anyone know much about an Merkur XR4TI

[Roland69]

I know where there is one sitting and it's been there for like 8 years the body looks good and it's black But I think it needed motor work. The garage it is sitting at is where I did a co-op program when I was in gr10 and that is when the car came in to get fixed. If I remember right it was the head gasket or the head itself maby I can't really remember for sure.

Are these things worth anything fixed up. Do they have a turbo. The car almost looks like a Mustang SVO I don't know what year but if I had to guess it would be around 85-87. I know nothing about these cars so if anyone does let me know what you think I should do. The shop owner wanted $750 CDN for it like 3 years ago si I think I could get it for next to nothing heck I did free labour for him for half the year.

 

[uneverkno]

it has the 2.3t just like the svo stangs did, thats basically all i know about em other than there kinda ugly

 

[Flavadave4]

try this site, it has tons of info on the cars

http://www.merkurdesktop.com/desktop.php

Pretty neat car, all cast iron block and head, i have seen a few guys that weld the head to the block and run sick amounts of boost.

 

[RUNINAGT]

I know they do donuts in reverse pretty well. Also we used to call it the catfish. My friend had one back in the early 90's. Man we gave that car hell. But ya know it took every bit we threw at it. We even took it mound jumping in the wee hours of the morning. Alcohol and other items were involved back then

 

[mustangramair]

My dad had one of those when they first came out in the 80's. He got rid of it within a year because it kept breaking. He did like it though. His was a Turbo.

 

[Clienterror]

Maybe QC problems, I've heard they fall apart.

just my .02

 

[Dean85GT]

I like em...I say buy it

 

[25thmustang]

We have a local guy with one. At our recent dyno day he threw down stock GT power and torque numbers. Not sure what was done to it, but he was in the 230 rwhp range and 270-280 tq.

 

[Henceforward]

They look like this...

 

[Roland69]

^^^ yep it looks just like that but black

 

[25thmustang]

Its funny, I think thats the car I posted about from the dyno day. I know the owner also has a Focus, and that sure does look like the car, and CT in the background. Also looking at the location of the pic, the username sounds like the guy as well...

 

[RUNINAGT]

yup that looks like the Catfish, but his was blue

 

[Roland69]

I know they do donuts in reverse pretty well.

Are they FWD

 

[RUNINAGT]

HMMM good question. Are they front wheel drive I do remember it would not do donuts foward so we resorted to going into reverse thats all I can remember. That was back in 91??92??93 I can tell ya we dogged the piss out that car. Had a friend that had and EXP as well and they used to race all the time. Usually was kinda close but the ole merker would prevail out front.

 

[Dean85GT]

no they are RWD...the car is basically an SVO

 

[Roland69]

I might see if I can get it I know I can get it for under $400 cdn. I could probly part it out on ebay or if it's not that bad I will fix it up and keep it for a DD

 

[xherdlr]

Had Koni shocks,4 wheel disk brakes, and a turbo..The autos had a euro notch shifter.Also,Heated seats.. Cool cars...

 

[Roland69]

do they have a 7.5" rear or are they the 8.8

 

[speadfreak]

They have an independent rear suspension. RWD. Pretty much the same motor as the SVO or the Tbird Turbo Coupe, except the Merkur has no innercooler. I could be wrong but I thought that they all were turbocharged. A friend on mine has had one for many years. It was one of the last ones built, two tone grey with the double SVO style wing. The turbo went out, so he bought an uprgraded one from Precision Turbo (lives in the same town as Precision), he drove it about a half a day and blew the head gasket. It's been sitting in a storage lock for like 7 years now! His car was bone stock before the turbo upgrade and there is no way it would have even been remotely close race with an EXP. It was an auto and it would do donuts until you were dizzy..........maybe they are not all turbos?!? Those little 2.3s can be made very fast. Years ago when I worked at precision turbo they had an SVO in the tens........launching at like 7k and yanking both wheels........thats just cool!

 

[Demented4.6]

Yep the Xr's are pretty sweet little rides if you can stand the way they look. If you want more info or to talk to some guys with them go over to turboford.org. there are some guys that have some pretty sick xr's even a guy with an all wheel drive one.