My mono white 89 XR

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'.
Merkur Club web site
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leesonic
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Post by leesonic »

My tan lower dashboard was badly cracked in SO many places. I think the previous owner must have tried taking it out with a lot of the screws left in. I had a good gray dashboard in my basement, so I set about painting that.

I used some vinyl dye that I got from PDH distributors. After they sent me a color chart, I went with their light brown, which looked just a little bit lighter than the factory color.

http://www.apadco.com/auto/dye.html

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The more I put on, the lighter it got, until it was a kind of terracotta color, which I preferred over the original. I also masked off and painted the center section black, as it was faded after 20 years.

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Here is my new color compared to the original.

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And here are some progress pictures of the interior coming together.

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Lee.
1988 XR4Ti red
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Post by Firefox »

Sweet. The new tan looks better than the old brown, at least to look at the pictures. Keep up the good work. :)
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DPDISXR4Ti
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Post by DPDISXR4Ti »

You saving the rocker rust-through repair for another day Lee? I see daylight! :lol:
Brad
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leesonic
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Post by leesonic »

Here are some pictures of the interior finally back together.

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Took the car out for a "shaker run" the other day. Boost gauge would not go above 0psi and it wouldn't rev past 3000rpm, sometimes lower. Got it back home and took (well, cut actually) the exhaust system off, and went around the block on just the downpipe. Boosted fine, turbo sounded awesome. So I cut the exhaust system up some more to see where the blockage was. The aftermarket cat was fine, so was the center muffler, if a little rattley inside. But when I looked at the rear resonator, I found the cause of the blockage...

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Lee.
1988 XR4Ti red
SvoSierra
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Post by SvoSierra »

Um, what is that? It should buff out anyway :lol:
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XR and Scorpio blower motor rebuilding, LED upgrades, XR lock service
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86XR4Ti5SPD
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Post by 86XR4Ti5SPD »

Looks like Red Man, Lee. :lol:
But that interior looks like a 99.9 pointer (nobody's perfect, right?). And the lighter bottom panel really looks like it belongs now that it's all together. Nice work!
Ed, Nashville
98 SVT Cobra, 1-owner 33K-mile convertible bought 8/15
86 5-spd, Solid Roof, sold 9/15 with 62K miles
03 SVTF #1965 of 3985, sold 9/15 with 68K miles
http://www.86xr4ti5spd.homestead.com
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whitelx
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Post by whitelx »

some kind of rodent make a nest in the resonator or sis it just rust and fall apart dumping the packing inside.
1986 XR4Ti - 294rwhp/315ft-lbs
1992 Mustang 5.0 notch - 434rwhp/445ft-lbs
http://www.youtube.com/user/whitelx
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leesonic
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Post by leesonic »

Yeah, it looks like the perforated tube running down the center rusted out, and sent all the stuffing down one end. Thing is, I couldn't even push it out with a stick, not that I was going to try that hard to get covered in rusty metal pieces and glassfiber stuffing. How any exhaust gases got through this is beyond me.
Lee.
1988 XR4Ti red
DSPXR4ti
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Post by DSPXR4ti »

I was just wondering were you got that Capri from? I had one just like it about 6 years ago, it would be funny.

Ben
85 DSP XR4ti, 2009 Solo 2 National Champion, burns muffler, 3in exhaust, Mc2 Full suspension, 325 hps & 328tqr, GMR Intake, Wilwood brakes, Eaton LSD, stand alone ECU. Working on being SM National Champion.
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NC89merkur
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merk

Post by NC89merkur »

i really like what youv done. have you used that paint befor? i would love to know how well it stands up to the test of time. could really make things easyer to find good pannels then just make them the coler i need rather then finding a in good shape raven pannel.

car looks very nice man, you doing a sweet job
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leesonic
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Post by leesonic »

Fitted with 16x6.5" SAAB cross-spoke alloys, 205/50/16 Hankook tires.

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Lee.
1988 XR4Ti red
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Post by $KRILLA »

That interior looks great dude
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leesonic
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Post by leesonic »

Lee.
1988 XR4Ti red
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leesonic
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Post by leesonic »

Wow! Should I be able to see the motor from here? :-) Took out the radiator and condensor to swap the condensor over. Someone had butchered the bottom fitting on the original condensor to try and get the A/C going. The fan was seized as well.

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The receiver/dryer that was on the car when I bought it looks to have been replaced fairly recently (non-rusty one in the pics), so I swapped this onto the replacement condensor. Fitted a good used front fan as well. Found one of the horns wasn't working, so I replaced this with one from my spares stash.

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Lee.
1988 XR4Ti red
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thedrill
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Rad

Post by thedrill »

Looks like a good excuse to break out the rattle cans again..
Russ
Stable is vacant..