1953 Mercury
The rebuild starts |
| itemed by Shoelessbob22 (shoelessbob22) on Jul 27 2008 at 2:25 PM |
This was our second adventure in doing a frame off restoration or in this case a start to building a slightly modified hot rod '53 Merc. We bought the truck as a running vehicle which in hind sight was a mistake. I explained in Tip #1 what I mean. We paid more for something that "ran" but it really was in poor shape. We scrapped most everything and started from scatch. We did strip the frame right down and had to repair a number of cracks and weak spots. A Volare front end was in the truck, which is great, but now in hind sight, that wouldn't be my first choice. We did have to reweld the notched out sections and do some re-enforcing of what was already done. We replaced all rubber bushings and ball joints etc. but it was a tough task. The pivot cushion bushings were a nightmare to put on. You cannot get them on without a special device that some old timers made up themselves. That was our experience anyway. Chrysler dealerships and there service staff had no clue how to put them on. We searched everywhere and came up with a taxi company that had run a fleet of Diplomats and such that serviced their own cars. They had such a device and $60 well spent had us moving on to the next step. Most parts are still available for that front end at some of the aftermarket part stores. As we organize thw website, the pictures will show best as to what we have done....be patient with us as we continue on.
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