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By buddy - 13 Years Ago
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I purchased an original 1955, 56, 57 airfilter, not sure which year but it will not fit my 1957 312 with a 4100 carburetor. Could it be because it's for the 55 or 56 teapot carburetor?
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By NoShortcuts - 13 Years Ago
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Buddy, the FoMoCo '55 and '56 Holley 4000 teapots came with oil bath air cleaner units that did not have a replaceable element when used as single quads. The FoMoCo '56 dual quad assemblies did use paper type replacement elements.
'57 'Birds came with Holley 4150 4 barrel carbs (312 'D' 'Birds) or Holley 2 barrels (292 'C' 'Birds). The Ford (Autolite) 4100 and Carter AFBs were not used on the '57 single quad 312 'Birds. '57 was the first year FoMoCo went to the paper replacement type air filter elements on their cars.
What's the make of the filter? Based on filter element make, I can probably determine the part number it should be for the '57 'Bird air cleaner housing. I believe the element is the same for both the 'C' and the 'D' 'Bird applications.
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By buddy - 13 Years Ago
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Guess I should have made it a little clearer as to what I have. I have a 1955 Mercury Montclair and I purchased a 1957 Ford 312 engine that has a 4100 carburetor. I have the original big oil bath air filter that was on the original Mercury 256 engine but I bought what was suppose to be a 1957 Thunderbird low profile air filter that does have the replaceable filter element that's only about 2 1/8 inches tall. My problem is, the bottom circular area on the air filter housing has two tin flanges that stick down about a quarter of an inch at nine o'clock and three o'clock, plus the bottom of the air filter housing hits the top of the choke housing. It almost appears that it needs an adapter or spacer between the air filter housing and the carburetor or it's made only to fit the Holley carburetors.
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By NoShortcuts - 13 Years Ago
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Buddy - Yup, clearly I misinterpreted what you were getting at. Sorry!
I think you've got the answer. The '57 'Bird air cleaner housing is designed to fit the Holley 2 or 4 barrel carburetor.
At one point I was running a '57 Carter AFB off a Ford or Mercury passenger car and I had to use a portion of the original air cleaner housing that came with the Carter carb as an 'adapter' so that I could use the 'Bird air cleaner housing. -Wasn't 'slick', but it worked. 
Why does it seem these things get complicated? 
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By buddy - 13 Years Ago
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Sorry about not being a little more clear. Sounds like you had a similar situation. I'll see if I can find an old ford air filter housing at my local salvage yard where I've had pretty good luck with other stuff and cut the bottom out and make me an adapter. Thanks for the help.
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By paul2748 - 13 Years Ago
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Further complicating the issue is that the 55 and 56 air cleaners were slightly different due to the location of the automatic choke. The 55 air cleaner will not fit properly on a 56 carb. The 56 bottom has an indentation in the choke area.
As noshortcuts said, the 57 air cleaner is a whole different animal.
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By buddy - 13 Years Ago
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My 55 Mercury Montclair restoration has turned into a real challenge for a novice. The Thunderbird air cleaner not fitting was just a small setback. I had the engine bored .060 over and they had to sleeve one cylinder. I then built the engine and dressed it and the engine compartment for show but then noticed coolant in my engine oil. The sleeve the machine shop installed developed a leak. Had to pull the engine back out, strip the block back down and send it back to the machine shop to be re-sleeved. Now I've built it for the second time and so far so good. I've found there's lots of stuff available for Fords but but have not been able to find 55 Mercury stainless or interior kits. Am I jinxed or has anyone else had problems like this? 
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By miker - 13 Years Ago
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Summit lists an air filter base for $11, with a 3/4 rise and 14" diameter. Ive made adapters out of them before for similar problems. Take a look an see if that would help. Sometimes takes a bit of cutting, welding and sealing, but normally it won't show.
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By paul2748 - 13 Years Ago
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For interior kits, try this guy
Ron's Auto Upholstery & Top
215-289-0557
He says he is the former owner of ABC Auto Upholstery (sold out to LeBarron-Bonney) and now make kits for 55-56 Merc's.
Never dealt with him.
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By buddy - 13 Years Ago
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Thanks guys for the information about where I can find an air filter housing to carburetor adapter and upholstery for a 1955 Mercury. This is a great site and maybe some day I can return the favor.
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By pintoplumber - 13 Years Ago
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Ron did the seat in my pickup. I bought a seat at carlisle one friday and went back to pick it up saturday. The guy I bought it from told me to go talk to him. It was a 56 custom cab seat and he wanted it for a pattern. Mine was just done in a gray vinyl. He did a great job, even bead blasted the frame and painted it.
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By slumlord444 - 13 Years Ago
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Anyone who works on anything has problems like that come up. Murphy's law. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. What is important is not what goes wrong, it is what you do after it goes wrong. You stuck with it and fixed the problem. Some call it persistance, I call it just being stubborn. It is the difference between those who accomplish things and those who never seem to get anything done.
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By daveh - 8 Years Ago
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how do you replace the paper air filter on a 57 tbird. can's get the air filter housing apart.
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By NoShortcuts - 8 Years Ago
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DaveH. Welcome to the site. I suspect that the 'rubber' surfaces at the top and bottom of the paper air filter element are just sticking to the upper and lower metal surfaces of the air cleaner housing. I haven't had them stick as badly as I suspect yours is doing.
I'm guessing, but would try spraying the perimeter outside and inside air filter contact-to-housing areas with WD-40. The inside perimeter area may be reachable through the carburetor air horn mounting opening. Let the assembly sit overnight and then see if the 'rubber' begins to release. Patience and more than one WD-40 application may be important. Avoid attempting to pry the two housing sections apart to prevent distortion (bending) of the sheet metal housing sections.
Someone else may have other suggestions for you on this. Let us know how you make out. 
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By paul2748 - 8 Years Ago
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Just cut the paper filter with a sharp knife (your going to change it anyway) and then soak it in wd-40 or use the knife between the filter covers and the filter.
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