new vs old
new vs old
In reply to Gunchsta :
Looking good!
Your car looks great. Keep up the updates. Here is a picture of my 65 Merc. Thanks for your updates, I've been stalled on mine three years.
Unsubscribing: I find myself eyeballing boats on ebay Collector Cars.
Thanks for the kind words! Of all the classic American cars I've owned over the years this one is probably my favorite.
To 914Driver - c'mon you know you want one... they are relatively affordable too (compared to muscle cars), the only problem is you may have to build a bigger garage to park one in depending on your circumstances. I wouldn't recommend one for downtown living.
More action!
I replaced the crunchy outer front wheel bearing AND the race this time, so hopefully smooth sailing. I also disassembled the inside bearing and seal and cleaned/inspected/repacked that.
for what it's worth the race was OK when I took the bearing out the first time around but it was pretty nuked now.
Hopefully now with a good cleaning, new grease and a new bearing and race we're good to go for years to come!
So the carb on this thing has kinda sucked forever, notably the accelerator pump which has been especially pumping acceleration (fuel) onto the intake manifold and not into the carb.
Evidently someone (could've been me) over tightened the accelerator pump housing and warped it, making it never really seal against the carb body. So, I noticed and corrected this today and it seems to be working well. Or at least not pouring gas onto the intake. Safety 3rd.
Here's a closer look
after some sanding on a flat surface
and done. Pretty flat and seems to seal better.
so, that was an interesting fix. Went and cruised around a bit and it runs pretty good and doesn't appear to be leaking gas. So, I'll call that a win!
That gosh darn wheel bearing was starting to growl a little bit again yesterday. Got home, jacked the car up and repacked the bearings and filled the cap with grease. Previously the dust cover was not filled with grease as I had an old one on there and it wasn't a snug fit. This time around it has a new dust cover and fits snugly. So, hopefully that eases my problems.
As an aside, and a personal note, I find myself to be a fairly competent home/YouTube mechanic. Not extraordinarily talented but usually capable. I'm having an interesting experience with this here Mercury on the difference between 'parts replacer' and 'mechanic'. The old technology requires a lot of mechanic-ing. Adjustments, fine tuning, knowledge of how the assembly goes together and what requirements for assembly there are. More modern stuff is usually a 'set it and forget it' - cartridge bearings, self adjusting EFI, etc. A new part, installed haphazardly in a 1965 Mercury is barely any better than the worn out part it replaces. My drum brakes kicked my ass for a while simply because I didn't adjust them properly once all the parts were installed correctly.
And as it turns out I'm a better parts-replacer than I am mechanic. So I'm learning as I go!
I feel this post! I hope your bearing replacement works well!
I like the journey on my old Mercury too but sometimes it is more of an adventure than my inexperience planned for me up front! I've learned stuff and have the pride of being able to say I did it myself. On the other hand I have the requirement of saying I screwed it up myself too! Nothing too expensive or major yet thankfully.
The lowering springs are perfect.
In reply to wawazat :
Keep up the good work! A lot of the little repairs on the old cars can end up being adventures! Frankly I think that is part of the mystique of owning them, though it does get tiresome on occasion.
In reply to java230 :
Thanks, I think so too. I didn't necessarily think it had too much rake before, but given it came down 2" and still looks good... that tells me it had too much rake before :)
In reply to Gunchsta :
Absolutely correct in your assessment of mechanic vs. parts cannon firer. This is why it's so expensive and difficult to find someone to work on older cars, it requires a mindset adjustment. Conversely, when I go from tinkering on the old iron to working on one of my (more) modern cars, I'm amazed at just how simple it is. The computer tells me to fix 'X', I replace the part, and 'X' now works.
Anyone can learn to fire the parts cannon. Becoming a good mechanic is a lifelong journey.
Gunchsta said:That gosh darn wheel bearing was starting to growl a little bit again yesterday. Got home, jacked the car up and repacked the bearings and filled the cap with grease. Previously the dust cover was not filled with grease as I had an old one on there and it wasn't a snug fit. This time around it has a new dust cover and fits snugly. So, hopefully that eases my problems.
