Croke's 1984 Mercury Capri Turbo RS Build Thread

[martin0660]

Looking really good Mike ... I really like the plate with the smaller gauges .... hmmmm, must resist adding to the "to do" list

[Hissing Cobra]

OMG! Those gauges look FANTASTIC! It's amazing what hard work and ingenuity can create. The dash board and dash pad improve the looks of things tremendously. Ya better watch out though, with each visual improvement, you'll get yourself addicted and before you know it, it'll be a show car - just like your other one!

[JTurbo]

Nice work as always!

JT

[Ken Newman]

It does look nice. Is th DCC fan controller easy to program?

[Mike Croke]

Fan control needs no programming. Just wire it up. There is a little potentiometer to adjust the "on" temperature but I haven't messed with it.

This thing is far from show car. I'm amazed it even runs. It looks way better in photos than in person.

After the first test drive, I got back home and tried to engage reverse but got a dreadful noise. Took me a bit to muse upon it until I remembered that the wiring to the reverse lights was rotted and so when the reverse lights were getting turned on, it was sending 12V to the starter solenoid because of the crappy wiring. I jacked the car up and sure enough, the wires were a mess. Fixing that made it go into reverse without engaging the starter.

Something interesting got fixed with the dash swap. The fuel door release button in the glove box never worked so filling up meant popping the hatch and fishing around for the manual release cable. Now, magically, the fuel door release works. I swapped the dash but the original wiring is the same.

Driving it around during the day, it behaved perfectly. However, when I drove it later than evening, it was glitchy at part throttle. Cruising at constant speed, the tach would jump up intermittently. Not sure if I got something wet when hosing off the engine or if there is something else wrong. Maybe some more miles will help dry things out.

[AT6svo]

Man, she has gotten quite a bit love since I was out there earlier this year!

The interior looks infinitely better, with the cherry on top being the gauges.

[Mike Croke]

Dyno day!!!

A good day. Nothing broke!

A total of 39 cars and trucks got strapped to the dyno today to benefit a good guy who needs a kidney transplant. Well organized, everyone courteous and mindful of the line of cars waiting their turn to run so cars got strapped, pulled, and rolled off to make room for the next one without dawdling.

My pulls are here. I can email the files to any of you insomniacs that want to view in closer detail. The short version is 205hp/275tq at the wheels.

The lengthier version is A/F was rich on the first pull, so each pull was with reduced fuel pressure to lean it out a bit. However, there was something causing a stutter/miss at revs over 4500. The tachometer would start getting erratic and jumpy so there is some electrical gremlin to chase. Might be a bad ground some place or a bad coil perhaps. I'll do some fiddling to see if I can hunt it down.

This car is a giggle to drive. Despite being the lowest output car of the day, it garnered a lot of attention and a couple friends took it for a drive returning with silly smirks on their faces.

[Ken Newman]

Looks great. Puts way more power to the wheels than anything I drive.

[SchoolBoy]

Ok mike refresh my memory here, mods to the motor stand as......


Stock 2.3 Long block?
What size turbo?
E-6 manifold
Stinger 3" down elbow
3" down pipe and single exhaust
FMIC
Forced4 CAI
What level of boost?

I am just trying to figure out how you put down 275tq but only 205hp. The only thing I can think of lots of boost....

[martin0660]

a couple friends took it for a drive returning with silly smirks on their faces.

The next step from silly smirk is amazed stare and finallly oh crap

LOL

[SchoolBoy]

The next step from silly smirk is amazed stare and finallly oh crap

LOL

Ya these little motors usally don't make belivers out of people till they drive one!

[martin0660]

I am just trying to figure out how you put down 275tq but only 205hp.

LOL, one of the great points of 2.3 Turbo cars, they make great torque on boost. The last time my junk was strapped to a dyno it made 347 HP and 421 Torque with a boost control issue (and on a mustang dyno). As power goes up, the two will come more together, but in the form like Mike has his, that's what results in silly smirks

[Mike Croke]

When we got to the dyno, the combo was:

Rebuilt stock 2.3T
Rebuilt head with big valves and mild porting
Inline intake
E6
Original T3 turbo
Stinger 3" down elbow, complete 3" exhaust
Stinger fmic
LA3, 35# injectors, big VAM
Initial timing @ 10*, premium switch hardwired on
CAI and manual boost control from Forced4 set at 15psi
Adjustable fuel pressure regulator at ~43psi

The manual boost controller is not very consistent and I think I'll have to get something more accurate. Although I had been seeing 15psi while street driving, on the dyno the gauge showed closer to 17psi. When one friend test drove it, he insists he saw a momentary spike to 19psi.

The fuel pressure is now about 6psi less because the first two pulls were very rich. That was obviously deliberate because there's no wideband sensor on this car and I don't want to replace head gaskets.

[SchoolBoy]

Ok so your really close to my build minus the big valves in the head and the down elbow.



Darn'it I want my dyno time now.....

