[Virgil & Sue Klein]

What process did you use to “seat” the rings? Also, are all the spark plugs wet with oil or just one or two? How much oil are you “burning”?

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

Yes

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

These are the kind of relatively simple jobs that can get you in big trouble. I would suggest having a good body shop or glass shop that you are familiar with do the job. It won’t cost you alot and they have all the tools and materials necessary to do it. That being said you simply slide (pull) the old glass out (glass shops have a tool that clamps on both sides of the glass), clean out the channel, and reinstall the new glass with new insulation that fits in the channel. Hopefully, the division bar (vent window assembly) is still in the car. It is nearly impossbile to do this with the assembly on the workbench. If you are reassembling the car put this assembly back in the car before you do this glass swap.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

Your final statement says a whole lot. There is nothing that difficult about the operation of the gauges in a ’54. There is a common wire to each gauge from the ignition switch (except the amp meter) and then a wire from the sending unit (oil pressure, temp, and gas tank) to the opposite post on the gauge. One would assume that a car restored to “excellent condition” would have gauges that actually work. Have you seen this car or just pictures? Now to your question. The gauge cluster is not that difficult to remove from a ’54 and then the gauges themselves are easy to remove (mark all the wires). United Speedometer in Riverside, CA can redo the entire gauge package for you if you want. It ain’t cheap. By the way, is the car still 6 volt positive ground or has it been changed to 12 volt negative ground?

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

I had the clock in my ’55 rebuilt about 10 years ago by United Speedometer in Riverside, CA and it works quite well till this day. I do believe however that the mechanism in a ’55 is different from a ’54 but I am not positive about that. They did not use a quartz movement.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

In a word, “Yes”, but maybe try to have the mechansim cleaned first.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

I spoke with Jerry just now and our parking location in Springfield is on Monroe St between 6th and 7th. At one point the Route 66 folks wanted to move us to the 4th street location but we asked to remain between 6th and 7th and they said OK. It appears they did not change their schedule and none of us who work on Quicksilver picked up on that. Sorry for the confusion.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

It seems to me that everything is working fine if the temp is in that range. The “dot” between middle and hot was originally supposed to show a temp of 180 degress. With years of use it might not be that accurate but certainly does not reflect any overheating problem. If you have a 180 degree thermostat that is exactly were the temperature should be. If you want it below that switching to a 160 degree thermostat will not cause any problems. One way to check the accuracy would be to get the car warmed up with the temperature gauge at your “normal” reading and then check the coolant temp with a thermometer or you could install an aftermarket temperature gauge. From what you describe I do not think you have an overheating problem at all.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

There are supposed to be a couple of washers, a spring, and a nut on the “rusty stud” below the bottom of the vent window frame. The washers are splined to be located properly on the stud. These keep the vent window from spinning around. I would suggest contacting one of our parts suppliers (Big M, Macs, Mercuryland). This is not an uncommon part as I believe ’52 thru ’54 had the same vent window.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

What exactly happened to the pivot arm so that it needs repair?

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

Try a ’56 heater blower motor. The heater systems are basically the same and the 12 volt motor from a ’56 should bolt right in. It will be a two speed (high and low speed) motor and the wiring should plug right in to your existing wiring.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

I would suggest you purchase a shop manual for your car.  Faxon Auto Literature is one place to look for these.  There are other sources as well.  It will have all of the data plate decode information you need as well as a complete electrical schematic.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

Hopefully that is all it is.  A simple, cheap fix for a problem that could be giant.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

Typically the higher the dot number the higher the boiling point of the brake fluid.  I would think you could use either dot3 or dot4 in your ’59 Montclair without any problems.  Remember that in 1959 brake fluid was brake fluid.  If it said “brake fluid” on the can you could use it in any car.  Drum brakes do not have the high temps generated by disc brakes.   Many of us, though, are switching to dot5 brake fluid.  I am not sure of its availibity in Germany at this point.  It is hydrophobic (it does not attract moisture) and thus does not have the issues with moisture in the brake system that the lower dot numbers have.  It has viscosity (thickness) stability to a higher temp than dot3 and dot4.  However, you ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT mix dot5 with dot3 or dot4.  To use dot5 you must flush the brake system completely (something you should consider occassionally anyway) and then fill with dot5.  Hope this helps a little.

[Virgil & Sue Klein]

Kevin,

Glad to hear you got the Merc running again.  My experience with JC Whitney (many years ago) was similar to yours.  They have cheap parts that don’t fit and won’t stand behind their product.  What the heck difference does it make how long you had the pump if it doesn’t fit in the first place.  There are many times I have parts that I don’t try to use for months because I happen to not be working on the car at the time.

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