1953 Mercury

[woodburnranch]

I recently bought a 1953 Mercury two door hardtop(Model 53WA?) for the engine and 3 speed OD transmission. The engine heads show "Mercury" and "EAC" and I was wondering if this would be a 1953 engine. I am planning on selling the car w/o engine and transmission unless I come across someone wanting it complete. The windows(except rear) and interior are gone and the floors and fenders are rusted.

[JSeery]

Little hard to date or ID an engine off of the heads. For one thing, you would have to verify that they were the original heads for that engine.

[rotorwrench]

EAC is consistent with both 1952 and 1953 production. A tudor HT coupe type should have been a 60-A or -B body type in the MA series.

[Merc Cruzer]

I think the others have answered by saying maybe yes and maybe no. My 53' has the same heads but due to numerous cracks in the origional block, the base block is a now 51'. If you are willing to take the heads and intake off you should be able to date the block from the stamp and casting numbers.

[51 MERC-CT]

There may or may not be a date of engine manufacture code stamped on intake surface. If there is it may indicate that it was indeed manufactured as early as 52'. It should be visible without the need to remove heads or intake.

[Merc Cruzer]

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The casting number I was referring to is in the picture which is under the intake manifold. My understanding is that this is a block is from 1951. Am I incorrect?

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by Merc Cruzer

The casting number I was referring to is in the picture which is under the intake manifold. My understanding is that this is a block is from 1951. Am I incorrect?

Could be anything from 49' to 51'. The 1BA is just a part identifier and doesn't designate a specific year.
The 1CM was also used to 53'.

[rotorwrench]

1BA is an identifier for the 1951 design engine blocks that had the rotator valves which were used from 51 through the end of production. They also generally only have hardened valve seats in the exhaust. Some have no hardened valve seats. Only the crankshaft made it a 255 for Mercury production otherwise it is all same as Ford. The Ford/Merc-O-Matic crankshafts also started showing up in 1951. They machined the back side to fit the automatic trans or manual trans.

[Merc Cruzer]

rotorwrench,

Thanks for the confirmation. Brought her home in the back of the Cherokee. A little cleaning before it went to the machine shop 4 years ago. They confirmed no cracks (magnfluxed), before they started. It had never been touched and was sitting on a rack at the salvage yard. I had my choice from about 12 engines....she has been great.

[oldbugger]

My 53 merc engine also has the EAC on the heads. when I took it apart it had the year date 1953 on the back side of the bearings so I know it was a 53. Paul

[woodburnranch]

Thanks for all the feedback. It sounds like I might have what I was looking for but will have to check numbers, etc. to know for sure. Jim

[Merc Cruzer]

Most of my stamped numbers were under the intake gasket

[51 MERC-CT]

Originally Posted by Merc Cruzer

Most of my stamped numbers were under the intake gasket

Date of manufacture stamps most likely would have been applied after engine assembly.
Consider the possibility that this may have been a new block replacement and would not have been date stamped.