'86 Mercury Capri T top

[Darkrider]

I have actually owned this car since November but have not said much about it due to the nature of events around the time i bought it. But now i have been thinking about the car a bit lately and kind of figuring out what needs to be done at min to get it drive able by summer. As to the events...basically two weeks after i bought the car the friend i bought it from committed suicide. It hit me and several car club members pretty hard. He was also building a 1976 Chevy Camaro around the same time in his shop classes in high school. That car is currently in the process of being completed by the car club as a whole as a tribute to him. In a way this build is my own personal tribute to my late friend. That all said...


1986 Mercury Capri T Top

2.3 4 cyl
4 speed trans


Min needed to be running:

Front brakes rebuilt
Fuel system repairs
new fuel tank.
Whatever else is discovered during repairs.

So the goal is to basically go "Roadkill" style on it to get it going to get baseline info.

On to what pics i have for it..

https://i.imgur.com/OgBJUpp.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/pULjqec.jpg

[ben2go]

My cousin had the dark silver over black with black interior version. It was a 5.0L car with a five-speed manual. It was the last year for them and was the equivalent of a Mustang GT or Cobra. I can't remember which. Some of those cars came with the turbo 2.3L engine and auto transmission.

[JerryHawk250]

My cousin had the dark silver over black with black interior version. It was a 5.0L car with a five-speed manual. It was the last year for them and was the equivalent of a Mustang GT or Cobra. I can't remember which. Some of those cars came with the turbo 2.3L engine and auto transmission.
A coworker of mine had the turbo 2.3L engine.

[Weldangrind]

I always liked those more than the Mustang version of the same year. Turbo 2.3 stuff is lots of fun, and the T-Birds and Cougars were also available with them. That would be silly fun with a four speed.
Very sad news about your friend; I'm sure he'd love to know you were banging gears in his old Capri, with an ear-to-ear grin.

[wheelbender6]

Sorry to hear about your friend.
I remember wanting one of those T-top Capris pretty bad when they were introduced.
The little 2.3L Ford motor can be hopped up if desired. I believe the stock carb is a variant of the Weber vari-jet down draft. It has a cross flow head. Add a hotter cam and a set of headers and it should be fast enough to get you in trouble. Not a lot of pesky electronics on it to complicate things. Manual tranny makes hop ups easier too.

[ben2go]

Sorry to hear about your friend.
I remember wanting one of those T-top Capris pretty bad when they were introduced.
The little 2.3L Ford motor can be hopped up if desired. I believe the stock carb is a variant of the Weber vari-jet down draft. It has a cross flow head. Add a hotter cam and a set of headers and it should be fast enough to get you in trouble. Not a lot of pesky electronics on it to complicate things. Manual tranny makes hop ups easier too.
'86 I believe has throttle body injection 2.3L with a Mazda transmission.

[Darkrider]

My cousin had the dark silver over black with black interior version. It was a 5.0L car with a five-speed manual. It was the last year for them and was the equivalent of a Mustang GT or Cobra. I can't remember which. Some of those cars came with the turbo 2.3L engine and auto transmission.

That would be the RS i believe and the Cobra was simply an appearance package on the GT.

A coworker of mine had the turbo 2.3L engine.

Those were difficult to find even new from what i seen while doing my research on the model.

I always liked those more than the Mustang version of the same year. Turbo 2.3 stuff is lots of fun, and the T-Birds and Cougars were also available with them. That would be silly fun with a four speed.
Very sad news about your friend; I'm sure he'd love to know you were banging gears in his old Capri, with an ear-to-ear grin.

Thanks Weld

Perhaps one day this one will see a Turbo swap. Have already contemplated a blow through Turbo on it.

Sorry to hear about your friend.
I remember wanting one of those T-top Capris pretty bad when they were introduced.
The little 2.3L Ford motor can be hopped up if desired. I believe the stock carb is a variant of the Weber vari-jet down draft. It has a cross flow head. Add a hotter cam and a set of headers and it should be fast enough to get you in trouble. Not a lot of pesky electronics on it to complicate things. Manual tranny makes hop ups easier too.

Thanks and Yea i am glad it is the carbed version of the car makes it a lot easier to do upgrades. Have already looked at a weber swap. There is also the Offenhouser 4 barrel intake to consider as well.

'86 I believe has throttle body injection 2.3L with a Mazda transmission.

'86 was the transition year it seems. This one is the carbed version with a 4 speed. I may end up doing a T5 swap to it down the line.

[ben2go]

You have an early '86.

