Merkur Cosworth-ish
 

Pulling this out of the EV thread, because...holy thread drift, Batman:


Used Merkurs are...not widely available. But I have my eye out now, because honest to god I think this would be a neat thing to have.

There are some people that have apparently done it. This guy made...some choices, aesthetically:

https://fordauthority.com/2019/10/19...oboost-engine/

But overall it's nowhere near as popular a thing as I might have expected.

How well do they age? I think the last one I saw on the road I posted a pic on Facebook...and that was more than a few years ago.

Speaking of drift, here's part of the story of Tanner Foust's drift-modified Merkur from Top Gear America S03E03:

I Bought The Top Gear Merkur XR4Ti
I Bought Matt Hardigree's Top Gear Merkur XR4Ti
Owning A Merkur For A Year Was Not A Disappointment
You Can Buy An Ex-Top Gear Car For Super Cheap Right Now
Apparently Merkur Parts Midwest sells lots of parts, does the occasional project car, and sometimes has cars on consignment.

If you were going to do a Duratec swap, I might try to convince you to do a high compression NA motor. With 12:1 pistons in a 2.5, a healthy set of cams, a good header and ITBs it would put 230-250hp to the wheels and be a riot on the street. Especially with a modern gearbox behind it (there's an adapter to use the RX-8 6-speed box available now). Or we could do a medium-boost turbo motor. Either one would be a lot of fun on pump fuel. Being as it's a pre-OBD-II car, there would be no issue with running an aftermarket ECU and maintaining emissions legality.

There’s a Merkur that’s been sitting in the lot where my dog trainer and the #obamaexpress are. ;)

There’s one for sale on eBay right now... looks like it’s in VA

https://www.ebay.com/itm/13373405613...YAAOSwDRFgfdAC

That’s a good find but holy hell that interior. I think I can smell it through my phone. It’s probably where COVID started.

:ack:

I had to go back and look. Back seats are surprisingly good. But wtf with the front?

The dash cracks suggest it’s been sitting outside and getting really hot.

And woof the carpet.