88 Merkur Xr4Ti - Rally?

Attending the Southern Ohio Forest Rally recently reaffirmed my desire to build a car for stage rally. I have been rallycrossing a Miata for a few years but that obviously won't work for stage rally.

I initially was looking for a Volvo 240 to build since I have experience with them and they are fairly well documented. I had previously seen a Merkur on craigslist for $2500 that had been sitting for 5 years. I laughed at the ridiculous price and moved on. On Tuesday it popped up again but the price was now $999. I set up a time to look at it and drove over on my lunch break. After looking it over a bit and the seller repeating that he just needed it gone I offered $500. He immediately accepted.

So what I have now is a one owner 88 Xr4Ti with 96k miles. It is all stock and seems to have been well maintained until it was parked. He stopped driving it around 5 years ago when it would die after 20-30 minutes of running. He thought it was the fuel pump but I am leaning more toward a faulty ignition control module.

The plan is to rallycross it for the rest of the year and then build it for stage rally. Although it is all stock and in pretty decent shape so I may feel bad about stripping it and pick up something else.

Awesome Score! (I'm kinda jealous)

I've got a few spare bits from one of these sitting around if you need anything.

This would make two Merkur rally cars on this board. Do it. Hi read the other thread, it will tell you a lot about what needs done.

Gaunt596 wrote: This would make two Merkur rally cars on this board. Do it. Hi read the other thread, it will tell you a lot about what needs done.

Yep, I have read through Chris's thread. I saw his when he picked it up and it is part of why I was halfheartedly searching for one.

Since you'll be rallycrossing it first, this style of Saab (900/9000) wheel is nearly indestructible and fits well with a small spacer:

I've never driven a stock one, but mine had stock brakes and an open diff when I got it, both of which were just awful. It should be just fine for rallycross if everything is in decent shape, though. I'm not certain I would build one of these from scratch, since some of the advantage of them used to be parts availability- although JVAB makes plenty of stuff if you can actually get him to send you anything. Read the Ford Sierra rally prep manual, it tells you what the pros used to do to address many of the car's shortcomings.

EDIT: If you want to make it look hella-euro-legit, I've got a Cosworth nose panel I could sell you

Just thought I'd throw it out there, but my buddy, John Lambert, is stage rallying in a miata. He built a permanently affixed roof and passed tech. I do believe he's only done one rally with it though.

In reply to Lof8:

Does he have a thread somewhere? I'd be interested in seeing what else he did to the car- a fixed roof Miata should be NASA legal but I'm not sure any of the other sanctioning bodies would let it run. What did he do for suspension?

Lof8 wrote: Just thought I'd throw it out there, but my buddy, John Lambert, is stage rallying in a miata. He built a permanently affixed roof and passed tech. I do believe he's only done one rally with it though.

Is that in his silver one? It would be legal for NASA but I decided that since the local rally (SOFR) is Rally America and the confined space of a caged Miata I would just start with something different.

I also haven't found anything in the ARA rules that would exclude Miatas.

In reply to ¯_(ツ)_/¯:

I do have those wheels on my Saab. I need to find another set for some rally tires.

I'm still on the fence about building it for rally after doing some more research, I'll see how it does in rallycross. The best plan is probably to keep some money saved if I find an already built and logbooked car before I start spending money on caging and upgrades.

In reply to EvanB:

That what I would do, and have done previously. I'm not planning on selling mine, but my history with cars dictates that you can probably wait me out and just buy it when I get bored, assuming I haven't crashed it into oblivion by then

If you wanted to start with something that has a cage (in need of updating) there's this E21 on my local craigslist, but it's not as if parts for those are just laying around either.

Welcome to the club

One of us!

Welcome!

Berking berk berkity berk berk berk that car is clean.

That's the PR car that I wanted to build a couple years ago. Only thing it is missing is that it has the '89 single element wing instead of the absurd-o-matic dual wing. Which you gotta have because xratty. (But it isn't Prepared legal to swap the proper wing on, sadly)

I was NOT able to find any XR4Tis that weren't all hacked up with SAAB intercoolers or Thunderbird computers or A/C removal or other Prepared-illegal buffoonery.

I wonder if Orion still wants to get rid of his Black Rockets. I kinda was trying to convince him to keep them but now I wonder if that was a bad idea

Alzo, the fact that you were looking to get a Volvo 240 for stage rally but accidentally bought a Merkur(*), makes me think Rally Anarchy really is sending secret mind-control rays out to the populace. Your SAAB may be an antenna. Does your desire for stage rally get stronger when you face the general direction of the Pacific Northwest?

You should join RA and mention that you have a gaggle of 240s in your driveway and also a SAAB 900 but you bought an XR4Ti to rally. They will probably make you their king.

(*) - True facts: So the other day I get a text that goes "I accidentally bought a Ford." I knew deep down what kind of Ford it was but I had to check

That dash is worth a mint

And rear view is held on with double sided tape, windshield glue will crack because the metal tab will stress the windshield.

I still have the manual on electronic copy if you want it.

In reply to Raze:

Good to know, I was planning on gluing the mirror back on.

I could definitely use a copy of the manual.

Knurled wrote: You should join RA and mention that you have a gaggle of 240s in your driveway and also a SAAB 900 but you bought an XR4Ti to rally. They will probably make you their king.

I do have an account there. I haven't posted much at all though.

In reply to EvanB:

Yes, the silver one he did Rallyx nationals with. The suspension is some home brew custom-valved bilstein coilover. I don't believe he's got a build thread anywhere.

EvanB wrote: In reply to Raze: Good to know, I was planning on gluing the mirror back on. I could definitely use a copy of the manual.

PM me

I have a set of those wheels in the garage. And snow tires to go on them.

Had big plans for them, but now I'm not sure I'll be able to make them happen this summer.

What made these beautiful beasts catch fire so frequently? A friend had a beautiful silver/gray one in High School and kept the hood which was all that was left after the fireman had to hack their way in...

84FSP wrote: What made these beautiful beasts catch fire so frequently? A friend had a beautiful silver/gray one in High School and kept the hood which was all that was left after the fireman had to hack their way in...

You should see the fuel line setup, FPR right at the top of the engine input held in with a plastic clip that got brittle, and would back out, or it could be the o-rings getting brittle and leaking fuel... Attention must be paid to maintenance...

Don't forget plastic fuel lines going over the exhaust at the back and coming into the engine bay right near the distributor!

I'm actually amazed that mine hasn't been on fire yet, although I did eliminate all the plastic in the fuel system