The Black Death

This is my first time even trying to post a build thread. Constructive criticism is happily accepted.

My project is a 1989 Merkur XR4Ti, one of the last of the late great turbo Fords of the 1980s. The Merkur uses the same 2.3L turbo engine found in the Thunderbird Turbo Coupe and the SVO Mustang, and when they're running right, they are a blast to drive. Unfortunately, in their later years they usually become garage queens, and mine is no exception. This is why I call her the Black Death...because she's black, and spends a lot of time dead.

What I'm working on now is a drivability issue -- no power and running rich as you-know-what. Last week I found an exhaust leak in the turbo discharge elbow, right before the O2 sensor -- aha! Some air getting in here screwing up what the sensor sees! After soaking the bolts in WD-40 over the past week I decided today was a good day to pry it l oose.

Here's the elbow in its natural habitat, installed on the engine:

Whee! Won't this be fun? A couple of the bolts -- there are five in total at the turbo and two at the header pipe -- are easy to get to, but even at their best there's not a lot of room. So...first bolt comes out no problems. Second bolt -- SNAP! Third bolt -- SNAP! Fourth bolt -- SNAP!

Okay, so far not so good. Time to go under the car. Disconnect the wastegate control arm and get on the fifth bolt -- SNAP! Man, I'm not doing so well on this today. Whose bright idea was it to use these little bitty bolts on an exhaust part, anyway?

Here's a look at the elbow on my workbench:

Definitely some buildup there, and a steel rule laid across it tells me it's not quite even, so off to a machine shop it goes to get smoothed out! Tell me why Ford decided to not use a gasket between these parts. If there had been one, maybe I wouldn't have had a leak there, and maybe I wouldn't have broken four of the five bolts on this sucker!

The next step will be to pull the turbo so I can see about getting the broken bolts out! Won't that be fun?

Might as well upgrade the turbo and downpipe while youre in there.....

Dusterbd13 wrote: Might as well upgrade the turbo and downpipe while youre in there.....

I'm planning on going to a 3" exhaust; the downpipe is in the backseat, and I might just go ahead and install it while I've got this elbow out. Not sure about upgrading the turbo, though. Maybe a T3/T4 hybrid?

Some sandpaper placed on a flat surface (like a thick piece of glass, for example) will probably work as well for flattening the flange.

Merkurs travel in packs. I've got a friend with one, which also means he owns four.

I see you O2 sensor wire nut.

I like these, but you barely see them anymore for the reason you mentioned. Seems like most turbo 80s cars are that way.

Any chance of cutting a gasket for the downpipe this time?

BoostedBrandon wrote: Merkurs travel in packs. I've got a friend with one, which also means he owns four.

I've come close. Jeff Herson out of Chicago keeps trying to get me to buy some of his. Maybe someday!

The0retical wrote: Any chance of cutting a gasket for the downpipe this time?

I'm considering it, seriously. All the Merkur gurus on the MCA forum say to not to, just get it smooth and use a spray copper and it will be just fine. I don't see why a good exhaust gasket material wouldn't work there, to be honest. I've got time to think about it, though. I'm just going to replace the hot-side housing rather than take it to a machine shop. With my luck, if I drilled and reinstalled this one, it would crack about two weeks later, and I'd have to get a new one anyway!

I had a friend in high school who's parents had one of these, I was always curious about them because of the weird double spoiler. I wish I had known back then it was a turbo.

If you are any where near North Chicago, you must stop in and see Jeff. That man is a walking encyclopedia of Merkurs.

You will also leave with more parts than you came for.

If you can find one, the Cosworth T3 turbine housing has a much simpler 3-bolt flange and spools up faster- if you're staying stock, do you want me to go through my collection of old turbos and see if I might have a good stock housing/downpipe for you?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: If you can find one, the Cosworth T3 turbine housing has a much simpler 3-bolt flange and spools up faster- if you're staying stock, do you want me to go through my collection of old turbos and see if I might have a good stock housing/downpipe for you?

Appreciate the offer, but I've already gone ahead and ordered a new one from Jeff. Y'all are right; he's a good man and is even better at hooking people up with parts.

There is an upside to this mess...

I now have the motivation to install my "new" stainless 3" downpipe. So that's something, right? :)

When you install everything, hi temp never seize is your friend.

GPz11 wrote: When you install everything, hi temp never seize is your friend.

Thanks for the tip! Didn't know there was such a thing.

I'm wondering if there's any advantage to installing studs in this location. I'm not -planning- on taking it loose again any time soon, but you never know what's going to happen...

Bolts should be fine.