The Racescort. (Now with more Merkur)

[MistaX]

My car is wacky enough to deserve a thread. I promise.

Forgive me for not having that many good pictures of the thing. I'm also lazy and won't take more.

So it looks something like:

And then inside it has something odd:

I know what you're thinking. What the hell is that on the left?


The mod list is as follows:
1.9L stock block bored 0.030 over.
Fancypants rotating assembly that I don't know exactly what it is. I'm sure it's all forged because I'd have blown it up already otherwise.
Ford EXP Exhaust manifold
IHI RHB5 VJ11 Turbo
Manual boost controller
Noname brand BOV. It goes "psssht"
Homemade screamer pipe
Catted custom exhaust, stock muffler.
Homemade intake (I'll take a picture of this eventually, it's really not something to be that proud of)
MSD Blaster Foxbody ignition coil
19lb injectors
Ford EXP ECU
SPEC Stage 3 clutch.
Powersteering delete, with manual rack swap.
AC delete.
Stock suspension, but relatively new. Needs springs, they squeak. A lot.

Future mods (probably this summer):
Volvo air to air intercooler (have it already)
Slim fan, so the intercooler actually fits in the car
Garrett TBO348 (have it already)
Need an external wastegate along with some wacky manifold work.

No ABS, no TCS, no PS, no bull****.

Running 7psi in that video.

I have a Foxbody:

But that's another story for another day.

 

[Keef]

The Escort beat my car even though it was broken and on low boost. Pretty impressive for a shoebox.

 

[eSZee]

Was it the mustang that missed a gear or was it the escort? Right at :04-:05 sounds like someone mis-shifted.

Nice car btw. Crapboxes, no offense, are the greatest.

 

[MistaX]

Mustang grinds 2-3, but it's not a mis-shift. His clutch has been unbelievably screwed up for 2 years, and he just continues driving it that way.

I've driven it, you basically have to stand on the pedal to get it to go all the way down, and even then it isn't fully disengaged.

Another picture of the Escort, just because it's funny.

 

[Duke]

Escort GTs are cool. Where'd you dig a boosted sample?

 

[MistaX]

Escort GTs are cool. Where'd you dig a boosted sample?

A friend of mine had it, as a daily and a C6 as his weekend car. He said he bought it off the guy who built it, but I don't know that for sure. No reason to not trust him, as he is a friend. Was selling it because he got an early 90's Accord for free.

He said he never drove it hard, and I could believe it since it didn't go anywhere near straight when I bought it. One of the front struts was bent, along with the tie rod and control arm.
$1000 later, it goes straight. (Not on boost, har har har torquesteer. I'm worried it'll break my wrist one day)

What the engine bay used to look like:

Since then the intake has been moved and I ripped that black hose off the throttle body clean in half on boost, so that's not there anymore, and that black hose that used to be part of the smog system or something is capped.

 

[YSSMAN]

One hundred thousand bonus points to you for driving a bad-ass piece of malaise-era Detroit machinery. You get to be like an automotive hipster when you see a guy with a Focus ST and be all like, "I had your car way before it was cool."

 

[Small_Fryz]

Pretty epic 👍. I also guess being FWD its harder to spin out and hit things.. or get stuck on things.. so to speak..

 

[niky]

Lordy, what an ugly car.

Mad props for it!

 

[ExigeEvan]

Pretty epic 👍. I also guess being FWD its harder to spin out and hit things.. or get stuck on things.. so to speak..

Where there's a will, there's a way!


At least John didn't predict he'd hit a shopping centre-carpark street light, a la keef.

 

[MistaX]

New pics cuz you guys are so awesome!

All underhood shots pretty much, since I spent all morning working on it.

You see all this tinfoil? The car is faster because of it.

 

[MistaX]

Language warning I guess?

 

[Small_Fryz]

Not bad John, not bad 👍

 

[ranhammerR34]

All I can say is... awesome. You make me very happy! Randy

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

Gotta love that farm license.

 

[MistaX]

Threw those on a few weeks ago. Make a big difference in deer spotting.

 

[Small_Fryz]

How does it help in spotting Trains?

 

[MistaX]

How does it help in spotting Trains?

Oh you are so clever.

I will have to go to a train yard and have a photoshoot there.

 

[Azuremen]

I will have to go to a train yard and have a photoshoot there.

This can only end well

 

[MistaX]

I went to Carlisle with a bunch of Merkurs.

Hey look it's me.

More to come, Merkur people take forever to upload pictures.

 

[ExigeEvan]

What's that tiny little air filter cone for?!

 

[Keef]

It's a Positive Crankcase Ventilation hole that would normally connect into the factory intake plumbing. Since all it does is breath, it doesn't matter where it goes. Many people with aftermarket intakes simply put a little filter on it and get rid of the ugly tube coming off it.

I had the fancy stainless mesh filter on my Civic, Bergin. Ballin. On top of that, I carefully taped off the mesh, prepped, and painted the ugly chrome bits flat black. Still looks fabulously low-key to this day.

A fairly common problem with old Eclipses was that their engines had no PCV, and therefore when people drove them hard the oil dipstick would pop out and oil would fly everywhere under the hood. All engines have blow-by, gases from combustion forcing themselves past the piston rings, and that air pressure builds up in the crankcase if you don't let it vent.

 

[MistaX]

What's that tiny little air filter cone for?!

It's a Positive Crankcase Ventilation hole that would normally connect into the factory intake plumbing. Since all it does is breath, it doesn't matter where it goes. Many people with aftermarket intakes simply put a little filter on it and get rid of the ugly tube coming off it.

I had the fancy stainless mesh filter on my Civic, Bergin. Ballin. On top of that, I carefully taped off the mesh, prepped, and painted the ugly chrome bits flat black. Still looks fabulously low-key to this day.

A fairly common problem with old Eclipses was that their engines had no PCV, and therefore when people drove them hard the oil dipstick would pop out and oil would fly everywhere under the hood. All engines have blow-by, gases from combustion forcing themselves past the piston rings, and that air pressure builds up in the crankcase if you don't let it vent.

Basically.

It was capped off with a vacuum cap before, as the big silver thing is also a vent. The little air filter is a little more visually appealing than a big ol' vacuum cap.

 

[-Fred-]

Get fat again.

 

[Perfect Balance]

Get fat again.

I was starting to think the person I had thought of as "John" for years, was actually someone else.

 

[MistaX]

Get fat again.

No.

I was starting to think the person I had thought of as "John" for years, was actually someone else.

What?

 

[Perfect Balance]

What?

Saw a picture of you years ago. That was my mental image of you.

Then I saw the pic of you now, and for a second I thought that all these years I had someone else in mind.

 

[Eric.]

Well look at the average age of the Merkur owners...they're still baffled by this whole internets thing or else the pictures would be up already.

They're probably sending them through email.

 

[Omnis]

Saw a picture of you years ago. That was my mental image of you.

Then I saw the pic of you now, and for a second I thought that all these years I had someone else in mind.

He's been in a cave for a few years, right?

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

To the extent that he's explained about his cave to me before... its not a bad one. Wait... John was fat? Lmao.