The Merkur XR4ti, known as the Ford Sierra XR4i to the rest of the world, was a rear-drive luxury hatchback with turbocharged, four cylinder power. Though not a sales success due to terrible marketing decisions, it has a strong enthusiast following due to a very high fun-to-drive factor. The seller of today’s car decided to mix things up by swapping in a Taurus SHO V6 and turbocharging it.
Looking at this one, it seems like a massive project, but, if it is as claimed, a lot of work has been done. The seller provided a Google Drive link in the ad with more pics and videos of the engine running in the car. With a swap like this, knowing it can run should provide a lot of peace of mind.
The engine is recently rebuilt with beefed up everything and 9:1 compression to allow for turbocharging. It runs Wolf engine management and it’s not clear whether it has been fully tuned. The suspension and brakes also have upgrades. It sounds like this needs a bit of brake and clutch work to drive, then the body and paint to finish it off. We’ll assume it needs some time on the dyno with someone who knows how to tune this system, too.
Bidding is only at $200 now and it’s hard to say what this is worth. The 2.3-liter four originally installed can be built for massive power, so was this worth the swap? The SHO engine is a gem, but is known as a high-revving NA engine; so we don’t know what turbocharging it will do. With proper tuning, this should put out lots of power, so that’s good news it that’s the goal – it’s just impossible to put a value on this. We’ll find out what the eBay public has to say…
Click for eBay ad
Staten Island, NY, USA
$200 with one bid and six days to go
The body has lots of custom parts, but isn’t complete. Given this needs paint, that’s okay as long as essentially everything is included in the sale.
The rear is much more complete, though the seller notes it needs the correct back glass and a quarter window.
We love these two-spoke wheels for quirkiness value – hopefully, they’re okay to drive, too. The cockpits on these were always nice overall.
Seats are aftermarket, but brand isn’t specified. They look pretty supportive and fit well, though. One can even add harnesses, if so desired.
The custom intake may be functional, but it’s too bad this no longer has the cool runner look for which these Yamaha-built SHO engines are known.
We included the rear view of this one because that’s the oddly iconic angle. Nothing else looked quite like this and they were even more interesting with the early, biplane wing.
Ad text:
Engine
Ford Taurus SHO Engine 3.2 24v v6
Compression 9:1 Wiseco Pistons
Stock Rods
Lightly Port Heads
New Valve seat and Valve stem seals
Balanced Crank, Flywheel and Rods
Custom made engine mount brackets
Custom made oil pan
Custom made oil pick-up
Earl Oil Cooler
Transmission
Toyota Supra Turbo 5speed Tranny
Hydraulic clutch pedal
Custom made Bell housing
Balanced Flywheel
Stage 3 clutch Kit
Custom made drive shaft and adapter
BMW LSD 4:11
Custom made axles
Exhaust System
Custom tubular turbo Manifold
Custom turbo down pipes
Heat wrap down pipes
3 Exhaust Silencers
Chrome Exhaust tips
Turbo
2 T04E T3/T4 .48 A/R 50 TRIM Turbo/Turbocharger compressor 300+HP Boost Stage III
Front mounted intercooler
Custom intercooler piping
Tial 40mm Blow-off Valve
Brakes/Suspension
4 Pot Nissan 300ZX front brake calipers
17×7 Fronts
Contour Rear brake calipers
178x.5 Rear
19mm Front Sway Bar
16mm Rear Sway Bar
Complete Bushing Kit
Sumitumo 225/45 ZR Front
Sumitumo 245/40 ZR Rear
Air/Fuel
75mm Throttle Body
70lb Injectors
Custom made intake manifold
Fuel Pressure regulator
Stand Alone Engine Management System
Wolf engine management
Coil on plugs
Body
Cossie Grill
RS500 Whale tail
Cossie HID headlights
Aftermarket front Seats
Black interior
Dash is in very condition
The car will need a back glass. Currently it has an 85 Merkur back glass install but it’s not secured in place. It’s there to stop water and moisture from getting in to the car, the car will need to be towed to it’s new home due to the back glass, brake rotors (rusted) and low clutch pedal (Hydraulics clutch pedal). Also needs the left quarter glass.
Car is located in New York City
Contact any questions or if you feel that I have forgotten something, no reasonable offers will be rejected looking to get ride of the car.
Please click on the link below to see more pictures and videos.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3ybskm61NnUSlBFdGZmazNMeHc&usp=sharing
Once the auction is finished I will need a $500 deposit within 24hrs.