1954 Merc questions

denson1932

denson1932

Senior Member
My concerns are the engine and ******, the transmission only shifts once, I thought i did my research and read that the Merc-O-Matic is a 3 speed not a 2 speed but apparently not true....also i can't get it to kick down for the life of me. But at least it seems to do the one and only shift ok...
The engine is extremely hard starting...even though it cranks fine now that i got the charging system in order...I would assume with excellent compression and adequate spark it would fire immediately just like my fiathead engines? So what the heck is that contraption under the air cleaner and what carb can i swap in it's place?
 

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the carb should be a 2 bbl holley, the trans should have a throttle rod going from the carb to trans, that rod controls the trans kick down, you need to go to some swap meets and find a motors manual that covers your car and yr. it will save you a lot of time and explain how to fix most of the problems, and my motors manual say merc didnt have 3 speeds till 59, the books are usually cheap around $20
 
54 transmission is a 3 speed,but in drive it starts off in 2nd.Low on the shifter gets you first or,if it's properly adjusted,full throttle(below about 30 MPH)gets first.
 
Original '54 Mercury has a 256 cubic inch one year only Y-block, the Carb is a 4 bbl Holley than has a several nick names "flaming toilet" is one but if built properly can work just fine.The early Y-blocks use a Load-A-Matic distributor which is vacuum matched to the carburetor so if you swap to a later style Carb it will not play nice with that distributor.The 1954 Fords used this motor as a "Police Interceptor" both the 239 Ford and 256 Mercs have small port heads which will only align with the factory intake manifold properly.You can improve the performance by swapping to a 1957-62 292 distributor and a later style Holley 390 CFM or 500 CFM Edelbrock carburetor which requires an adapter,some of these early Y-blocks had a different distributor gear and that would need to be swapped to the newer distributor.Is the car still 6 volt or upgraded to 12 volt?
 
Thank you all for the excellent info....yes it is 6 volt i guess i need to consider the later dist and modern carb approach and probally a conversion to 12 volt, will try a carb rebuild first.
 
denson1932 said:
Thank you all for the excellent info....yes it is 6 volt i guess i need to consider the later dist and modern carb approach and probally a conversion to 12 volt, will try a carb rebuild first.
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Hello, if your engine runs well after it's warmed up, the hard starting is probably realted to the intake manifold mounted choke assembly. Whomever rebuilt the engine may not have checked to see if the hot air tube in the manifold was burned out or not (causing hot exh gas to go into the choke and jam it up with carbon, therefore causing the choke to freeze and not function correctly).
Also if you are interested, I have the correct carb for your car restored on EBAY at this time. Fully guaranteed. I've been doing these since 1968 and understand all of the issues and correct them all. These carbs do get a bad rap, but only from people that don't totally understand them.

My EBAY link is below, Sal Cicala

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-Mercur...Parts_Accessories&hash=item4172fa67c0&vxp=mtr
 
My son has a '54 Ford dump truck with the 256. It was very hard to start, had to crank forever. When I finally got it to start, the Sun 'scope showed the coil polarity was reversed. I checked, and the coil was connected correctly per the + and - marks on it. Reversed the wires and it started very quickly and the 'scope showed correct polarity. The coil was labeled wrong! Would be worth a try, reversing the wires on your coil and seeing if it starts better.
 
If the engine starts right up after it has already been running recently, but hard to start after it has been sitting idle for a few days, the problem is probably gas leaking out of the carb and leaving the float chamber empty. It takes several cranks to get gas back up into the float chamber. VERY hard on your old 6-volt starter.
 
Daves55Sedan said:
If the engine starts right up after it has already been running recently, but hard to start after it has been sitting idle for a few days, the problem is probably gas leaking out of the carb and leaving the float chamber empty. It takes several cranks to get gas back up into the float chamber. VERY hard on your old 6-volt starter.
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Dave nailed it! very common problem with older Fords and the solution that works is having an electric pusher pump mounted back at the tank like this one which is low pressure and designed for unleaded:http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-volt-elec...Parts_Accessories&hash=item53f840efc1&vxp=mtr You need to run a filter between the tank and the pump NEVER use a paper element! This is compact and uses a bronze element so you can take it apart and clean it:http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLUE-FUEL-F...Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a7ea342fd&vxp=mtr
 
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