[Hissing Cobra]

Very nice! It looks awesome on the rollers. My cousin's SVO absolutely screams on the highway and he surprised me on the way to one of the car shows with it.

[ccurtin]

Many thanks to Ken Newman for saving me a trip to the yards.

Ken had an extra harness that will work. Here's the difference between the plug for the pump. The grey plug is for the dual pump car, the red plug is for the single pump cars. With both side by side, the only difference appears to be that little alignment key on the one side. So I think I'll just trim that bit off the grey plug and return Ken's harness to him. Without the correct harness, I would not have known that and did not want to start hacking things up.



Thanks Ken!


EDIT: My senile brain got the colors backwards. Now fixed.

Mike, did it turn out that all you needed to do was trim the tab (and run the new ground) or did you have to do something else?

Sorry to bring this thread back, but I haven't found anyone else who has done the swap encountering this (or they all just hacked off the tab and didn't write about it) and I'm looking to order my hanger in a couple of weeks, so I want to be sure I get the right one.

Thanks,

Chris

[Mike Croke]

Chris,

Yes, I re-used the original plug/harness for the dual pump setup and ground down the mismatched "key" thingy. I cannot imagine installing the plug backwards since the retaining clip would clock the plug correctly.

I did remove the old resistive ground wire and ran a new ground wire to a bolt being sure to scrape some paint away for good contact.

[ccurtin]

Chris,

Yes, I re-used the original plug/harness for the dual pump setup and ground down the mismatched "key" thingy. I cannot imagine installing the plug backwards since the retaining clip would clock the plug correctly.

I did remove the old resistive ground wire and ran a new ground wire to a bolt being sure to scrape some paint away for good contact.

Thanks Mike!

[Mike Croke]

Swapped in the "new" MC Machine dash plate so I could add a wideband oxygen sensor and move the boost gauge from the A-pillar pod down to the dash. More low key. I will try to get better pics another time. The solar eclipse was very cool but made lighting odd.

[Mike Croke]

We've been collecting the assorted kibbles 'n' bits needed to do a 5 lug rear disc swap on the car. We have Paul's old wheels which will look great on this car.

What I do have confidence in is to contact Maximum Motorsports for excellent advice and good parts. To that end, I got one of their starter boxes with springs, struts, shocks, caster/camber plates, and polyurethane spring isolators. In addition, I got several other pieces I knew would be needed like the bump steer kit, brake proportioning valve plug, adjustable brake prop valve, '95 GT master cylinder, and new bushings for the rear upper control arms.

We have a complete SN95 8.8 for the rear. The front has been a mystery as finding reliable info has mostly confused and addled my feeble brain. We have '94-'95 spindles already and also have SN95 arms.

So, I assembled the front with one SN95 control arm and one stock Fox arm. Both sides have the MM springs and Bilstein struts with the Cobra wheel. See attached pics for more info.

Based on these, we'll be keeping the Fox arms.

[Mike Croke]

Pics with the SN95 arm on the passenger side and Fox arm on the driver's side.

[Hissing Cobra]

Swapped in the "new" MC Machine dash plate so I could add a wideband oxygen sensor and move the boost gauge from the A-pillar pod down to the dash. More low key. I will try to get better pics another time. The solar eclipse was very cool but made lighting odd.

Mike,

I'm a HUGE fan of your MC dash plates and someday I will pull the trigger and order them from you. I've got two dead gauges in the Cobra (water temp/oil pressure) and the tach is disconnected. When the last two go (amp/fuel) you'll be getting contacted. They look KILLER!

[evlgt85]

So, a lot has gone on with the car, though apparently not a lot has been posted. I'll throw some pics up here and Croke can fill in the details. The car sat on jackstands for a while, but now sits on the Cobra wheels all the way 'round. As you'll see in the images, there is a distinct lack of brake parts as well as a control arm mismatch up front, though the parts to remedy that have now arrived.


Doing the "It's wet, so we'll pretend it has paint" thing:


Fox control arm this side:


SN95 this side:


Can't pretend it has paint anymore:


Quick shot of the dash plate and all the lovely gauges:

[82GTforME]

...I knew would be needed like the bump steer kit...
We have a complete SN95 8.8 for the rear. The front has been a mystery as finding reliable info has mostly confused and addled my feeble brain. We have '94-'95 spindles already and also have SN95 arms.

Based on these, we'll be keeping the Fox arms.

Are you still planning on using the bumpsteer kit with the Fox arms then? I used the same spindles and lowered slightly (without coil overs) and the steering is a little sensitive. Not sure how "bumpsteer" is actually defined and how bad it actually could be.

So, a lot has gone on with the car, though apparently not a lot has been posted... as well as a control arm mismatch up front, though the parts to remedy that have now arrived.

Come on Mike, enlighten us to the plan!

Doing the "It's wet, so we'll pretend it has paint" thing:

LOL'd at that statement!

[evlgt85]

He's putting away laundry...I'm sure he'll have to show up in this thread eventually.

SN95 arms will be used. The plot thickens!