Mofo's "What car?" quest is over... What is it?

I have decided to pull the trigger on my next car. It is older than I want, a manual and does not yet have working air conditioning... Can YOU guess what it is?

From CARS

No bonus points.

Scorpio with a turbo?

I see Esslinger parts...!!!

If that's a pic from the actual car, you've got a good start on a heck of a project. Drop me a PM if you need a lead on info, parts, etc.

BTW, I can't tell from the pic but does that have the hydroboost/ABS conversion too?

Oh, wait... did I just see you're in "Sleezattle"? Then you know to drop John V. a line if/when you need.

Yessir,

1989 Merkur Scorpio 2.3L and T9 5 speed swap, stock xr4ti t3 turbo, 3" stainless down pipe, full 3" aluminized exhaust with 3" dump pipe and stainless clamps, aluminum sierra cosworth replica radiator customized to fit, dual 12 fans and adjustable fan switch, ranger serpentine accessory drive, 130 amp altenator, adjustable cam gear and new belt, elsslinger valve cover, 90'd intake, custom intercooler piping, modified 944 porsche IC, forge BOV, fuel rail gauge, stainless braided oil feed, big vam and LA3 with a hybrid scorpio harness,new viton valve stem seals, motor resealed when out, new clutch kit, new clutch cable, all new hoses, new kyb gr2 shocks on all 4 corners, new rotors, pads, and 3 calipers, e brake works, custom balanced driveshaft with new center support and guibo, autometer ultralight boost and water temp in a pillar, matching autometer tack in cluster, speedometer is in KM and it works as does the odometer, no AC, the rest of the climate control works, new pilkinton windshied, leaf catcher, new poly bushing in new nos control arms, adr 17x7s with 245 in the back and 235 in the front, euro light conversion, new black paintjob inlcuding mono'ing bumpers with good ppg paint, body was solid to start, solid rockers and hatch lip, shaved hatch cladding, euro hatch handle, led plate light, interior is good except for tear in drivers bolster, new black headliner, power acustik dvd head unit, 12 flip down tv in the roof, two 12s in a clear and black bandpass box, wired with 4ga wire, new battery, new not remand ranger starter, sunroof is inop but does not leak, runs excellent, drives great, handles great, over 1000 miles on the build

I am already changing the wheels out for something a little more:

I was watching this on eBay, congrats bro, glad it went to a GRMer

Just occurred to me that all Scorps had the hydroboost/abs, which explains what I saw in the initial pic.

Congrats... and god forgive you.

Monster I do not miss those motors. That one looks surprisingly like the one I built for my 88TC, complete with the Esslinger tall VC.

Have fun, it sure looks cool!

I am buying it and two spare T9s... I hope I never need them.

I was thinking it was that one I saw on CL a few weeks back. And I was right

In reply to John Brown:

Get a T5, once you drive the 2.3T with a T5 behind it you'll never go back... I like, very interesting swap, make sure you post it up on MerkurSport and Merkur Club of America.

I've been hammering on the T9 in my XR for 5 years now behind a similarly modified motor and have had absolutely no problems... spirited daily driving, auto-x, rally-x, a couple top speed runs (I miss the I-5 express lanes at 8am on a Sunday morning coming out of downtown headed north). The folks that do them in must be doing stuff like 5k rpm clutch-drops and not rev matching their downshifts.

It's not the first Merkur I have owned, Miss Piggy was desperately abused including High RPM launches on drag radials. This will not be abused other than actually driving it... which can be bad in Michigan.

is a separate winter ride in the plan? What did Mrs. Mofo get?

This will be treated just like the Jetta, a dedicated set of snows on disposable wheels (steel VW?). I am buying this for a surprisingly small price considering the work that it has had. If I burn through three T9s THEN I will install a T5 with a proper shifter, until then I will have the spares cleaned, bagged and set on the shelf in the storage unit.

We found an 80k mile 2005 Chrysler Town and Country for the missus. New tires, and a clean running 3.8L. Paid a little more than I wanted to but it was the BEST minivan out there and also the cheapest.

i didn't realize the scorpio came with the lima ever. or didn't it?

It did not. This is one of a very few that have been converted that I know of.

Dead sexy car you have there Sir, Great choice in wheels you are going to put in it as well.

Very cool.

jealous.. looks like quite the sleeper

mad_machine wrote: jealous.. looks like quite the sleeper

You mean in the sense "Oh, I'm surprised it isn't sitting dormant on your driveway" kind of sleeper?

great looking car! very nice

HiTempguy wrote:

mad_machine wrote: jealous.. looks like quite the sleeper

You mean in the sense "Oh, I'm surprised it isn't sitting dormant on your driveway" kind of sleeper?

LOLz

John Brown wrote: LOLz

I do love it though, someone actually was selling a LHD grey import one (a 4X4 turbo 5 speed model) in Edmonton a little while ago for around $20k. It only had something like 50,000kms on it or something. Would have loved to have grabbed it, and I'll be damned if yours doesn't look almost as clean!

Looks are decieving. While there is no rust, this thing is as rough as is gets while still being worth every penny. I am probably going to use this as trade fodder for a daily driver. A few things I beat him up over the price on will take a little more than a little work to resolve, others are just getterdone stuff.

All in all I paid $2500.00 when the guy was asking $3500.00. Some of the crap I would never use did not come with the car (awful sub box, visor video screens) some stayed with the car (big drop down video screen and in dash DVD platyer) It runs strong and drives well, came with two replacement tires for the worn fronts. I have a trade offer on it for a very Mofo car... I will see how it works out tonight when the deal gets sweetened.