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1949 Mercury coupe

45K views 146 replies 26 participants last post by  D Pope 
#1 ·
I've been watching this forum for a while and just got approved today so this is my first post.Earlier this summer my daughter decided I should build a hot rod so that's what this thread is all about.
This old Merc coupe sat in the same spot in a pasture since 1962. I checked it out and there's several 30 cal bullet holes but no rust at all. I was impressed so I went and got it free for the taking. I knew of a 4 door Merc too so got it for parts. Gotta love that picker truck! Everybody should have one!
I wondered about that caved in roof so got in and put my shoulders against the low spot and pushed up hard. There was a pop and it mostly popped out. A few more pushes on the low spots and it was back to shape. You'd never do that with a newer one.
 

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#57 ·
Thanks for the kind words guys! I don't worry about stuff like the hood and trunk lid when I live in rural Saskatchewan. There's a wrecking yard about 80 miles away that has a couple of 4 door Mercs for parts. He wants $200 apiece for the hood and trunk lid. I'll get them in the spring but I still need to find a 2 door parts car for a couple of doors. Mine are pretty rough but they could be fixed if need be.
The Merc rear spring mounts were shot so I looked in my junk for some replacements. It turns out 90 S10 springs are just a couple inches longer and the front mount is way more substantial. The S10 leaves are 5/16 x 2 1/2 compared to the Mercs 1/4 x 2 so the main leaves should take the 460's torque better. I'm going to leave the overloads on to keep it from bottoming out and I'll crib up a set of slapper bars too. It'll also need 2 or 3 inches of lowering blocks between the springs and the rear end. I'll use the Mercs rear shackle mounts and will just have to make some shackles to fit.
When I was digging in the junk I came up with a 3" diameter set of chrome roll bars I had on an old S10 years ago. There's enough pipe and bends there to hook the exhaust to the Lakes pipes. I'm going to get some stainless for the pipes but I tried a piece of the roll bar out to see what they'll look like. Pretty good if I do say so myself!
I changed my mind on the muffler situation and am just going to dump the exhaust out the Lakes pipes. This still needs some mufflers though and I couldn't find anything suitable so am making my own. I tapered a 2 foot piece of the 3" pipe so it'll fit inside the stainless Lakes pipes. Next I'm going to use a Zip disc to cut slits in the tapered pipe at right angles to the pipe. If I space the slits a bit under an inch apart and have them 1/8" wide that's over 14 sq inches for the exhaust to go through and the 3" pipe's area is about 10 sq inches. I think the 1/8" wide slits will do their bit to shut the exhaust up. If it's still too loud I'll just make another baffle for the outlet end of the pipes.
I chopped the floor out of the trunk so the gas tank can sit higher where it won't get scrubbed off. I'm going to use a 25 Imperial gallon (32 US gallon) tank off an 80s Suburban. My engine plate won't let me use a mechanical fuel pump so I'll put a throttle body pump in the tank with a bypass and regulator at the carb. I've used this setup before and it works slick. I'll mount the tank so the top is in line with the rear end hump and and the bottom will be about half way up the frame. That should solve a lot of problems.
 

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#58 ·
I've spent the last few days working on some more custom touches. After removing all the chrome there's about 120 holes to weld over. Add to that about 60 or so bullet holes and I should know how to do it by the time I'm done.
I was going to bend the lip in the rear wheel well over to make more tire clearance but decided it would be easier to just trim the excess off with a Zip disc.
I want to accentuate the roundy lines of the rear fenders so I blanked out the gas filler door and the stock tail lights. I'm going to use blue dot 1949 Ford tail lights like in this pic I found on the net. I touched it up in Photoshop to better represent how mine will look.
 

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#59 ·
I got one of the S10 springs installed and blocked it up to the height it'll sit and put a wheel in place to see how it fits. A 10" wide tire will work but I can't lower it much more since the wheel wells get too small above the body line where the two panels join together. This height is with a 2" lowering block in place. I wasn't trying for a low rider anyway since you can't drive them in the real world so we'll see how she sits when all the rest of the parts are attached. The weight should bring it down a couple of inches.
I also finished one of the muffler baffles. Those slots have quite a bit more area than the 3" pipe so shouldn't restrict anything. It'll be interesting to see what it sounds like when I get to fire her up.
 

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#61 ·
I got creative making my lowering blocks. I figured why not make them serve a dual purpose. I didn't want the slapper bars under the springs for ground clearance reasons so I welded them to the blocks. Now I just have to find a couple of suitable rubber bumpers. I suppose a couple of suspension stoppers will work. I still have to slope the leading edge a bit and make a hoop to go over the springs so they can't go down on braking and dig into the ground. That would ruin a person's whole day.
 

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#63 ·
I put a P255-60 R15 on one of the 10" mags to see how it would fit. Nothing any wider will fit so I'll have to settle for 8.5" tread width and see how it works. It'll have a 3.79 posi with those slapper bars and the battery will go in the trunk. The whole motor is behind the centre of the front tires too so that'll shift more weight than usual to the rear. A person can't do much more than that on a street machine so I'll see what happens. Feathering the gas on takeoff isn't an option that I prefer.
 

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#66 ·
I always figured that making power was only half the battle. The other half is getting it to the ground.
Today I was doing my goesintas on the Frenching in of the Lakes pipes. There's even a little piece of rust that I have to repair!!! I'm trying to decide on how big of a fillet to use to mould that piece of pipe into the fender. I'm kind of leaning towards a 1" fillet or thereabouts.
These pics give the general idea of what it'll look like. I like this style way better than the pipes most guys use that are just kinda hung along the bottom of the body. These look like they belong.
 

