Did you like the Wheeler Dealers XR episode?

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

I liked the part about using the adhesion promoter for bumpers, and the part where they call it an iconic car.

[merkurdriver]

The best pro-Merkur TV I've seen in ages

[eaton53]

I see it's on YouTube.
My DirecTV schedule says next week.
The airing date (Oct. 29) just happens to be my birthday. The odds of the XR episode premiering on my birthday... pretty astronomical.
So, happy birthday to me. I should go to the casino!

[eaton53]

Ok... I watched it.
I wondered how they could possibly make a profit. Now I know.

Let's just say that they did not do what I would've done or what I thought they were going to do.
I also believe they would've lost lots of money, which is why they didn't do it.

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

What, like change the oil? They are just going to sell it anyway.

[eaton53]

What, like change the oil? They are just going to sell it anyway.

Usually they try to do a few things to "add value", but on an XR it's easier said than done.
They did things I wouldn't have done and there was one obvious thing that they didn't do that they just kind of ignored.

I'll elaborate after the show airs.

[Power Tryp]

I appreciated it if only for the fact that they chose a car that is critically under represented (in North America) and treated it with respect and enthusiasm.

Now I know for a fact that these things are all so far from the truth it's a little silly so I wouldn't trust the numbers or the fact that they made a "profit".

Finally I will admit that I have a larger bias towards this episode and generally I'm not a fan of the new show (I miss Ed) I will say that they could have gone completely sideways with this car. Instead they retained the tu-tone period colour but gave it a bit more pop with the inlay and returned it to a good running original status. Truth be told it would be an excellent car to have as a collector with the fact that it was a less common sunroof free car.

Also I've been saying this a lot lately but the episode is live on Motortrendondemand.com

[Swanny]

I watched it, and heard it was a Rapido car. Having no sunroof I first thought it had been re-shelled, but maybe there are non-sunroof Merkur's. I wouldn't know down in Australia.
But then they deleted the intercooler, which doesn't look like my Rapido intercooler, which supposedly adds 20hp to the 175hp, but didn't worry about the Rapido ECU. They aren't Sierra/Merkur experts, and it was an entertaining show.

What tha hell was that exhaust... was it original? Being Down Under, I don't have to have a catalytic converter for an '85, and have my exhaust run much like Anton did.

They put a positive spin on it, like all the cars they flip.

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

I think the car could have well had some rapido stuff of it (like 2.5 downpipe) for example. Maybe someone else can chime in if they believe the cat was aftermarket. I can say that was not the rapido intercooler. Who knows if it had the rapido stickered pe (85.5-86svo) computer in there and big vam but it didn't seem like it. It was a competition shell car sans sunroof. Famous now like fast gear car which sold for big big bucks after the show.

[merkurdriver]

I watched it, and heard it was a Rapido car. Having no sunroof I first thought it had been re-shelled, but maybe there are non-sunroof Merkur's. I wouldn't know down in Australia.
But then they deleted the intercooler, which doesn't look like my Rapido intercooler, which supposedly adds 20hp to the 175hp, but didn't worry about the Rapido ECU. They aren't Sierra/Merkur experts, and it was an entertaining show.

What tha hell was that exhaust... was it original? Being Down Under, I don't have to have a catalytic converter for an '85, and have my exhaust run much like Anton did.

It was definitely not a Rapido car. The word "comp shell" is thrown around a lot for non-sunroof Merkur XR4Ti.
They exist... most common on 1985 model years, then less common each year following.
As mentioned, not a Rapido intercooler that was removed either.
Yes, thats what the factory original exhaust looks like in North America. Just like they said...its crazy.
(Stock downpipe, stock cat converter, etc.)
Rapido reference sheet below:

[eaton53]

What the hell was that exhaust... was it original?

The snakey exhaust is indeed original.
I had an '85 that looked just like the Wheeler Dealers car, except it had a sunroof... I swapped it for a Borla.

But then they deleted the intercooler

Yeah... this was supposed to be some sort of track car. They should not have done that, they should've done this.

Screenshot 2019-10-29 at 5.22.59 AM.png (622.87 KiB) Viewed 8411 times

That is Mike's radiator & used 2wd Cosworth Intercooler combo for use when you want to keep A/C.

The word "comp shell" is thrown around a lot for non-sunroof Merkur XR4Ti.

Near as I can tell, it was nothing more than an XR without a sunroof.

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

It looks like it steps down quite a bit from the down pipe into the cat. But I don't know what the car should look like stock. Here is a larger downpipe (2.5 I'd guess) into an aftermarket cat into a borla 2.5 cat back. Did they make a merkur specific aftermarket cat to go between the 2.5 inch rapido downpipe and the 2.5 inch borla exhausts?

[merkurdriver]

Did they make a merkur specific aftermarket cat to go between the 2.5 inch rapido downpipe and the 2.5 inch borla exhausts?

Borlas were designed to be user friendly "cat-back" systems - designed to bolt up to the factory cat.

[KentoC58]

The 'Rapido' reference that Brewer made was not Russ Harness's company. The word 'rapido', in several languages, is an adverb having to do with 'speed/fast/quickly/rapidly'.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/r%C3%A1pido

Kc

[eaton53]

Now that the episode has aired and I've had time to think about it, Mr. Picky Pants will put in his 2 cents.

The thing that sets the tone for the restoration is the desire to maintain the "stock" appearance of the gray cladding.
They also went to the trouble of hunting down a good set of phone dial wheels.
So, IMO the goal should've been to continue down that path on everything they did... clean it up and unmod the car.

Under the hood, there was a bodged intercooler setup. They were right to rip that lot out.
They had the aluminum part to connect the turbo to the intake, that's fine... use it. But then they put this cheesy silicone hose on it.
Would it have killed them to use the OEM item? I had no problem finding a good one. Not a lot of money, so do it right.
Now the engine compartment is back to stock. Continue on...

They spent several hundred dollars fixing an exhaust that didn't have a blow. I would've let it be.

They spent another $300 on Cossie headlights. IMO, they just wanted Cossie headlights.
There's no real benefit to them, plus you've got to hack on the car to install them. Nope!!
On the previous episode, they restored a set of Mercedes headlights that were in way worse nick than the headlights on this XR.
I would've polished them up and put them back on.

The Cossie grille is nice, but not necessary. Sell it and buy a stock part... now the car has is returned to its original state.

That leaves one thing... the cracked dash and that nasty carpet cover that's on it. The just glossed over it and did nothing.
To me, that is really unacceptable. Jeff has top condition replacements for $290... take the money you didn't spend on headlights and fix it.

Now you have a nice clean stock XR that you can't sell in the U.S. for a profit because you've got way too much money in it.
They didn't disclose how many miles the car had on it, but if it's a typical Wheeler Dealers car it's over 100K.