Every now and again, a car shows up on Barn Finds that I really, really want to go out and buy. This 1989 Merkur XR4Ti is one such vehicle, as I’ve always wanted to own one but have never quite gotten the itch enough to justify running out and purchasing a ratty example. I tend to wait until cars fall into my lap so I can blame the universe on dragging another project home, so it’s fortunate that this clean hot hatch is all the way in Indiana. The seller notes it still runs and drives despite looking like it was laid up, and that it needs a “….little TLC”‘ – he bought it as a project and isn’t going to get around to reviving it. The Merkur is listed here on craigslist wearing some great period aftermarket wheels with an asking price of $6,000.
The Merkur XR4Ti is a classic 80s specimen, and was plucked from Ford’s European lineup to sell stateside. It wasn’t a tremendous success sales-wise, but it developed a cult following not long after its demise in the U.S. market. This example is missing its iconic bi-plane wing rear spoiler, which would be the first thing I’d resolve if I brought this one home. The wheels may not be everyone’s first choice, but they are in keeping with what was in style for aftermarket rollers in 1989. The condition looks decent, and while I suspect the black paint will need some help to look its best (or is it navy blue?), the good news the panels look straight and hopefully aren’t full of swirls.
The interior is a bright spot for sure, as few XR4TI’s either have leather or still look this good so many years later. The bucket seats show very well, with excellent bolster support and no obvious signs of worn edges or holes in the upholstery. The Merkur is fortunately the preferred 5-speed manual variety, as it may surprise you how many of these show up with the factory slushbox, which kills almost all of the appeal of a turbocharged four-cylinder like this one. The Merkur certainly looks like it was stored inside for quite a few years, as the cabin doesn’t show any major signs of sun damage or fading, and it even appears to have its factory radio still in place. No word on air conditioning health, but I doubt it still blows cold.
The turbocharged 2.3L four-cylinder powerplant is well known in Ford circles, and plenty of Merkur owners have found myriad ways to tune theirs for more power. That’s always a worrisome sign when you find one of these in project-grade condition, as aftermarket blow-off valves and bigger intercoolers scattered around the engine bay suggest a hard life of being brought up redline at every opportunity all while turning up the boost just past factory tolerances. Nothing wrong with tuning one for more power, but I’d like to start with a stock example like this before diving into under-the-hood modifications. The seller’s asking price is strong, but if it does indeed run as well as the seller indicates, it may actually be worth the price.
I’ve always thought that these were really cool cars,
but was never brave enough to buy one.
I came across a Cosworth (BDA?) head for these with
the 2.0 litre motor (not available in the US.It’s for sale,in
Salem,Virginia.
yb
yb? – Is that something like Facebook?
Yb is 2.0 Cosworth engine code.
How much are the parts out if interest?
The valve cover.
I don’t think the 2.3 will accept that head. I thought the 2.0 is in a different engine family to the Lima engine.
As somebody perhaps overly in love with the XR4Ti, note that the bi-plane rear spoiler (a favorite of mine) was replaced with a single level spoiler for 1988 model year. So this one is correct for this year.
True, a single wing for1989, but that doesn’t look like the factory single wing.
@ Thomas H Piercy That wing is correct, the angle and lighting make it look wrong.
By cutting the 2 vacuum lines that run from the turbo to the waste gate controller, and inserting a short piece of tubingyou gain immediate response at a lower RPM and a bunch more horses. I did this immediately on purchase at 10,000 miles. Don’t try it unless you have nothing but 93 or better octane gas and never put anything less than 92 octane again. Being a LM dealer, I bought this car personally and sold it about 30,000 miles later, traded it again at 130,000 with no problems. My favorite car ever. I have also owned an Impala SS 396 4 speed, 69 Road Runner, a Malibu, a Mustang, etc. FYI This engine is identical to the Turbo t-Bird, hand assembled with 4 bolt mains in Brazil. Mine was an 87’ which should have got the intercooler like the T-Bird and a 4 speed automatic for the shiftless ones.
It appears factory-correct but prolly salvaged from a different car, going by the mismatched paint color.
Retrofitting a bi-plane wing would require swapping the entire hatch along with it, as the monoplane cars got a new hatch with a larger window/slimmer frame.
$6000 seems a little steep for this. No?
An 1989 with a manual, decent body and an interior that doesn’t have to be redone is a rare find. Probably better than buying a clapped out 1985 model for 2 or 3K. If I was in Indy, I’d take a look.
Still kicking myself for not snapping up one listed for just $2.5-3k or so on the local CL a few years ago, low miles, good condition, fresh head gasket. Then a flipper found it and put it on eBay, where it came to the attention of BarnFinds here:
https://barnfinds.com/unmodified-survivor-1988-merkur-xr4ti/
IIRC, it wound up selling for nearly twice the local ask. D’oh! Then again, those “noisy lifters” sound concerning; looks like these engines had manual lash adjustment which is tricky to get right, so maybe that’s all it needed.
