol.

 

[earthman]

Aw, hate to see the Merc go but if you get back to the Buick gasser i will happy.

 

[Torch]

Aw, hate to see the Merc go but if you get back to the Buick gasser i will happy.

I'm itching to Earthman

getting close to having room to work here inside
currently tearing down my dana 44 fronts for the 2 4x4 conversions. I'm going to drop some poly in the garage where i can run my exhaust fan to do a bunch of media blasting. hope to get chopping and welding on the trucks soon and at least get the frames done and painted b4 it gets snowy.

waitin gto hear back from a guy that makes parts to do solid axle swaps on H3 hummers. he puts tone rings for ABS on dana hubs I asked him if he could make me a pair with the 2000 f150 135mm bolt pattern and use the 2000 f150 tone rings. I'm trying to avoid the temptation of ez street and try to have the 2000 come out with the right bolt pattern and functional 4 wheel abs.
It's going to look like a 2000 highboy with the dana up front and the divorced transfer case
i also picked up a pair of 99 landcruiser leather buckets to put in it and they have the right color
They are just like the king ranch seats but a tad softer

 

[Willowbilly3]

Can't wait to see the progress on this!!
Couple things on the 9 inch, 69 Ford pickups were 28 splines all, IIRC. and Ford didn't have an F150 in 69, the 150 didn't come until about 1976 and I think those would have all been 31 spline