New to forum Intro

[Ford Guy]

Hello all,
As the subject line says, I am new to the Merkur Forum and providing this intro. I am a retired automotive engineer and have owned my Rosso Red 1988 XR4Ti (manual trans, Raven black leather interior, sunroof) since 1989. It now has over 300,000 miles on it. No major mods. When the original muffler went, I had a stainless steel cat back exhaust system (with a stainless steel Borla muffler) installed that is still on the car today. Engine has never been apart. Water pump was replaced some time after 144k miles. Otherwise just usual maintenance items: oil, filters, plugs, wires, distributor cap, etc. Oh, and I replaced the rear differential...twice... Seems the diff is only good for 100k miles or so? Replaced the clutch but only because I had to take it out to replace the pilot bearing that had seized to the end of the input shaft. Somewhere around 240k miles?

[MarkM]

Welcome to the forum. At this point, there are a number of high-mileage Merkurs out there, but yours is still going to be near the top, I think.

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

You never had to do front wheel bearings on it?

[Ed Lijewski]

You never had to do front wheel bearings on it?

Guibos? CV axles? TFIs? Distributor? Alternator? Timing belt(s)?

YMMV

[mfks]

Single owner?

[merkurdriver]

Welcome! 300k mi is quite an achievement

[Ford Guy]

You never had to do front wheel bearings on it?

Never had to do front wheel bearings. But went through a LOT of front brake rotors...

[Ford Guy]

You never had to do front wheel bearings on it?

Guibos? CV axles? TFIs? Distributor? Alternator? Timing belt(s)?

YMMV

Guibos? Not familiar with that term. Never had to replace halfshafts or just CV's. Replaced a TFI once (long story). Original distributor. Alternator is still original to my recollection. Timing belt was replaced twice ( between 100k and 130k miles each time).

[Ford Guy]

Single owner?

Yes. Single owner. I bought it off a dealer's lot when Ford was ending selling them (and were offering $4500 discount on them!). This car was a 1988 model that was still unsold in spring of 1989.

[MarkM]

You never had to do front wheel bearings on it?

Guibos? CV axles? TFIs? Distributor? Alternator? Timing belt(s)?

YMMV

Guibos? Not familiar with that term. Never had to replace halfshafts or just CV's. Replaced a TFI once (long story). Original distributor. Alternator is still original to my recollection. Timing belt was replaced twice ( between 100k and 130k miles each time).

There are a few different terms for it. I think flex coupling is another term that's used. It's the rubber connector at the front of the driveshaft. See http://merkurmidwest.com/catalog/i440.html for a picture of the part itself, or look in the first post in this thread to see them connected to driveshafts. http://forum.merkurclub.net/forum/viewt ... p?p=312355

[Ford Guy]

Guibos? CV axles? TFIs? Distributor? Alternator? Timing belt(s)?

YMMV

Guibos? Not familiar with that term. Never had to replace halfshafts or just CV's. Replaced a TFI once (long story). Original distributor. Alternator is still original to my recollection. Timing belt was replaced twice ( between 100k and 130k miles each time).

There are a few different terms for it. I think flex coupling is another term that's used. It's the rubber connector at the front of the driveshaft. See http://merkurmidwest.com/catalog/i440.html for a picture of the part itself, or look in the first post in this thread to see them connected to driveshafts. http://forum.merkurclub.net/forum/viewt ... p?p=312355

Ah! Driveshaft donut (flex coupling). No, I never had to replace it.

[Ford Guy]

The most unusual thing about my XR4Ti is that it still has the original rear brake shoes. Anyone else have a similar experience?

[Ed Lijewski]

The most unusual thing about my XR4Ti is that it still has the original rear brake shoes. Anyone else have a similar experience?

That likely points to the self-adjusters not functioning. Or the car never braked firmly in reverse which is how the self-adjusters actuate.

YMMV

[andyofcolumbusmerkur]

Usually that Guibo gets cooked being so close to the hot cat. I would say you got pretty good service life out of those first couple of timing belts

[Bob Weir]

Welcome to the MCA.

We don't formally collect mileage data, but yours is definitely close to the highest. Congratulations!
Did you do the maintenance and/or have a shop do some/all?

If your interested in talking with and/or meeting any Merkur owners in your area, or
if you're ever interested in going to Ford Nationals in Carlisle PA, usually 1st weekend in June,
contact me and I'll try to contact others in your area.

Bob
PS You'd probably enjoy talking with Steve Saxty, previously a Ford designer, will be at Carlisle this year.
His info here > http://forum.merkurclub.net/forum/viewt ... 85&t=40862