Well, that's disturbing. I wasn't surprised when you had to replace it after trying to reuse the race but this time you should be good for another 50k miles before servicing and 100k before replacement. It makes me wonder if either the bearing isn't adjusted correctly or if you're not packing the bearings correctly.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
Well said sir. I'm glad to have enough knowledge to dig in myself, I don't think I could afford the hobby if I wasn't able to wrench at least somewhat competently on my own.
In reply to APEowner :
Thanks for the bullet points. I feel like I packed the bearing itself pretty good, but looking at your list I'm quite certain I had it too tight the first go around (and likely still too tight honestly). I think I'll go out tonight and back the nut off a little more. Seems to me when I put it back together yesterday it had it set a little past snug. Interesting to think about the heat expansion- that hadn't occurred to me. I figured a little tight would be better - good to know my figurings were wrong!
Out to the garage (after this long day at work) tonight to loosen it up!
Followed APEowner's bullet point and loosened the wheel bearing nut all the way off and re-tightened so it just made contact and I could get the cotter through. Spins nice with little resistance and has zero noticeable play. While I was out in the garage I also put a couple turns into the front brake shoe adjusters, the shoes had almost zero drag before, now they have just a tiny bit.
Nice way to relax after a long day in the office. Too rainy and crappy to test drive, maybe I'll take it to work tomorrow.
In reply to Gunchsta :
Ive been doing front wheel bearings on old cars so long it's second nature. But what APEowner said about too loose being better than too tight is bang on the money. I've seen many a wheel bearing ruined by a so-called "mechanic" who cranked in the nut tight and then pinned it.
Not only is it heat expansion, but when you run the castle nut in, the wheel is in the air. When you let the car back down, the weight of the car effectively loads the bearing.
I was taught to pack the bearings by putting bearing grease in the palm of one hand and then wiping the edges of the bearing cage through the grease to force the grease into the rollers. I have also used a packing tool with a grease gun which is a bit cleaner.
I think best practice is to replace the inner and outer bearings and races together. Helps to have a race driver to keep from peening over the edges of the race when installing in the hub, although I have used a large socket more than once in a pinch.
To adjust the bearings, I bring the castle nut up until snug, and then loosened it 1/4 turn. Finally, loosen just enough to insert the cotter key though the castle nut.
Thanks for the tips guys, I'm hopeful that NOW it should be good for another couple of years :).
Next time I'll likely replace all the bearings & seals, but for now let's hope we're good.
I'm not sure why I decided to adjust the bearing tight this time, probably too much parts replacing and not enough mechanic-ing lately. There's so much more finesse! I swear I'm forgetting things or somehow creating new-bad habits sometimes with this stuff.
Road trippin!
Changed the oil this morning and set off for the north shore. Stopping in Duluth for the night then hitting the road again tomorrow. The wife and I have the whole week off so we'll see where this old girl takes us!
Another day, more miles! Landed in Grand Marais today after some nice drives and hikes. Car is working great and loving the miles.
hoping to see the Canadian border tomorrow!
Gunchsta said:That gosh darn wheel bearing was starting to growl a little bit again yesterday. Got home, jacked the car up and repacked the bearings and filled the cap with grease. Previously the dust cover was not filled with grease as I had an old one on there and it wasn't a snug fit. This time around it has a new dust cover and fits snugly. So, hopefully that eases my problems.
As an aside, and a personal note, I find myself to be a fairly competent home/YouTube mechanic. Not extraordinarily talented but usually capable. I'm having an interesting experience with this here Mercury on the difference between 'parts replacer' and 'mechanic'. The old technology requires a lot of mechanic-ing. Adjustments, fine tuning, knowledge of how the assembly goes together and what requirements for assembly there are. More modern stuff is usually a 'set it and forget it' - cartridge bearings, self adjusting EFI, etc. A new part, installed haphazardly in a 1965 Mercury is barely any better than the worn out part it replaces. My drum brakes kicked my ass for a while simply because I didn't adjust them properly once all the parts were installed correctly.
And as it turns out I'm a better parts-replacer than I am mechanic. So I'm learning as I go!
Weird even after working on newer stuff for a living I find it easier and a much simpler time working on my old car. It's also what I grew up around, maybe that's why
I. Love. This. Car! Keep on trucking!
I also grew up tinkering/fixing old cars. I agree, they seemed to be less complicated than newer stuff. For instance, a battery change, can be a major undertaking on some of the late model cars.
In reply to Gunchsta :
post pix! this is a beautiful time to be that far North.
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