New to the site

[ssdavis70]

Hey everyone, new to this site. i just sold my 54 Ford truck and picked up a 53 Mercury, its in bad shape, but I think I can breathe some life back into it. I look forward to chatting with everyone, thanks.

Les

[techinspector1]

Welcome aboard Les and thanks for listing your name instead of just your screen name. It just seems so much more friendly to call someone by their real name. I wish everyone on here would do it.

Does the Merc still have the 255 flathead in it and if so, will you build it or do an engine swap?

[ssdavis70]

Hey Richard,...Thanks for the reply. I bought the car with no motor or tranny, and Im trying to figure out what to put in it, including suspension, motor, tranny, rear end, not sure what will work with what. Im open for suggestions, thanks.

Les

[cffisher]

Les
Welcome to CHR
Post a picture of your Mercury You'll get plenty of advice here

[ssdavis70]

Thanks Cffisher,...I have a few in the gallery, just click on the camera icon next to my avatar. Enjoy.

Les

[cffisher]

A friend of mine had one of these in a 2 dr. I remember he put a button in the back pillar to open the doors.

[Itoldyouso]

Welcome to the forum. Small block Ford makes a terrific swap into these cars.

Get in touch with these people for some parts info:


http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb....hPage~cadefeex


Don

[moparjack44]

Les, Welcome to here. You will get a lotta good help here, and I am about to give you the best advice so far on your post. Ready, here goes; DO NOT PUT A CHEVY MOTOR in the Merc.

Jack

[ssdavis70]

I shall put a Ford motor back in it, need to know which one to use.

Les

[techinspector1]

I think if I owned this car, I'd do it a little differently than my usual balls to the wall approach. In my opinion, the best Ford V8 ever built was the small block which started life in about 1962 as a 221, was enlarged to a 260, then a 289 and finally ended production as a 302. I've owned a few of these in various cars and trucks and it is just a little sweetheart. Easy and fairly cheap to build, good gas mileage and ample horsepower if you don't plan to do much racing with the car. One of the best I owned was a '63 Mercury Meteor with the 260.

If I were going to bring the '53 back to life, I'd do it by using a late model 5.0 (302) with fuel injection. I'd buy the whole, running car and use everything out of it that I could, basically ending up with a late model chassis and running gear with '53 sheet metal grafted to it. One possible candidate would be a '86 to '92 Lincoln. I see them on ebay all the time for less than $1,500. You could end up with a good motor and trans as well as everything else needed to make the car a runner for less than it would cost to do a budget rebuild on the motor alone. The Lincoln might be a little wide on the track, but you get the idea I'm sure. There must be several other Ford models out there that would work, like the Mustang maybe??

It would also provide the late model brakes, steering and more than adequate 8.8" rearend. You could also use most of the interior if you got creative including seats and dash. It would provide you with a car that is an absolute pleasure to drive and you'd still have the eyeball of the '53 sheetmetal.

Just something for you to think about......