Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.

95BlueStallion said:

First a big bow tie recess on the rear, now a Monte SS spoiler... Why didnt you just go with the LS again? Coulda been whippin shi tties with your mullet blowing in the wind by now.

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Does this look like any mullet you're talkin about?

Does the picture convey my annoyance at your cavalier attitude?

Aren't you the one that lives in the "corn belt"?
Having lived there myself ( before I wised up, and moved) I believe that the epicenter of all things "redneck", including the mullet come out of a city in Iowa. Council Bluffs Ia. has got to be that city.

Besides, redneck is a derogatory term that used to get thrown at farmers in IOWA, long before some Camaro driving, Billy Ray Cyrus lookin' yeahoo down here decided that he deserved the label as well.

Pipe down. If I have to come up there.......... bit ch slappin', will happen.

I wonder how many pictures will not post this time?....

Friday I went to the storage facility where the hood, doors, and fenders were kept so I could move in the garage. I needed to mock up the front end to make a determination as to where I was gonna cut the front bumper, so I could do something similar w/ regard to integrating the bumper into the sheet metal.

I get the fenders on no problem, and just set the hood in place to check the gap.

Problem was, the turbo was definitely sitting too high and wouldn't allow the hood to set down.

No problem actually, I knew that the turbo stood proud of the hood contour, and had always intended to cut the hood, and make a bulge or blister to cover the opening.

Unable to really see where the interference really was, I knew that the hood bracing had to go. I made an educated guess, and drew a guesstimate of where the compressor housing was gonna stick through. The I removed the hood, and cut out the area where I winged it.



To my surprise, after it all was cut, the only real issue was the fitting coming off of the compressor. Something that I could've just as easily plugged, and relocated to avoid having a hole in the hood.



In reality, the cold side tubing would've been real close to the hood if I didn't cut it, so what the hell.

Besides there are typically two schools of thought when it comes to hoods.

There are those that prefer a flat hood, and there are those that don't.

I think a flat hood is boring. I've put a scoop on just about every single project I've ever built regardless of whether I needed the clearance, or the extra ventilation.

This car is certainly no different. With the exception that I can't expose the turbo, or any of that red hot junk to water.

So I had to build something.





Behold the Gila wart.

This thing took all day to fabricate. and it still needs the dreaded body work to smooth it out. It'll be the same color as the hood, so in the end, the thing'll dissappear somewhat,..and that is exactly what I want it to do.

It has been built to bolt on, so at this point everything about it could be changed. Right now, I'm trying to decide if I want to leave it as is, or "do it twice", and make a longer version that extends all the way back to the rear of the hood.

What do you guys think about that?

Granted, I'm not looking to add extra work here, but if adding another 18" to the thing makes it look way better, then I'm all ears.

Oh, and the original point of bringing all of this sheet metal in in the first place.....the cut line?


This cut line?

There it be.

stangboy said:

I like it. If you extended it all the way back it makes symmetry very necessary. Keeping it the way it is it just looks like a little button....well, a BIG button. If somebody asks what it's for just tell them, "That's where the magic happens".

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Yeah,..I've decided to leave it alone for now.
Just like the Gila gills,... I shoulda probably left them alone too instead of going through 3 different versions. The first iteration of which, although big and boxy would've done what I wanted it to do (duct air into the rear radiator) vs the latest version, which is probably gonna end up being more cosmetic than functional..

The thing is, I know that the "bump" looks like a cake pan I stole from the wife's kitchen, and I'm ok with that. This car to a certain extent needs some "Sanford and Son" stuff roughing it up a little.

Since my last update where I posted pictures of the Gila wart, the comments, have been mostly supportive with the exception of a few thinking that it looks like a bent up 8 x 8 cake pan. ( Including me.)

Despite that, the words used by those that liked it were all "themed" around the same general meaning. Words like "subtle", "subdue'd", "blended in", even "invisible" have been used to describe the thing.

When I went down in the garage the next time, I asked the Monster what he thought about having a part on his body considered "invisible"....


The Monster didn't take kindly to that, and threatened to never start again, if I left the wart in place.


Well alrighty then.


So, in order to keep things all warm and fuzzy, (Cause it's dangerous to piss off a venomous ninja lizard) I came up w/ a plan B.



Several hours later, I managed to rough up this jig-jaggy menagerie that I was gonna call the Gila fins. The problem w/ the G-fins were that they did nothing to add any clearance under the hood. The original version of the G fins, (yeah,...there were two) was too high,..so I stepped on them in order to "flatten" them out.

And promptly bent them all to hell.


Clearly, It was time to climb the mountain, and talk to the Dali Lama so I could find some peace, get some direction, and get back on track.

I found the D.L., and for 15 minutes non-stop, told him my dillemma. He listened intently, and when he spoke, all he had to say was:
Goonga, Goonga, Kanoonga.

Goonga, Goonga, Kanoonga.

Then he started to walk away.

So I went after him and said "Hey Dali!,....After traveling all this way, climbing this mountain, all while braving sub-zero temperatures, You got nothing for me? No advice, no words of wisdom, not even some little tip to help get me over this hump?"

He stopped, and turned to me and said: "Oh there'll be no tip. But when you die, on your death bed, you'll receive total... consciousness."

So I got that going for me,......Which is nice.

When I got back from Tibet, I went back into the garage.

I needed to remember that I do have a template, and I do kinda have a factory model ( a Ford version) to work off of.



The 66 Mercury Comet Cyclone.

That hood scoop looked like something I might be able to do.

So again, I set about the task. That would make this "Plan D".



This is the path of no return. I have cut the hood to accomodate, and welded this version in place. So this has to be it.

The front of the thing will have a grille mesh, and the openening is directly above the alternator, which is slightly in front of the cold side charge tube coming off of the compressor. The good thing is that it functions. Any water that gets in (and that would be rare) wouldn't be on top of any of the hot parts of the turbo system, so I think I've gotta winner here.

Then there's this:



Rust through over the hood bracing at the rear of the hood. I've never had a Fairmont that rusted here, but that is neither here nor there.

I'm thinkin' that now that I have air coming in, I'll cut out the rust back there and make a couple of grilles that will allow hot air to get back out.

First I gotta go check with the Monster to see what he thinks about that though.:nuts: