'85 Merkur XR4Ti Rally Car

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Truly unprecedented times we live in- no no, not the pandemic.  Out of nowhere, the struts that went out for a rebuild in... 2017?!!! came back.  Huh.

They'll sit on the shelf until I bend or damage one of the ones I built to replace them, then I'll swap them in.  In the end, Delta Vee made things right by waiving a huge amount of the cost for me- I had considered these lost a long time ago so I'm happy to have them back and ready for action.

Probably could have gotten them back quicker going to JVAB directly, and that's saying a lot!

In reply to irish44j :

Probably. To be honest my main takeaway from the whole thing is that piecing together your own struts is easier than I thought so next time I'll just do that again 

irish44j said:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Truly unprecedented times we live in- no no, not the pandemic.  Out of nowhere, the struts that went out for a rebuild in... 2017?!!! came back.  Huh.

They'll sit on the shelf until I bend or damage one of the ones I built to replace them, then I'll swap them in.  In the end, Delta Vee made things right by waiving a huge amount of the cost for me- I had considered these lost a long time ago so I'm happy to have them back and ready for action.

Probably could have gotten them back quicker going to JVAB directly, and that's saying a lot!

Uh ....winner.. winner....chic.....?

Nice thread Chris. Reading through it over the last few days accomplished 2 things for me. 
1. It gave me a bunch of small easy projects to do on my 318ti rallycross build

2. It thoroughly convinced me to stop considering a 2.3T as a possible engine swap when/if my M44 goes. 

hey on a entirely unrelated topic ......what insane jams were yu and PeteG layin' down  at the challenge ? 

In reply to 759NRNG (Forum Supporter) :

David took a short vid & posted it here before he jumped in & joined us. Sadly no one else was around to record our impromptu trio. 

In reply to shagles :

Yeah, definitely not a big fan of the 2.3T at this point- they might have been a better choice 15 years ago when they were still common in running condition.  We had a 318ti also, I actually really liked the way it behaved with the M42 in it, but I would think the go-to swap on one of those is some sort of 6 cylinder.

We've been reorganizing the shop a bit- the biggest and most difficult part of which is moving the parts car out and around to the "parking bay" instead of the "work bay" it's been sitting in since we moved here, which is uphill and around the corner.  So I decided to use the worst of my bent rear suspension pieces to turn it into an unbelievably janky trailer:

When I showed Sara this rear suspension assembly, all wrong sized bolts and brake rotors as washers, she said "we could probably finish a stage on that!"

The plan for the front?  Wrap some straps around it and loop them over an old trailer hitch.  Let's see how this goes:

Seems safe:

Big points for naming what drove in front of me as I went around the corner:

Then just had to pull over and back it in:

Pulled the wheels off and set it down on some old tires once it was in place, check out the wooden rear springs:

We decided it looks a little sad so we decorated it- all ready for cars and coffee:

And with everything parked again:

Ferrari F360. There is a spyder version living in the center of Durham.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

That's the one!  I saw him coming and thought to myself "hmm, that would be a pretty expensive vehicle to shed parts in front of- I should let him go by first"

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I hope it is the same one, I have met him, and he wasn't using it very much. He always waves if I pass him in the X1/9!

The stance on that parts car is sick bro!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

 

Are those slicks on 8-lug wheels? Taking the truck to the track?

In reply to artur1808 :

They're 13x8 or 9 or so with some sort of dual 4 lug pattern that I should really measure- that said, I would totally see how fast I could get the truck around a track given the opportunity.

The paint on the trailer has seen better days so I pulled it into the shop to do some touch up and hopefully keep the rust from getting too crazy:

I'm also planning to put some bedliner on the deck and ramps to give a little more traction when it's wet:

That's really all I want to do with it for now though, I'm pretty happy with it otherwise- I like that it's simple, the brakes work, the ramps work, and the tiedowns are well located.  I've thought about winches and tire racks and stuff but I sort of prefer to keep the trailer minimal.

Hit it with the wire brush, scotchbrite pad, and simple green.  Ready for rustoleum and bedliner when it's dry enough out to paint:

Whatever you do, don't accidentally leave that empty Merkur shell in my driveway when you're done with it. I mean, if you do, I won't stop you. 

_(ツ)_/¯ said:

We've been reorganizing the shop a bit- the biggest and most difficult part of which is moving the parts car out and around to the "parking bay" instead of the "work bay" it's been sitting in since we moved here, which is uphill and around the corner.  So I decided to use the worst of my bent rear suspension pieces to turn it into an unbelievably janky trailer:

 

When I showed Sara this rear suspension assembly, all wrong sized bolts and brake rotors as washers, she said "we could probably finish a stage on that!"

The plan for the front?  Wrap some straps around it and loop them over an old trailer hitch.  Let's see how this goes:

 

not that you didn't know already but another reason she's a keeper right there!

In reply to slowbird :

Be careful what you wish for...

In reply to fidelity 101:

I know, even I was expecting a more apprehensive reaction!

Today is the only day for over a week with no predicted precipitation so it's paint time.  Rustoleum rattlecan:

Followed by some brush on bedliner for the deck and ramps:

I've wanted to add the bedliner for a while, it seems like we're always loading in mud or snow and this should help it be a little less treacherous.

Hey Cnonack will that bedliner stuff with stand battery acid ???? the tray in my JD4410 could use some preventive maintenance.......wink

In reply to 759NRNG (Forum Partidario) :

I'm not sure, but it would hold up better than regular paint for sure- the texture also makes it easy to lay it on thick.  I used the Rustoleum branded stuff because it was well reviewed for being grippy, but there are others (Raptor comes to mind) that are tougher according to popular opinion.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

In reply to 759NRNG (Forum Partidario) :

I'm not sure, but it would hold up better than regular paint for sure- the texture also makes it easy to lay it on thick.  I used the Rustoleum branded stuff because it was well reviewed for being grippy, but there are others (Raptor comes to mind) that are tougher according to popular opinion.

I've been doing some research on this fairly recently as well and it seems that monstaliner is what a lot of the off road guys are using these days for exterior because of its toughness and the fact that it doesn't chip off/flake off. 

I've been using the Rust-Oleum stuff on the fenders and other spray areas on my trailer and it seems to hold up fairly well

I painted my trailer 15 years ago with Magic Implement paint from Tractor Supply. It lasted pretty well, but it needs to be done again now.