A new vehicle has been created in the garage!

No idea why the images keep displaying upside down!? Can't seem to change it. I hate iPads!

*edit* fixed them!
 
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Nice car, looks very clean and tidy. I've not seen that one around before, have you recently imported it?
 
It came over in July/August time in 2014. Since then it's been on the road only once! It did about 30 odd miles up the A3, came home then was put away for winter.
This year unfortunately it's had starting problems which I've fixed, charging problems which I've fixed and now it will run but I can't get it into gear and keep it running! So it can't be driven anywhere! I can't even get it to run long enough to get it off the driveway. I'm sure its a carb setting problem but I just can't sort it out. It's getting incredibly frustrating now.

Still, it looks nice just sat on the drive!
 
We have another Mercury owner in Horndean. He may be able to help, he seems to be a whizz at getting cars going (one wouldn't start at Hayling Reunion), and with it being a Mercury too, I'm sure you will have loads to talk about.
 
To be honest at this point I'd take any help I can get! I think it needs another set of eyes (or hands) on it now, I'm just getting annoyed with it and going around in circles! I'll gladly pay someone to sort it out but I can't drive it anywhere to get it fixed.
Been playing around with it all day so far with very little success. Maybe worth putting a help wanted thread on here?
 
Nice any plan's for it??
 
It's broken!

So, for anyone interested in my Mercury.

I've finally admitted defeat with the running problems on this. Try as I might absolutely nothing I've tried has made any difference. Being a pretty unsophisticated old yank V8 there really can't be much that's causing the problem.
So I bit the bullet and took it to the professionals. It's at a big name classic specialists, who are very local.

The verdict from them is not good at all!
Basically the engine is worn out, badly. There's massive variations between cylinders in compression and it's beyond just needing the valves and heads rebuilding.

I had a few options available to deal with the problem:
1) do nothing, accept the car is about done and sell it on for almost nothing with an almost unusable engine.

2) try to find a replacement 429ci engine. This won't be that easy over here, and any used engine is an unknown quantity and it won't be it's original engine.

3) rebuild the original engine. This will cost a lot! But it'll keep the original engine.

So after some thought I've opted for option number 3. Yes it'll cost a lot but it's the best option I think.
There's no way I'm able to do this at home so it'll be getting done at said specialists. The slight silver lining to this is that the engine will be getting slightly uprated pistons and a few other very mild modifications just to bump the power up a little bit.
It's no muscle car and I'm not intending to do drag runs or anything like that with this car but a little extra grunt is no bad thing?!
The engine will all go back together again and look totally stock, even down to the stupid stuff like the air box, rocker covers, manifolds etc so, like I said it is a very mild modification job.

So, unfortunately it's looking like it'll be a little while before I get to bring it out to any meets or shows but the car is going to benefit massively from this, and I'm sure as he'll not giving up on it!

In other news, I've also managed to find someone who is willing to supply and rebuild a pair of the vacuum headlight door actuators, these are coming from Canada. They have proved very difficult to get hold of and they are not cheap either at $1000 a pair! But that should solve the vacuum leaks, as the old ones are rusted through and get the headlight doors working properly again.

So watch this space! It's going to be an expensive month!!
 
Oh no, so gutted for you :(

But I would go with option 3 too, keep it original :)
 
Good luck with the rebuild. I think its the better option, you don't want to get rid of the car for next to nothing. Hopefully the rebuild wont cost too much, you mention the bores aren't the right shape. I dont know too much about the insides of older blocks, Is it liners/sleeves that can be replaced? or is that just on newer engines? I guess if its a solid block could it be bored out to be made round and pop in some larger diameter pistons giving you a little more CI. Realsteel supply alot of V8 parts in the UK and keep a lot in stock, very knowledgable when you chat to them.

Anyway, keep us posted with the progress.
 
It's just a bog standard solid iron block. I don't know yet how badly worn it is but a rebore and oversize pistons should see it right.
I suspected something more might be wrong with it though. The last time I had it running the crank case breather seemed to be chugging away a lot. It looked like a steam train!! Probably lots of blow-by from worn rings.

