trip to my local junk yard yielded two "new" rear brake drums that were rusty but had enough life to be turned, so they and the front drums are getting the treatment.  This weekend should see them further cleaned up, repainted and reinstalled. Hopefully we will get the instrument panel reinstalled as well. Transmission linkage located and on its way from a good ole boy in Georgia.  Pics this weekend if all goes as planned!

Mark and Daniel

"God Bless Texas"location: Houston,TX

OK, some more pics of the down and dirty, nitty gritty, dull and boring part of restoration...

 junkyard rear drums in primer...

 and with fresh paint...

 that's about 10 lbs of rust and old grease off the front dr side suspension... wow, it DOES have power steering!

 nope, not the latest shuttle craft from NASA... just a Merc in search of some respect... and good brakes!

 the first of what will no doubt be replacement sheet metal... rocker panels from Black Car LLC.

 Daniel shows that a rusty license plate lamp socket will in deed NOT provide a good ground for the circuit!

 Daniel working to remove clearcoat (!) from the back bumper... must have been a previous owner's idea of keeping the chrome in good condition.

As mentioned at the start, this is not a Y block powered car, but Daniel cut his teeth helping me work on my 57 Fairlane with a 272, so the old car bug had a ready-made home when he saved his nickels and found this Merc.  390 FE powered presently, althought last night he was thumbing thru the service manual that came with the car and discovered a seductive set of numbers... 406 with 3X2 induction!  complete with graphic depiction of such a set up in stunning black and white!  Yep, he's a car guy thru and thru!!

thanks for all the kind comments and suggestions so far... we are privileged to share this adventure with the best forum members on the www!

"God Bless Texas"location: Houston,TX

well, looks like a pretty complete brake rebuild is in our future... I got the bright idea of cleaning off the backside of a rear backing plate with some diesel a day or so ago and noticed today that the wheel cylinder is dripping brake fluid (DOT5, by the way-thanks to those who helped me determine it was silicone).  Guess the rubber cups were bound to leak sooner or later due to age if nothing else, so its off the parts store for rebuild kits for front and back.

on a somewhat related note, Daniel got the last element of behind-the-dashboard stuff working last night... the cigar lighter had a short, so he replaced the element with a "generic" one from Autozone; bit of grinding on the edge and it fit like a glove and lit up!  New fuses as well in place now, so he should get the gauge panel back in place soon.  when the lights are on, the gauges and speedo light with with a really cool green color instead of just plain white...  pics of that when done will be put up for those interested in a young man's first restoration project.

Mark

"God Bless Texas"location: Houston,TX

Daniel gets the radio working, while Dad is scraping rust in the trunk and under the car...

 Broke down and bought an abrasive wheel for my drill to try on rust... "before"

 "after" using wire wheel attack...

 "after" abrasive wheel...that's shiny enough to catch the reflection of my red shirt!

 KBS after one coat, using only the final step in their 3 step process...

 close-up

 and after second coat...

special delivery today all the way from Georgia

 its the complete shift linkage to get the column shift back together and working; don't you love finding a "good ole boy" on the internet who will work with you!

 and finally, a test in the trunk area using the abrasive wheel after using a paint scraper.

This weekend will see us raising the car up higher so we can more "comfortably" get underneath and begin the rust attack in earnest on the frame.  Still on the fence on which "paint over rust' product to go with... thanks to all who have weighed in with their favorites.  The weather in Houston is finally staying out of the 100's so its fairly pleasent working outside on the car.  More to come...!

Mark

"God Bless Texas"location: Houston,TX

Mark and Daniel, good looking project. My dad had a 63 merc, 390, that car would lay a burner till you let off the gas. I have used alot of KBS products and have endorsed them here and on the 57 fords forever site. I have used the gas tank sealer, rust seal, heat paint, I've used the 3-step, and right over rust with good bond on everything. Street rodder did a piece on spraying the stuff on a chassis recently. I buy it in quarts, purchase an empty can and pour 1/2 of it in for later. Good luck,





thanks, Mark

Began the brake rebuild last night with Daniel on his Mercury.  Disassembled one rear, left the other side intact for reference... sort of like measuring twice, cutting once...;

anyway, in the process of putting the driver's side back together, we noticed that on the passenger side, there are a couple of pieces missing, pieces used in activating the emergency brake... someone in the past must have concluded that the emergency brake feature was a luxury and just didn't reinstall them during a brake job.  So, I will be back at my local junk yard hunting parts.  May post in the WTB section of the classified area on this forum if I hit a dry hole.

not much in the way of interesting pictures to post right now... just rust, road salt, poor repairs in the past and grease on everything!

Hoping for some interesting and photo-worthy activity soon!

Mark

"God Bless Texas"location: Houston,TX

this is the "pretty" version of our first brake rebuild on the Merc...  all parts present and accounted for, new wheel cylinder kit, and parts cleaned up and reinstalled...

this is all I can bear to put out there for inspection as a "before" pic... needless to say, the brakes have been rode hard and put up wet way too many times!

Daniel gets what he wanted here... all the dash lights lit up and working...

its all about incrementalism when it comes to restoration, right?

next up, complete brake overhaul on the remaining 3 wheels, then get after the bottom in high gear.  Folks have given us some great ideas on attacking our rust under the car... chimney sweep brush sounds like the best "pipe cleaner" suggestion for getting the insides of the frame cleaned up, so I'll probably get one... or two... and try that, followed by the Eastwood internal frame rust product.  Full scrape of the rest of the undercarriage moves to the top of the list.  May post some before and after pics of that aspect of our project.  Need to get the car up high enough in the air so we can really get under the whole thing.  There may still be an air scaler in our future, too.

More to come...!

Daniel and Mark

"God Bless Texas"location: Houston,TX

Mark, I picked up a 4 dr breezeway yesterday that is going to be parted out, all I want is the drivetrain. Anything you want off it before it goes to pull-a-part?

Glen Henderson



Freedom is not Free

Letohatchee, AL

Glen, I just sent you a PM but don't know if it went thru... might have had a hiccup right in the middle of the sending process...

please let me know when you can if you received my msg.

thanks,Mark

"God Bless Texas"location: Houston,TX

Mark, your mailbox is full, but no hubcaps.

Glen Henderson



Freedom is not Free

Letohatchee, AL