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"TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts" (the-vancen)
03/24/2015 at 11:55 • Filed to: Capri

If you do, you'll remember it's a 1977 Mercury Capri II, that has no engine, transmission, wiring or interior. In fact, its very much like the General Mayhem of Roadkill fame. And the story isn't much different to be honest.

I won't bore you with the majority of the gripping details, you can read them below, (is Shade Tree still a thing by the way?)

But, the basic idea was to take the rotten, engine-less hulk, fix the major structural rust and find a first or second generation SHO Capri and a late eighties Ford Ranger pickup with a manual transmission and put those in the Capri. Dual over head cam V6 with 225 horsepower, a 5 speed manual and rear wheel drive. Genius, I told my self.

And again, paralleling the Roadkill Charger, I get the car home, and its way too nice. So nice that as of writing this, the SHO, dubbed by my parents, The Turd, is getting about $800 of new suspension and brakes put underneath it.

Auto cross and some heads up drag racing will happen with this this summer. There is a super charged Buick Regal that races at a meetup once a month at the old Picton Airfield that I can chase after.

So obviously the SHO is no longer an option for an engine donor. So that left me, more or less, at square one again. What to do, what to do. Wait, My father has a bunch of odds and ends tucked away in a friends barn out side of town. Wonder if there is an engine there?

Turns out there was. And oddly enough its actually a 2.8 Cologne V6, just like the mill the Crapri left the factory in Germany with. Its the same basic engine that they used in Europe, just with a slightly different top end, using a Motorcraft 2 barrel carburetor and all the extra smog equipment.

The only catch with this particular engine is that some of it is missing, namely the timing cover, which is bad news, because the bottom of the timing cover makes up the front edge of where the oil pan bolts on. So naturally, the crank case is full of water. But since my father is a collector of Capris, he has a few things in the garage, even some lovely left overs from his JPS, pictured below, that runs a race prepped 2.8 that makes roughly 350 HP at the crank with the help of a turbo charger.

He has enough parts that I could probably build an entire engine between that seized american 2.8 and the things in the garage. Like the .060 over forged pistons, forged steel crank and the trio of Solex 2 barrel carburetors.

It will mean going back to the original weenie 4 speed manual that will probably explode the first time I give it the beans, but I might as well. Because Roadkill. Canadian Roadkill! It won't be exactly like the General Mayhem, but hey, even being 2 cylinders short, having a manual transmission and actually having all the windows, its still going to be just as much fun.

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DISCUSSION (10)

Bricks > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts
03/24/2015 at 00:10

I was wondering what happened to it!

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Bricks
03/24/2015 at 00:26

There are days I wonder too.

Birddog > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts
03/24/2015 at 00:37

So many words. So many words so fast..

Oy Vey..

Relax.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Birddog
03/24/2015 at 00:45

Am I writing to much?

RallyWrench > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts
03/24/2015 at 00:54

You could also look into stuffing a Mustang 3.7 ( or whatever they were) v6 in there. Maybe not quite as cool or sonorous as the SHO engine, but more power and they're probably cheap.

Great project, with great options in any case. I'll look forward to progress. Have fun beating on that SHO, too.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > RallyWrench
03/24/2015 at 01:21

The SHO is the car of the hour at the moment, so you will be hearing more about it. Probably soon. The engine may get built for the Crapri this summer, but who knows, i may just up and buy an SHO engine and harness.

Jonee > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts
03/24/2015 at 14:31

GREAT project.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Jonee
03/24/2015 at 20:32

And with some time, it might even be a great car.

Birddog > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts
03/24/2015 at 23:31

No.. I forgot to hook the breathalyzer up to the Internet last night. I love the Capri!

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Birddog
03/25/2015 at 00:37

Hahaha. That's a relief.