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    FEP Power Member Hemlock's Avatar
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    Jan 2007
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    Smile Hemlock's 1984 Mercury RS 5.0 Capri build Thread

    Hopefully this isn't too long winded

    In early 1984 My Father bought this car brand new from the local Ford dealer here in my home town of Santa Clarita, California. The car came fully loaded with the 5.0 4V H.O. motor, 5 speed T-5 transmission, T-Tops, Cruise Control, AC, Rear defroster, Power Windows and Locks, Premium Sound and the RS graphics kit. I am guessing that when the kit was being installed the person that put it on messed up the front air dam stripe because when my father bought the car it didn't have it on. It never bothered him it wasn't there, so he never fixed it. In Christmas of 1990, I was riding a junker motorcycle and my dad and mom were moving out of state for his work. He knew the RS wouldn't have made the trip across the country because of the work it needed so, he asked me if I would like to have it as a Christmas gift from him. I said HELL YEAH! The car had several problems which included the carb when I got it, so I had the carb rebuilt and got it working correctly. I drove the car for another 100,000 miles before the crankshaft broke in 1995 at around 180,000 miles.

    The original motor was in bad shape. When the crankshaft broke it took out the front main on the block and bent several of the rods. I basically pulled the top end off the motor and junked the rest of the block in a dumpster. I moved the car into my garage and there it sat for 11 years with no motor or transmission in it. I bought a few small parts for the motor over the years but never really had the cash to buy the major parts I needed to get the car back on the road. I am sure I could have thrown something together motor wise but I didn't want to put it back on the road half finished or with cheap second rate parts. I put all the parts in the back of the hatch area, put a cover on the car and there it sat. Fast forward to 2007. I had just sold a house and moved my Capri to my new place and I told my wife "I am going to fix my RS with some of the money from the sale of the house!" She agreed, after I bought her a brand new 2007 Dodge Charger LOL. I wanted to make sure I bought all the really good parts for this build.

    As the car sat when I moved it to the new house after sitting for 11 years.




    First Motor, when I got to the $12,000 mark after building a new motor, new electronics, new Z-class T5 trans and new rear end is when my wife started saying "hey this is getting expensive!" So at that point I started buying items according to price, instead of just buying the best stuff I could find. After that I just bought what I needed to get the car back on the road safely. I figured I could always upgrade the other stuff down the road. My goal was to keep the interior, exterior and under hood area of the car as stock looking as possible and just add a more aggressive modern stance to the car. I got the first Motor finished at the beginning of 2007.

    (My first "Smog Legal" Motor)




    Block: Stock 1987 302 Roller
    Displacement size: 347
    Compression Ratio: 10.3:1
    Rotating assembly: Eagle Forged with SRP Pistons
    Cam: FMS Smog Legal Grind E303
    Lifters: FMS Hydraulic roller tappet
    Heads: Edelbrock Performer 60359-1.94 Intake 1.6 Exh. with stock Edelbrock valve train
    Rockers: Crower Stainless Steel Roller Rockers
    Intake Manifold: Edelbrock Performer EGR
    Carb: Holley 5.0 4V 575cfm Stock Carb
    Exhaust manifold: Stock 1985 headers 1 1/2" to 2.5" collector and Hooker true duel 2.25 offroad exhaust with cats installed
    Ignition: Full MSD Ignition
    Starter:Mcleod High torque Mini
    Power adder:None

    Running Tremec Z-Class T-5, Hurst shift kit, Aluminum FMS driveshaft, rebuilt 8.8 rear end swap with new 3:55 Gears , new Eaton Posi, new Alloy USA 31 Spline Axles, Lakewood Traction Bars, Edelbrock quiet gear drive, Milodon Oil Pan and high flow water pump, ASP red anodized underdrive pulleys, FMS "C" lowering springs, Riken Raptor Tires in back.

    Because I live in California I was initially motivated to build a "smog legal" motor. I basically wanted a motor that would pass smog, sound nice and be a decent street/track motor. It ran pretty decent and with the light weight of the car it was just a little faster then a stock SVT Cobra, raced a few guys LOL



    The motor actually put down just under 300 RWHP on a standard Dyno which is real close to what the desktop dyno predicted and I was pretty happy with the build, although it still wouldn't pass smog even with all the smog legal parts. It passed the visual but not the sniffer. The smog guy basically said "that because I had every smog legal performance part made for my motor instead of just a few combined with the 347 CID, my car would NEVER pass smog in it's current configuration". My Oil Pump locked up at around 5000 miles on the motor and I was forced to rebuild it. At this point, I said Screw it! I'm gonna build the motor I want!


