1962 Mercury ADHD build

[McBastard79]

so last night didnt go as planned.

started off swapping fans out, had a big dual fan set up that i made work. it hangs over the side tanks a bit and i had to cut the bottom corner to clear rad hose. it moves something like 4000cfm so thats a plus

wanted to test the new fan make sure it was working and no issues. fired up the truck and it ran for about a minute then just shut off. fired it back up and ran for 30 seconds then shut off, did this about 3 times then just would not start at all. so swapped my new ignition box that has maybe 10mins of run time on it for an old 1970s one and truck fired right up no problem

figured with the new fan working and having the old ignition box in and working i would drain the oil and swap in the shit box 20/50 to see if the rear main leak would slow down enough to wheel this weekend. as soon as i started to loosen the oil drain plug coolant started to come out might just be an intake gasket but between that and the rear main ive decided to just pull the motor and put i back on the stand and do new seals and gaskets and probably bearings as well. will deal with the leaking block heater at that time and toss new head gaskets at it as well. maybe a cam if got the cash

Fuck Sakes! That sucks man!

 

[Snowracer]

So just happened to run into the owner of a engine rebuild shop here in town last night. Told him about my motor issue and he laughed and said yet that's a failed intake gasket. He was saying something about the water jackets between the EFI heads and carb intake being different so that's why it didn't seal. So have to look into that more as I used a carb motor gasket last time and not sure what to order now

 

[Snowracer]

figured i would clean the shop before pulling the truck back apart. so drove the truck out of the shop and around the yard on friday

then pulled the motor out and tore it down again

found my rear main leak, not really sure what happened there but will try again

still went out wheeling this weekend just had to ride with buddy in the crew cab obs

 

[F***roads]

passenger duty
I spy the welfare duty!

 

[Snowracer]

passenger duty
I spy the welfare duty!

yep he dragged it back to town for the long weekend to go wheeling with us

 

[Snowracer]

while waiting on motor parts i figured id give the steering box a drill and tap job, will do a pump upgrade once i have the motor back together. did the math on the ram i have and its a little big so will be slower then a PSC ram but will try it for now

 

[Snowracer]

ghetto ram is mounted

 

[Snowracer]

got the motor cleaned and put back together, but before putting back in the truck i wanted to figure out my new power steering pump set up. Had a F53 ford motor home pump, its basically a g2 gear pump but with a relief and regulator built in. big gph and psi so way better then what i was running and probably better then a $$$ psc pump

used one of the stock pump mounting holes and made an adapter plate

notched the pump bracket to fit the new pump and adapter

was able to press the stock pump pulley on, wasnt able to fully press it on but went as far as i could to line the belt up but dont think it will be an issue

then stabbed the motor back in the truck, just need to make up steering resi and lines then can start up the truck and see if i fixed the milk shake issue

 

[Levigarrett76]

Damn i am digging this

 

[Gumbybronco]

FWIW It’s really easy to make a bracket that fits the AC location to fit a York for OBA. I ordered the serpentine pulley from Ryder truck parts online.

 

[Snowracer]

FWIW It’s really easy to make a bracket that fits the AC location to fit a York for OBA. I ordered the serpentine pulley from Ryder truck parts online.

i sold all my yorks a few years ago. will probably do an electric pump if i feel like i need it down the road

plus need that spot for my steering resi that i built last night. should hold just over a 1 liter (1 quart of eagle fluid) put both a -6 and -8 fitting for return so can up grade line size down the road if needed. also a npt bung in the top for a breather fitting

 

[Snowracer]

well this truck just loves to make me do everything 2 or 3 times it seems. mounted up the resi and filled the system and ram would not work. just went out and would not come back in, figured i messed up the one fitting as i put it to deep in the port. took the box apart welded up the port and moved the fitting and still same issue. said f it take the ram off and cap the fittings. dropped the truck down and tried to steer it and it blew the sector shaft seal right out and painted my shop floor and everything around it in atf. buddy lent me another box he had that was drilled and ported for assist.
slapped that in the truck with out the ram to see if it would blow the seal out as was worried the new pump was to much psi. box held up and no leaks or issues to be seen, hooked the ram back up and got it to work but felt meh and kinda hard to turn, slapped the 44s on the front and it felt the same as it did with stock tires but turned them so is just the ram being to big and slow. steering box was a loaner so posted up looking for a box and buddy still had my box from the Haywagon build that was ported and even my psc ram so bought all that back from him. only thing i can say is the f53 pump is crazy loud, almost sounds like its draining the resi as has that kind of sound or if i just need to go to tractor fluid vs atf to help out or what.

