Andrea's 1963 Mercury Meteor Custom 2-Door Hardtop
 
 

Here is Andrea, under power for the first time!

Car is rust free, but needs mechanical and trim items.  Things we are looking for:

Rear quarter side trim, lower right side

Let us know if you have these items for sale, or if you know of someone who does!
 

Click here to email Gerard

No side trim...someone de-chromed the car.  We are going to re-chrome the car!

Missing the sorround trim and the gas door.  Do you have these parts to sell to us?  If so, email us using the link at the bottom of the page!
 

Front bumper would be nice if it hadn't peeled on passenger side.

The only dent on the car...middle of driver's door, lower portion.

NO RUST!  Nothing rotting out in the usual places behind the rear window.  We will need to re-seal the splits, though.

Not a dent to be found!
 

The car must have been grey to start with.
 

Needs help.
 

We've found an ashtray and mirror.  The ignition needs to go back to the correct location, to the left of the steering wheel.

Needs upholstery.  Stock or modified?  We're not sure yet.

Needs a headliner.  Stock type is Andrea's favorite.

Before and After pics of the engine compartment.  There are still some things missing, but you'll get the effect!  The engine compartment is painted with Rustoleum 7777 spray paint, the block is gloss black engine paint, the power steering pump is argent, and the red is a Ford Red from a rattle can.

Upper control arm bushings: Important information!

I'm rebuilding the front end on the Meteor, and while installing new upper control arm bushings, I've run across something everyone who's doing this work should know.  The bushings are metal-to-metal and thread onto the shaft.  It is possible, and I did it, to install the bushings to where the shaft and control arm are not centered in relation to each other.  See the pics:

One turn of the shaft moves the control arm 1/8 of an inch forward or aft.  I was able to easily turn this shaft TWO turns, which is a full 1/4 of an inch away from center.  In the front end world, 1/4 of an inch is a MILE, and may make it impossible to get the front end into alignment.

Fortunately, I saw this before finishing the whole front end.  Unfortunately, I didn't see this until the SECOND upper control arm, so now I have to remove the coil spring again on the driver's side.

Old Fords generally use a brake booster mounted on a bracket to clear the wiper motor.  In the case of this car, the bracket and stock booster would put the dual master cylinder I'm using too far forward, crashing into the shock tower.  I thought to myself, why not mount the bugger right to the firewall, like a modern car?  So, I found that the aftermarket hot-rod industry makes a single-diaphragm unit, 7 inches in diameter.  Some quick measurements showed that it would fit, so I found one on ebay for $25.  Here are the installation steps.

Make a template from the booster and tape it to the firewall, concentric to the big hole in the middle.  Make sure the 4 holes are level, otherwise your master cylinder won't be level.  Spray the holes with white paint, and remove the template.

Drill the 4 mounting holes and enlarge the center hole.  I used a Uni-Bit, and it's like cutting butter!  I enlarged the big hole with a sanding drum on the drill.

Trial fit.

I found that the upper booster studs were interfering with the old captured nuts, so I removed the old nuts.  Also, the booster's diameter where it enters the firewall is a bit larger than the spread of the brake pedal mount.  So, removing the old fasteners and grinding the braket a bit allowed a small amount of spread to fit the booster.

This booster was universal, and so I had to make an adapter to the brake pedal.  If you shop around, you can find one that's made for a Ford, and it will have the eye rod.

My master cylinder was a manual brake unit, and the piston was too deep.  So I ground the head of an Allen bolt and filled the hole so it would be near flush to touch the booster pin properly.  A master cylinder for power brakes would fill the bill better, but this manual brake master cylinder was brand new, and I wanted to use it.

Pic from inside, fender washers to spread the load.  Fasteners on the booster are metric, actuator rod is SAE.  Extra holes require filling--I used tape caulk.

Installation complete!  Master cylinder mount holes required filing to match the spread of the booster.  Studs are metric.

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