[wheelbender6]

The 200ci six cylinder models were harder to hop up. The intake manifold and cylinder head were one continuous casting. To change carbs, you usually had to do some machine work, though there are some bolt on adapters available.
-The other problem was that all the 200ci six models (1982 and later) had automatic transmissions. The need for a tranny kick down linkage limited your choice of carb swaps.
If you like that 200ci six, its better to get a 1964-1966 Mustang. There are plenty of those with manual transmissions still on the street.

[Darkrider]

You have an early '86.

That is what i kinda figured. Makes it a lot easier to work on none the less. And if i ever decide to drop in a 2.3 Turbo i can always go the standalone computer route with Megasquirt.

The 200ci six cylinder models were harder to hop up. The intake manifold and cylinder head were one continuous casting. To change carbs, you usually had to do some machine work, though there are some bolt on adapters available.
-The other problem was that all the 200ci six models (1982 and later) had automatic transmissions. The need for a tranny kick down linkage limited your choice of carb swaps.
If you like that 200ci six, its better to get a 1964-1966 Mustang. There are plenty of those with manual transmissions still on the street.

Thankfully this car is the 2.3 4 cyl not the straight six.

[cheesy]

I had a first generation Mustang with a carbed 2.3 and 4 speed with power nothing. Biggest issue I had was that it was horrible in snow and I rebuilt the steering rack twice. Honestly thought that Mrs. C would try to learn to drive a stick with this one.

[Darkrider]

I had a first generation Mustang with a carbed 2.3 and 4 speed with power nothing. Biggest issue I had was that it was horrible in snow and I rebuilt the steering rack twice. Honestly thought that Mrs. C would try to learn to drive a stick with this one.

I may attempt to teach my wife how to drive stick in this. Either this or one of the Datsuns i just picked up.. Guess we will see.

[culcune]

The first car I bought at a dealership (Ford dealer in Simi Valley, Cal.--forgot what the name was in '89 when I bought it) was an '86 Capri 5.0 five-speed manual car. It did not have the T-tops, and more odd, it had an air conditioning delete (unless air was optional in those days) which would be unusual in So. Cal. whoever bought it new, unless they lived near the beach where the temps never got into the 100+ F like they did in the valleys of the L.A. area. I had some stick knowledge, but had a friend drive it back to Northridge. The dealership even took in my beat up '78 Trans Am as a $300 trade in, lol.

I loved that car, and it even got me to buy a new '93 GT in late October '93, but with the down payment and 5 years of monthly payments, I should have stuck with the '86 Capri and dumped in cash to a new crate engine (they were selling the 340 HP 5.0s), Tremec transmission and supercharger. I was too young and dumb to know better...

[Weldangrind]

I may attempt to teach my wife how to drive stick in this. Either this or one of the Datsuns i just picked up.. Guess we will see.

What model of Datsun? Got pics?

[wheelbender6]

"The first car I bought at a dealership (Ford dealer in Simi Valley, Cal.--forgot what the name was in '89 when I bought it) was an '86 Capri 5.0 five-speed manual car"
Its very hard to find a V8 Capri/Mustang from the 80s that is restoreble these days.

[SamM]

I have a 1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe intake manifold and a HX35 turbo that I would insider selling. It’s been sitting in my garage for a few years. My Turbo Coupe was sold and I have no use for it. There is also a turbo valve cover out there.

SamM

[Darkrider]

What model of Datsun? Got pics?

Made a deal on 2 Datsun 521 Pickups and 2 Datsun 510 wagon parts cars. No pics yet but i will get some in the spring along with some pics of my '69 Chevy C10 as they are on the same farm as it.

I have a 1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe intake manifold and a HX35 turbo that I would insider selling. It’s been sitting in my garage for a few years. My Turbo Coupe was sold and I have no use for it. There is also a turbo valve cover out there.

SamM

Def perked my interest, will send ya a pm soon to find out more about these parts. I could easily see converting the car to FI with a standalone controller like Megasquirt.

[Weldangrind]

Made a deal on 2 Datsun 521 Pickups and 2 Datsun 510 wagon parts cars. No pics yet but i will get some in the spring along with some pics of my '69 Chevy C10 as they are on the same farm as it.

You have my full attention. I love both the independent rear axle of the 510, as well as the utilitarian look of the pickup. I've seen some crazy vids of 280Z parts filling the engine bay of a 510 to make a boxy little rocket.

[Darkrider]

You have my full attention. I love both the independent rear axle of the 510, as well as the utilitarian look of the pickup. I've seen some crazy vids of 280Z parts filling the engine bay of a 510 to make a boxy little rocket.

I know one of the wagons is a total loss in terms of rebuilding it as the floors are completely shot in it. I think that is the case with the other one as well. I seem to recall that my parents briefly had a 510 when i was a kid but it was such a brief period that i do not remember much about it. There were also a few Toyota cars in there as well. A wagon and a 2 door. Believe those were camrys. One vehicle i wish that dad had not gotten rid of however was the Willys Jeep pickup. Anyways..with that all said that kind of explains why i have an interest in obscure older vehicles.

