[John & Shirley Harvey]

NOS or replacement rocker molding clips are real hard to find.  There are a couple solutions.  Most auto paint stores have universal clips available.  What you do is take your molding down there, and look for some that will work in your molding, and will snap into a blind hole, since you can’t get to the back side of your rocker panels to put a nut on a T-bolt.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

The Merc engine in a Ford was a pretty common Police Interceptor use.  City police departments rarely used it, but highway patrols, and Sheriff departments did.  There are very few of them around now because the cops beat the crap out of the cars, and they generally went to the junk yard because they were the low line stripped cars, and they were pretty well shot when they got rid of them.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

Be certain that you actually have a correct window crank.  I have had problems with cranks that looked quite similar, but upon examination I discovered that it was not the correct year.  There should be a part number on the back, check and see if they are the same number.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

Probably because we are really busy with other things and right now, our Mercurys are on the back burner.  I know mine is.

There are sites where there is a great deal of activity–much of it inside snide remarks of one participant to another.   There is none of that here, just serious correspondence between members, which I think is good.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

I have to tell you that I have been using unleaded gasoline with alcohol in it since 1979 in a 1951 model flathead of another brand, with absolutely no problems. I have never used a lead additive, either.  I don’t drive it hard, and I drive it less and less than I did because my wife is not well and demands air conditioning, but there was a time when I cheated on the antique plates and pretty much used it when we needed a usable sedan.  It has been coast to coast, and border to border, and had some running in Canada.  I can recall ads I beleive it was Amoco that claimed that it was lead free back in the 1950s. I suspect that lead in the gas is less necessary than back in the days when they needed the octane boost lead gave.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

Yes, they will fit.  Mercury was not lucky enough to have their own body, they shared a significant number of parts with similar Fords.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

I had hoped to stir some more action than has happened.  I have been working on my shop, which has been a pole barn with a partial concrete floor, and an inground hoist I rescued from a tire store that was going out of business, along with the air cmpressor that powered it.  I have to tell you that an air compresor that puts out 175 PSI and has a tank that is 6 ft. x 3 ft, really cuts down on the moisture that the little moisture collector on your spray gun has to deal with. I will be installing the air conditioning system I got from a customer of mine in the shop.  If you know any HVAC dealers, they are taking in systems that are just great for hobby shops that are being replaced by “high efficiency systems” with tax credits.  I paid $200 for my used 4 ton system.  You heat your shop in the winter, why should you not air condition it in the summer?  Your car ois air conditioned, your house is air conditioned, your work place ias air conditioned.  Many of my customers, body shops, printing shops, machine shops, are air conditioned. You can come home from work, turn on the air, have dinner, and work for a couple hours in comfort.  In the winter, I stuff a couple chunks of my supply of cut up pallets, set the fire, and after dinner, it is comfortable to work out there.  Maybe i can finally finish some of my “projects”. 

[John & Shirley Harvey]

I want to go to Branson, too.  Unfortunately, I am running another event the week before, and I know that if I take 2 weeks off, without defending my desk, I’ll pay dearly.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

I have never had a frame off restoration.  In fact, if I drive my car down a tar and chip road and get a little tar on it, then wash it off, it does not detract from the value of my car.  I do open the door, expect the dog and kids to get in, and we do go places.  My storage ranges from a garage heated by virture of the fact that I insulated the garage well, but did not insulate the wall between the house and the garage except for the 3/4 inche styrofoam sheating, to a dirt floor unheated barn.  I always run antifreeze, even in the summer.  It provides rust protection and water pump lube.  It is also convenient not to worry about failing to add antifreeze for cold weather.  Relieving stress on the top is a neat idea, except that when you clamp the top back, after shrinking all winter, it may just tear.  If you happen to let it sit in the sun before you clamp it back the first time, that will soften it a bit.  Putting it fully down all winter and letting it sit for extended periods of time folded, will not be good for the top material or the window.  Keep it stretched tight.  I have heard about jacking the car up to relieve pressure on the tires.  Back when we had nylon cord tires, you got flat spots when they were cold.  Of course, you got flat spots when they were cold when it was 90 degrees, too.

    I think that if you really want to protect your car, a bag with the desecant in it is the best idea.  They sell them all over the hobby press.  Starting it up and letting it run for 15 minutes is guarranteed short exhaust system life.  If you can’t drive it 10 or 15 miles, don’t start it at all. 

  

[John & Shirley Harvey]

Since you claim little experience with auto electrics, I suggest you talk to local auto glass shops about having them work on it.  I have never dug into a 66 Mercury, but the power windows I am familiar with have a spring that will bite you if you aren’t watching them.  Most times, what is wrong with power windows is that the contacts in the switches and the connectors have corroded, and the rollers have become dirty and gummed up.  Unless something has broken or become unattached this has a good chance to be your problem.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

I am not althgether thrilled with it.  I do not know the exact reasons for the change, which may have had some basis in technology or something like that, but if it was simply change for the sake of “updateing the site”, gee, can we undo this?

I can see making it so that you have to be a member to post, but maybe there should be some way to have a guest post or two, as a recruiting tool.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

I’ll work on an article about the words used in ads, and the real meaning you should think about when you read those words.  It may take a while.  I have a couple already in the editor’s hands, and I am working hard on my shop so I can air condition it next summer, this one being pretty well gone.  It has been brutal this year.  I’d go out there at 6 AM, work a couple hours,and my shirt would be dripping wet.  I’d find myself stumbling around from some sort of heat stress by then, so I’d give up, take a shower and go to my paying job. 

[John & Shirley Harvey]

If you are going to go to what I call “Blood and guts” serious judging shows, they are going to gorp you for anything the factory didn’t put on the car.  That includes factory equipment and dealer installed accessories not listed on the build sheet.  As i recall, the factory plug wires are black, and there is no boot over the plug connector.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

I looked at Hemmings Motor News before I replied.  Bill Hirsch has a 1 page ad in the supplies section.  I looked in a couple older ones, and he has come 1 column ads, so he appearantly isn’t making big ad buys right now. He used to buy several pages each issue.  I bought some engine paint from him several years ago for another car.  Not only was it the correct color, I put it on with a brush, it came out smooth as if I had sprayed it, and it still cleans up great. Since he isn’t paying for ad space here, I suggest you go look in Hemmings and search him out.

[John & Shirley Harvey]

The fender aprons and anything else that is black, like the core support, is a less than semi-gloss black that is officially known as “REFINISHER’S BLACK”.  There are a couple paint companies. Martin-Seynour for one, that actually sell one by that title.  It has the proper combination of not glossy, yet does not capture dirt like a true flat color does.  If you want to really make it flashy looking, use gloss black, but the sheet metal under there is such a pain to get the glossy to look good.

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