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WIIO KNOWS WHAT DEVIL UJRKS IN !lIELINCOLN-MERCURY IEALERSIIIPS

••• TIlE EADOW KmWS!

well-handling, economical vehicle.We happened to have one of the

first Capri II "S" cars in the area, soimmediately grew accustomed toquestions from passers-by, but it'snothing compared to taking the carout now, even on a normal littleshopping spree. The combination ofthe UOP-type paint, molded-in road­race fender flares, louvered rear win­dow and the beautiful BBSmagnesium/aluminum racing wheelswith Pirelli fat-guy tires, is strangeenough as a street combination thatonlookers really freak out over the

Black/gold Capri Interior Is finishednicely with Racemark wheel, Radio ShackCB and Panasonlc radio.

car. To us this is accomplishing agoal, as we like to create excitementwhich could easily cause someoneelse to get an idea and do-it-to-it.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ME NOW?

Although your basic Capri II "S" isa neat automobile, there are improve­ments, both mechanical and cosmet­ic, that can add to its overall drivingpleasure. And without getting into aserious discussion over what consti-

The Panasonlc multiple cassette playerand radio took some work to Install, butgives stock look.

tutes a driveable package (thosethings tend to be so subjective), let'sconsider that the upgraded "S" sus­pension package can be improvedupon. The Europeans don't botherthemselves with such worries as Fed­eral bumper standards, so they arecapable of sorting out suspensionsystems that are statically low anddynamically flat. We happen to havejust such a suspension on our car,and it basically consists of a frontand rear anti-roll bar, higher springrate coils, with less free length, andstiffer rear leaf springs. The shocksthemselves are also different, but weretained the McPherson strut frontshock assemblies and replaced therears with adjustable Konis.

"The Realistic One-Hander makes CBlngeasy, the Super Snooper evens 'em up,and the Racemark mirror. well ....

Our stock Capri II "S" before the 'glass addition was a "looking good" piece.Here Jeff Scozzaro (left) and assistant hold up our disguise pieces, and the effort was worth It.

HOT ROD JULY 1976 41

DEVIL IN DISGUISE

I'VE GROWN ACCIJSTIIMDJ TO HER nu:E

The Capri "S" interior is one ofthe best we've seen in quite a while.The vinyl-trimmed corduroy seatshave adjustable backs and are verycomfortable. The rest of the all-blackinterior is finished very nicely, andwe especially like the individual fold­ing rear seats. About the only com­plaint we had was with the steeringwheel. We just didn't like it, and itdoesn't go with the image of the car,but Bob Bailey's custom Racemarkwheel does. Another thing it does ismove the wheel away from you a lit­tle, thus giving you even more of atrue race car feeling. About the onlything necessary to mount the flat­black aluminum wheel was to bendthe turn indicator/high beam/horncontrol toward the dash a little.

HARD ROAD

Before we head out for parts east,we promise to give you the full tech­nical, how-to rundown next month.We also promise, the Lord willin',that if you attend any of the eventsmentioned, you'll get to see the carin person. And although these pic­tures do the car justice, thanks toKenny Youngblood's color layouttreatment, it just ain't like seeing thereal thing.

We're not done with the car either.Plans are to install a peppy little Ford302, along with a 4- or 5-speed trans.We also intend to drop the car in thedirt a little further, and add a fewtouches like smaller bumpers, rectan­gular headlights, driving lights, wiremesh grille, race-type oil cooler,blacked-out windows ... the devil ismaking us do this; think we betterstop now. ••

Now after all this work It would beheartbreaking to allow some evil per­son to walk off with a part or all of thislittle car. So what we did was Install aPage Alert security system that Is rath­er unique. Basically, It's a coded radiofrequency transmitter and receiver. Itworks to within a 1500-foot radius, op­erates off the original 12-volt batteryand is easily Installed. The receiver isa small rectangular box that can becarried In your pocket or clipped toyour belt and Is triggered If someoneopens the doors, hood or trunk of yourcar. Its beep Is ear-piercing andconsequently can be heard In anyroom of the house or office If youset It down. The triggering mech­anisms are micro switches such asthose that operate dome lights, Ignitionkey reminders, etc. It's a great idea,the unit really works, and If nothingwere to ever happen, It at least givesyou a sense of security. ••

tires and some of the little conven­ience items we felt we needed fortaking long trips.

For our trek across country, wewere careful to plan out the interiorappointments. The first installationwas a Panasonic FM/AM/FM stereowith cassette tape. The model weused is the CQ-742EU, but it is not adrop-in installation. We liked this par­ticular unit, so we removed the vinyldash face, trimmed a metal dashsupport, and plopped the unit inplace. The interior of the Capri is verywell done and very compact, so itdoesn't leave a lot of room to justhang things. This makes a CB instal­lation somewhat difficult, if not im­practical. What we did was go withthe new Radio Shack 21-161 trans­ceiver that has all the controls lo­cated in the hand-held mike. Thepower unit itself was mounted under­dash and out of the way. The onlyvisible giveaway, other than theBreaker, Thomas Jefferson, gutter­mount antennas, is the dash-mount­ed mike. The one-hand operation israther nice, and you have the optionof using the power unit speaker, ex­ternal speaker or the little speakermounted in the mike head.