[culcune]

"The first car I bought at a dealership (Ford dealer in Simi Valley, Cal.--forgot what the name was in '89 when I bought it) was an '86 Capri 5.0 five-speed manual car"
Its very hard to find a V8 Capri/Mustang from the 80s that is restoreble these days.

Back in the later 90s, the subsequent owner tracked me down to see if I wanted to buy it back. He had a crappy white paint job slapped on it (it was solid gray), the seats had a few holes in them, and it looked in poor shape overall. Somehow, it was never quite registered so I kind of still owned it, apparently. He wanted $2k for it, whereas I sold it to an acquaintance for $1500, lol. The registration was kind of confirmed when about a year later a salvage yard guy from an hour outside of L.A. in the so-called 'high desert' contacted me...I went to see the car out of nostalgia when he said he had it on his lot and I was the last registered owner (?!) and I thought maybe it had a couple dents and dings; the car was wrecked--it was still white. I was hoping it was salvageable at that point, but it was not meant to be, but I did still have my '93 GT. I later learned that the non- t-top Capri 5.0s were very rare. I could have sworn I read in 5.0 Mustang and Fast Ford magazine that only about 100 non t-top 5.0 '86 Capris existed when they did an article on a guy with one. Don't quote me, but Capris were rare to begin with, and any other one I came across had T-tops.

[Darkrider]

In the first post in this thread i posted up about a camaro that this friend was also building. Hopefully this link works...but it goes to an album for my personal photography page showing some of the teardown today..

https://www.facebook.com/pg/darkriderphotogaphy/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1506748962767977

[wheelbender6]

I love Camaros of that vintage. Looks like a 1976 model.

[Darkrider]

I love Camaros of that vintage. Looks like a 1976 model.

It is... well what is left of one anyway.. a 1976 Type LT. But we are currently at a hard stall on the project as we found some terminal rust in the shell.

[Darkrider]

Well a bit of an update on this. First an update on the Camaro...it has been canceled due to the severe rust damage. So that car is being parted out and the proceeds will be donated in his name instead..

Anyway onto the Capri i finally got to look at it in person for the first time today and got a bit of a walk around in along with pics. The worst rust is where the rub strips were once and thankfully the areas are pretty flat making it somewhat easy to repair them.

https://i.imgur.com/gAfwTb8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EhGNXL4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0lNWlH3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ET32VX2.jpg


Otherwise the worst damage is the dents in the passenger door...not sure how i am going to deal with that but i will sort that out later..

I also made a verbal deal on this. Will be making a down payment on it on payday.

https://i.imgur.com/2ANfyvk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BMys2Hx.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dkrNRkw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/x9ULVyw.jpg

1969 Ford F250 Ranger Camper special with a 390/auto in it.

[Weldangrind]

I'm in love with that sweet old bumpside! Is it a 250?

[Darkrider]

I'm in love with that sweet old bumpside! Is it a 250?


Yup, F250 with the Ranger trim and Camper special package. 390 FE V8 with a 3 speed automatic. Of course there will be a thread on it once i start on that project. Though i suppose i should consider doing one large thread covering the two Squares, the 69 C10, the Capri. Or is it easier to follow if i just keep doing separate threads for each?

[Weldangrind]

Separate threads are easier for my head.

[Darkrider]

Separate threads are easier for my head.

Then i shall keep with that method of things. Hopefully the capri will be in the storage yard by the end of next week. The F250 soon after. The '84 C10 will be home..most likely on a permanent basis at that point. Landlords dont mind that i have 3 vehicles there so eh...

[Darkrider]

Looking like i will finally be moving this to the storage yard on friday. Did not make a payment on the F250 yet so i am kinda hoping it is still around to make another attempt on a payment on it come payday.

[Darkrider]

Well today was to be the day we moved the car to the yard finally. However during the process of jacking it up to change front tires we discovered the unibody is too rusted out to be worth building the car. Same basic problem as what happened with the Dirty Mary Camaro project. So sadly this project died before it got off of the ground...quite literally..

[Weldangrind]

That sure happens with rust belt cars. Here's hoping your F250 project has a better foundation.

[Darkrider]

That sure happens with rust belt cars. Here's hoping your F250 project has a better foundation.


From what i have seen of it thus far it is def much better off. The problem with the Capri was that it sat on its unibody for well over a dozen years or so. It was last on the road in '05 and recovered by Ian in '17. During that time its front body was on the ground for certain. Meanwhile the truck at the very least has been on tires for most of its parked state.