Progress on an older project, 1946 Mercury

[snakebit31]

Last year, I posted that I had lost my father and was continuing his efforts to restore his Mercury(third time he's done it). The car is a 1946 Mercury Sportsman Deluxe Coupe. He purchased it in 1961 and it was our family car when I was a child. Several years ago, he decided to do a frame off rebuild. The car had no body damage, original paint and interior. The interior was pretty rough, so I had that replaced. The car was painted about 8 years ago by a shop in Cary, NC. Any body work was leaded, then metal finished. It's powered by a flat head, 3 speed on the column. I still need to adjust the passenger side fender for a slight rub with the hood, and this weekend, my son and I are replacing the water pumps. That's going to be fun, because on the flat head, there's a water pump for each cylinder head, and they serve as the front motor mounts. Installing the rear taillight lenses, then I need to put the pin stripe (red) along the chrome trim and hub caps.
The first big show of the year for us, is the first weekend in April, along the Virginia Beach Boardwalk. I hope to join the other guys with their Cobras (2 Superformance, 1 Everett-Morrison, 3 Factory Fives) and drop the Merc in the middle of them. Next year, I'll have my coupe done to play then.

Rob

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/snakebit31/Mercury2637_zps34f70ae4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/snakebit31/WaterPumpsFlathead2290_zpsbdb250de.jpg

[Derald Rice]

Nice Merc to have as a member of your family.

I remember changing water pumps on the side of the road many times. A small hydraulic pump with a block of 2 x 4 under the pan to raise the motor slightly to get the pumps off. Do one side at a time. You might have the 59AB block, but I had the earlier blocks with one bolt inside the pump outlet. Can't remember how many times people would try to pry the pump off without removing that bolt.

Is your outside miror missing ??

Derald.

[snakebit31]

Hey Derald,

You're correct. It has the 4th bolt inside the pump outlet. 9/6" six sided socket, don't want to round that one off!

Good catch on the mirror. Still need to install a few little things, on that side, the chrome strip on the cowl, between the hood and door is still off as well.

Rob

[Derald Rice]

Bob drake has cowl mirrors for that car that are both correct and very useful. I had both sides on my 40 coupe, but the pass side was not very visible for the driver.