Stone Guard Repair Advice Needed

S

signsup

Senior Member
I think I can save the original stone guards on my 42 Mercury Town Sedan. That is, if I can manage to replace the fasteners. Several snapped off while removing and one had been broken for a while.
I can't feel how these are installed, not feeling a head throough the front. Are they molded in during manufacture and I cannot replace them.
Drill out all four and replace with a nicely decorated head fastener like a cariage bolt painted to match?
I'll hang up and listen. Thanks in advance.
 

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A question for someone more knowledgable than I. I'm a newbie with this 42 Mercury. Same body shell as the Ford Super Deluxe. The trim is different along the hood and side, so I presumed the stone guards might have a different pattern to them. Either way, I still need to try to repair these. I'm seeing prices for reproductions all over the place.
 
signsup said:
A question for someone more knowledgable than I. I'm a newbie with this 42 Mercury. Same body shell as the Ford Super Deluxe. The trim is different along the hood and side, so I presumed the stone guards might have a different pattern to them. Either way, I still need to try to repair these. I'm seeing prices for reproductions all over the place.
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If you know that the Ford ones will fit( I'm pretty sure they will) I have a pair of new Drake ones in a box for $150 plus shipping.
 
signsup said:
I think I can save the original stone guards on my 42 Mercury Town Sedan. That is, if I can manage to replace the fasteners. Several snapped off while removing and one had been broken for a while.
I can't feel how these are installed, not feeling a head throough the front. Are they molded in during manufacture and I cannot replace them.
Drill out all four and replace with a nicely decorated head fastener like a cariage bolt painted to match?
I'll hang up and listen. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I would cleanup the back and use PC7 to attach a new stud.
 
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BTW, station wagon is different than the regular cars. Photo is of a NOS one going on my 46 Fordor. They seem to be out of stock everywhere so the set TJ has might be the way to go. There was a set of Drake station wagon ones on Ebay for $400 OBO. If I had a wagon and needed a set... All Ford parts have a set for the wagons listed at $1,400! I don't like to use the word never, but I'd need to be pretty desperate. Short answer is I don't think there's a good way to replace the studs.
 
Hold some ice on the front, make quick tig weld on a new stud, cool it off right away, repeat on another stud, and rotate around until there is adequate weld on each new stud.

Mig would probably work too; but harder to control the heat.
 
Agree with Rich b. Some quick tacks with time to cool would probably work without damage to the rubber. Would require some prep (grinding or bead blasting) to ensure good adhesion. I would like the PC7 idea, but I found that installing the the shields required a fair amount of effort on my Merc, and I would expect there’s a chance it wouldn’t hold when tightening.
 
rich b said:
Hold some ice on the front, make quick tig weld on a new stud, cool it off right away, repeat on another stud, and rotate around until there is adequate weld on each new stud.

Mig would probably work too; but harder to control the heat.
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X2! Good advice here...
 
I concur with the epoxy method being doubtful. When I removed the guards, they sprung out from the curve of the fender, so I think there is more tension on the studs then would first appear. That eliminated my first thought of just gluing the broken guards onto the fender fronts and using they few studs remaining. It would have to be clamped and held in place pretty whell while drying to prevent any gaps behind the guards.
So, if I attempt a tack weld, what fasterner do you suggest? It needs to have little or no head thickness to allow proper flatness of the guard to the fender. That's why I was thinking out loud about coming through the face of the rubber with carriage bolts. Once painted, it would look like a rivet and would fit the end use of my project, which is not museum quality, but parade ready military staff car. Are there Ford police or Mercury police as there are Jeep police in my other hobby?
 
Could you grind off the bad studs then put a bolt with a ground flat head through a sheet metal tab, then with very short pop rivets pop it to the guard , even if you went through the rubber it would be a very small hole to hide.
 
A) Maybe try this? I don't really know how the stud's head is emberred in the rubber.
Just a thought : Remove the stud from the back, hopefully leaving as much thickness as possible to the rubber. Make a shallow counterbore in the face of the guard with a paddle bit. This should be backed up with wood, like a piece of closet pole stood endo in a vice. Take a carriage bolt 1/4-20? and grind the dome off the head, maybe back bevel the bottom side of head knife-like, make it thin. Bolt up. Get a tube of black polyurethane marine adhesive/sealant (Sikaflex) and using a putty knife or a plastic screed made from a plastic lid coffee/margerine/etc and apply over countersunk bolt head. Sealant doesn't need to be perfectly leveled. It sands nicely.

B) What I'd do... Simply bolt them on with your carriage bolts like you suggested and enjoy that parade. If the police should ever suggest that the bolt heads offend them or aren't correct, Just think up an equally rude comeback line. They'll have deserved it.

C) The weld and cool, weld and cool is good too. I like the ice cube. You might need an oversized or thick washer on the back side if your welds look like mine.
 
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Agreed. He's getting a shipping quote and installing them will be probably Job 1. But, if I can save these, they are only original once. Just for grins, can someone share with me how the heck these things are made? Is there a thin sheet of metal involved in these, or are they 100 percent hard rubber with fasteners?
 
There is a metal backing. I want to use the term that the rubber is vulcanized to the metal backing? Maybe bonded is a more correct term.
 
1942deluxe said:
There is a metal backing. I want to use the term that the rubber is vulcanized to the metal backing? Maybe bonded is a more correct term.
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Originals were likely vulcanized. Reproductions more likely not due to tooling expense. Just my opinion, I have no direct knowledge of the product.
 
On my originals, the rubber was quite brittle. I don’t think you should mess with it. If you have a mig welder, it would be easy to tack something and allow several minutes between tacks. I’d probably use 1/4-20 bolts ( carriage or hex) with the heads ground down quite a bit. The new Drake ones installed were nice, but their alignment and fit to the curvature of the fender was off a bit. One thing I learned is that they need to be installed AFTER the fender is mounted to the body, as they’d mess up or interfere with the welting if mounted to the fender before installing to the body.
If you mess one up, I’m happy to send you free ones if you pay shipping.

Bruce
 
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