When I installed the 53 Merc into my 40 Ford car I used. 49-51 Merc steel bellhousing and starter plate, 49-51 Merc rear sum oil pan, Ford pick up 8RT wide belt water pumps with stock 40 motor mount biscuits, 8RT wide belt crank pulley and generator pulley, stock 1940 Ford exhaust headers (later switch to FENTON), home made angle iron front fender braces to replace the "stock "Y" bracket, 1950 Merc flywheel and 10 in clutch and pressure plate. Also used aluminum center port heads and head gaskets. This req'd plugging some of the water holes in the 53 block using pipe plugswith non-hardening Permatex and JB weld to smooth them even with the deck.Your fan mount will sit way too high so use the 40 fan as suggested by others. I ended up making a new fan pulley set up that turned out to be a major project by itself. Was able to still use the 40 ford sway bar. I used the stock 40 Ford throw out bearing. You can also use the stock 40 anti-chatter rods if you weld some "ears" to the steel bell housing. -or you can use the after market style that was available years ago. In any case check to make sure your clutch and brake pedals "clear" everything BEFORE you weld anything. Also used a Walker radiator with large dia. water inlets/outlets to match the engine. Be sure to use a stainless steel bolt with anti-seize on the bolt inside the waterpumps. On the Merc engine you fill oil by pouring it down the breather pipe after removing the cap. The front breather pipe that curves sharply and runs down the front of the engine remains the same. Some photos below. The stock fuel pump is mounted on the rear of the intake. If you remove the stock fuel pump and use an electric one you just "cap off" the fuel pump stand hole OR use it as an oil fill by bolting on a filler pipe. That's what I did. You do not have to plug the fuel pump push rod bearing hole. But I did make a filler pipe with a long stem inside the cap that just sits above the fuel pump push rod bearing hole so that too much oil won't get splashed up inside the engine. It's hard to see but the fuel pump push rod bearing hole has not been plugged and the oil pressure is about 20 psi at idle and 45 on the road. I don't think you will be able to use the 59AB style stock early Ford water pumps as the pulleys sit too close to the block and may cause fan belt/distributor clearance issues.
Hope this helps. I am sure you will be very pleased when completed.
Can someone out there tell me what all's involved to drop a nice fresh 1949 Merc. engine into my 1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe. I want to use alumn. center port heads, front MSD ignition, alumn. flywheel, old style front water pumps, a 2X2 alumn intake with a genetron mounted on top in the center, reds heads, a cam, steel crank and unleaded gas. I was told that I also have to do something with the rear oil filler hole. I'm using an electric 12Volt fuel pump @ the tank, so don't need the stock one. THANKS CARL J.
