51 Mercury, 1951 Merc, 49-51 Mercs, 1949, 1950, 1951, Rebel 51, Fatman Front Clip, Smeding engines

1951 Mercury " Rebel 51"

My friends and great custom couple Keith and Rebecca Bell's Rebel 51 Merc. The idea of the Minimerc started while working with Keith and "Rebel 51".

This page will give you a run down on the some work that's being done to their awesome custom Merc. It was built in the 70's by Butch, Rod Powell and the Bell Family. It's one of the early influential Merc's out there.

(Please read Rebecca Bell's letter outlining the full history and credits on the page "Rebel 51 History" on your left.)

This will be Keith's second go around. Shown below is the install of a Fatman front suspension clip with airbags and 13 inch Wilwood brakes. Stockton Wheels OE appearing steel wheels with different rims was also needed to accommodate the large disc brakes allowing the "ol' school" look. In the pix below we are trying to sort out the mechanical issues and the Fatman front clip. We did find some unexpected issues that we had to deal with that were disappointing considering the cost of the unit and it coming from a manufacturer of this stature. Keith is doing a majority of the work with some of my input. Please read along..

Just with the clip in

Note the lack of ability to steer when bags lose air (Rack extensions hit the frame)

Keith and my "Big Dog" Prince checking out the progress and giving us some hints...

Here Keith is cutting out the interfering frame relief to allow an appropriate size tube piece to allow for steering movement should the air bags fail.

After loading all the stuff back in

Stripping back down

Note the added bracing completed from the spring cup to the area on top of the frame to compensate for the needed cut-out to clear the steering components for safety...

Here's the overkill tube piece before welding it in and cutting the bottom off.

Please come back to see more.

Questions, thoughts, or comments will gladly be handled via e-mail below.

Until next time, thanks for visiting.

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This page was last modified on Monday, August 04, 2008 08:34:44 PM

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