Picking up the pieces...

Hello to all,

I am just getting into the restoration of a Raceabout, and spoke with Mr Hoch on the Phone recently. He told me that there was a instruction book of some sort that was available at considerable cost to copy. I am writing in hopes that one of you may be able to post a picture of the cover so that i can see if it is the same as the one Granger F. Hill sent my grandfather years ago. I would rather not spend that cost only to get something that i already have.

Thanks.

There would be very different books depending on whether you have a T head, L head, or six cylinder verhead valve Series Six Raceabout. (Incidentally, Jerry Gebby, who had owned T and L head Mercers, and worked on sixes for customers, said that the six was the "best of all to drive". John Boyle would have told you that they were the fastest also, having driven through police radar in his late Series 6 Raceabout.

I have copy of an instruction manual of essentials for the L heads, which was the work of Morris Burrows and Henry Newman in 1959. It is 30-odd pages, and it is not a problem to photocopy or scan (when I can persuade my son to do the latter). It is not totally comprehensive because it pre-supposes some basic mechanical aptitude. Charles Accisano kindly insisted on giving this to me on the 1980 Glidden, but I doubt whether Morris had one because he never mentioned or showed me one when I was his guest on that Glidden.

There are a few things that need emphasis.

1) Line bore the main bearings only with the block bolted properly to the crankcase. If the mains are out of line by more than the thickness of the oil film the crankshaft will flex every rotation, and the answer comes quickly. The same problem was apparently built into the sixes because Rochester machined the blocks from "green castings" and the distortion caused centre main bearing trouble. (They are well aged now, of course.)

2) You need to use good quality 7/16" conrod bolts for the six because the originals were 3/8" overstressed . I found the same bolts in the Roamer Duesenberg had stretched threads, for an engine that had done just 14,000 miles; so I suspect there was a material/heat treatment problem. But do not ever use those original tapered conrods. Make new ones without the taper or the lightening holes. The originals could break at the stress pointof the top hole through the web just below the gudgeon pin, and the rod could nearly cut the engine in two. I have explained this carefully to two owners of sixes who visited me here in the past. The Raceabout that had about 5000 miles from new luckily only broke a bolt. The other did far worse damage I am told.

On the surface, it would seem that any printed matter would be inexpensive to copy.

Now, let's take the case of a rare, hardbound book. To lay it flat on a copier, then you basically have to "break the spine" of the book, something that can or does damage same.

Thus, it could be that Mr. Hoch was discussing a book that had to be photographed, not just put on a copy machine.

Pure speculation.

Thanks for the replies,

trimacar: I hadn't considered a book, that could well be the case.

Ivan Saxton: I am working on a 1921 L-head 4 cyl. do you know if the same holds true for the conrod bolts on the 4?

I am having Aldrich Engine Rebuilding do my engine work (nicely organized machine shop, experienced at babbit work in house) so any tidbits I can send him could be of benefit (he said the same thing about the line bore of the mains.

Side note to all: I have been offered the use of a CNC Laser cutter. If anyone has a timing chain sitting on a shelf that they wouldn't mind loaning out I may be able to fix that availability issue in somewhat short order. Fred Hoch told me there are none to be had and I would be happy to help. I plan to call him again today and extend this offer directly.

No, it is the conrod bolts of the Rochester Trego engine of the Series Six that are rubbish, and the same ones used in Rochester Duesenberg. The L-head Mercer engines have the same length 3/8 NF conrod bolts. As a matter of course I replaced these because the 1918 Series Four had been in everyday use for forty years. I used conrod bolts from Continental O-300 light aircraft engine.

Just make absolutely certain that the block is bolted down tight before the mains are bored or you could break a crankshaft.

The valve guides are very long, and the lubrication is by faith and hope only. It is worth fitting an oil line to keep felt washers on the valve stems damp.

Also a problem I located and corrected was a trap not just for beginners. The engine seemed to show symptoms simultaneously of being too far advanced, and badly retarded. You can sometimes have to re-grind the magneto breaker point cam segments so the spark advance is identical .

If you want photocopy of that workshop manual by Morris Burrows and Henry Newman, You will have to send me an operative postal address by private message. It will just take too long to wait for it to be scanned and cleaned up.

( I am sorry I cannot do this myself. For computer operations that for me do not seem to follow normal logic, I cannot spare the memory space to something that I normally have little use for.)

