My Merkur XR4Ti Project

[rcbooth]

Although it is now in winter storage I thought I'd post a few pictures of my 1986 XR as delivered (eBay) last year and the first bits of changes and improvements that I'd done last summer. While completely rust free, the dash was a mess with extensive cracking. I bought a good dash pad from Midwest Merkur and replaced the original. At the same time I replaced the instruments with a mix of later US (speedometer) and Sierra. I also replaced the "information Center" with boost, volts, and oil pressure guages.The seats were pretty shabby and I replaced the front with Porsche Cayman seats. Eventually I will have the rear seats recovered to match. Yet to install are a complete set of Raven interior trim (also from Midwest Merkur) to match the Raven dash. Finally, I've replaced the 14" wheels with 15 x 6.5 Contour wheels with 205-50 x 15 tires. A link to photos of the car and changes is here:

http://rcbooth.zenfolio.com/p141607041

Once the weather warms up (it is 12 F today) I have a 1994 Mustang V6 T5 (need to shorten and turn down the input shaft) to install. The pedal assembly is already in place as it was done when I had the dash all apart.

RCB

[merkurdriver]

Cayman seats look good in there...clean car

[rcbooth]

Thanks! Biggest effort was drilling out the rivets holding the original mounts to the seat adjusters.
RCB

[cmouta]

Those contour wheels look sharp on there! Are they really 15x6.5? I was always partial to the 15" 7 spoke "diamond cut" 95-97 SE wheel

[rcbooth]

They are, indeed 6.5" wide. I measured them. They were in good condition and cheap so it seemed like a good approach for a mild upgrade. RCB

[JacquesC]

I agree, you get decent bang for the buck with those. I love you car btw, rcbooth. It looks so clean like that in white.

[ckanani]

Beautiful car!

[markley007]

What kind of paint did you use to paint the dash with and what was your process?

[rcbooth]

The dash isn’t painted. I replaced the original with a later raven dash in good condition. The lower dash is painted though. I used an automotive paint for plastic / vinyl. I just washed it thoroughly and quickly wiped it down with a solvent.

[morlynon]

Nice car! I recommend SEM paint for the interior pieces.

[rcbooth]

Thanks. I've been using SEM for the plastic and vinyl painting. They have a wide selection of colors although Raven is tough to match.