The street race: 89SHO vs. 89XR4Ti
I’d love to see that SHO V6 swapped into a Merkur. I gather the key is finding an Aerostar 5-speed bellhousing, then everything just bolts right up.
So tell me how you are going to put a SHO motor which is FWD in this RWD car with just a Aerostar bell housing?
Joe, the Aerostar was available with the same Vulcan V6 as offered in the Taurus, and apparently the only RWD Ford offered with that engine paired to a 5-speed. The SHO V6 had the same bellhousing bolt pattern as the Vulcan — et voila, put the Merkur’s gear set into the Aerostar bellhousing, and that’s the magic combo to mate the SHO engine to the Merkur drivetrain with little-to-no custom fabrication required.
The Ranger was also available with 3.0 Vulcan and 5 speed. Starting when they dropped the 2.9, not sure when. very easy to find one today. Also, Mazda B3000.
Did the XR4Ti change dramatically between the mid and late 80s?
I owned both of these cars (86 XR4Ti & 89 SHO), and I am pretty sure that the Taurus would smoke the Merkur.
I loved both of those cars… they were both on the cutting edge of the coming horsepower and performance wars.
Yes, the later monoplane-winged XR4Tis were much revised, refined and improved over the earlier run.
These things were, and probably still are, a running joke on the Jim Rome show.
It is a cool find although it always worries me when I am looking at a car listed as a project…….and there is a Chiltons manual laying on the seat.!
The wheels are a fantastic period mod. They are Prime Five Stars in 15 X 7.5 with a deep lip. These are difficult to find today. I bought an exact set back in the day for a custom painted and very slammed Renault Alliance convertible.
My son was on the lookout for a set of 15X7.5 Primes for his 1991 Civic. Took him a long time and believe it or not were the very wheels I had!
Something like this?
https://dailyturismo.com/dont-quote-me-boy-1987-renault-gta-convertible/
If the seller will accept my way too generous offer of 500bux…I shall take this apex lemon and do a basic restoration…whereupon I shall present it to one Jim Rome. That he may pass it on to one of his sons as a graduation gift. The kid who gets it will know in an instant who the favored son is.
You really needed to drive this car to appreciate it, it was fast, handled well, and you got noticed by everyone, The 2 winged spoiler made it even more unique. The Independent rear suspension made it much more fun to drive, and the whine of the turbo was addictive. It also had heated seats, which was very unusual for the time. I used to turn them on when I had a first date with someone. It was the middle of summer, and every girl would start to squirm after about 5 minutes. You either loved them or hated them, there was no in between. I loved mine, and got rid of it because I stole a low mileage CRXsi from a needy guy. This was a great car.
6k is crazy for that car. A little TLC is not a word you use with Merkur. I have owned 2 of them and there is always something to fix, and when you think you fixed it, its not. A/c usually don’t work, poor heat, temp and fuel guage issue, tach is usually off, all idiot lights come on when they want, driveshaft issues. The stock 5 speed, T9 is a weak Pinto 4 speed with a overdrive. The car will drive you nuts to keep on the road.
Never had this car, but I recently sold my early 90s Mustang with this engine that came out of an 84 Turbo Coupe. It was fun to drive, and it had decent get up and go when floored and shifting through each gear at 12 boost all the way up to 5th gear on the T5 trani. The only let down for me was it recently started to act up and just wanted to die. Since I have too many cars, I put it up for sale. I had to take a loss, but that was ok. God blessed me with a buyer, and it sold.
Mine had all those bells and whistles mentioned – blow off valve, intercooler (although not hooked up since I was not racing it), injectors, vam, and brain out of 84 TC. I never raised it above 12 boost although it was capable of going to 20-22ish. I loved the sound of the blow by valve when punching it which I only did every once in a great while just for kicks.
But I did notice as mentioned that the heat ran low on this engine. It did love high cruising speeds where it just purred along. And it didn’t seem to like stop and go traffic where the temp would noticeably creep up some on the temp gauge.
A guy I went to grad school with and later worked with bought one of these new. He loved it and it was a hot car to drive. They did very well in the racing circles at the time. My only thing with them is that they’re not particularly attractive to me. A car may be a great driver but if I don’t want to be seen in it, I’m out.
In the muscle car years, you would’ve had a GTO, best looking, last across the finish line.
Located in Fort Wayne, IN
I must have been extremely lucky, in 2 years, I did new plugs and wires,.oil changes, and a timing belt that fell apart when they attempted to remove it. When I sold it, it needed a drive shaft, and that was it. I got 3k for it in 1992, it was a well maintained car. I ran across the CRX si that had under 30k on it, and the poor owner had that and a Jeep, and a 9 month pregnant wife. I gave him 4500.00 for it, and it needed tires and brakes. I did feel a little guilty about stealing the Honda, but I sold it for 7k less than 2 years later. I became a car salesman about 3 years later.