Documenting your big project with photos/videos? Have photos/videos to share of anything Merkur related? Place your links to photos and videos here. Please - Merkurs and Merkur-related pictures only. Cosworths welcome!!
Carlisle and event related pictures are to be placed in the relevant section under 'Events'.
The XR looks nice, quite nice, in side view (I said that in my initial comments). Scroll upwards in this Topic to Colin's post of his photo taken "en convoy" of an XR--front view only--following him via his side view mirror. In full front-on view, the XR looks like a fish. [Maybe that's why full non-Cossie rep Merks are shot from the full front view.] The license plate lights, as I pointed out in an earlier topic, are nearly if not exactly identical to what were put on late '50s and early '60s VWs and were also worn on some Fiats and maybe a Lancia or Alfa or two. So they've got character but little else to shout about.
The seat belt rails could be improved by addition of something--as simple as a strip of elastic--to pull the belt rearward on the rail when the belt is uncoupled by the driver/passenger. The belts have a tendency to hang up on the rail near the seat requiring manually pushing the belt out of the way when exiting the car. Bothersome? No. Less of a completely thought-out design than it easily could have been? Yup.
YMMV
Descartes: "Cogito Ergo Sum"
Lijewski: "Sum Ergo Drive-O. Mucho!
I dig the little belt slider rail. Actually, I'm just glad they used a nice, big, conveniently-placed bolt to fasten it to the floor. That provided a nice place to mount my outer belt shackle for the harnesses, while still retaining the shoulderbelts.
Colin
Instagram @colinrdoyle
89 Scorpio 2300-16V // 07 F-650 Cummins // 00 Beetle TDI File to fit, paint to match.
John Brennan wrote:You've got to be kidding about the sliding seat belt rails-- that's one little gem of design I have always admired. Lets people get in and out of the back seat SO much more easily!
Exactly! And if you don't like it, or you've "converted" the car to "2-passenger only" status, just convert to the Scorpio belt assembly!
Look: the fact that they "work" doesn't redeem their tacky aethestic aspect. The rails look cheap. Cheep cheep cheap cheap. Like an Afterthought. Or a minimalist approach. Is that the best the could have done? Is that what you would have proposed, final solution?
No way.
And as for the look of the XR from the front, it was best described by the ex-submariner who posted here as resembling a sucker or catfish (and he liked his XR as much as any of us like ours). Definitely the best description yet.
As far as the rear view, I'll describe it as looking like an obese turtle.
YMMV
that is surprisingly accurate. the catfish thing. obese turtle.... eh, not so much. but still.
DPDISXR4Ti wrote:Exactly! And if you don't like it, or you've "converted" the car to "2-passenger only" status, just convert to the Scorpio belt assembly!
Let me see if I am following... The Scorpio has a similar/identical seatbelt apparatus, but doesn't inlcude the steel slider rod at the base? Sounds like a potential weight savings for my racer. Don't know if it is worth it yet, but curious, if I'm reading it correctly.
anglin, if it's your racer, and only a racer, lose the factory shoulder belts completely and just put your 5 pts in. granted getting TO the track might be a pain since you shouldn't wear a harness on the street.
-Ray
1985 Ford F150 - Tow Missile
1985 Merkur XR4Ti -#141 CP "Miss Daisy"
2005 Subaru LGT http://www.cartct.com
demonfire wrote:anglin, if it's your racer, and only a racer, lose the factory shoulder belts completely and just put your 5 pts in.
DOH! I'm a complete moron. I have a set of Schroth harnesses at home for my racer. Thanks for reminding me (that I have too many cool parts to even remember what cool parts I have). I completely withdraw my above statement suggesting that I may use Scorpio seat belts. What's worse about my original thought is that anyone who is serious enough to worry about (my estimated) 3 lbs of weight savings has probably taken their XR to a level where they would be using racing harnesses too.
in 1984 i fell in love w/ the XR. not for performance (too young), but for the style.
Ed Lijewski wrote:
DPDISXR4Ti wrote:
John Brennan wrote:You've got to be kidding about the sliding seat belt rails-- that's one little gem of design I have always admired. Lets people get in and out of the back seat SO much more easily! :shock:
Exactly! And if you don't like it, or you've "converted" the car to "2-passenger only" status, just convert to the Scorpio belt assembly! 8)
Look: the fact that they "work" doesn't redeem their tacky aethestic aspect. The rails look cheap. Cheep cheep cheap cheap. Like an Afterthought. Or a minimalist approach. Is that the best the could have done? Is that what you would have proposed, final solution? :lol: :P
No way. :wink:
And as for the look of the XR from the front, it was best described by the ex-submariner who posted here as resembling a sucker or catfish (and he liked his XR as much as any of us like ours). Definitely the best description yet.
As far as the rear view, I'll describe it as looking like an obese turtle. :lol: :wink:
YMMV 8)
jason yancey
stephens city va
87XR-88XR
NOVAMOG
"as long as you keep picking on me I will tend to mad post about me getting mad......"
So, I just wonder how it happens that some folks show up and post pictures of progress happening in a hurry and then disappear just as quickly as they showed up. Perhaps the original poster is still around here, just not bothering to post.
Tar when initially put down is not totally sealed to the floorboards (aka not air tight). There are zebra style stripes where it appears it was glued or strip heated/melted to the chassis. My opinion has always been that the holes were for water removal, both from the underlying compartments (evaporation) and drainage from the passenger area.
To the original topic. Looking good. I've been in the process of triming wiring harness under dash and removal of tar. I found an air hammer to work best, but am having to do the manual scrape on my new project car. It quite sucks.
Pic from work on the shell in my garage last summer. No pics of work on current car though.
The XR in our trim is ugly. The bumpers, side molding, and split rear window all add to this effect. However, with a few proper bits it becomes one of my favorite looking cars of all time.
ya know, the vents look kinda gaudy. they don't look like they belong. maybe as just louvers actually built into the hood i would like them better... they look bulky as they are.
turbofan wrote:ya know, the vents look kinda gaudy. they don't look like they belong. maybe as just louvers actually built into the hood i would like them better... they look bulky as they are.
They were talking about the louvres built into the floor pan, and the sills. Not the Cosworth hood vents.
turbofan wrote:ya know, the vents look kinda gaudy. they don't look like they belong. maybe as just louvers actually built into the hood i would like them better... they look bulky as they are.
They were talking about the louvres built into the floor pan, and the sills. Not the Cosworth hood vents.
DUH.
would i be talking about floorboard louvers? he said "with a few proper bits it becomes one of my favorite looking cars of all time." many people consider the hood louvers to be one of those bits. I don't. everything else, yes. that cossie still looks amazing. but i think it'd look better without the louvers. and, as JB has said before, i like the split rear window!!
dang that little cossie is so hot... i can't believe ford built such a sick car!!
OBTW, regarding the floor pan vents, it was confirmed by the guy currently on our home page (www.merkurclub.com), that they were there in fact, to allow the initial paint to drip out when going through the dip process.