Also a problem I located and corrected was a trap not just for beginners. The engine seemed to show symptoms simultaneously of being too far advanced, and badly retarded. You can sometimes have to re-grind the magneto breaker point cam segments so the spark advance is identical .

Ivan, this is an interesting subject. Care to elaborate?

Karl

There was a single spark Bosch ZR4 magneto on the Series 4 when I got it, and it had good spark. I had and still have one or more similar Berling Magnetos, which are listed as the magneto brand originally fitted. However, Morris said that Berling was "a dog", and Jerry Gebby gave similar advice. So I have never attempted to use one. After I had the engine professionally rebuilt, I decided I should bring the magneto up to spec., and the first thing I found was that the magneto points gap was way different between the two cam segments inside the advance/retard sleeve. So I dutifully cut and inserted shims so both cam sleeves gave the same open gap. Then the timing was right out because shimming the low one advanced the timing for two of the four cylinders. To correct the problem you can carefully regrind the inner surface and the leading angle of the segments.

Is this a clear enough explanation, Karl? The two-spark ZR4 I rebuilt and used did not have that problem.

Ding Dong, Clear as a bell. Good to check both sides of the point gap. Thanks, Ivan

Karl

There is an alternative to a magneto on a 1920 Mercer Series 5 4 cylinder to consider.

I helped restore this setup derived from a 1918 Stutz, it is a clever dual distributor where one head has mechanical spark advance while the second head is fixed only. Holes were added to a valve access port threaded cover on each cylinder to provide the second spark plug for each. Being that the two spark plugs at each cylinder were on opposite sides of the cylinder head I installed red and green tracer high tension wires for Port and Starboard locations. The Mercer this is on is a very responsive car on the road.

Stude8

Twin ignition is certainly helpful in those big combustion chambers. Herb Royston, who looked after the Mercer Associates Roster in the mid 1960's when I first communicated had a Stutz Delco distributer on his Series 5 Raceabout. (I reckon that car was likely the one I saw owned by Nelson Thorpe in San Francisco in 1984.) This setup has no advantage over a 2 spark magneto, and the latter is closer to originality and more likely what owners did when the cars were near new. The Stutz Delco still relies totally on spark advance control from the steering column, though automatic advance mechanism in the distributer would have been a benefit. I am not sure when Stutz changed from magneto to distributer ignition. My detacheable head K series and all later detacheable head engines that I know had the distributer, and the 1918 SX Bearcat with special 6 1/2" stroke crankshaft (owned by a friend here) has a 2spark Bosch ZR4. Two spark magnetos have a pickup slip ring with opposite segments. The two ends of the secondary winding are connected one to each segment, so the spark is simultaneous in the two plugs in each cylinder.

This system is the one on the car Royston owned at one time. The one head does infact have mechanical advance applied with a very clever helical sleeve and shaft slot that a drive pin rotates along as RPM increases. That pin was severly worn and had to be remade when restoring the igntion unit. I wired the advanced ignition spark wires to the plugs nearest the intake valves so as to propogate fuel mixture flame pattern ahead of the second plug firing close to or after the intake valve closed due to the large capacity of the combustion chamber.

This car is now owned by Mort Huber of Park Ridge, IL. This is one of a few series 5 cars built with the Murphy Body Co cowl extension like the one owned by actor Buster Keaton now owned by John Rendimonte in NJ.

Stude8

I just re-checked the distributers for my Stutz engines. The mechanism on the horizontal shaft between the skew gears that drive the two vertical shafts is as you describe. I know Herb was a pretty resourceful fellow. ( He did write that he decided to shorten the chassis frame of a first series Packard Twin Six, to rebody a sedan into a roadster, and he wished he had never started.) Now I looked at the practicability of using a Stutz Delco dual on the Series 4, but I reckonned it would be almost impossible to fit heavy enough bob-weights and return springs in the space on that horizontal advance sleeve to give centrifugal adance, because there is some drag in the movement. I then considered making a longer vertical shaft with centrifugal advance, with an extension to raise the breaker plate, cap, and rotor button. Then I managed to get a sad ZR4 two-spark from Chicago, so I rebuilt and used that. If you look at the unit with the caps off, the cam and both sets of points are on the end opposite the drive, and both capacitors are under the cap on the drive end. I don't think that one bank of plugs should be firing before the other; as they both have the same advance

Gentlemen, as you are probably well aware, there is no advantage whatsoever to adding an extra set of plugs on an L-head engine. The Bosch magneto or a later Mallory dual point distributor of the variety configured to mount in place of a magneto, is the very best one can achieve for a Mercer L-Head. I know that I am not telling you guys anything you already know. 2 spark works a great advantage on an T-Head because of the huge combustion area, it will cut the flame speed in half.

