1968 Mercury 250 Camper Special

[cdnwillyg]

Manny I think that maybe optimistic, but hoping.

[cdnwillyg]

My calibers came in and now installed but didn't realize that I needed the disk hardware kit too....so off tomorrow to pick that
up another $40. These brakes started off cheap but starting to get there. Pads,calibers, hardware kit...
good thing the rotors were good.

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[hfdco4]

It's looking good.

[popeyes71]

That's how it usually goes for me too. There always something else that I have to do that was not planned for. But look at it this way; everything will be pretty much fresh and will last a long time! Keep up the great work!

[cdnwillyg]

Brakes all done...finally.
Plumbed aux. and main tank to switch over valve in cab.
Started to mount fenders after doors re-adjusted to allow for weather stripping and encountered an issue. Based on the A-pillar fender inside bolt hole the fender needs to come down but that will increase the gap between the cowl and fender.
What is the normal opening size for this gap?
I am at the highest I can be with the apron adjustment that raises the inner fender, rad support may need to come up a bit but that's just washers there.
Ideas??

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The gaps are 1/4" for door and 5/16" for the cowling to fender.

[jzjames]

I’ll chime in
Your fender to cowl gap looks about right to me. It may look a little wide to you but I don’t think it is.
It’s all new paint so that is what you’re probably looking at, but that new paint inside the gap will get dusty, etc and it will look just about right.

I think it’s about the same gap as I’ve got on my fender that’s never been touched.

That said it looks as if your door could be raised a smidge

[cdnwillyg]

I agree that if I leave the fender there the door would need to go up, but I was hoping to use the fender bolt hold that requires the fender to drop down about that much. I can't see that the fender was ever installed this high hence my question for cowl to fender gap measurement. To get the fender at this height, I have had to raise the inner fender cowl bracket to max height there, not going to leave much adjustment for hood now is my concern there!
If I use the factory hole then the gap would be near 7/16 to 1/2", my thinking too big and noticeable?

[Manny]

Manny I think that maybe optimistic, but hoping.

Your moving right along it seems. Those Front brakes are a bear i dealt with them on a 69' just big expensive parts. Looking at the body lines the fender looks good to cowl. You got fairly fresh cab mounts???

[cdnwillyg]

Manny I think that maybe optimistic, but hoping.

Your moving right along it seems. Those Front brakes are a bear i dealt with them on a 69' just big expensive parts. Looking at the body lines the fender looks good to cowl. You got fairly fresh cab mounts???

Cab mounts are new, and how does that affect gap/fender alignment?
My plan for tomorrow is to loosen off everything and start in the middle of adjustment on the apron cowl attachment, get that fender bolt in at least and see where I'm at. Will adjust door once I get the fender to cowl gap set at whatever it ends up at.
(nobody seems to want to give me this measurement )
I did have the doors perfect without the seals in and now they appear to want to stick out from the cab.
The door latch is all the way in so this doesn't make sense to me either unless I need to move the door hinge side out to allow for the seal there?

[Manny]

]
Cab mounts are new, and how does that affect gap/fender alignment?
My plan for tomorrow is to loosen off everything and start in the middle of adjustment on the apron cowl attachment, get that fender bolt in at least and see where I'm at. Will adjust door once I get the fender to cowl gap set at whatever it ends up at.
(nobody seems to want to give me this measurement )
I did have the doors perfect without the seals in and now they appear to want to stick out from the cab.
The door latch is all the way in so this doesn't make sense to me either unless I need to move the door hinge side out to allow for the seal there?

I looked at the picture up close as best i can. It looks like the door may need to come up in the front slightly.. Of course i'm looking at the picture 1,000 miles away. Your right there. Cab mounts always are a thing that i've seen bite people. My friend Alan complained his new winch bumpers wouldn't fit body set down on them. He complained and had some drop brackets. I looked at the mounts and they are mushed out. year later they are blown out and they are sitting on the bumpers again. Just a main thing as your setting gaps always stems on having everything right first. Your setting it up right. How is the top door gap?? Could you lift the front to make it align the bump and the lower door jam? Fresh door seals always make the doors bulge out. My brothers 89' wouldn't do the second latch after installing new seals. had to just keep them closed to set the seals. Body work...

[cdnwillyg]

Thanks Manny for the confirmation, I didn't get to it today, had to get a PET test done and that ate up most the day.
So tomorrow it will happen...unless???

[cdnwillyg]

Today I got both fenders on and all the bolts in place loosely to get my gaps close. Went okay but now I notice with the hood square and at the right height the fenders are protruding 1/2" on both sides.
I have the fenders in as far as possible at the rad support and by looking at the indents for receiving the sheet metal all is good and can't get any tighter. I did check with a few pics on this generation truck and they seem to have this issue as well, is this right? If not what can I do???

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[cdnwillyg]

I have all the gaps now set and bolts all tightened down, raised door to align bump with even gaps.

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Still have about 3/8" on fenders were they are wider than hood at leading edge.... came to the conclusion this is the only way it can go unless I really oval out all the holes and I'm sure that isn't meant to be.

[Ranchero50]

You are getting there. Loosen all the bolts that hold the inner fender to the cab and cowl support and squeeze the fenders into where they belong. You may need to do some hole tweaking to get them right but don't forget to fit the grill before locking everything in place... Body alignment sucks and takes a ton of time. 1/4- 3/8" gap, even all the way around.

Factory seldom spent the time to do it well. Even a lot of the promotional pictures show uneven gaps.

Factory fresh '70 F-100 from Carlisle a couple years ago.

[cdnwillyg]

Yeah Jamie I have done all that and the fenders can't move in any more on the rad support without modifying the fenders and inner grill support. Even on the pic you posted if you look close you can see the fenders at the nose of the hood are wider than the hood. That's what was driving me nuts!
So I think i'm done with those at least for now, so on to the grill and rock guard. It to looks like this grill and fenders have holes that don't line up because I think I have a 69 grill? The only thing I see different between the 68-69 grill is the 68 has painted center uprights and the 69 has different mounting holes. It has been polished and is in great shape so I will be using it and drilling the additional holes in the fenders to mount it. EDIT: I do have a 68 grill, the 69 has a hollow on the middle horizontal bar just found this out.

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