1953 eac mercury engine value

[modela4shane]

I am looking at buying a complete core EAC engine for a project. The engine is a take out from a 1952 f-1 with a heavy duty 4 speed bolted to it. It is complete from fan to u-joint with merc carb. dist. starter, fuel pump, exhaust manifolds ect. Engine is not locked up it turns by hand. What would you estimate a fair price would be to pay for this engine? Thank you for any help!

[Tim Ayers]

Unless you can hear it run and check the oil pressure while running, not much. Complete cores have gone up in recent years, but I wouldn't pay more than $200 for a motor of unknown condition.

If you do pay more, insist on a money back guarantee that, if it turns out to be cracked, you'll get your money back.

If you haven't done it before, tearing down a flathead is a labor intensive job. Having some flathead specific tools helps tremendously. Sometimes it just comes down to torching, pounding, and a lot of cursing to get them apart.

[19Fordy]

Tim is correct. Before buying, you should be allowed to re move the heads to check the stroke and also the block for cracks. Pull the intake also. Doing so would also benefit the seller. Remember, that engine is 70 years old and has probably endured lots of hard miles, especially if it was in a truck.

[TJ]

I would be reluctant to buying any used motor unless the heads are off so you can inspect for cracks in the valve seats and in the cylinder walls.

[KiWinUS]

Originally Posted by Tim Ayers

Unless you can hear it run and check the oil pressure while running, not much. Complete cores have gone up in recent years, but I wouldn't pay more than $200 for a motor of unknown condition.

If you do pay more, insist on a money back guarantee that, if it turns out to be cracked, you'll get your money back.

If you haven't done it before, tearing down a flathead is a labor intensive job. Having some flathead specific tools helps tremendously. Sometimes it just comes down to torching, pounding, and a lot of cursing to get them apart.

Tim nailed it. A few weeks ago I stripped 8 engines all 8BA. 4 of the 8 are scrap. 3 that looked super nice externally junk. A tremendous amount of work stripping that many engines. $200 max if they turn $100 if they don’t. The nicest had 12” cracks both sides along the oil pan rail so just removing heads is not good enough.

[tubman]

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All good advice, but if it is a Mercury, and turns and looks good, I'd offer $400 (the crank alone is worth that), and might go as high as $600 if it looks to have never been stored outside.

You might get lucky. I bought an unknown '51 Merc about 25 years ago for $400, and it ran so well that all I did was clean it up, re-gasket it, and paint it. I'm still running it. Other than excessive oil consumption when running at 65+, it still runs good and strong.

[modela4shane]

Picture of engine.

[modela4shane]

Pictures

[Tim Ayers]

Do you have access to this engine or are you buying it sight unseen? If sight unseen, max $200 since it's confirmed it has a 4" crank.

If going to see it in person, bring a wire brush and brush away the carbon around all the valves. Bring a high power LED flashlight and look closely for cracks from the valves to the cylinder bores. Brush off one of the pistons to see if there is an oversized stamped into the piston dome. This will tell you whether or not it's ever been rebuilt.

If you don't see well, bring a magnifying glass. Most cracks can be seen if you know what to look for.

I would suggest tearing this block down regardless and cleaning it properly. From what I can see, there is a lot of crud in the water jackets.

Judging by the poor quality of the picts, I'm making the assumption that it will need to be rebuilt. The bores look past just a hone and re-ring, but this is a big assumption just going off the posted picts.

[tubman]

I have to disagree Tim. It's obviously a Mercury and when I looked closely, I don't see even any "part number" cracks. In my experience (probably 10+ engines), every one without those cracks turned out to be crack free.

I'd start at $500 and might even go higher. Have you priced 4-bolt Merc intakes lately?

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by tubman

I have to disagree Tim. It's obviously a Mercury and when I looked closely, I don't see even any "part number" cracks. In my experience (probably 10+ engines), every one without those cracks turned out to be crack free.

I'd start at $500 and might even go higher. Have you priced 4-bolt Merc intakes lately?

Good point. That said, we do need to see the other side before giving the green light.

Please don't tell me 4 bolt intakes are commanding a decent price. I just scrapped 3 of them. What's the going rate?

[Bored&Stroked]

Since it has a Merc crank - you can think of that as worth about $400 - the intake is probably worth $50 or maybe more to the right guy.

So, if you can do what Tim mentioned and can clean the block areas between the valves and the bores (looking for cracks) and also pull the pan and look for pan-rail cracks (which are fatal), then you'll know that your $500 bet is probably going to be worth it.

I would take a drill with a wire brush on it and some lacquer thinner to clean all the valve to bore areas, then with a good light and magnifying glass, you can usually spot obvious cracks.

From experience, I seem to see more 49-53 cracked blocks than the earlier ones. This may be due to the fact that the cars were bigger, had more "accessories" on them and tended to run hotter in the later years. That is just my hunch . . .

[modela4shane]

Tubman forgive me for not understanding but what do you mean by "part number cracks"?

[tubman]

Yep. I paid $50 for an iron one at a swap meet last year that had a chip out of the fuel pump base it didn't effect the integrity, so I fixed it with a high quality epoxy and painted it. It is undetectable. I don't even want to think about the aluminum Canadian versions. I looked for a long time for one and paid $100 about 10 years ago. I think this is partially my fault, with my championing of 2G's on these cars.

I have had better luck with Mercury blocks than Fords. I attribute this to better cars, better owners, and better radiators.

[tubman]

Originally Posted by modela4shane

Tubman forgive me for not understanding but what do you mean by "part number cracks"?

Flatheads commonly have cracks between the water passage and nearest bolt hole in the center of block between the end cylinders and the middle ones. They are so common that folks say they must have been issued a part number by Ford. They are harmless.

Sorry for being so "technical".

[modela4shane]

Just got back from looking at the engine its definitely a Merc, standard bore,i cleaned the areas around the valves to bores and could not see any cracks on each bank, it rotates and every thing moves. It was stored outside with the upper water necks and thermostates removed, the water jackets are very rusty and so is the rest of the block and accessories. The seller is holding FIRM at $1000 and would not budge on price, so i walked away. I told him if he changes his mind to let me know. Thank you for all that chimed in .

[tubman]

You might regret your decision, but it was yours to make. Let's hope he gets back to you.

[Alaska Jim]

If you had the pan off , I would also remove at least one rod cap and one main cap and ck to see if the crank had already been turned, and if so how far.

[ronn]

I would have no regrets from walking away, at that price and what you describe. There are still many out there.

[TJ]

At a grand I would have walked away too.