Gentlemen,

Pardon the flamespray but in what way shape or form do the last nine posts to this thread relate to the assembly manual for a 1921 raceabout?

Is it a habbit of the senior members of this forum to hijack a thread into any tangent direction? I am new to this forum and it's customs but in my experience on other threads that is considered very rude and would result in being barred from posting for a period of time.

If thread hihacking is a norm for this site please let me know. I only started this new thread to avoid hijacking other peoples with my topic.

I await your (on-topic) replies .

Booo hooo, so sorry 'bout hijacking the thread. Give me a break. Go somewhere else to bellyache.

Vote for Obama?

Gotcha!

John

Perhaps a moderator can separate the technical stuff from the book inquire,,so you need not trouble with the tech details,,,,,,or,,,you can print the tec stuff and put it into the book, if and when you find one available,that aplies to your model Best wishes,,Ben

You might try Irv Bishko at Bishko books in Ohio. He may have the instruction manual. Bishko Books, Repair Manuals, Owners Manuals, Parts Books & Sales Brochures

Wow, trainedmonkey, thin skin? This forum is like a conversation with a friend, it oft goes in directions that aren't originally intended, but what's the harm in that?

Surely, standing on the field at Hershey, if a conversation started discussing a Ford Model N restoration, and ended discussing the mounting of clincher tires, it wouldn't be a bad thing?

Which reminds me of...never mind..

Getting back to the original inquiry about Series 5 literature, just exactly what publication is it you are trying to obtain?

Advertising sales literature? There is one on Ebay presently at 1920 1921 Mercer Series 5 Brochure REPRINT - eBay (item 350142604434 end time Dec-08-10 14:41:30 PST)

I have a 1920 Mercer Series 5 Parts catalog copy. Original page count was 86 pages (8-1/2" x 11") *Pg 2 thru 6 are missing but appear to be matter unrelated to index lists and overall illustrated component lists. I could get a quote from the local copy shop for the cost of laser copy if that is on your wanted list. As for a shop or service manual for repair of cars I have not seen one and cannot offer any help.

I have several years experience with a 1920 Series 5 L head mechanical repair but do not own such a car.

Stude8

Hello to all,

I am just getting into the restoration of a Raceabout, and spoke with Mr Hoch on the Phone recently. He told me that there was a instruction book of some sort that was available at considerable cost to copy. I am writing in hopes that one of you may be able to post a picture of the cover so that i can see if it is the same as the one Granger F. Hill sent my grandfather years ago. I would rather not spend that cost only to get something that i already have.

Thanks.

My offer to photocopy the workshop manual for the L-heads which was compiled in the 1950's by Morris Burrows and Henry Newman still stands. This would have been close to the time Morris bought his low mileage Series 5 Raceabout from Vince, who Morris and Ralph Buckley indicated had been factory service man from T-head days right through. I was told there had never been a book from the factory. May be it was considered that people who owned or worked on Mercers should have enough experience and judgement to do any work right.

Your post on the Yahoo-Mercer web site indicates that you have problem with your crankcase. Morris told me that the crankcase is "aluminium-bronze", which indicates a small percentage of copper in the mix, which does not mean that the material is not weldable. About 1970 I put my Series 4 engine in the hands of a very experienced and reliable old-time mechanic/rebuilder, who had always done impeccable work on some very unusual and refined cars in the past. The engine had quite a few issues that needed correcting with care, and I did not have the workshop facilities at the time. The crankcase had an open-ended crack in the horizontal skirt on the left side. There were other cracks as well that were obvious when it was all cleaned up. All welded up fine with the TIG from what I could see, but I had not knowledge of who did the welding. Well, it was several years after I got the engine back before I put the car back on the road, because I had built my own house in the meantime, and you have to spend a lot of effort on young family if one is to become a Theoretical Astrophysicist. So fortunately the good bloke who had undertaken the project died before the engine broke the crankshaft at about 3000 miles, because the shock that it had happened might have killed him. It is my diagnosis that the crankcase had been comprehensively welded without the block bolted to it, and it may not have been annealed to releave stress in it. Also it is quite clear that the main bearings were line-bored without the block attached also. If main bearings are out of line by more than the thickness of the oil film, then the crankshaft will bend as it revolves. It is a wonder it did not break sooner. This is why I have always done all my own work since.

