1979 Mercury Capri

[Russell]

Automotive ADD strikes again. I was given a offer I could not refuse on a 1979 Mercury Capri. Dad and I took my car trailer and tried our the new atv winch it work great!!! I took the lazy way out and just put some old batter cable ends on the wires and direct powered it! So a 100 dollar 3000 lbs winch will pull a car onto a trailer! ;D I has been parked under a peach tree for a number of years so I sure it needs a lot. It is a 302 2 barrel auto car. Other than that I do not know much about it. Do they make NOS plates for a 2 bbl ;)? I snapped a few pictures once it was on the trailer. I have been wanting a "classic" fox body. Included in the purchase price was a 302 and c4 scrap or maybe cores.

[fast Ed]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

Lots of potential there, especially at that price! As you probably know, a lot of the mechanical bits from the later 5.0 Mustangs can be used as upgrades for the earlier cars ... brakes, suspension, driveline.

Just watch your knuckles when you're rolling down the windows ... there's a reason the winders were there for one year only. :P


cheers
Ed N.

[Guest]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

Lots of potential there, especially at that price! As you probably know, a lot of the mechanical bits from the later 5.0 Mustangs can be used as upgrades for the earlier cars ... brakes, suspension, driveline.

Just watch your knuckles when you're rolling down the windows ... there's a reason the winders were there for one year only. :P


cheers
Ed N.

I've seen the "winders" in the newer capri's with the fender bulges..

[Huskinhano]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

Great deal!!! Lots of parts for them. Your engine is the old 28 oz unbalance too, not the later 50 oz.

[milner351]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

I believe this car will not over use the word "epic" in the potential collumn.

I hope you can take those moldings off and leave them off without much hassle - I've never had good luck with those body side moldings.

SO - what's the plan? take it apart and see how bad it is then decide?

drag car? open track / autocross car?

DD Beater?

[BBR]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

Neato!

The trick with the moldings is to peel them off, remove the aluminum backing and glue them back on.

[milner351]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

The trick with the moldings is to take them off and leave them off! ;D

[Russell]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

I believe this car will not over use the word "epic" in the potential collumn.

I hope you can take those moldings off and leave them off without much hassle - I've never had good luck with those body side moldings.

SO - what's the plan? take it apart and see how bad it is then decide?

drag car? open track / autocross car?

DD Beater?

Are you saying it does not have much potential?

More than likely the moldings will come off and stay off, I don't have real high hopes for this car in the aesthetic department anytime soon. The rusty spots more than likely will be the only spots to see paint.

I want this to be my LSR car. The plan right now is change the oil put the fuel line in a gas can put a good battery in it see if it runs. If that checks out it will be safety / maintenance. I am hoping to run the current drive train to work out the other bugs. I want to set a record at Maxton. I can forsee a motor swap at some point. It more than likely will be to a smaller engine (maybe the Free 2.3 I have) in hopes of keeping cost low(er).

[fahrenschnell]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

I think he means it has a LOT of potential......

Seth

[milner351]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

It has plenty of potential - endless really - just depends on what you want to do with it - now that I know you're goal is LSR - I think you've already set a record for the lowest LSR vehicle purchase price!

$100 - sweet mother of cheap vehicles batman!

[1988montecarloss]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

i want capri taillights for my mustang, just to be different from everybody else

$10 says most people wouldnt have a clue where they came from or whats different about the car w/o telling them :D


$100 for any car is a good deal though, especially for a complete foxbody. and the best thing about the capris is that the design on the body under the molding looks almost the same as the molding itself, so you can run no molding w/o it looking funny like on the newer foxes because the molding on the bumper matches the design on the body

[Tom Slick]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

good news on the winch!

How's the bottom side of it look? That should be a riot to play with.

[Russell]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

I want this to be my LSR car. The plan right now is change the oil put the fuel line in a gas can put a good battery in it see if it runs. If that checks out it will be safety / maintenance. I am hoping to run the current drive train to work out the other bugs. I want to set a record at Maxton. I can forsee a motor swap at some point. It more than likely will be to a smaller engine (maybe the Free 2.3 I have) in hopes of keeping cost low(er).

I have not had a chance to see if the engine will run or not, but I have been having second thoughts on my plan. I am starting to think I should not spend time on this old engine (1973) and start off with a GT40 roller motor. I found a 64k mile engine for $500, I figure it will take another $1000 to change the cam springs and do carb swap and get in in the car. The question is to spend time and money on a old unknown engine that may help test other systems of the car, but will more than likely be slow, or start with newer stuff that will get me closer to a record? I am like most of you money is limited

[milner351]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

I agree - the cost of the retrofit roller cam compared to an off the shelf roller cam for the roller engine make the decision pretty easy, for $500 for a barely used roller engine.... IFF (that's IF and ONLY IF) you can confirm the condition of the engine before you buy...

I have a couple older 302 blocks and I've considered scrapping them - for the same reason - why build a flat tappet version of an engine when so many roller version blocks are readily available?

[langleylad]

Re: 1979 Mercury Capri

What does LSR stand for exactly ?