    ((My Second "Screw Smog" Motor))




    Block: Stock 1991 302 Roller
    Displacement size: 347
    Compression Ratio: 10.5:1
    Rotating assembly: Eagle Forged with SRP Pistons
    Cam: Comp Cams FW XE274HR-12 with Spring matched Valve train
    Lifters: Comp Cams Hydraulic roller tappet
    Heads: Ported Edelbrock Performer 60359-1.94 Intake 1.6 Exh.
    Rockers: Crower Stainless Steel Roller Rockers
    Intake Manifold: Port matched Edelbrock RPM Air Gap
    Carb: Holley 4777 650 Double Pumper
    Exhaust manifold: Hooker 6132HKR 1 5/8" to 3" collector and Magnaflow Catted X-pipe
    Ignition: Full MSD Ignition with in car timing controller
    Starter:Mcleod High torque Mini
    Power adder:NOS 150 Shot Sniper

    Running Tremec Z-Class T-5, Hurst shift kit, Aluminum FMS driveshaft, 8.8 rear end with 3:55 Gear Ratio, Eaton Posi, Alloy USA 31 Spline Axles, Maximum Motorsports adjustable lowers and strut tower brace, Lakewood Traction Bars, Edelbrock quiet gear drive, Milodon Oil Pan and high flow water pump, ASP red anodized underdrive pulleys, FMS "C" lowering springs, BFG Drag Radials (scary to drive with old Rikens, Zero traction in first and second).



    Figure The new build will be somewhere around 480 RWHP using the nitrous, around 350 RWHP without.



    (Current Car Configuration)

    Engine:
    Engine:
    1991 302 Roller Block stroke clearanced for 347
    Eagle balanced 347 forged rotating assembly
    SRP forged pistons
    Edelbrock ported and polished aluminum heads /w
    Competition Cams reworked valve train and springs
    Crower Stainless steel roller rockers
    Edelbrock quite gear drive
    Competition Cams XE274HR cam
    Edelbrock port matched RPM Air Gap Manifold
    Holley 4777 650cfm double pumper carb
    NOS Sniper 150 wet shot Nitrous system
    MSD Pro Distributer
    MSD 6a Box
    MSD in car timing controller
    Meling high volume oil pump
    Milodon high flow water pump
    Milodon Oil pan
    Powermaster 150 amp Alt.
    ASP Red under drive pulleys
    Mishimoto Polished Aluminum Radiator
    Mcleod High Torque Starter
    Flex-a-lite Mustang Black Magic Xtreme electric fan

    Exhaust:
    Hooker Competition 1 5/8 headers w/ 3" collectors
    Stage 8 locking header bolts
    Magnaflow 2.5" catted X-pipe
    Flowmaster 40 series mufflers
    Magnaflow Stainless 3" tips


    Drive train:
    Tremec Z-Class T5 transmission
    Centerforce DF clutch and pressure plate
    Fidanza 10.5" Aluminum Flywheel
    Hurst short throw shifter kit
    Hurst Nitrous T handle
    Ford Racing aluminum drive shaft
    Ford 8.8 rear end swap
    Ford Racing 3.55 gears
    Eaton Posi unit
    Alloy USA 31 spline 5 lug axles
    Ford Racing Axle Girdle

    Suspension / Wheels & Tires:

    Custom Through floor welded sub-frame connectors

    Front:
    UPR Heavy Duty K-Member
    Viking 200lb Coil Over Springs
    Strange 10 Way Adjustable Struts
    1987-1993 Spindle Upgrade
    Power Stop Cross Drilled and Slotted Rotors
    Factory Sway bars
    Centerline Scorpions 17"x 8" w/ 5" back space
    Riken Raptor Tires 245/40R17

    Rear:
    Maximum Motorsports Adjustable Lowers
    Ford Racing Heavy Duty Uppers
    Lakewood Mustang Traction Bars
    Monroe Sensa-Trac shocks w/ Coil over for rear
    Centerline Scorpions 17"x 9.5" w/ 5" back space
    Mickey Thomson Drag Radials 275/40R17

    Stereo:

    Pioneer 6800 CD / MP3 player in dash
    Rockford Fosgate 3.5" speakers in stock dash location
    Infinity 3 way 5.25" in front of drivers and pass seats in custom boxes
    Pioneer 5 way 6" x 9" in stock hatch speaker location
    JL 12" Sub-woofer in back hatch area
    Earthquake Competition 1800 watt 5 channel amplifier in Hatch area






    I will add more pictures and videos later. I will also add mods as I upgrade parts and try to get the car closer to being done.

    Car is very fast now and to me sounds pretty nasty. Still have a bunch more stuff to do to it. Kinda wondering if I should change direction at this point in time. I am tired of jumping through all the hoops for smog on a car that in this "condition" will never pass smog here in California with the current laws. It is getting harder and harder to find someone to "help" me out with it. Love the Car, it is a family heirloom, hate the FREAKING HASSLE every 2 years! At this point I am actually considering a SuperCharged 5.0 Coyote swap. The only thing stopping me from doing it is the fact that the car will no longer have any nostalgia appeal to it at all. Might also be the $16,000 price tag to do the swap as well ROFL!

    Thank you to all the really cool people on this site that have helped me get this car back on the road, your wealth of information has been priceless! I also wanted to Thank FEP for putting together such a cool site for us Capri, Mustang and foxbody owners to come too!

    Thank you for taking the time to check out my car!
    Robert
    Last edited by Hemlock; 09-04-2020 at 10:53 AM.
    1984 RS 347 Capri, To many car parts to list, check out my car build page here for the story on my car and a full parts list/setup!:

    My RS in Action

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