1985 Mercury Capri - Gulping Again - Part 2

Two hundred and forty rear-wheel horsepower may not sound like a lot, but in the case of this '85 Capri, it's darn impressive. The '85 model 302 H.O. was Ford's (and Lincoln-Mercury's) first 5.0 roller motor, and it produced 210 ponies at the flywheel. With a Holley/Motorcraft carb atop an aluminum manifold, it powered the '85 Foxes, providing excellent low- and midrange torque and lots of fun for drivers. While EFI has all but ruled the streets in the time since, we haven't forgotten about the original H.O. and the ease in which they can be modified.

Last month, we began tweaking this '85 Capri with an S&B filter, a Demon 575 carburetor, and a Weiand manifold ("The Big Gulp," June '06). Those simple parts allowed this 302 to produce 240 at the wheels, which converts to about 275 hp at the crank. That's up from our 207hp starting point, and about 20 hp more than the typical '87-'95 injected H.O. would make with the timing advanced, underdrive pulleys, and a free-flowing filter.

Since finding 35 hp was easy, we wondered how much more power could be had using other off-the-shelf hot-rod parts. Can a basic 302 crack the 300hp mark at the wheels just by swapping heads, cam and, perhaps, by throwing on a bigger carb?

To find out, we're tightening the screws on the Capri to hopefully achieve the next level of performance. During the original test, we bolted on some basic induction parts and now we're slipping in a new cam and a larger-capacity fuel pump. You may recall that the air/fuel curve climbed to the lean side of the chart at wide-open throttle during the last dyno session (13.5:1), and with that we knew a high-capacity fuel pump was in order. This month, we'll replace the stock fuel pump with a better-flowing version from Holley, then slide in a Lunati cam and Comp Magnum roller rockers to hang open the valves a bit further.

For now, we'll stick with the stock heads, the Weiand Stealth intake, and the Demon 575 carb. Next month, we'll tackle a head swap, replacing the E5TE heads with the latest 165s from AFR, and we'll try a series of fuel mixers from Demon Carburetion.

For this installment, we chose...        read full caption For this installment, we chose a Lunati cam and timing chain. We also ordered a cam from Lunati's VooDoo line, which is more aggressive than the cam in the foreground. We'll try to use the VooDoo grind at a later date.	Feeding fuel to the 302 will...        read full caption Feeding fuel to the 302 will be this Holley High Output fuel pump designed to deliver 110 gph. It is a direct bolt-on and doesn't require an adjustable fuel regulator. It also features heavy-duty construction, and the fuel body can be rotated to accommodate multiple applications.	We learned late in the game...        read full caption We learned late in the game (about a week before the test) that the 302 was equipped with stamped-steel 1.7:1 rockers from a Ford 460 engine. Not wanting to have a meeting between the pistons and the valves, we chose to swap the 1.7 rockers for 1.6:1 Magnum roller rockers from Comp Cams. The rockers were installed using Comp's screw-in studs.
During our last test, the...        read full caption During our last test, the 302 made 240 hp at the wheels, but we feared the air/fuel ratio was bordering on lean. To resolve the problem, we decided to replace the stock fuel pump with one from Holley.	The stock pump went bye-b...        read full caption The stock pump went bye-bye.	The Holley has a much larger...        read full caption The Holley has a much larger capacity and will provide up to 110 gph, more than enough for our 302.