So, you've got an XR4Ti ... what would you do with it?

Pretty much as the title says. I've got access to a Merkur XR4Ti with a solid, rust- and accident-free chassis. The interior is rough. It doesn't run. I've also got access to most of a Sierra Cosworth bodykit (few pieces missing).

Let's say you're into open track events, club racing, etc. (typical GRM stuff) and want to do something cool with this platform without going crazy financially. What would you do?

Rebuild the stock turbo engine? Swap in a Ford V8? Build a 2.3L Duratec with cams and ITBs? Something else?

LanEvo wrote: Rebuild the stock turbo engine? Swap in a Ford V8? Build a 2.3L Duratec with cams and ITBs? Something else?

All three of those sound awesome. If forced to choose only one I'd go with the first.

But to answer your original question, I think the only real answer it to take it to the challenge this year.

Rallycross

LanEvo wrote: Pretty much as the title says. I've got access to a Merkur XR4Ti with a solid, rust- and accident-free chassis. The interior is rough. It doesn't run. I've also got access to most of a Sierra Cosworth bodykit (few pieces missing). Let's say you're into open track events, club racing, etc. (typical GRM stuff) and want to do something cool with this platform without going crazy financially. What would you do? Rebuild the stock turbo engine? Swap in a Ford V8? Build a 2.3L Duratec with cams and ITBs? Something else?

If it has not been bastardized, Prepared class rallycross. Prepared requires an essentially stock car but brakes in their entirety, bolt-on suspension parts, and components external to the engine are free. Intercoolers cannot be added, but any fuel may be used and "engine controls may be piggybacked but not replaced" so I would hack the stock ECU to have a Megasquirt do the actual controlling of the injectors, and run E85. A header is legal if the stock turbo placement is used. Call me crazy but I'd want to use the automatic because it is less likely to break than the Type 9 pile of crap. Diff can be changed in Prepared if you don't have to modify the case, this precludes using the Chevy 10-bolt Positraction diff, but I bet a standard 10-bolt's open diff can be fit in there without the case grinding the Posi requires, and I'd put a Lock-Right into the Chevy open diff case. Supposedly a Detroit Locker style diff is really really good for this kind of thing. I'll find out for myself pretty soon.

Anyway, that is what I'd do if the car was all stock and still had the A/C and full interior and such as. I strongly believe that an XR4Ti modified in this fashion would be quicker on-course than my RX-7, which has consistently been the fastest (or damn near the fastest) RWD car in Modified at Nationals every year that it showed up.

OTOH, the same can also be said for EvanB's Miata...

rebuid the 2.3lima thats in it and swap it into a fox mustang

ALL THE BOOST!!!

f2t?

How pricey/difficult is it to get a Duratec in there?

I'd go Duratec track slore. Seems like rallycross is too harsh a treatment for a car that's survived this long. Granted, you could also wad it up on a road course...

Build stock motor and hoon the crap out of it.

Starting out I would keep it simple and just mod the stock engine. You can get high 200's using modified stock parts. With more work, aftermarket parts, and money, 350-400 HP is possible. I would build it strong and keep the boost under 25 lbs boost.

moparman76_69 wrote: f2t?

What is funny is, while I disagree with the whole concept of a large, low-RPM slug four-cylinder that only makes power by use of a snail on the side that compresses it tightly enough to get it into the engine's thick skull... the Lima does everything way better than the F2T does. Way way way better. Stronger in every way you can measure. It makes the F2T look like an EJ20 without the head flow.

And UNlike the F2T, you can get a head and cams that aren't garbage! A guy from Esslinger was bragging on Speedtalk about a 400hp N/A Lima that they built for a guy who put it in a Mk1 Escort and was beating up on YBB-swapped Escorts on road courses. Still only eight valves, still on pump gas, and this was naturally aspirated. Most of the money was in the shortblock, which was a tall-deck monster of displacement, but if you had a turbo then you wouldn't need 3+ liters but the airflow from the head would still be awesome.

I'd get another one. Because nobody owns just one XR4Ti. They need constant companionship.

captdownshift wrote: Rallycross

+1

Mine continues to surprise the hell out of me at Autox and around the track on the stock turbo and a little suspension work. I'd imagine, if rallycross locations are close, it would be hella fun. But so is any car on dirt...

My dad had one of those and I miss it dearly. Getting dropped of at elementary school with that whale tail drew a lot of attention.

I would have as much fun as semi-legally possible. Probably take Evan's and Knurled's advice and rallycross it.

I lived just west of Detroit in the mid-late 80's, and a lot of parents brought home cars like these. One kid liked to play "Star Wars" with a factory loaner...and tried to see how many lights he could light up on the dash at the same time. I cringed every time they told me about hooning it.

Sell it to me cheap and I promise to rallycross the E36 M3 out of it!

So, bad interoir and it doesn't run? I'll assume bad paint too? Unless you can get a full on Cosworth Sierra engine etc for it, I'd push the 302 easy button and have a track rat.

I made the easy decision on this and sold mine once I realized how big a project it was going to be.

EcoBoost 2.3 or a SAAB B234R

Those are the only options.

In reply to Knurled:

I really don't agree with any of that. The 2.3 is better for one important reason, though:

It came in Mustangs, so it has aftermarket.

That like, costs money though. I'll give someone $100 to show up at the Challenge with a 2.3T car and trap higher in the quarter mile than my inferior F2T rocket.

But I thought f2t was the other other answer.

It is, but he thought you were serious.

Cool cars. You rarely see them anymore.

If the engine is running, I'd fix whatever is wrong, add suspension and brakes and go drive it.

If the engine is not running, I'd consider a normally aspirated option. Easier to keep cool on track - depending on skill level and how much testing, engineering, time and money you put into it.

Of course, all of this depends on the budget...

I've been looking for one for a really long time, but they are very infrequently posted. It's probably telling that I can't find anyone selling a running one, so I don't even know how they drive.

Rallycross is the obvious choice though.