Project Sidetrack

[LocuMob]

So, not a Mopar but my girlfriend's Dad's old car. Its a 1956 Mercury Medalist 2 door post car.

He died when she was 12 and wants to have this on the road for her Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks. I'm doing brakes all around as it's never had then in the time I've known Laura and her car. Got wheel cylinders and tracked down some drums.

The car had a GM 4Jet carb on it with modified linkage to make it work. Got a different intake with the correct Holley 4000 "teapot" carb, freshly rebuilt, used then taken off and sold to me. Tried mounting it on the intake on the car but they plugged all the holes needed so I got a gasket set and put the cleaner intake on. When I went to drain the radiator, only a quart or so came out! Nobody has done anything to this car for years. It always ran fine when we started it, but the longest drive was 10 miles. Then when I took the thermostat housing off, found out there wasn't a thermostat! Maybe years ago when they were having overheating issues, they took out the stat and forgot to fill up the coolant?

Her Dad put on fender skirts from who knows where or what. They will be going back on the car. It's been repainted to a turquoise color, was originally a medium green.

 

[tunaboat75]

Nice! She appears to be in pretty decent shape yet. Good luck and I'm sure we all look forward to more pics when she's back on the road!

 

[LocuMob]

Got the shoes and wheel cylinders replaced and the rear drums turned and installed. Getting the fronts back tomorrow with new bearings and seals. Have to replace master cylinder in the morning along with the fuel/vacuum pump, route some vacuum lines and bleed the brakes Thursday, then I have Friday to tweak little things.

 

[mopar_4life]

You don't waste time do you????

 

[Ripinator]

So, not a Mopar but my girlfriend's Dad's old car. Its a 1956 Mercury Medalist 2 door post car.

View attachment 132591

He died when she was 12 and wants to have this on the road for her Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks. I'm doing brakes all around as it's never had then in the time I've known Laura and her car. Got wheel cylinders and tracked down some drums.

View attachment 132592

The car had a GM 4Jet carb on it with modified linkage to make it work. Got a different intake with the correct Holley 4000 "teapot" carb, freshly rebuilt, used then taken off and sold to me. Tried mounting it on the intake on the car but they plugged all the holes needed so I got a gasket set and put the cleaner intake on. When I went to drain the radiator, only a quart or so came out! Nobody has done anything to this car for years. It always ran fine when we started it, but the longest drive was 10 miles. Then when I took the thermostat housing off, found out there wasn't a thermostat! Maybe years ago when they were having overheating issues, they took out the stat and forgot to fill up the coolant?

View attachment 132593

Her Dad put on fender skirts from who knows where or what. They will be going back on the car. It's been repainted to a turquoise color, was originally a medium green.

Hey! Those are cruiser skirts. Totally bitchin'.

 

[LocuMob]

You don't waste time do you????

I wish I was that ambitious. I was in the garage a lot trying to figure out what I needed. Learned on the fly, and figured most of what I needed, just in time. I need to get motivated from this and tackle my other long dormant projects.

 

[LocuMob]

Hey! Those are cruiser skirts. Totally bitchin'.

Laura probably wouldn't let me put on a set of factory skirts, or the correct mirrors. That's cool, I want her to have the car how she knows it.

 

[LocuMob]

So, the port on the back bottom side of this Holley 4000 teapot carb, is it full vacuum, or is it ported?

That brass fitting is the port I'm asking about. Thanks folks!

 

[Polara_500]

Dunno for sure, but I'd bet it's full on from the looks of things. Are you having fun yet?

 

[LocuMob]

Dunno for sure, but I'd bet it's full on from the looks of things. Are you having fun yet?

It's full, fun, I'm sweating away the pounds! Conditions me for work, really,what a benefit.

I have the shoes, wheel and master cylinders replaced, drums turned, gotta bleed them, replace fuel pump tomorrow, make a ported vacuum line in the carb, drain the tank, fill the radiator, replace a battery cable, put the wheels on,and pray it's gonna work!

 

[LocuMob]

Well we made the deadline, a couple hours later than I wanted to, but we still made it. Lost a hub cap a couple miles from our destination, I went back and walked the ditch and found it, you can see my car way off in the distance, I only had to go 1/4 of the ditch thankfully. The car drove well, although we didn't have brake lights and the right from signal wasn't working, love living in the country! Brakes were good and the carb worked flawlessly. Engine kept cool, so it all worked out. Here's a couple of pics of the car.

 

[pomonamissel]

sweet ride ! great job .

 

[LocuMob]

Gotta put that hub cap back on, replace the emblem I broke, and figure out how the trim clips work so I can get it tight, got a couple pieces kind of "hanging" on. It was something different.

 

[GJS]

Looking good, man! Congratulations!

 

[LocuMob]

If the carb we got wasn't rebuilt prior to our meeting it, this car would still be in the garage. Old mechanics hate this thing, the ones I talked to sure do, and I'm lost at what to do. Glad I didn't have to touch the settings. Still trying to figure out how to get the throttle to a closed position, we just rigged up a return spring, that it doesn't have so there's something I'm missing.

 

[LocuMob]

So I finally drove the car, it runs out nice and it was weird to actually stop the car with the brake pedal and not just gravity! Temp stayed right in the middle where it belongs and we had plenty of oil pressure. Laura and I just took it for a short spin, when we we leaving out of town she had to quip about how we hadn't ever made it very far on this road with the car. Well, we put that to rest and I even got my double clutching down a little better. We are going to try to take it to a few shows this year and just get the car out more now that it's able to stop on it's own. I have a new found appreciation for older cars (50's and earlier) now that I've worked on one. They're something else.

 

[cantflip]

Hadn't seen this... had to look back after reading the T-stat thread...

 

[mopar_4life]

Well we made the deadline, a couple hours later than I wanted to, but we still made it. Lost a hub cap a couple miles from our destination, I went back and walked the ditch and found it, you can see my car way off in the distance, I only had to go 1/4 of the ditch thankfully. The car drove well, although we didn't have brake lights and the right from signal wasn't working, love living in the country! Brakes were good and the carb worked flawlessly. Engine kept cool, so it all worked out. Here's a couple of pics of the car.

View attachment 135280

View attachment 135281

View attachment 135282

View attachment 135283

It looks like a cool car!

 

[LocuMob]

Got some letters from a fellow car guy, wouldn't even take money from me! He said they weren't much good, but with the letters he sent and what I have I now have 1). a complete set, and 2). a set that doesn't have any blemishes. Not sure if the C was ever on the car since I've known it. Feels good getting something I thought I might not get.

The guy threw this in for a little bonus:

 

[pomonamissel]

thyat needs to be framed and hung on display . thats to cool . he's a great friend .