Merkur Scorpio: What trans to install?
thetandycollector
12-26-2012, 05:50 AM
Hey everyone, I've got an 88 Merkur Scorpio, bought it from the second owner in 2007, had it off and on since. It's always been a complete bastard about eating front pump (converter, input shaft) seals. I think it's probably only been driven about 4k miles since I bought it and it's been through 3 seals.
Took the trans out to rebuild it and put the car in storage in early 2010. Tore the trans down to find a mangled mess inside. Car drove fine with the exception of a hard first to second shift. All the thrust washers where warped and oval shaped, and a lot of the plastic spacer washers where either gone or smashed. Consulted OnDemand5 about this and it says the transmission was recalled at one point due to a warped center support (mind you, this was information provided through OD5 about this transmission, but not in this specific vehicle) and that it could cause all the internal issues I was seeing, up to and including a constant need to replace the tailshaft seal or front pump seal. Checked out the center support and indeed, it is warped. Can't seem to get a good center support, so I figured I'd go with a salvage transmission. Issue is, nobody around here even knows what a Merkur Scorpio is, let alone what parts will interchange with it.
One junkyard says their computer shows an 87 Ranger in stock with an A4LD trans that will mount right up, BUT the valve body would have to be swapped for the one from my car. Is this true? And, are their any vehicles available in the US that would have the same transmission that would be a literal bolt-in-and-go type of deal, or will they all require some form of modification to work properly? Any input would be great.
Took the trans out to rebuild it and put the car in storage in early 2010. Tore the trans down to find a mangled mess inside. Car drove fine with the exception of a hard first to second shift. All the thrust washers where warped and oval shaped, and a lot of the plastic spacer washers where either gone or smashed. Consulted OnDemand5 about this and it says the transmission was recalled at one point due to a warped center support (mind you, this was information provided through OD5 about this transmission, but not in this specific vehicle) and that it could cause all the internal issues I was seeing, up to and including a constant need to replace the tailshaft seal or front pump seal. Checked out the center support and indeed, it is warped. Can't seem to get a good center support, so I figured I'd go with a salvage transmission. Issue is, nobody around here even knows what a Merkur Scorpio is, let alone what parts will interchange with it.
One junkyard says their computer shows an 87 Ranger in stock with an A4LD trans that will mount right up, BUT the valve body would have to be swapped for the one from my car. Is this true? And, are their any vehicles available in the US that would have the same transmission that would be a literal bolt-in-and-go type of deal, or will they all require some form of modification to work properly? Any input would be great.
Automotive Network, Inc., Copyright ©2025