I think it's in the right hands for the work though, it's Classics by JSWL in Waterlooville that are doing the work. They seem a professional outfit and seem to be a pretty well regarded name in classic car circles.
I'd like to have done it myself, but realistically paying someone else will be quicker and a better job (hopefully!).
 
Yep, Jim Stokes workshop certainly seem professional, I'm in an office the next road along from there. They have some awesome cars in there, seeing old Ferrari race cars going up the road after they have worked on them. you are certainly in good hands with them.
 
Cheers! That's good to know!
There was all sorts of nice stuff in there when I dropped the Mercury off. They had some really old thing in one workshop, looked like it was having an aluminium body built for it! They certainly seem to know what they're doing.

If you work nearby maybe you'll see the green beast in there emptying my wallet!
 
picture's picture's
 
I didn't get any pics when I was down at their workshop. I didn't think they'd like it!
 
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It's been a while since I've updated this.
For anyone still interested, the engine was removed and stripped down. This revealed some very worn piston rings and bores, all the valves were worn, crank bearings just about worn through to the bronze underneath the bearing surface, timing chain so badly stretched the only thing stopping it jumping was pure luck! Carb baseplate and gaskets wrong etc etc you get the picture! It was in a state. There was also a lot of thick black oil sludge all over the insides of the engine - never a good sign.

So, to fix this the engine has been completely stripped of every part, nut and bolt. The block has been cleaned and re bored, new pistons and rings. Crank has been polished and reinstalled with new bearings, new cam shaft, pushrods, rocker gear and valves. Heads completely reconditioned, all manifolds cleaned and exhaust heat shields remade and installed. Basically everything in or on the engine has been repaired or replaced, then painted to look like new again. It is now basically a new engine again!
The auto box has been serviced with new oil, filter and gaskets. The kickdown cable bracket was missing so a new one was made.
New correct carb baseplate and gaskets installed.
Radiator reconditioned and installed with new hoses.
Front brake overhaul, rears checked.
Steering set straight and tracking set.
New battery tray in place of the rotten original.
All vacuum hoses replaced for engine and vacuum circuits tested.
Vacuum circuits for headlight doors tested, reservoir tank reconditioned and a pair of fully rebuilt headlight door actuators installed (these were expensive and nigh on impossible to get).
And a whole load of other stuff too!

The car is now mechanically spot on. It's now upto the point of having had a run up to temperature and a road test.
As you can see, I did get a little carried away but I decided that since they had it for the engine rebuild then I might aswell just get the other outstanding bits done at the same time! This way I can start using it and not just working on it. It has cost me though!

All that's outstanding now is an MOT, then it comes home and I can't wait!
It's a pity it's now the middle of winter and the car will have very limited use now until spring but at least it's sorted and I can get it used and maybe out to a few local meets/shows.

Roll on the spring!

Edit, to add a pic of one of the recon vacuum actuators for the headlights.

Weird looking things, and expensive! Nearly £800 for a pair and I had to get them from Canada in the end.
 
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Thanks for the update, makes some good reading. Never seen anything like those vacuum actuators before, interesting bit of kit. sounds like you have done a lot of work in other areas too. Did Jim Stokes do much of that work?
 
Yes the headlight actuators are interesting things. These ones are used on the Mercury Marquis and almost identical Lincoln Continental cars. Though they are similar to the ones used on the Mercury Cougar, the Cougar type are fairly easy to get reconditioned but the type for my Marquis aren't! I managed to get mine from the guys in Canada at Critter Creek Cougar restorations, special order only, and apparently a right pig to do as none of the tooling is common between the two types.
I can't help but think it's an unnecessarily complicated way to move a metal cover up and down though! Why not just use an electric motor?!

I did a lot of re-commissioning on it before it went for the engine rebuild, it did get the car running and drivable but since the engine needed rebuilding I just made the decision to let Jim Stokes carry on and do all the remaining work aswell. It's quicker and then I get to use it straight away! Plus, I don't want to have the as new engine just left sitting unused while I do all the other work on weekends. I don't think it would do a new engine much good to just sit. It needs to be driven as much as possible.
 
thanks for the update i do like early 70's ford's
 
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