Interesting Highlights:
Completely Restored Body with all Genuine Sierra Cosworth Hood Louvres, RS500 Bumper, RS Wing, Headlights, Fog Lights,
and Grille
Custom Air-Water Intercooler with Huge Front Heat Exchanger
Highly Modified Engine, Drivetrain, Suspension, and Exhaust
Rare Blue Dashboard (original) and Upgraded Interior
Nearly Every Moving Part Upgraded, Refurbished, or Replaced
The Story So Far:
This 1987 XR4Ti is originally from Ontario, Canada. I bought the car in late May of 2000 from another Merkur enthusiast in North Carolina. The price was right and the most compelling things about it were excellent mechanical condition, a near perfect cloth interior (with heated seats good for Alaskan winters!) and low miles (around 65K). Right after buying it, I drove the car up to Pennsylvania for the largest yearly Merkur gathering in the country, the Carlisle All Ford Nationals. There were over 120 Merkurs there, in varying condition and levels of modification. Many of the cars were just incredible. What a great time. I met lots of fellow Merkur nuts (all very nice, and many of whom I had met via email) and even won a couple of awards for having traveled the furthest to attend the show. Though I intended to drive the car back to Alaska that summer, it turned out that my schedule for the next year was so busy that I couldn't afford the week or two it would have taken to drive the car home, so I ended up leaving the car for the winter with my brother and his wife in Maryland.
During the winter the car was left in Maryland, I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do with the it. With the car on the east coast, I had an opportunity to do something I'd always wanted to do with an XR4Ti ever since I owned my first one in 1994, which was to have Nick Mannarino of MPI in West Long Branch, New Jersey, upgrade the engine for me. I had already been dealing with Nick for a few years buying parts to upgrade my '89 XR4Ti, and got to know him as a very friendly, reliable vendor who provided remarkably good long-term customer service for the upgrades he had sold me.
The car was reasonably sound but I had some concerns about the noises the rear differential and transmission were making. So in addition to an engine upgrade, I also wanted to take the opportunity to have one of the best Merkur mechanics in the country (a
very small group to be sure!) go over the car with a fine-toothed comb before it was sent up to "exile" in Alaska. I dropped the car off at MPI in summer 2001 with the intent of having Nick build me a reasonably powerful engine (280HP or so at the flywheel) and to get the rest of the car mechanically up to snuff for a five-thousand mile drive to Alaska. Nick and I got to talking and I stewed over it for almost half a year, and in the end I finally made the decision to spend significantly more than I had originally planned on. I decided Nick should go to reasonable extremes with the engine because I wouldn't be completely satisfied with anything less, and I wouldn't have another chance to have someone like Nick build me an engine.
Given a few limitations and considerations, I had Nick come up with the most powerful, durable, and capable XR4Ti drive train he could. It should be reliable. For example, I'm not interested in changing the head gasket every 10,000 or 20,000 miles. It has to be tuned to run well on 90 octane gas (I continue to be baffled that's the highest octane available in Alaska), and allow for more power with higher octane fuel. The 90 octane requirement requires a compromise on the tuning, which must be more conservative than with higher octane.
With the torque of a highly upgraded 2.3 Turbo, it is critical to have a transmission that can handle the stress. A Tremec/Borg-Warner World Class T5 transmission (photo) was installed, and to put all that power to both rear wheels, a Quaife Automatic Torque Biasing differential is still a
great choice.
Having committed to that much, I figured if it's going to be fast, it had better be able to handle and to stop. I added in a few parts that I've had success with on my '89 XR4Ti such as the Cosworth sway bars, adjustable SPAX suspension, rear shock tower brace, and Thunderbird rear disc brakes. And given all that I had decided on, I had to finish it off with Powerflex suspension bushings all around, upgraded front brakes, and bigger wheels and tires. Those components not only make the car far more enjoyable to drive, the higher handling limits and improved braking make it safer. That reduces the chances of losing my toy car to a roadway mishap (such as a moose picking a bad time to step into the road).
Photos of some of the mechanical modifications are below. There is a fairly extensive list of all the mechanical modifications done to the car here.
Before dropping the car off at MPI, I installed a stereo system including a Kenwood MP3 player head unit, Polk speakers, and HSU Research subwoofer with 300 watt amp.
Further improvements: The body was a little rough with some east coast winter rust spots, tree sap marks, a few dings, faded paint, and a dent in the hatch. I had it fixed up and restored with some Cosworth parts imported from England and Germany, including real Cosworth bumper, wing, grille, and lights. The body work was done by Lees Garage in West Long Branch, NJ and they did a terrific job. The 16" ASA EM9 wheels are a nice finishing touch and really completed the look of the car.
An interior upgrade is also in progress. Custom reupholstered seats have been installed, a European Ford Sierra
steering wheel and some other trim, and leather shift boot and shift knob. In the future the dash and interior side
panels will be upgraded.
Most everything is done at this point except some touching up (the body work is already 6 years old) and interior details. As with any project car, I may never be completely done with it, and that's all right.
Photos of the body work, taken while it was in progress and after it was completed are included below.
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