I have a low mileage long conrod 1919 engine to use. I will make my own Rickardo pistons for it, because the rambling combustion chamber is not ideal or perfectly suited to current fuel. One big advantage in this you can get much shorter flame travel in the better combustion chamber shape; and you can use spark plugs in all 8 valve caps, and plug off the original spark plug hole . The original spark plugs are 7/8" special thread over an inch long. You just cannot get suitable spark plugs for this, so you either have to have a short-reach plug shrouded in the deep hole, or as Morris told me, they used a special spark plug for a Hesselmann cycle engine, which had a gap at the end of long exposed electrodes; so you expect this would not be ideal for detonation.

I don't agree with John that twin ignition in an L-head is no advantage. When you shorten the flame travel from the spark plug to the most distant place where there is combustible mixture, you decrease the degrees of timing advance that is needed, and the engine is less sensitive to the shape of that advance curve. You play with a single cam Stutz 8 cylinder if you want to see if properly synchronised spark is necessary so both plugs fire at the same time. The Rochester Trego ohv six cylinder engine of a Series 6 Mercer has the same combustion chamber shape as the Stutz 8 but much bigger cylinders. John Hancox has his Series 6 engine (new, decent conrods) running on a stand, and he says the difference between one and two plugs per cylinder is a lot. The six cylinder Marmons of the early 1920's had about 4 inch maximum flame travel. They halved that by twin ignition on the later D74 and E75 cars.

If someone just wants to give a Mercer an immaculate presentation restoration for beauty shows, that is fine. They would stick to single ignition which is original. But Mercers are great cars to drive , as they ever have been; and as Morris said, (and Ray Wolff also with his Raceabout of the Generalissimo fro m Venuzuela), Mercers don't like parades. So if people have Mercers to drive, as you would hope many will always be, you need to understand how they run best.

Threads in a forum like this do not belong to any person who happens to start them for their own ends. They are out ïn the "ether" for anyone who chooses to read or contribute also. (You can probably be sure it won't end up in Wikileaks unless it is dribble or drivel.) It does not matter if a topic balloons according to the need and interest of participants. You like contributions to be polite interesting, useful, and informative /educational; and maybe reflective of wisdom and sense of humour. Mostly you want them to be right, but it is not always possible. I confess I sometimes "fly kites", but I try to make the difference obvious. I might have obsessional interests in a 270degree arc, but I know I cannot always be right. If I prompt someone else to put forward something more correct I am happy, because I learn something along with everyone else.

I cannot understand why concealed identity is necessary, particularly in relation to something like Mercer where there ar probably less than 200 possible complete or rebuildable cars, and a lot of people know a lot about cars, their history, and who owns them. I know different people use the language in very different ways, but with respect and goodwill there is no way I would ever use such a camouflage name. Here it means not that clever pet chimp who drove the farm tractor for years to help his paraplegic friend and master, but more the "Trades Assistant"of a public utility who had to breathe hard so noone would think he was dead, or a graceless, ignorant overpaid public servant who members of the public are uncomfortably obliged to deal with.

Ivan,

Thank you for the offer to copy the workshop manual, I do appreciate it. I have not taken you up on it because I believe I may already have a copy, which is why i was asking for a picture of the cover page. I would not want anyone to go to any undue trouble on my behalf. As for the monicer it was a nickname earned in my early days as a P-3 mainetnance technician which relates to my hotmail account and is my standard for all forums. I wasn't trying for any annonimity, though my father has cautioned me against being overly public about the Mercer.

Stude8

I have an original of the parts manual as well as a copy I would be happy to make photocopies of the missing pages for you, if you would like (I am pretty sure mine is complete).

Trimacar/ AK

Sorry if I seemed heated in my post, I was honestly seeking clarification on the matter. In the other forums I post to people are concerned with the ease of locating information and like to keep threads to one topic. I see the logic to that and it appeals to me. After reading just about every post on the mercer topic here I see that the tangent posts are the norm. Being new here I will simply adjust my paradigm, no harm no foul.

keiser31

Thanks for the lead.

Cben09

No need, it's their house not mine, I'll play by their rules.

What I have is probably an old photocopy of an original. The cover page has a Mercer shield with "MERCER , 1915-1923, L HEAD 4S " arranged in four lines in it.

