At the January King of the Heap race, a Merkur XR4ti showed up. The body had been sitting in a field for quite some time and the engine was fresh enough, but the rumor mill was flying about the car’s engine. It was built without sight of a torque wrench, one said. Another said that the little 2.3L turbocharged four-banger had a PCV issue and spent half of the boost within the crankcase instead of where it needed to go. When cold, it sounded like absolute death, but when that car came on boost, holy hell Batman, what a personality change! It might be a German Mustang with a nearly impossible brand name and an alphabet sandwich of a model name, but that rebadged Ford Sierra knew how to dance! Shame the PCV rumor was true and that it dripped enough oil to be considered an environmental hazard.
While we aren’t so sure about recommending any Merkur as a daily driver, as a fun car, we’ll happily say go for it. They rock when the boost is on and the car is in a corner. And that’s why today’s Rough Start find is a rallycross machine from the Northwest that is packing lots of good bits.
From the ad:
“From front to back, the car has a new custom AL diamond skid plate,, Cossie 2wd intercooler, new Airtech Cossie Radiator with twin fans, spare saab 900 radiator with 3 fans, silicone intercooler and radiator hoses with spares, ranger h/o alternator and t-bird p/s serpentine accessories, gutted and rotated upper intake and knife-edged lower, E6 exh manifold, cossie turbine housing on the turbo, gillis wastegate regulator, 3″ turbo-back exh with slip-disconnect and a decent muffler,
Recaro adjustable driver seat and a shitty passenger seat, world class T5 trans, Koni adjustable front struts, unknown brand sport springs, rear disc brakes w/ contour front rotors and lincoln LS calipers, rear mount battery, MK3 Supra Differential with custom mounting bracket and adapter plate. 5 spoke rally wheels with 15″ rally tires. Clean title and road worthy as a daily driver if yer a bad ass.
spare front bumper, spare hood for a roof patch after sunroof is gone. spare 1987 rear hatch with wing and mounting bracket, 2 spare drive rear center section, 1 spare stock differential, a set of stock wheels with semi good studless snow tires and one spare 15″ rally tire.
3 short blocks, 2 heads, 2 cams (0ne is a Boport, other is old ranger cam) and enough parts to build 2 spare motors. spare turbo waste gate, and stock exhaust housing and other stuff I keep forgetting like two sheets of 1/4″ plastic sheeting for undercarriage protection. Power flex rear beam bushings, in box. Various piping and hoses for turbo and water cooling”
Screaming passenger not included.
Have a friend who bought one of these new in ’87 (instead of a GN–oops), new it was a great little car, a couple years later it started having engine (smog and electronic) problems that just couldn’t be fixed. The smog issues here in Ca. meant it just had to go. It was a shame because it really was a runner, seemed to be a quality build and a fun car to drive. (yes it was odd looking but from inside it didn’t seem to matter)
A cheap alternative to the Sierra Cosworth which I’m not sure was ever sold n the States.