Should Capris be in the Fox Mustang Magazine?

I received the second issue of the Fox Mustang Magazine yesterday and flipped through it last night. I was caught off guard by a section where the editors asked "Is Mercury Capri a Fox Mustang?" and soliciting feedback from the subscribers.

Here is my reply:

Hi Tom,

You asked "Is Mercury Capri a Fox Mustang?". My answer is simple. No it isn't. It's a Capri.

Any idea how many times I've said that? Hundreds, if not thousands of times. Usually when someone comments on how nice or loud my "Mustang" is. I very politely point out it is a Capri, which often led to a nice discussion about the differences if the speaker doesn't know. It got to the point when my then girlfriend, now wife would smile, laugh or look at me waiting for my reply when someone called my car a Mustang. That was back in the late 80s.

Fast forward to a few years ago and I found another Capri, admittedly in much worse shape then I left that 80 Capri and the questions start again. This time is a little different though. This time the Mustang guys are interesting in her and what I'm doing. In the 80's the Capri was an oddity. Now it is a classic and just about every Mustang or Musclecar guy I meet knew someone who had one and wants to talk about what they or their friend had.

Later you asked '... and not worth displacing a genuine Ford from our Mustang pages?' My view is yes some should. The era of the Fox-chassis Ford/Mercury cars is full of lots of interesting and unique cars and the Mustang was a big part of it, but the whole community defined the era. Should there be a token-Capri in every issue? No. But when you see a good example include it. When you are looking for a car for a tech article look for a Capri too.

Will I continue to support your magazine if you don't show Capris? Sure, I am subscriber 44 because I love the concept of a Fox-specific magazine and wanted to support you guys in getting it off the ground. Much if not all of the tech you will offer will apply to my 84, so I'll learn from you. It would be nice to see a Capri every once and a while (including mine when I finish it) but it wouldn't prevent me from resubscribing.

To give you an idea of what I'm working on, my blog detailing the full resto-mod rebuild is here: http://84caprirs.blogspot.com/ and there is a similar build thread on FourEyedPride.

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Thanks,

Chris

No updates in a while

Winter is in full swing here in Georgia, so I've not done anything on the Capri. The weather isn't really the reason, rather all the family and work commitments. Looking forward to Spring when I can sneak a few hours in!

Currently saving money for the paint job. 'Life' has hit into the fund a few times (who knew wisdom teeth were so damn expensive to pull!) but I hope to be ready in a few weeks!

I did write a letter to my first Capri as part of the Japolink meme. My letter is here.

Mustang and Capri gas tank pin size

I've noticed a lot of requests for the sizes of these pins on various boards. I cleaned mine up today and took  a few pictures to help:

This picture doesn't show it well, but the pins are lined up at the 2" line:

Hope this helps someone searching for the information some day.

Junk yard trip

Today I went to the junk yard (Atlanta Pick-a-part technically) to look for some parts for the Capri. Main thing I was looking for were driver's and passenger's side drip rails for a < 87. Mine are crimped from where a previous owner had put a ski rack on the car.

Unfortunately I could only find chrome ones, and only one good set and one good passenger side. I did also find several of the moldings that go at the base of the windshield where it meets the cowl, since both of my were broken.

I also found an 81 Capri only in the yard a few days. It was in very good condition and should have been saved and restored. No rust anywhere that I could find, even under the floor boards. I picked off one of the front moldings, but the other was glued and screwed on so I gave up. There were a couple of guys taking the doors off when I left.

I also got a coil and bracket and a window slider to replace the rusted one on the car now. Not bad for 2 hours of wandering around.

Back from the machine shop

After 3 engines, I was finally able to find a block that could be bored out and cleaned up. Sent it to Goza Automotive in Acworth for some work.

Cleaned up block. Bored 0.030 over, new freeze plugs, crank line bored.

Pistons: 0.030 CP pistons from Bo-port by way of Stinger. Shotpeened rods, bushed little end, big end 'cleaned up'.

Crank polished:

Needs a little more clean up on the block before painting:

Since Christmas is right around the corner I'm not going to be able to assemble it for at least a month. I put it on the engine stand today and covered it with a couple of clean towels. Any advice on how to store it for a month or so?

FYI: all 3 heads had significant cracks in them, so none were rebuildable. I took the other two blocks and the three heads to a recycling place today and got $44. Whoo Hoo.

0 for 3 with the heads

I picked up the block, pistons, crank etc. from Goza Auto Parts and Machine Shop today. Need to go through them when there is light and I have time, but looks like everything is there and done. Pictures soon.

They cleaned and Magnafluxed the two heads that appeared to be crack-less, but both were shown to have major cracks once cleaned up.

So 0-3 on the heads. Now to figure out where to get rid of them so I get some garage space back!

Ooohh Shiney