The Foreword is as follows:

"This manual does not pretend to be a complete Shop Manual for the L head Mercer; so far as we know none has ever been published. The information contained herein is the result of personal experience and the experience of others passed on in letters, articles, and by word of mouth. In this regard thanks are due to, among many, Ralph Buckley, Henry Baud, Charles Jackson, J.O.Goodell, and Herbert Royston.

To the memory of Vincent Galloni, without whose help many Mercers now running would be forever silent, this manual is gratefully dedicated.

H.Morris Burrows, Windsor, Vt.

Henry Newman, San Francisco, Calif.

February 1959

____________

By this you will know if this is the same as you have.

Ivan,

Thank you so much for taking the time to type the forward and description. It is in fact exactly what I have already. It was sent to my grandfather with a 1959 (12C Benjamin Harrison) stamp from a person named Granger F. Hill. My post here was in hopes that something may have surfaced since then that might be more precise.

My previous restoration experience has been with 1960's era cars which has afforded me the luxury of "manufacturers assembly manuals" which are written to give such detailed information that any newly hired person in the plant could simply read and understand what tool and procedure was needed to get propper fit and function.

Stude8

Upon closer inspection my original has a cover page but seems to start on page 5. If you would like a copy let me know. As for what is on PG 5 it is simply the "Preface".

TM

Thank you for the offer of copying the few missing pages from the Mercer parts catalog copy I have on file. I really have no immanent need for those pages since I do not own and am not ever likely to own a Mercer.

My primary "Old Car" interest is 1931-33 Studebaker Indianapolis race cars that used the President inline eight engines.

A very good friend from Chicago area has the 1920 Mercer Raceabout I have worked on in the past and since I am retired and now live in far southern Illinois I seldom see or service the car any longer. I did accompany him with the car to the Mercer Centennial in 2009 at Roebling, NJ and it performed well on tours there. It even survived the village parade of cars on a 90 degree day at a crawl for an hour or more thanks to an emergency backup electric fuel pump that bypasses the vacuum tank temporarily in just such heat related stall conditions.

Of interest to you, there was a gentleman at Roebling with a 1920 Red L head raceabout that had a NEW REPRO cylinder block. The story is he underwrote cost of having casting patterns made and about 10 cylinder blocks recast a year or so ago. The engine in the photo of Red car is the new repro. There was another still available in 2009, price was in 5 figures area then. I can inquire about what his name is, he was from California I believe. I didn't hear if the crankcase was reproduced as well? See attached images from Roebling event.

Stude8

Stude8

If I am correct, you are referring to Jack Libaire's raceabout which was sold last year, at auction. It was red with black fenders in the pictures I have seen. I did some research and got his contact information, he told me the story of the repro blocks and gave me Fred Hoch's number.

Mr Hoke told me that it was just the block sections that were cast and that he knew of no reproduction crank cases. He also told me that there are no more timing chains to be had.

I have found a shop near me that deals with antique engine rebuilding (Aldrich) and his visual inspection indicates that my crank section is safe for use. My only intrest in having spares made would be that pre-problems seems like the best time to do so.

TM

You are correct about the Red Mercer Lhead repro project person's name was Libraire.

I wanted to suggest if you do need to consider a crankcase reproduction or other serious engine work I would direct an inquiry to David Greenlees in Brattleboro, VT. He specializes in Mercer and Locomobile mechanical restoration work. Here are a few images showing his shop and while this was about 15 years ago he did a 1915 Locomobile aluminum crankcase repro job.

He did commendable work on a friends 1911 Cole that had sat in barns from 1924 thru 1995! 71 years of idle is a long period but David corrected an oil pump problem and transmission fault and had it on the road in short order.

He is well respected by many Mercer owners.

Stude8

Thanks for the advice, I found Mr Greenlees on the web and talked to him this morning. He advised against a reproduction crankcase on the basis of a prohibitive cost. After hearing the pricetag, I am inclined to agree:eek:.

Stude8...... Thanks for the kind words and the photos.... Just to set the record straight the photo you posted was of the bottom half of new crankcases that I remachined for a 50 HP chain drive Simplex. The second photo shows transmision-differential cases that we have also done for a chain drive 50HP Simplex.

Trained Monkey.....Thanks for the call and good luck.....Your L-Head sounds like an very interesting car and project.

I got some more pieces today! The body and frame are here and I am about to begin working on it. before I do though I wanted to get the comunity opinion about the scope of the project because a friend indicated that the car might have more apeal if left in the condition it is in and simply reassembled and made to run. Is this the case or would it be a better idea to do a full frame-up restoration? As i dont have any pictures to show at the moment I will say that the sheet metal is in suprisingly good condition but the paint has flaked off in some places and surface rust has settled in in it's place.

