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1961 Mercury Meteor 800 restore


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Even know it's been hot as heck, I did some more work on the Merc.  I'm under a make shift tarp awning which helps some and the sun sets behind the shop in the afternoon so I'm not totally roasting, but still hot.  I started cutting the rusted areas out along the trim line and patching them up.  The old seam sealer is long since gone on the inside of the panel lip and the water was running down the inner panel skin and setting right where they come together.  After the rust is fixed then I will have to handle that mess and get it all cleaned up, re sealed and under coated.  At least I'm making some progress.  

 

 

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A little piece here, a little piece there, but they all add up to a nice finished car when we’re done! I remember doing the same thing on my Olds and now it’s really satisfying looking at those areas and seeing nothing but smooth shiny paint. It will all come together and be worth it.

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It's looking great. Real progress.

 

Quote

I'm under a make shift tarp awning which helps some and the sun sets behind the shop in the afternoon so I'm not totally roasting, but still hot.

 

I can't imagine working on a car in Arizona in summer. Last month I was in in AZ for the first time since I was 6 years old...and it was 114 degrees! And we were north of you (in Tempe.)

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13 hours ago, chistech said:

A little piece here, a little piece there

At least they're little pieces now.

 

13 hours ago, JamesR said:

it was 114 degrees! And we were north of you (in Tempe.)

It's hotter up that way.  I'm south / east of Tucson so not too bad, but we do get to 114 / 115 some hot summers.  This year it's been about normal with highs around 104 / 105.

 

8 hours ago, Roger Zimmermann said:

I hope that you don't have too much warpage at your rear fenders!

Roger,  There is some where the patches are. About 1/16" in depth, but easily can be managed. Better than rusty metal.  

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  • 1 month later...

Still here John, Been busy with the business.  This year has been really busy.  Good and bad.  Good for making the money, bad for not having much time for anything else.  Also I'm having to paint the house and shop which doesn't help either.  At least the house is done and the shop is next up.  Thank god it doesn't have very many windows.  Should go pretty quick.  I told my wife if we don't end up moving by the time it needs painting again then someone else gets to paint it.  This is the last round for me.

 I'm hoping to get some time this Sunday on it.  I need some car therapy. 

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On 10/17/2019 at 5:10 PM, Luv2Wrench said:

I made the same statement... but I'll be painting the house and shop later this fall. :(

 

I hate when the “have to do” house stuff gets in the way. Pretty soon the wife and I will be trimming back all our shrubbery and cleaning up all the beds to get the yard ready for winter. This year is my second using my Kubota and the enlarged bucket I made out of plywood. I’m getting too old for a ton of multiple trips to the back edge of my property with a wheel barrow. Also bought myself a good gas husky hedge trimmer. I go right through the bushes like they’re butter now.

Edited by chistech (see edit history)
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22 hours ago, chistech said:

I hate when the “have to do” house stuff gets in the way

There's truth to that. The reason why I'm hot to get this stuff done this year is we may be moving.  I've been trimming, cleaning, painting and getting things sorted.  There is a place we're looking at on 16 acres, 5000 sq shop with a 1000 sq guest quarters inside of it, plus an additional 3 car garage, green house and the main house also.  LOTS of room for the business and the Merc project.  Best of all  peace and quiet.  We will be talking with the realtor this week and see about putting in an offer.  

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9 hours ago, Laughing Coyote said:

There's truth to that. The reason why I'm hot to get this stuff done this year is we may be moving.  I've been trimming, cleaning, painting and getting things sorted.  There is a place we're looking at on 16 acres, 5000 sq shop with a 1000 sq guest quarters inside of it, plus an additional 3 car garage, green house and the main house also.  LOTS of room for the business and the Merc project.  Best of all  peace and quiet.  We will be talking with the realtor this week and see about putting in an offer.  

 

That sounds FANTASTIC!!  I'm actually thinking of doing the same next year after the final kid goes to college. 

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  • 1 month later...

No real updates on the Merc.  Ran it this past weekend and is still running good.  Still busy with the business. Usually it lets up this time of year, but it's still going strong. I did manage to make a few signs for the shop to dress up the walls some. I make them out of 18g steel and give them the weathered patina look. Also we're still considering the house on the property we looked at.  Been out there several times and checking things out and making sure it's going to work for us.

 

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  • 1 month later...

