I got a call from a friend his uncle was going to scrap this rough but running/driving 79 Capri RS 302/4 speed back in 2015(?). I couldn't let that happen, so we scooped it up and I stored it for a while, passed it to a friend who bought some parts for it, then passed it off again, and eventually it came right back to me. So I got started with some basic stuff like tie rod ends, wheel cylinders, a section of fuel line, and a water pump. Fixed the hole in the floor the seat had fallen through! I drove the car a bit here and there, and aside from leaking and burning a quart of oil every 30 or so miles it proved to want to live. Even ejected the sunroof on the highway, damn rotted hinges! D'OH! But we've replaced it.
The theme for this car has been low buck upgrades. First was a 3.27 trac-loc 8.8 from a friend he was going to scrap (and another trac-loc rear to grab clutches from). We went through the 3.27 rear, checked all the bearings and clearances, scuffed up the clutches and measured them out to factory upper limit of spec for pack thickness and assembled a tight pack. We then installed the rear. My buddy drove the car home 20 miles with no issue. After getting home, we made it 2 miles and the engine lost all oil pressure: typical snapped oil pump driveshaft.
So then the car sat. Until we had the space to bring it back to the shop and tear into it. Along the way, some years ago, I got a partially complete 95 302 from a friend for free, he was glad I took it! It was sans valvetrain, but thanks to some great friends I was able to source 90% of the parts very cheap, as well as picking up a 4 cylinder t5 to replace the worn out SROD.
So finally we dragged the car up and tore into it. Seeing the sludge in this 302 I was amazed it ran as well as it did. We had just began putting the 5.0 together when COVID hit, and we closed down. Finally in September we got back on the project, albeit much slower than before, and now were getting ready to put it in the car soon.
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