Having visited your car several times while it was still up here, I would suggest you get it running mechanically and then enjoy driving it for a while. That should give you the desire to keep it running should you decide to do a more complete restoration in the future. Even L-heads were stripped of fenders, splash guards & running boards in order to be raced so you could just drive it that way while working out the mechanicals. I hope your father passed along my message to stop by to talk Mercer and compare notes next time you are in state. P.S. I know a highly skilled aerospace welder (including cast aluminum) with extensive experience fixing antique car parts if you need that service.

21Raceabout,

My father did relay the message, hopefully next time I make a parts run I will have enough time off to visit you and your car.

As for the original topic of this thread (a how to manual) I may have found it! I visited an old highschool buddy who is working on a pulling truck (Think Fryeburg fair style) he had a book from the 30's "Dykes Automobile And Gasoline Engine Encyclopedia (20th edition)". It contained all the detailed information I was looking for, everything from how to pour babbit, to torque settings and such. Aparently it was a general mechanics shop guide and had info for all makes from the timeframe. I was stunned to see maintenance info for T heads and L-heads and even aircraft engines in the same book. He had been loaned the book by an old downeaster friend and couldn't let me borrow it but at least I have a direction to look into now! ( Found a few on e-bay and amazon.)

Dykes manuals are a great "how to" reference for cars of that era. Do you have a copy of the 1959 L-head repair manual?

T-M Be sure you get the year you saw..... content varied some from addition to addition. Not a lot but some.

I thoroughly enjoyed the banter of this page- on and off topic both.

Sometimes we just all need to relax a little....

There are handheld document scanners on the market that are about 1" in height and width. These would allow scanning without breaking the spine of most books...

If there is a rare book that someone would like to scan I can certainly build one that tapers down from 1" in height to less than 1/4" so it could be slipped into the page and scan away. You would only need to open the book slightly, even less than you need to see the text with your own eyes. Just a thought.

Eotnak,

Thanks for the offer but the pages I have were already spine broken and photocoppied. No need for such a cool piece of tech.

On a happy note I have sold enough of my scrap motorcycle junk to fund some work on the Mercer. It will be going to a nearby frame repair shop to be matched up and verified square before being sent to a highly recomended sandblasting shop for cleaning.

Could anyone tell me what the possible factory colors for a 21 raceabout were. There are several opinions about which mine was. I have heard bluish grey, and grey. but when I fether sand the outside of the body I come up with the following...

Metal, light green, hunter green, burgundy, light green (brushed on primer) and black.:confused:

under the seat covers inside the body I get...

metal, dark grey, light grey, black :confused:

Is there a book I should know about that would tell me what the paint process was for a Mercer? The only photos I have of the car back in the day are black and white/sepia and it looks white in those.

The black and brushed on green are most likely my grandfathers handywork.

TM -

Per sales catalogs, 22-70 through early Series 5 Raceabouts were yellow, gray, blue or gun-metal (egg shell finish). This would have been body, fenders and frame. Later Hare's Motors catalog offered Raceabout only in Robin's Egg Blue, with black frame and fenders. The other models (Runabout, Sporting, Touring, Limo) also came in other colors like Thistle Green, Goldern Brown & Maroon.

Our car was originally painted (I think) a bluish-green with red leather upholstery. This suggests to me that the factory also accepted special orders as these were not advertised colors. Our car was subsequently painted red, dark blue, black then cream. Is currently yellow. The correct shade of yellow is a hot topic amongst Mercer folk, other than to say every owner will claim theirs is the correct shade. Stan has an old fender with some remnants of yellow paint he says matches Penn DOT yellow. Fred has told me a darker shade is more correct. There are some original color adverts for the Sporting and Touring which show the gray as being rather light and the blue as dark, almost navy blue. The gun-metal is a darker gray with a tinge of blue.

Also have a magazine ad from the Automobile Trade Journal for the Valentine Company which boasts that they made paints and varnish for Mercer. I have some books on painting and color varnishing cars of that era. This was often done by brush painting or dipping, but you will probably use lacquer (not as durable) or modern urethane. Avoid paints that are intentionally formulated to "orange peel" to hide flaws in the body or enamels that can't be buffed.

does anyone have a wrench for the inner bearing seals? or designs for an "easy" to make replacement for the correct tool? Is there a trick to removing them? I have gone through several failed attempts at making a wrench for them.