The Big M is home.

Reb Stew wrote:It's nice to see it coming together but I have been working on the house so long that when I see those pics I see $ signs. Cabinets, bead board, trim ect. That stuff has went through the roof in the last 10 years.

Tell me about it. We have been scrimping and saving for a long time so we could pay for a trailer like this already finished without borrowing and we thought it would be a few more years before we could. Then we came across this one and like I said I don't think the dude realized what he had. I crunched some numbers and figured we could buy this one and finish it out ourselves with our trailer savings. It's going to be a squeaker but I think we'll make or close enough we can finish it out of pocket. Vicky said something about having that much money to spend on the Merc. I had to tell her to not EVEN go there. This thing is to be our home away from home. And, the way it is built, I can fold up the tack room in the back and load a couple of bikes in there. Good for a long vacation. take the house and bikes or horses with us.

Brownie wrote:So Whats the blow dryer for? Are you blow dry'n there hair to?

Take a look at the window trim. It's amazing what you can do with PVC and a little heat. This thing is being done as cheap as possible. Cabinets and paneling from salvage store and buy it off the internet or ask for internet price match. My wife didn't think people would go for that.

It looks great!
I just seen the blow dryer and had to get a jab.

OKay, it's done except................ (Always an except) the AC. I have a good roof top unit I traded from my son-in-law to install this weekend. I think it turned out pretty good and it almost stayed in budget.

The bedroom:
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The living/dining room:
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The kitchen:
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Shower stall (Get it ........Shower..........."stall") Oh well, guess you have to be a horse person.
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And the front yard:
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I know it's way OT but it's what I've been working on and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Took our shakedown cruise the weekend after Memorial weekend. Everything was great until the way home. Blew a tire. That was one of the things I was happy about when I bought it was how good the tires are. I guess they are old though. No cracks but it threw the tread and wrecked a fender. I had debated with myself whether to load the floor jack before we left. I was sure glad to have it when the tire blew. Put the spare on (that looked brand new) and it made it about 150 miles before it suffered a catastrophic failure. Try finding a couple of 8-ply, 15 inch tires at 5:00PM on a Sunday. We did though and made it on home. I was even able to fix the fender.

Now back to the regularly scheduled madness.

OK, been back in the shop. Man it has been hot out there. No pics but have been pulling the stock rear end out and cleaning up the Lincoln member to get it ready to go in.

We were running around at some yards yesterday. I found 3 Mercs but the gravel pans were gone. I did find the speedo for Amy's T if I want to go with the Merc Speedo. I think I'm stuck on the one I got though. I didn't get it but I know where it's at if I go that route. Anything other than that gravel pan neeeded out of a junkyard???

If you were over in Modoc, I know those pans are trash. Jeff and I ckecked on them quite awhile ago. I thought the black and white one on along the west fence would have been the best bet. It's the least rusty but it was toast (as Jeff says). There's about 3 or 4 Mercs over there but the front ends ate all exposed and they go to dust. The one at Starks is trash also. I can't remember any Mercs up in Bryant. That's the place that had the drunks the day we all went on a tour.

Every one of them I have found is "toast".

I wasn't sure of the yard with the drunks. I couldn't remember the name of it. I may run up there next week. I need a battery operated saws-all

Man, Big Dog had one of them that would cut a bridge down. We used it over at Modoc for some fender pieces and maybe when we took some spindles off. That other yard was up on 18 closer to Muncie. I need a 56 Ford back bumper, Falcon/Torino Grille,........

Houghs salvage on Rt 18 west of Bryant Indiana a few miles off Rt 27

Yeah, what he said.

junkyardjeff wrote:Houghs salvage on Rt 18 west of Bryant Indiana a few miles off Rt 27

That's the next one I'm going to hit.

If ya go during the week, take notes and pictures of all the 56 Fords and Mercs. Maybe even the 70-71 Torinos and Falcons like mine. Give me an advance notice and I might be able to take off work during the week some day. If Jeff goes, he might be in the dog house again, right Jeff? LOL

Finally got to work on th Merc today. It was pouring down rain here today. Pulled the original reared out and cut the mounts off to go on the new one. I was going to use the spring perches I bought at TSC but I needed the shock bracket that is made to the factory mount. Anybody need a 3.73 open differential with no spring mounts? Got the new rear end cleaned up an the mounts welded up. As I expected, all the bushings are worn out in the spring eyes so I guess I need to replace them. Got to get some new u-bolts about 2" longer to drop it some. Maybe Falconeddie will be able to ride in it without an airsick bag but I doubt it. I think I should do some more cleaning while the rear end is out of the way. I should probably drop the gas tank too. So much to do, so little time.

Hey Bud.....those 2" blocks will work just fine if ya have some Posie lowered springs. LOL The old two door Merc that I had before the one that I have screwed up now had 3" amd 4" blocks stacked for awhile. What was nice was that if there was more than me and my old dog on board the thing would bottom out and the driveshaft would rub the floor constantly. Needless to say I had to fix that to keep the boss happy, but it was fun for awhile. Heck you can lower it 2" by just letting some air out of the tires. LOL

I got the new rear end ready to go in. Made the lowering blocks, got all new bushings from Steele Rubber, new u-bolts made at Nashville Spring. Went out to finish pulling the springs so I could re-bush them and found out the drivers side is broken. Back to the junk yard. At least I know where several are now.

Arieldouglas wrote: drivers side is broken. Back to the junk yard. At least I know where several are now.

That stinks

parts
http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/3343291866.html

I dont know how close the part of tenn you live in is to corbin ky but i know where a 56 merc. is its a hardtop and its pretty much all there it used to belong to me and its about six miles from me sitting under a carport and the old boy is not gona finish it he also has a pair of 55 fords out back a wagon and a sedan if i can help you let me know I did a 56 crown vic put a 460 and a c6 in it and a 69 mustang rear in it disk breaks and all even put a air dash in it. Back to the merc though doug and jeff and stewert and all have saw it its a good starter car or a hell of a parts car. Let me know the dog!

Reb Stew wrote:parts
http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/3343291866.html

Man It does look solid.

It had a good rust free hood and trunk. I know because it came out of my garage.

Not that close but I ride horses in the Big South Fork a lot so doesn't seem that far. Got any idea what he might want for it?

I need the trunk. the hinge mounts are about gone in mine.