The Merkur Club of America Forums

My favorite quote that I've heard with regard to certain brackets is "Ford is so cheap, that bracket really has to be there for a good reason." I can't shoot holes in that argument.

It's possible that you have a bad distributor cap. Also, if you only tested one wire for spark, that wire could be bad.

I haven't had the chance to tinker enough, and now everything is thrown out the window again as I will be using a new rear suspension and new rear wheels and tires. I just know that compared to "straight up" rear toe and, say -0.7° static rear camber at a lowered ride height, the car perfo...

I'd recommend using the washer trick (shimming the bearing carriers) and tinkering with camber/toe settings before doing anything more permanent. I set my toe straight up and set my camber "less negative" once, and the car actually handled worse than leaving things the way they were from t...

I wouldn't use eccentrics in combination with solid bushings. You really do want those bushing axes in line if you've got the STAs solid-mounted to the beam.

I've got a set of 300s on the shelf that install like stock...much like the 200s you have. However, they're better suited for XRs with heavier front ends...such as those with a V8 conversion. They would cause the front end of your car to sit 1" higher than it currently does. I don't know if tha...

ok has the merkur community ever got a clear answer on what GM 7.5 diff works and whats all needed to make it work? There are hundreds of GM diff installs in Merkurs and lots of installs in Sierras and Escort Cosworths worldwide. National Championships have been won with the GM diff installed. The ...

Did you shave the rear upper spring isolator flat and install the springs "flat side up"? Hyperco springs need to be installed spiral side down to match the spiral profile of the STA spring bucket, and you mod the upper spring isolator to match the flat top of the spring.

It's a complete kit. The front sway bar bushings won't fit your OEM clamps. The inner TCA bushings won't fit your OEM TCAs, and someone better than me will have to turn down that polyurethane. I've never had any luck machining poly. The upper strut mount bushings are an interesting design that I've ...

Gotta like a 71-second course!

The best thing about this video will be the ability to make a before-and-after video. It's pretty obvious that your car has a lot of body roll, and if you hop up your car a bit future video will look quite a bit different. The car looks nice though!

I would recommend logging wideband O2 readouts rather than using a gauge of any sort. Given how I've worked with my datalogs, I'm not sure how a gauge could provide much value. There's no way I could remember what the peak O2 reading was, and what RPM I was at, and of course, I really wouldn't have ...

That 5V Vref that is fed to the TPS is also fed to the VAM's potentiometer and the barometric pressure sensor. I would expect the TPS to sweep from approximately 0-5V if you're using a screwdriver to sweep the sensor in your hand. Installed on the throttle body and set properly, it should sweep from...

I love the work you did here Tim. I've done a lot of work maximizing travel on my car, including some rather custom top mounts and sinking the struts further into the knuckles (in that case to maximize damper travel), but using larger-diameter springs is a good call. With the fat wheels/tires I run ...

My Focus ST has 175lb/in springs from the factory, and the car is definitely heavier up front than an XR4Ti. That said, 175lb/in springs up front on an XR should give you a sporty OEM feel. As mentioned on the mc2racing site, I would recommend a 225lb/in spring up front on a truly sporty street XR. ...

Regarding the discussion of a flex section, I also recommend their use, and I always place mine right after the downpipe. A 15lb muffler sitting on the end of a 14' torque arm isn't doing your manifold any good. It should be noted that the XR is equipped with flex couplings from the factory. That ex...