resi mounted up

and the best part is 44s on the front looks wicked

but need to go back and cut the bumper back and trim more fender

and got the roof painted finally

 

[Snowracer]

cut the front fenders and bumper, hope its enough

my steering box showed up so swapped that in. while at i went to -8 return lines and made another resi that hold almost double the fluid as the first one. also swapped to tractor fluid instead of atf and pump is nice and quite now. hopping i still have air in the system as ram wans to fully extend on its own, so will keep working it and try and bleed that out

 

[Snowracer]

had to trim the box to fit the 44s, also had to put 2" wheel spacers on the rear to make sure tires wouldnt rub the inner fender of the box

 

[Snowracer]

was still fighting steering box issues as it wanted to turn passanger on its own and thought it was just air in the syestem to unhooked the ram and the box on its own did the same thing. so swapped the loaner box back in and everything worked like it was supposed to. think the f53 pump is to much and the fluid is bypassing in my box. will do a full rebuild of it and hope for the best. did get the truck out and the loaner box worked but did start to leak part way throught the day and caused the truck to wander passanger but wasnt turning on its own.

was able to do a test drive around the block thursday night and every thing worked as it should but it seemed to be running hotter then i like. i do have an issue with the pwm fan controller so have a ghetto fix to make it work. so friday night i swapped tsats and it runs much better and temp hold and im happy with it now

finally made it out for test run and it worked better then i expected. do have a few small things to work on/fix but nothing major and truck made it home no problem

not going to lie its pretty awesome having a box agian and not a flat deck even if have to climb up to get trail drinks

best part is i drove for maybe the first hour just to make sure everything was good then turn the wheel over to the gf and she was pumped. ill probably never get to drive agian

 

[reptillikus]

Right on, truck came out badass at first I was a little sad you had to cut the fenders so much, but now that it's done I really dig the lines

So now that her truck is done, what are you building for yourself?

 

[Snowracer]

Right on, truck came out badass at first I was a little sad you had to cut the fenders so much, but now that it's done I really dig the lines

So now that her truck is done, what are you building for yourself?

ya i really didnt want to mess up the body lines as they are just too cool on this body style. tried my best to keep the lines and rolled all the edges so half ass looks right.

maybe one day ill finish my buggy, but not any time soon now that i can be winch bitch in the merc and drink trail sodas all day

The FSU trail buggy build

Was going to wait till i had more done to start a build thread but oh well :flipoff2: This is going to be trail buggy so dont be in here looking for fancy go fast part or tig welds. I have been wanting a buggy for a few year now and have tried and failed at starting one before as mainly just...

irate4x4.com

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

That looks sexy with the Boggers....love it.

 

[Snowracer]

got the truck back in the shop last night and looked it over. steering box is leaking but already knew that. trans to tcase flange is leaking so will have to pull tcase to reseal it. bent an offset tie rod, lower fender mounts broke off so fenders are loose. other then that i cant see any other damage to truck. do need to notch the hole in the floor for the tcase leaver as it hits the floor when on the throttle.

and more pics casue why not

 

[rattle_snake]

Very cool man. Unique.
fairly quick build, like you have done this before. Even with the snafus at the end.

