Laughing Coyote

Sounds like your getting her ready. Are the body parts Gold? If so we both have parts from the same car. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Had some time after a busy day of work today. I decided to tear into the engine. I doesn't look to bad inside, but sure stunk. Had that old varnish and oil smell. Not to much build up which will make clean up alot faster.

What a day. Made good progress on the Merc. Manage to get the engine and trans out. It's resting well on the stand now. Didn't move at all. Must of did something right on that one. I started cleaning the gunk off the block and testing areas to see how much cleaning is going to be involved. Not real bad, but it will take some time. I pulled out what was left of the freeze plugs on the drivers side of the block. Rusted clear thru. Got a lot of rust and junk to clean out of the block on that side. The motor ran great when I got the car so I will be basicly pulling everything except tearing down the short block. Just do a good cleaning and will be ready to put back together. I guess I will be busy for awhile now. I did see on the firewall the trim code (G-18) and the body code (65A) written with marker. It's a little faded, but I will be putting it back on when I get it all painted.

Very nice job! Classy look.

Yes it was DJ. No rust to deal with. Just nice clean metal.

Thanks Keiser.

Well here she is. I think it will do just fine. I have my buddy coming over to assist and hopeflly it comes out without a hitch. I got the hoist all lined up. Just waiting until Sunday. I will take some shots of the progress.

Merc update. I pretty much have everything unbolted and ready to pull out the engine and trans. Drained all the fluids and they didn't look or smell bad. I was going to pick up a 2000lb engine stand from my local Chinese tool warehouse, but after reading reviews the night before I decided to build my own. I checked in my shop and I had plenty of steel left over from previous big jobs. I did manage to still go to the chinese place, but left with four nice casters. Then off to the steel store to get some bar stock and 1/4" plate. After I was all done with the stand I only had $50 in the hole thing. 4 casters and the plate and bar I bought. Just have to put some color on it. I will post pictures later this week. I'm pretty sure it will hold a motor or two. Looking to pull it all out this Sunday morning. Can't wait to start tearing into that and getting the front of the car cleaned up.

The carb looks great Mark. keep up the great work.

After a morning of working of the roof I took a few hours and got to work on the car. Got down to the meat and potatoes part of the car. Looks like I will have to get a stand this week so I will be ready to pull the power plant. I pulled everything from the firewall forward. I noticed that the plant destination number was written on the firewall (LA plant). I think the old girl was getting mad at me and decided to let me have it. I was taking off the lower bottom fender bolt at the rocker panel and it is so corroded that the clip broke. I was still able to get it to stay hooked enough to get it to turn. Well, while laying on my back, close to the work..... and pow. Managed to get smaked with a 3/8" rachet to the lower lip. The inside looks pretty ugly from where the tooth dug out a chunk. The outside, a good split. The wife told me that's enough for today, oh but I will return.:mad:

What a week. I decided to have some me time and work on the car finally. I installed the roof insulation and pulled just about everything on the front of the car. Guess I will need to get an engine stand soon. Been eyeballing the engine and I think it's coming out. Pulled some wiring hanesses out from the engine compartment and pulled off the old tape, looked them over and retaped them. Pulled a valve cover off just to take a peek to see whats in there. No sludge or gunk. Thats a good thing so far. Have to see what I find in the pan when I remove it.

Yes it is. All the exterior of the car is complete. All he has left is the interior. The paint is perfect.

Welcome! There is a great bunch of folks here to answer any questions and give advice you may need. Nice looking car. Good luck on your new adventure.

Looking good. Moving right along. Completing the bigger parts always seems like the progress go faster.

Well I have been working hard, but not that much on the car. I did have a nice surprise when I got back to the house from running errands this morning. Across the street from the house parked on the side of the road was a beautiful Caddy. No one around. So I snapped a few pictures and kept my eyes peeled for the owner. Sure enough about 30 minute later he pulled up in his truck. I went over to talk with him and come to find out he just lives a few streets away. We got to talking about cars and what I had going on so he wanted to check it out. He has owned the car for 50 years he told me. He was taking progress pictures and then decided to go around the block with it and it ran out of gas right there. The interior is out of it and he has been working on it when he can. One nice looking Caddy. I did finally manage to get my blast cabinet standing upright. Not to much more work on it and I will be ready for blasting.

Where is that "Give it ago attitude" Pat? Try some practice runs like Keiser suggested. I have seen stripers use glass to paint on. Can clean it off easy enough and re stripe over and over. Can hurt.

Basicly I just wanted to know if I can switch out the old headlights with newer ones. I did research the cars headlight specifications per the manufactures manual. The headlights are: Low beam 50/37.5 watts High beam 37.5 watts. So I guess I will be looking for new headlights with that spec. I got time. Besides I'm not going to start cutting up a harness that has been left alone for 50+ years and is in good condition just to put brighter new fancy lights in. If the standard ones worked then they will still work today. Oh, I tested the bulbs and they are kaput, but one.

I just used the old elbow grease on them and they shined right up.

Well during the past couple of days I managed to remove the headlight housings and work on them. I tore down the drivers side housing and got it all cleaned up and polished up. Put some paint back on it where it use to be and put it all abck together. Looks pretty good. I will start working on the other side later this week. Still have to get the roof insulation so I can get that part of the project completed. Since the back of the car is going to need more body work and TLC I'm leaning towards doing all the front of the car from the firewall forward. The fenders are in good shape so not a lot of body work to do. The most time consuming part would be the frame and suspension clean up, repaint and assembly. Looks like I may have to get an engine stand soon.

Once again I seek the knowledge of the great people in this forum. I pulled out the headlight housing (bulbs, buckets and all) on my 61 Mercury Meteor and I noticed the lights have tung sol on them. From what I have been researching on the internet is that these are probably what the factory put on the car. My question is I would like to replace them with a newer bulb, but being a 30 amp generator system is there a certain wattage light that has to be used? Or can I go to any auto parts store and get one off the shelf? I don't want to burn up a generator or have any other electrical issues. I'm not sure the wattage of the original lights. :cool: Thanks

While driving back home (in my DOT approved truck. ) from a customers house I spot this huge car up on top of a hill for sale. I decided to take a closer look. It was a 1971 Thunderbird. It look sto be a clean car and in good condition. I just couldn't believe how big it was. Thought I would post and share.

Thanks for all the positive reinforcements guys. Seems like most of the time lately I get to look at it for a few minutes and don't get to do anything because of lack of time. (business, family, house, and other vehicles) There's no time left. I won't give up on it. Just have to stay focused and slate some time for it.

Meteor update: Not much going on with the project. To much work going on. I did get my dash parts in and put them on. (glove box and bumpers, ash tray bumpers, and my turn signal knob) Not very exciting stuff. If I get a chance in the morning I'm going to get some insulation for the roof and see if I can get that in. I did manage to buff out the winshield and got the wiper haze marks out and some other smaller scratches. Still have some others that are a deeper. At $600 for a new window I will use this one for awhile. It doesn't have big chips or cracks and polished up pretty clear. Hope to have more excititing post here shortly.

Have any pictures of it? Just wanted to see how bad it is.

It's all good edhd58. You got to laugh and enjoy life. Goes by way to fast. I know what you mean. I look at things to work on and before you know it the parts are every where. It may be more work, but in the long run you know that it's been done right. Keep working at it everybody will notice the extra effort you put into your project.