1955 Mercury Montclair

[66benchcoupe]

Not a Mustang, but a Ford. I tried to sell this thing 'as is' a year and a half ago but it seems like every potential buyer wants to be able to at least want to drive it on and off a trailer, so I've been working on getting it a bit driveable for the last few months.

The first task was to change the oil and filter. Piece of cake, right? well, the oil filter was practically welded on (if ya don't know, a bit of grease on the seal makes filter changing a breeze). It took all the big screwdrivers, chisels, knives, and elbow grease I had to get this thing off. The oil filter on a Y-block is right next to the externally mounted oil pump so accessability is at a minimum. I spent more than an hour trying to get it off. LOL. I probably should've just shined the filter up and put new fluids in, but the hole I put in it after the filter wrench didn't work precluded that. . .

Changed the plugs and shot some oil in the cyliders and tried to start it with a fuel line in a gas can (the car has been sitting since 1999). No spark. Put a timing light on the coil wire to see if there was any juice going to the distributor and no light. Bad points. Changed the points and dumped some gas in the carb and she fired up and ran smooth (after getting a new 6v battery, of course). But the accelerator pump didn't work and it stalled if I didn't feather the gas. . . I suspect there's a timing issue, as well. I have no idea where my dwell meter is, since it's been almost 20 years since I've checked the dwell on anything. . .

Pulled the Holley tea-pot carb, disassembled, and replaced the plunger for the accelerator pump (with the help of a vintage carb kit in the big box of extra parts I'm lucky to have). Once I get the car started again it revs up good and the radiator starts leaking bad. So I take the rad to the local shop and they want $650 for a re-core, LOL. I say no to that and go to 1-800-radiator in Fairfield, CA, who can have a new one made for $350. Wait 2 weeks. New rad shows up and I get it all installed and it leaks, the tiniest hole I've ever seen. They come pick it up and it'll be another 2 weeks. So I go to clean the gas tank out. The fuel line is a hard line that goes directly to the tank and there's straps that have been holding the tank on since 1955. So I decide to try and just pump the gas out, add new, and call it good. So I wired up an electric Carter pump I salvaged out of a Suzuki Samurai a few years ago during an engine change and pumped a fair amount of varnish out of the tank. . .

Got the fixed new rad back and everything is sealing up OK. But now the accelerator pump doesn't want to work again. And I still need to check the timing. Do I need to remove the hard vaccum line to check it? And, of course, there's no marks on the balancer, so I've got to find TDC on #1 and mark it. . .

So I can drive the car by popping the clutch in idle to move it about. But the accelerator pump isn't working again (shit in the gas??!). There's fresh fluid leaks everywhere since I've gotten it running and the gas pedal is FUBAR'd - looks like I might have to fab one. More pics to follow. . .

Robert

 

[tarafied1]

sounds like a few challenges but a cool ride, can't wait for more updates

 

[janschutz]

Looks like a cool project! What are your plans?

 

[66benchcoupe]

Looks like a cool project! What are your plans?

My plans are to get this thing driveable enough to get on and off a trailer and sell it. It would be fun to get it roadworthy but the owner, my landlord, wants it gone. And once it's gone, I can bring my '66 in and start working on it. So this is sort of a Mustang related project. I'm posting here hoping maybe someone here has experience with these cars and can offer some advice.

So recently I pulled the valve covers to help me find TDC - that's always been my preferred method of doing it on a smallblock (both valves are closed at TDC with the exhaust valve starting to open just after TDC). But a Y-block is different, the intake and exhaust valves both stay closed for a long time. So with the covers off I cranked the engine with the starter, held my finger over the spark plug hole on #1, watched the valves and felt for pressure. I noticed the faintest of marks on the balancer and, with a little cleaning, found the timing marks. It seems like the timing was way advanced, like 20 degrees. Reset the timing and the car now starts a bit easier.

I was surprised to see how clean the valvetrain was when I pulled the VCs. This car shows 86000 miles on the odometer and, from what I can tell from some old handwritten records of a PO, it looks like all original miles. I don't think the heads have ever been off and some shade-tree mechanic never ran it without a thermostat.

So the next projects are getting the accelerator pump working in the Holley teapot carb and fabricating a new gas pedal. I had 2 extra (broken) original style gas pedals in the box of parts and what I think is a repo that was installed in the car with a block of wood underneath it. The original style pedals used a real hinge and the repo part uses a fake hinge, see pics below. Luckily, the threaded holes in the floor are still good, this car is solid. So I'm going to fab a new pedal. After I pull the carpets, I'll bolt a piece of plate to the floor and mock up a new pedal and hinge. I might get that done this weekend. . .

Robert