 

[Snowracer]

so after the shake down run i had a few issues to deal with so been working on that. had to pull the tcase again as was leaking gear oil from the trans to tcase gasket. also been fighting steering box issues non stop with this build. the F53 pump is putting to much psi and the box is bypassing and causes it to turn passenger on its own. swapped a borrowed box in for the shake down run and it worked well for the first bit of the day then stared to bypass and also leaked like crazy buy the end of the day. so i rebuild my box and swapped it and it bypassed as well even after a fresh rebuild. instead of swapping back to a stock pump i just said f it and swapped to full hydro. single ended ram kinda sucks but will work for now till i can buy a double ended and swap that in. few small things to clean up tonight and should be ready for long weekend wheeling

 

[posford]

You need one of them high falutin steeting servos like what JR4x runs in his U4 rigs

 

[Levigarrett76]

Man that truck is awesome! How does the suspension perform? Happy with it?


How'd that poor little 302 do with 44 boggers?


Kind of off topic, I've never had the pleasure of running a double ended ram, only single ended psc in full hydro in my jeep with 39's. It works but feels like I don't have full control sometimes.

What is the difference?

 

[Snowracer]

Man that truck is awesome! How does the suspension perform? Happy with it?


How'd that poor little 302 do with 44 boggers?


Kind of off topic, I've never had the pleasure of running a double ended ram, only single ended psc in full hydro in my jeep with 39's. It works but feels like I don't have full control sometimes.

What is the difference?

rear does most of the work as far as flex goes. it does ride better then i expected but front is pretty stiff, tempted to pull a few of the bottom leafs and replace them with a zero rate to keep ride height

its lacking on the power side for sure but the gearing is pretty sweet so almost makes up for it. it can drive around in high range but not going to do anything other then drive it around. 4low is pretty sweet as the trans is 6.32-1 and tcase is 2.73-1 so first gear it really crawls. can grab second and get some wheel speed for hills and mud ect so works well for what it is.

as far as the steering the best way to explain it is that a double ended ram has the same pressure/force going left and right. single ended ram will always have more pressure/force going one direction vs the other so does not feel the same left/right. for crawling on the trail single ended will be fine but will feel the difference when on fsr roads with a little speed ect

 

[Snowracer]

just back ordered some 43" baja xs tires for this truck. they will fit better then the boggers, just had to add 2" front spaces to clear the leafs for now. between being 4" narrower and 1.5" back space difference in wheels they should clear better and not need the spacers

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

Cool build!

 

[YotaAtieToo]

rear does most of the work as far as flex goes. it does ride better then i expected but front is pretty stiff, tempted to pull a few of the bottom leafs and replace them with a zero rate to keep ride height

its lacking on the power side for sure but the gearing is pretty sweet so almost makes up for it. it can drive around in high range but not going to do anything other then drive it around. 4low is pretty sweet as the trans is 6.32-1 and tcase is 2.73-1 so first gear it really crawls. can grab second and get some wheel speed for hills and mud ect so works well for what it is.

as far as the steering the best way to explain it is that a double ended ram has the same pressure/force going left and right. single ended ram will always have more pressure/force going one direction vs the other so does not feel the same left/right. for crawling on the trail single ended will be fine but will feel the difference when on fsr roads with a little speed ect

Can you really feel the difference, or is it just in your head?

ive had a few different SE setups and never noticed it.

just back ordered some 43" baja xs tires for this truck. they will fit better then the boggers, just had to add 2" front spaces to clear the leafs for now. between being 4" narrower and 1.5" back space difference in wheels they should clear better and not need the spacers

I was curious if the boggers were temp. Those 43s actually shorter? Or just not as wide and square as the boggazz?

 

[Levigarrett76]

My sas’d 87 f250 with 2” front springs was waaay too stiff.
I took out 2 lower leaves and it sctually had a suspension again.
43’s gonna be a good fit i think
Glad its working well!
I had 79 f250 with 460/435/205 and 44’s and 5.13s and later 203/205 i pretty much get what you mean with gearing

 

[Loki89t]

just back ordered some 43" baja xs tires for this truck. they will fit better then the boggers, just had to add 2" front spaces to clear the leafs for now. between being 4" narrower and 1.5" back space difference in wheels they should clear better and not need the spacers

Jealous, I really want to order a set of 40's for my truck.

 

[reptillikus]

I tried to get a set of 43s last year but they were unobtanium back then. So hopefully you get your set, and they work as good as i think they will!