Barely managed to bring this XR4ti home last night...
It had a hard time starting and idled on less than four cylinders - a couple big backfires were a plenty good indication of that. Eventually it seemed to stabilize, but barely had enough power to get out of the driveway. Once on the road, stops were problematic - lots of slipping clutch and even then acceleration was very poor. The drive home was about two or three miles thankfully, but about 1/2 mile from home I could barely keep it idling. Managing clutch/brake/throttle with only two feet was a fun challenge. About 1/4 mile from home I felt a wave of heat off the center console and I immediately thought the cat caught on fire. I kept going.
Once in the driveway, I shut it down and looked underneath, I did not see any evidence of the cat overheating, everything looked ok. Probably did melt the cat though.
Not sure what the immediate plan is - I'd like to see if I can get it running right, to get some use out of the 2.3t/T9 combo but obviously it's not useful to put a bunch of work (or money) into it. I am strongly considering putting one of the crappy Gen IV LS-series motors in it - like a 4.8 or 5.3 truck motor. Something cheap and durable. ~300hp NA horsepower would be plenty in a stripped out XR shell, and these motors can be junkyard turbo'd with pretty insane results. These Gen IV blocks weigh between 400 and 450lbs so comparable to the 2.3t once you factor in intercooler/plumbing/etc. A good trade. I considered Ford options, but I deal with packaging concerns in the OHC motors or the limitations of the old pushrod motors. So, it'll be a mutt.
I may drop the tank to install a Walbro pump (replace the dual pump system) since they're cheap, and I can use that pump with another motor. That'll give me an opportunity to drain the tank - if I'm lucky, the issue is just five year old gas. I have no idea when the tank was last filled - but worst case about five years ago. Certainly at least two. I'd also like to dump the cat as I'm pretty sure it's not in good shape after yesterday, but I don't want to replace the whole system right now. Not sure how to do that given the odd shape of the factory cat. Maybe I can get creative with a temporary flex pipe solution.
As you can see, the car looks good from 30' away, but it's an illusion. The biggest thing working against it surface rust everywhere.
The paint is covered with these little failed areas. Most of the horizontal edges also have rust, same worse than others. This is about average:
It's under every window except the hatch... which is not original to this car. We put an '86 hatch on this '88 many years ago.
I do realize that someone could treat and repaint the car, but it's a lot of effort when the market is tiny and there are cleaner cars already available cheaply. Then you get into the interior:
It's not trashed, but it's completely worn. Every seat is screwed up, there is heavy wear and sun damage on most flat surfaces - dash, window sills, arm rests, etc. On the upside, it only has like 120,000 miles on it, and the engine bay is pretty much 100% original. I think we yanked out the cruise control years and years ago, but that's it.
Someone could drive this car with minimal work (probably!) but finding that buyer would be a lot of work and I'm not going to put in the time or money to get it through smog, pay DMV back fees, etc. in the
hope someone pays me back. This car is clearly not too far gone to restore, but it's a solid $5k just to get it to presentable and finding *that* buyer is nigh impossible. I do have some guilt about sacrificing it, but it's better than just going to a junkyard. In the off chance I'm successful, it could be a lot of fun and it would be nice to have a legitimate stress-free track car. Losing 800lbs of crap means needing less brake and less power to have fun - more bang for the buck.
I'll probably start by slowing gutting the interior. I don't think there much worth salvaging there. I'll also keep my eyes out for things I know I'm going to want, like coilovers/shocks/springs... those are real high on the to-do list.
Edit: I will add that it was weird driving this car. It's been a LONG time since I've driven a stock XR4Ti. It feels downright luxurious compared to mine. The engine is quiet (no 3" exhaust), the drivetrain is smooth (two piece rubber-insulated driveshaft), the suspension is compliant (no coilovers with race springs and low profile tires). Driving them both back to back you'd swear something is
very wrong with mine.