FINALLY!!!  I got some time and nice weather to work on the Old Merc.  Was a great day to get some car therapy in.  The temps have been starting out in the low 30's , but warms up nice during the day.  I think the folks back east are having better weather than we are lately.  I managed to get the bad rust holes cut out and new metal strips put in and had to put a filler strip where the lead fell out at the end of the quarter.  Looks like I got all the little pin holes welded up on the trim line also.  I'm going to invest in one of those shrinking discs and see if I can get the waves out of the panel.  I have lots of high and low spots so I hope it can take them out. And this is the good side.  The other side is beat pretty hard. Hopefully I can keep the pace and make good head way this year.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had a good day today on the Merc. The weather has been great, low 70's and sunny.  I hope it stays like this for a long while before the real heat comes in.  I worked the rear quarter more and tried out the shrinking disc.  Worked pretty good.  The panel had more waves than the Pacific ocean.  I was able to knock a lot of the high spots down with it and hammer out the lows.  There is still some lows areas here and there so I will work them out as much as possible.  My goal is to have both rear quarters done and roof in primer by the end of the year.  It would be the icing on the cake to have all that painted.  It's hard to see how it looks against the ruler edge.  I have a few pictures above the trim line and below.  I should of taken before pics, but I was in the moment.

 

 

 

 

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Did some more beating and banging on the car today.  Started to tackle the other rear quarter.  You can see how bad the one area looks with all the little low spots.  I have a good area where the whole panel needs to be pulled out.  At one time the car went off the side of the road and ended up damaging the passenger side.  Fun times.

 

 

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Good to see some more progress.  How about some wide angle shots?   I'm forgetting what's done and what's not.

How do you like the shrinking disc and what size did you get?  I have the 4" disc and I did some with it Friday night and it reminded me of just how ridiculously easy it is to shrink.  It really changes your mindset as you can be a little more aggressive and not fret going too far. 

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I know, it sure feels good to work on it.  I will get some more wide shots when I wheel it back out.  I got the 4" also.  Works pretty good.  I have a lot of wavy spots on the quarters that I'm knocking down with it and hammering the lows back out.  If people wouldn't dent their cars all up body work would be so much easier.  Rust repair patches are not bad, but this hammering stuff isn't all that fun.  Lots of work.  Hope your shoulder is doing better.

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  • 1 month later...

Finally something to post. The weather has seem to calm down where I can get the car out and start working on it again.  It was a little cloudy and a little breeze so it was nice. I started sanding the roof and got both sides done.  Just have to get a long bench stool to walk along and finish the center.  There are a few little dings that can be worked easy enough.  I also received some goodies for doing body work.  Nice to start working on it again.

 

 

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Martin, looks great!  Really looking forward to more of your work.  How did you do the sanding, by hand, orbital sander, wire wheel, other?  Just curious how you're doing it, maybe I'll learn something.

 

Chris

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1 minute ago, hursst said:

Martin, looks great!  Really looking forward to more of your work.  How did you do the sanding, by hand, orbital sander, wire wheel, other?  Just curious how you're doing it, maybe I'll learn something.

 

Chris

I see the sander in the third photo. It's on the ground.

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I pulled the old Merc out today and was able to finish sanding the roof with the aid of my newly made walking plank. I have a few spots of filler that need to be sanded out yet. I also applied seam sealer to the drip rails. The next step is to clean the under side of the drip edge where the roof rails go and the rear quarter window track. The last thing I will do before primer is pull the back window and sand all that. Then prime, sand, prime, sand some more and then paint. I hope. What I'm finding as I sand on this car is that the factory painted the car with red oxide primer first, then grey, and then paint. 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today I did some more work on the Merc.  I sanded the filler spots smooth on the roof so that's done.  I also cleaned up and sanded the under side drip rails and applied the seam sealer so that's done.  The next step is to remove the rear window and get the window mounting area cleaned up and sanded.  Once that is done then it's primer time.  I also ordered a new coil today since the one on the car is the original one.  It seams to work fine, but I figure it may need a little upgrade since I replaced the plugs, wires an dvoltage regulator. 

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Today was a great day. It was not as hot today so this morning I pulled out the old Merc and started to get busy on it.  I removed the rear window, sanded the window area, applied seam sealer and was able to get that big piece f sheet metal primed. I'm hoping next weekend I can get it all sanded out and apply a finish coat. Then hopefully a coat of paint and clear. Finally some progress.

 

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