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Wow great bunch on vehicles and yes as Marten mentioned there's a few that look like restoration candidates not race cars . Great to see you get the truck out .
...So I took off the hood and repaired it. I cleaned the surfaces and came up with a solution. The thin sheet metal is too fragile. The plan is to make a flat bar and install it as reinforcement....
My1949 Merc M-47 hood also had/has a problem in that surrounding hood lip area. My hood has those same rotted broken areas as yours only worse. The problem was that the resto shop did not weld in metal to properly repair that area, but instead chose to use bondo to shape and fill the hood lip. That bondo cracked immediately and came off in chunks along with the paint. They redid it, but I am afraid that it is just a matter of time before the bondo cracks again. I am no body repair expert, but I sure as hell would not use bondo on any area that has even the slightest potential of flexing, such as a Ford/Merc hood lip of this style, and I sure as hell would never use it to shape an area where metal use to be. That is not the level of quality of the work that I paid for in an otherwise outstanding restoration job. I have attached a pic. There is far more bondo here than "just a skim coat to cover imperfections" as I was assured. You can still see the rotted metal underneath the cracked off bondo.
My1949 Merc M-47 hood also had/has a problem in that surrounding hood lip area. My hood has those same rotted broken areas as yours only worse. The problem was that the resto shop did not weld in metal to properly repair that area, but instead chose to use bondo to shape and fill the hood lip. That bondo cracked immediately and came off in chunks along with the paint. They redid it, but I am afraid that it is just a matter of time before the bondo cracks again. I am no body repair expert, but I sure as hell would not use bondo on any area that has even the slightest potential of flexing, such as a Ford/Merc hood lip of this style, and I sure as hell would never use it to shape an area where metal use to be. That is not the level of quality of the work that I paid for in an otherwise outstanding restoration job. I have attached a pic. There is far more bondo here than "just a skim coat to cover imperfections" as I was assured. You can still see the rotted metal underneath the cracked off bondo.
Hello, I know about the filler. I would have the hood sandblasted and properly repaired by a good metalworker who knows how to work with sheet metal. The filler on your hood is much too thick. Regards, Bernd 61 HD
Hello, last week we were out and about with the Mercury again. Since it's starting to get colder now and the doors aren't sealing properly, I decided to take another look at the problem. Back during the restoration, I didn't replace the metal strips for the rubber seals.
I've found them now. New strips and rubbers too. So I carefully removed the strips and put the new ones on. Put the rubbers in, and that's it. It's still pulling, but not as much.
So, the Mercury has come out of hibernation and is running. Yesterday, it spent the night in our yard. This morning, it was minus 1 degree Celsius.
It was sunny and warm this afternoon. In the afternoon, I inserted the key and the Merc started right up. Then I warmed it up for half an hour and drove it onto the ramp for an oil change.
Now it has fresh oil and is parked in the garage. I think I'll drive it every day from now on.
Best regards, Bernd 61 HD
