The title pretty much says it all. There will be a lot of farming related posts here as well as some ancient family history and photos. Another family history blog I have is at....
http://nevardblog.blogspot.com/
Seeing the date, and the cold and snow we still have this April second I was reminded of this old tune, Spring Will Be...
I think it was 2012 on the first of April I was roto tilling the garden already. This year, what ground is showing is still frozen solid. Everything else covered in snow. It has been a long winter.
Its even cold working in the "Roosty6 Restoration Shop" unless I want to turn on the furnace and increase my carbon footprint even further.
I'm making a few small steps forward on the old rusty cars. Learning how to take a few dents out using real body shaping tools.
I almost made a "how not to do it" video today while trying out an engine lift. I deleted all the scenes of me using the wrong methods. Would not want to lead impressionable minds astray.
Shot some video yesterday showing the worst of the rust on the "new" 53 Merc. There is not much good steel left under the front floor mats. Nothing that I can't patch up though. Not many years ago a car this rusty would have been designated as a "parts car" and stripped down to pieces for other restorers. But as the supply of fifties Mercs dries up even an old sedan like this one is worth keeping intact I think.. No, its not going to be a restoration show car. Just patched up good enough to look good and keep my feet from hitting the ground as I drive. (Assuming I ever get the engine unseized and running.) Really, from the rocker panels up the car is pretty much rust free. Its just 3 years ago that I was working on the same problem on the 52 Merc. In fact it had worse rust than this one. And now its a driver! Amazing what some stove pipe metal and sheet metal screws can do. It gives me hope for this one.
Just another entry in the ongoing 53 flathead project. It was a bit of a challenge finding those last two bolts on the oil pan but with a little help from facebook flathead guys I got it done. Other than a few spider webs I found nothing too concerning inside so far. The pan was cleaner than expected. Some old flatheads accumulate a lot of sludge over the years (no pcv) but not so much on this one. No serious rust either. Now a little more soaking with penetrating oil in the cylinders, this time from the inside, and maybe it will break free (without breaking anything else).
As we are three days into the new year (2018), this will be the first blog post. We have just come out of the approximately ten days of below normal temperatures finally getting above zero farenheit for the first time yesterday. A noticeable improvement. We survived the extreme cold but I had a couple of incidents with frozen water lines needing thawing.
Had the traditional family gathering for supper here on New Year's day. It is the one day of the year when this old house is almost too small but we made it work.
Now that the weather has warmed up I felt inspired to do some serious work on the "new" Merc. Got the seized up flathead almost out of the car but I had to leave it hanging on the hoist as I ran into a little problem and didn't want to work overtime. Seems I forgot to support the front of the transmission or disconnect the speedometer cable. No harm done but I need to find a chain to hang up the front of the transmission before I can push the car away from the hoist. Tomorrow is another day and I have a plan.
Thought I flipped this pic but it appears upside down here.
Ok, it was only 28 miles round trip but it was the longest drive for me and the Merc since 1969 when the car was unofficially retired. I'd had hopes of taking the Merc to the local museum car show for quite a while but was not sure it would happen right up til the actual day. A week of damp and rainy weather left little hope. I didn't want to drive the rusty old car on muddy gravel roads.
The day dawned sunny and clear with a wind drying up the somewhat damp roads. I had a volunteer willing to drive the "new" Chevy II along as a support vehicle. Not everybody can drive a "three on the tree" nowadays.
I loaded up the Chevy's trunk with tools, spare gas, tow rope, and assorted other stuff for whatever possible problems might occur and we set out.
Is that 40+ year old fuel pump going to fail? Fall victim to that old flathead malady of vapour lock? Yes, I had a pail of water along for that problem too. Were the loose rear wheel bearing and whining rear axle going to pile up on the trip? That leak in the radiator going to get worse?
And how about the five gallon fuel tank? Enough to drive 13 miles surely?
With all the improvements to make it street legal I still had not got the "teapot" carburetor working as it should. It requires judicious pumping of the gas pedal to accelerate without stalling. And you never know when the 14 year old tractor battery under the hood is going to give up the ghost. But keep the pedal down and the old flathead ran smooth and steady once up to speed. I watched that heat gauge pretty closely and it did run higher than I'd seen it on my short runs, but not enough to cause trouble.
The well used oversize Michelins rode pretty well with only a hint of wander in gravel. With no working speedometer I could only guess but found out later I'd been crusing around 50 mph a lot of the time. Not bad. Averaged over 15 mpg too which really surprised me.
At the destination we parked among the rest of the antiques and looked right at home. Although that nice shiny Fairlane beside me made the old Merc look a little weathered and worn.
No, I did not win any of the people's choice awards and that was no surprise as there were a lot of very nicely restored cars and trucks there. Got a few comments on the very smooth idle of the old flathead V8.
The trip home was uneventful and the road was dry enough that I was getting a little dust in the interior through the various rust holes not yet patched.
For those that are not yet tired of viewing this old Mercury I have a few minutes of video uploaded at youtube showing the trip.
Meanwhile I have a bit more summerfallow to finish, hay to rake and bale, and the last field of canola is almost ready to swath. Weather permitting, hopefully, all within the next 48 hours.
