The Merkur Club of America Forums

It's quite odd, but finding comparable weights for various engines is very hard to do. Only guys who ship them have any real information. Some guys post weights with clutches, some with alternators, etc. If you internet search this topic you can barely get a correct weight on a 350 Chevy, much less ...

That's our old car... I MAY have put a gutted butt splice connector in a line to the boost controller (we had the car over 20+ years and I forgot half the stuff I did). If so, the boost valve control is still much better. Also, I always ran manual trans ignition advance, so check to see if whoever p...

Your XR, if I recall correctly, has the timing set up to stick specs - this is one difference between the 175 and 145 hp cars. yours also has a 3 inch mandrel bent downpipe, no cat and a 2,5 inch mandrel exhaust with a straight through muffler. If you run a system which gives manual trans boost (fro...

Ford show near Milwaukee this Sunday. Unfortunately don't have a link, so I'd suggest a search (sorry). Went to this show many times, it is very nice. Often a real Cobra or two, old T-Birds, '65 Comets, etc. In a nice area and easy to get to. There is often a complimentary show down the street with ...

Check your messages. I'm the previous owner and have a spoiler and license bracket for you.

I told this gasket story on another forum (maybe)...... Pulled the head from my son's XR due to a MAJOR oil leak that started at around 70k. The car didn't leak prior to that. It turned out that the "fire ring" was MISSING from the triangle like hole where the oil goes to the head! By fire...

Four snows, make sure toe and camber reasonable. Stick or auto not a significant factor - except for "bench racing" talk. We have both. Me, wife and kids switch off depending on which of 3 is easiest to use that day. The condition of the snows is what conditions the experience - 2 with Bli...

A guy from Burlington, WI had this kit in his white XR which he bought new. I rode in the car. He was a certified tech and the XR had ALL the rapido stuff. He told me the trans wasn't correct and he needed to do modifications to make it right. The kid was a genius and very competent, so the mods may...

After maybe 20 years in XR's, I always dreamed of a 4-speed auto with OD. Read all the posts, talked at some length with LArry Davis, ended up doing an overhaul on the old C3. It is just an overdrive thing. The A4LD offers little else. The OD thing is a real big deal, though. L, Davis advised a 6 pi...

True on the Hartman story. Rudel, a Stuka pilot and many other Germans (Gallad, Marselle (sp?), Konkel, etc.) all showed skill and persistant effort. Many were also shot down numerous times. In any case it is more politically correct to just talk about the equipment, so as not to get into "that...

Len Deighton, a respected fiction and history writer/researcher (and RAF veteran) has pointed out that a very, very large portion of Allied fighter pilots were Canadian. The English blew this off in WWI as some feature of "frontier living", giving no credit to training or initiative. He re...

Some wiring harness changes - color codes, esp. neutral switch and no cruise on '85's. We use the '85 manual and haven't owned an '85 for 17 years. I think the '85 manual may have a bad torque value for the wheels (reported elsewhere, I never noticed). The '85 manual also says you need to remove the...

A leak of ATF under the turbo is likely the steel line rubbed and corroded through at the bracket that holds the lines. There is no O-ring where the LOWER trans dipstick tube goes into the trans. The O-ring is between the lower and upper tube and rarely gives trouble unless the trans is way overfill...

If you check hot rodder and truck sites (one has swap experience, the other 2-piece experience) you'll see they like 0.5 to 1.0 degree on that front section (no guibo!) so the u-joint "works" and doesn't flat spot a roller. The rear section is then treated like a one piece using most of th...

I just compared the 'new' one to the original and remarked it. I converted all our XR's to crank drive but only had one pulley that was different - I pulled that one myself from an AC equiped Pinto in a yard. The reason I checked it is just that I'm careful about stuff. On our 1st XR I even got the ...