1962 Mercury Monterey Project

The car has four garbage tires on it - but it does have four tires. I would not want to drive around the block on these things, but I am ok if they will hold the car off the ground eight inches. On the back are "snow tires" that mostly hold air. On the front are quality "Sears Polyester Biply" tires. They mostly think about holding air. So I decided to try $12 worth of slime tire sealant. I used 16ox for each of the front tires. The bottle says to drive them for 2/10 of a mile after you fill it and put the air back. Instead I spun each tire as fast as I could by hand for 10 minutes. Not sure if that counts as 1056 ft, but I will let you know later if this worked. Next I set out to delete the gas tank. I asked the internet if there was something I was missing about the wire for the sender unit - and rolled under there and gave it a more determined pull. That did the trick. I rolled to the back and tried to undo the hanger bolts from the rear rail. Rust was everywhere...

 It was more like neatening than cleaning. Like what your kids do when they say they "cleaned their room" - stuff is no longer strewn around, but it is not really clean. The filth has just been hidden from view. When I started I pulled the drop cloth from under the car and found the penetrating oil I had sprayed into the cylinder heads. I believe when I loosened the head bolts it came out onto the floor. For those that wonder what kind of coverage 8oz of fine oil gives across a concrete floor - about 14 square feet. I need a better drop cloth than a used moving bag for a queen matress. I gave it a good dose of Zep, filled the mop bucket, and did my best to clean it up. While the floor dried, I pulled the last eletrical connection fron the block. There is hardly anything to this wiring harness. I will pull the starter solenoid too but I don't need to yank it to pull the engine and it is still tied to the spam-can sized voltage regulator on the front clip. I will get to it ...