The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Here's another one of my toys guys, you may not know about these out in the states, but they are ' a sort ' of english muscle car!
Only 2 litre, but 16 valve, twin overhead cams, fuel injection and turbo! Also this one is four wheel drive. When new these were around £30,000, with all the options, (leather interior etc), I've had mine for about 14 years now, it's a 1991 car.

man that thing is sweet and in awesome shape, i have never seen one before thanks for the post

Man, a twin cam crossflowed pentroofed 'Cosworth Head' with a hairdryer! Very Nice! Are ya diggin this Barc?

What was the HP on one of those Steve? 250? 300?

Also Steve, if you could tell me, is this a Bosch Electronic fuel Injection? If so is it a Motronic or D J L fuel management?

i remember when those things came over here & raced at bathurst(the big race here in aus) they cleaned up but then got disqualified for some reason i cant remember what but it was some modification that was legal in europe but not over here
cheers ian

Eddie, that wasn't the USA Mercury Merkur was it? IIRC the Merkur was a factory hotrodded euro-spec Ford, downgraded a bit though.

fal308 wrote:Eddie, that wasn't the USA Mercury Merkur was it? IIRC the Merkur was a factory hotrodded euro-spec Ford, downgraded a bit though.

Not sure Barc. I dont remember any US built car that had that Cosworth head with a Garret Turbo.? The closest thing I can come up with is the SRT-4 Neon Turbo. (They dont make them anymore either)

This is the Merkur http://www.merkurtech.com/merkurtech/ma ... mxspec.php Not sure if it's the same basic car or not.

I can believ you love your cosworth moparsteve, i would like to have one myself to drift in the snow overhere

I dont believe it is Barc. I may very well be wrong but the engines appear to be different. The one you posted has a AR,(AirResearch) SOHC turbo engine, Steve's has the huge large port DOHC Cosworth Head and a Garret Turbo. Hey Barc, Dodge tried the exact same thing with their 4 door. But over here it didnt sell well and was cancelled a couple of years ago. (SRT-4 Neon) Americas quickest production car under $20k possibly the world. The new caliber with almost the same power rating in SRT-4 Turbo form weighs approx. 4-500 lbs. more. (liteweight 4 cyl. turbo cars are the bomb dudes) I tried in vain to talk my ol lady into the SRT-4 Caliber but no go.

After some more looking around on the net I've found that the Merkur appears to be the ford version of the Merkur or a very near relative. I forgot that the sierra was sold in the USA also.
There were/are some serious Sierras running around the planet. Googling Mercury Merkur yielded some pretty cool cars. Here's a site that has some tech specs on Sierra and Merkurs, http://www.merkurencyclopedia.com/ and click on Sierra Details

220hp? I thought they had a bit more than that. A lot were chipped and modified for more power. Some owners probably exagerated. Still not bad for such a light car though.

My brother once had a Sierra with the same bodystyle, a 1989 Ford Sierra 2,9i (V6-engine, 155 hp.). He liked it a lot and owned it for about 10 years. Once in a while I drove it and it was quite enjoyable with good roadholding. The car was not that reliable though. I remember that he had some issues with it. I also remember that the level of unwanted particles is the exhausts were too high. He used to add alcohol (k-sprit) in the gas tank to get it down to acceptable levels. It was more or less the only way, if I remember it right.

Hi guys, thanks for the comments. Out of the box, the 4x4 produced around 240, but l have seen these produce over 800 with a lot of tuning!!! The earlier one, (2 wheel drive), had less horse power,but was probably more fun on the twisty stuff! I have taken mine to 4000rpm, and sidestepped the clutch, ZERO wheelspin, but a stiff neck for a couple of days for the wife! Have also had this up to 145mph, and it was still accelerating!

Thats a very nice, clean, original looking Cossie you've got there mate, love em with the standard wheels on, rare sight these days. Still got the recirculating dump valve too.
I've had a few Cossies over the years (86 3dr, 88 Sapphire & 93 Escort) and I'd love another one day, theres something about them, always make you grin, with the occasional brown pants moment on a greasy corner, very much European muscle.

Thanks Dan, yep, out my cars, this is the one that'll make you grin the most, around corners, away from the lights or up motorways, fun all the way! Not done too much to the tuning side of the car....never chipped or anything. Have put a group A head gasket on it, adjustable Konis all round with slightly lower springs, Stainless exhaust, Urathane bushes, black diamnd drilled/grooved discs and a K & N Induction kit, but other than that not too much!

This car now for sale, not been used for a while, needs a few minor jobs, pm for details, be around £6000,