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#68 ·
I've remembered why I dislike doing body work after puttying up one side of the Merc. I guess that's why I just tie into it every 15 years or so. It is starting to shape up though.
I got some rear suspension bumpers off a 90 Chev half ton to use on my slapper bars. In the pics I have the spring blocked to finished height with it holding the weight of the car. There's about an inch of clearance between the bumper and the spring. I didn't put the bumper under the spring eye for ground clearance reasons. I can bounce the car pretty hard and the rubber will just touch the spring so that's about right. Next I'll jack the weight off the spring then make my U shaped stop so it just clears the spring.
I took the pic with the wheel in place then sat on the back corner and took another to see how much my weight settles the suspension. I weigh around 200 pounds so that's like having an extra 400 pounds on the rear. I likely have 600 pounds to add back there so the ride height will be about an inch lower than the last pic.
 

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#72 · (Edited)
I got the wheels back from the machinist. He used an end mill to make the 11/16" holes in the Merc bolt pattern to fit ordinary long shank mag nuts. The studs just come flush with the wheel's face so I need studs that are about 1/2" longer. I put a couple of junk 205-75-R15s on the front to hold it up and try for size. It needs tires that are a bit wider and a bit shorter so I'm thinking 225-60-R15s.
I was going to use the 66 pickup rear end housing and shorten the 31 spline axles for it but the axles have a different bearing setup so I'll narrow the 78 pickup housing that the axles came out of. I torched all the brackets off the housing and now I have to decide how to narrow it. I think I'll cut it where the tubes are welded into the centre part then remove the bits of tube that are left and insert the shortened tubes and weld them in. I'll need to have the pinion shaft on centre of the driveshaft tunnel. The rear end has to be narrowed the ideal amount to keep the wheels centered in the wheel wells since there'll only be about an inch side clearance on the tires.
When I weld the shock brackets on, one will be on the front of the tube and the other will be on the rear of the tube. I think they used to call that bias mounting and it helps control wheel hop.
I'm going to get the axles resplined and shortened. I've seen new axles on eBay for $180 any length you want but you have to wonder where the blanks were made at that price. If they were made in China I'm sure a reworked Ford axle will outlast them.
 

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#73 ·
I started working on the rear end and checked the ratios on the two in the garage. Things didn't look quite the same on the crown gear so I measured and the one is 9 1/2" diameter. I checked on the net and found a site that says Ford used 9 1/2" Trac Locks in half tons with FEs and big blocks in the later seventies so this is what I've got. The gear set looks way tougher than the 'mere' 9". I was going to use the 3.70 gears out of the 9" but I don't know if they'll fit. It might be better to source a set of 9 1/2" gears that are lower ratio than the 3.25s that are in it. Either that or just run the 3.25s and have a real tall 4th gear. If they're too tall I can change them at a later date.
 

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#74 ·
I don't know too much about the 9 1/2" dif's. Can you bolt the 9" carrier into the 9 1/2" housing? I'm thinking that sourcing out a set of 9 1/2" gears wont be as easy as finding a 9" set. I hope I'm wrong! lol Lookin' good Pope! You now have a set of "Uni-lug" mags! Cool!
Rob
 
#75 ·
On further research I've found that some mid 60s 9 inchers were a 8 3/4 ring gear and some late 90s were a tad over 9". That means both of these are 9 inchers. I never realized there was so much difference. The bigger one has the longer pinion shaft and bigger pinion bearing by the look of it.
I shortened one side of the housing. I cut it with the chop saw about a half inch inboard of the weld that holds the tube in the centre part. Next I knocked the bit of tube out of the big piece and chopped a couple inches off the tube then beat the tube back in place. Cutting the tube to the right length isn't important since you can have any excess inside the housing and it won't bother anything. With the amount of force it takes to get that tube back in there it has to end up in line. I'll just have to make sure i don't warp anything when welding it. Now I'll have to get the springs and shackles in place before shortening the other side.
Rob, when I'm done this build I think I'll have a whole bunch of cool all stacked together! The rodder look will make it stand out from all the other Mercs out there and the 460 should make it fit the role too.
 

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#77 ·
I had to move that axle tube in about 2". A hammer just won't cut it so I went the cave man method. Just raise the housing a few feet off the floor then slam it straight down into the cement like a pile driver.(A piece of wood on the floor protects the floor as well as the tube flange.) It took 8 wallops to move it that 2 inches.
Next I put it in place to check everything out. The pinion is centered on the driveshaft hump and the wheel is centered in the well. I have to get some longer U-bolts to bolt it down and I need to finish the shackles before I can be 100% sure of the rear end's position but it's looking good so far. That side is shortened 5 1/8".
 

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#79 ·
I'll shorten the other axle after I get the U-bolts and make sure this side is right. Rob, fancy somebody in Alaska wearing "Peace River Boots". I wear these from December until the snow melts in March or April. Mine are Sorels and they're the best kind IMO.
I installed the shackles then put the weight on the springs. When I added about 450 pounds to the back end it squatted down another 3 1/2" so I blocked it at that height to see what it looks like. I took the one pic then added the piece of Lakes pipe and took the other. The ride height will be a bit lower. It's about the same ground clearance as the Hirohata Merc.
 

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