1988 Merkur XR4Ti

I purchased this vehicle in May of 2012 with 89k miles. It came from a estate sale and needed some TLC. Being a retired master mechanic in European cars and knowing the history of the marque it seemed a perfect fit. The first thing I did was find a parts car. Various little things need attention first, auges, ights and switches not working. Major 90,000 mile service was done. The cooling system seem to need attention when doing the service so new water pump, hermostat and any hoses that needed replacing. New cam belt and tensioner. Fuel filter felt a little heavy when changed but no history of when it was last replaced. Fuel pump seemed quieter now. Installed a short shifter and Borla muffler to give it a sportier feel. Did a major detail on the interior, eems the deceased smoked their medicine in the car and there are three small holes in the fabric. No odors now. Well the fuel pump became noisy again, ilter restricted. Dropped the tank and had it cleaned and sealed. Replace the tank fuel pump and rebuilt the fuel gauge sending unit. Replace the main fuel pump and new filter. Now with good flow and pressure I'm a happy guy. Pushed it too hard and blew the headgasket. Off with it's head! New valves, oller cam ground "turbo performance" by Colt, oller rockers, erformance head gasket set and milled .010 off the head. Ported head and intake manifold to match gasket profile. Much better. Installed Porterfield pads and shoes with new wheel cylinders. Rebuilt alternator. New TPS, CT and O2 sensors. New Bilstein shocks on all four corners. New tie rod ends with the hard sway bar to lower arm bushings from Rapido Group (thanks to Russ for all his help). This summer the A/C started making noise. Re-built compressor, new drier, new hoses with heat wrap and converter to R134a. So you can see I don't patch. Everything works except for the cruise control that I never use. Got 55/100w headlights. Original radio now works, o cassettes to test player. Glass is excellent, indshield has small star in the lower middle and two wiper marks on passenger side. I figure since all this car needs is a fresh coat of paint the windshield will be removed for that. Now you may feel I lost my love for Merkurs, ut that parts car I mentioned is the next project. I already sold the transmission and the motor is up for sell now. Something bigger and better going in. These cars are great to drive and that is why those of us lucky to have them, ove them. This has always been a West Coast car, o rust but does have some sun damage. Upper surface of driver's door panel is the worst. And, he original leather-bound owner's manual (a three hundred dollar valve) is free with the purchase of this vehicle.