Our Capri's new suspension...
Our Capri's new suspension components from Lakewood Industries and Moroso resolved the car's very erratic suspension antics, and we dropped the front sway bar finally to help with weight transfer and weight savings.
It's hard to believe, but the '85 Mercury Capri that we've been modifying over the last several issues is now 25 years old. That's two and a half decades since it rolled off the assembly line with its 5.0L powerplant and five-speed manual transmission. Overall, it's in pretty good shape for a four-eyed car, which so often are found beaten, abused, and generally thrashed.
We took the opportunity to modify this near-stock example with commonly available, budget-friendly speed parts and have had a great time running it at the dragstrip. After stopping the clocks in a staggeringly slow 15.10 seconds at 91 mph, we began modifying the Capri, first with a set of lightweight Weld Racing Draglite wheels from Summit Racing and Toyo Proxes 26x9 slicks and skinnies. We bumped the timing and powershifted the T-5 transmission to a best time of 14.46 at 92.9 mph. Then we broke the stock 7.5 rear differential.
Our suspension mods start...
Our suspension mods start with upper and lower boxed control arms (PN 20152 upper; PN 20150 lower) from Lakewood Industries. Lakewood also sent us a set of its venerable 90/10 front drag struts (PN 40511) and 50/50 rear shocks (PN 40301). The control arms feature new urethane bushings and are fully serviceable using the supplied grease fittings.
MPS Auto Salvage set us up with a used 8.8 axle assembly, and we stuffed it with Moser 28-spline axle shafts and a 3.73 Richmond ring and pinion, all from Summit Racing Equipment. We were then able to whittle the 60-foot time down and improved our quarter-mile e.t. to a 14.26 at 94.10 mph before dropping on a new Holley 4160 600-cfm carburetor. That put us down to a 14.14 at 94.9 mph. From there, we installed a new ignition system from Performance Distributors, as well as a Weiand Street Dominator dual-plane intake manifold from Summit Racing Equipment. With these parts, e.t.'s dropped to 14.06, 14.04, 13.98, and a 13.94 with trap speeds attaining 97 mph. Our 60-foot times dropped as well, into the high 1.8-second range.
Next on our agenda was to change out the factory exhaust system for some tried-and-true aftermarket dual-exhaust versions. Summit Racing provided us with a set of Flow-tech 15/8-inch long-tube headers and an off-road H-pipe, while Dynomax shipped us one of its Ultraflo stainless converter-back exhaust systems.
Having opened up the induction side of the engine, we figured that the stock two-to-one-to-two Y-pipe configuration had to be choking the air pump, and we were right. With the new exhaust system installed, the Capri was solidly in the 13s and logged a 13.64 off the trailer, followed by a 13.62, 13.66, and a 13.63. Raising the launch rpm from 4,500 to 5,500 rpm produced our best e.t. to date-a 13.55 at 100 mph. We then chucked the serpentine belt, raised the front tire pressure to 50 psi, and let the clutch fly. The Capri responded with a 13.31 at 102 mph.
When you start using slick...
When you start using slick tires at the track, you must have a driveshaft loop. This one (PN 18017) from Lakewood Industries bolts together and is a perfect fit for Fox-body Mustangs/Capris.
We were pretty impressed with the Capri's performance up to this point, and like most of our readers, we always want to go faster. To that end, we called up Tri-State Cylinder Heads and ordered a set of its very budget-friendly Flo Tek 5.0X cylinder heads. Summit Racing sent us a Ford Racing Performance Parts B303 hydraulic roller camshaft, as well as Trickflow Specialties pushrods and Ford Racing roller rocker arms to complete the installation. Cometic's Streetpro gasket kit was used to seal up the 5.0L, and we backed up the newly fortified powerplant with a Ram HDX clutch and Ram billet-steel flywheel from AmericanMuscle.com.
There was simply no reason to expect the stock clutch to handle the extra power and continued track abuse, so while the engine was out, we installed the new clutch, which is a half-inch larger in diameter than the factory piece it replaced. The extra surface area would be beneficial to our cause for sure.
Despite cold temperatures and a track surface that could not sustain our previous 5,500-rpm launches, we slashed our e.t.s's considerably and ran a 12.89, a 12.74, a 12.61, and finally a 12.54. We made a significant increase in trap speed as well, with the Capri now running around 108 mph out the back door.
The old springs and struts...
The old springs and struts were removed, and we inspected the ball joints and tie-rod ends for excessive wear.
We couldn't find any information...
We couldn't find any information online or otherwise on how much to cut the Moroso Trick springs. Editor Smith had cut a coil and a half out of his for project Stocker, and given that we have the benefit of lighter aluminum heads and a smaller intake manifold, we cut two coils, which worked out perfectly. Here you can see the how the Trick spring with two coils cut is still taller than the factory spring.
No matter how big of a pry...
No matter how big of a pry bar is used, we just can't see the springs going in any other way than with a compressor of some sort. We had this Snap-on one in the shop collecting dust and so put it to good use. Hooking up some sort of a retaining chain or other method is a good idea as there is a ton of stored energy in the compressed spring, and it can easily injure you should it get loose.
With the Trick springs and...
With the Trick springs and the drag struts installed, it was time to stiffen up the back of the car.
With the rear axle at full...
With the rear axle at full droop but supported, we removed the upper control arms one at a time and replaced them with the new Lakewood boxed pieces.
Aftermarket Fox-body control...
Aftermarket Fox-body control arms are nothing new, but they are indeed far and away better than the factory stamped pieces.