Added insurance was our installa­tion of Autotronics' new SuperSnooper radar detector. For ourneeds, tt)e unit works well. It is rath­er large in overall size and so doesnot complement the compact interior,but Autotronics must have figuredthat not everyone would want the de­tector in operation all of the time, sothey very conveniently equipped theunit with a cigarette lighter connector.

Probably the single most notice­able suspension change, one thatmade a drastic difference in the han­dling characteristics of the car, wasthe tire/wheel combination. Initially,the BBS road racing wheels wereconsidered because of their Europe­an road-race flair and great-lookingappearance. However, after talkingfirst with Ed Austin of Wesco Track &Tire (he is something of a SouthernCalifornia distributor for BBS wheelsand those trick Pirelli Cinturato radi­als), we were convinced this was theway to go. Our initial call to PaulHarsanyi of Intermag (Box 2, Berkeley,California 94701), a U.S. importer forBBS wheels and Pirelli tires, was kindof comical. We were questioning himon the technical aspects and availa­bility of the BBS wheels, when wegot to the subject of what size tireswould be right for the car. We, ofcourse, wished to fill the wheelwellsbut did not want to bog the enginedown with too much tire. In his greatgentlemanly manner, Paul's reactionto our initial tire selections wentsomething like, ..... well, do youwant the car to just look pretty orwould you also like it to handle?" Ofcourse we wanted it to handle, so wewent with the Pirelli Cinturato CN36,235/60 VR 13 size. These steel-belt­ed radials are nearly nine incheswide, and at Paul's suggestion, 'Wemounted them on 9-inch-wide BBSwheels, using 5%-inch outer and 3%­inch inner wheel rim halves.

We obtained the European fiber­glass parts from the L&M engineeringdepartment, and they consisted of afront spoiler, four fender flares and arubber-tipped rear spoiler. The win­dow shade we used is Chastain'sShadow assembly, which by the way,is a snap to install. Because of ourdesire to have a well-finished, as wellas a racy appearance, we did notwant the fiberglass panels riveted on;we wanted them blended into thebody. This takes a batch of man­hours and a lot of labor to do cor­rectly, but that's what we wanted.Jeff Scozzaro (his car was featuredon our May '76 cover) of Jeff's Placein Anaheim, California, executed allof the bodywork, inner wheelwellmodifications, and applied the rib­bons of color and a gallon and a halfof black lacquer.

ALL IN THE NAMEOF ROCK AND ROLL

We didn't just build this car for thesake of doing it and then giving itback to Ford for someone to stick ina corner. We bought the car, paid forthe bodywork and paint, wheel and

42 HOT ROD JULY 1976

VBJUICEAside from turbocharging, one of thefew practical ways to increase thepower of a Capri Is to upgrade thepowerplant. In essence, this V8 Capriswap does Just that, by replacing theV6/4-speed with a small-block Ford V8and C-4 trans. Modifications to the '76Capri were minimal. Dave Bowling,whose action emporium at 14846 Ac­ton Drive In San Jose, California, turnsout everything from rear-motoredsprinters to V8 Caprls, merely fittedthe V8 with a Bronco 011 pan and pick­up, fabricated steel plate front and rearmotor mounts, altered the driveshaft

Fabricated rear trans mount bolts up Inthe stock location. It's made from'I.-inch plate. With the rear insulator Itlooks nearly stock.

IEALERSHIP IEVILHave you any idea what comes fromlincoln-Mercury dealerships, looks alittle devilish and a lot freaky? Well,It's the Capri S/3, and It's based onthe Capri II "S". All those bulbousflares, spoilers and such are the hand­iwork of Roger Chastain & Associates,the Shadow window louver people, andthey are building these cars for L&Mdealers. To get one, you simply bUy abase Capri with the $241 "S" package,with a 4-speed, V6 engine, powersteering, tinted glass and the flip-outrear quarter windows. For an addition­al $1950, you can have a finished S/3,

nose to accept a C-4 U-Joint assembly,bolted In a '74 Capri shift selectorwhich only required a 3-inch extensionadded to one shift rod, then added atrans cooler, increased the capacity ofthe stock V6 radiator, attached a short­ened water pump, and then finished itall off with a set of over-the-counterheaders. The entire Installation isstraightforward and simple enough todo, but if you feel not quite qualified totackle something like this, Dave willeither do the work or supply the actualconversion kit. This swap took a weekand a half to complete and $2000 ••

The stock drlveshaft was retained butmodified to accept the C-4 universal.The only mod to the shift linkage wasto add 3 Inches.

which means that in addition to theabove features you will get a front airdam, full-flared front and rear fenders,rear spoiler, body tape, "gate-shift"center console, Shadow rear windowlouver, 7-lnch wire-mag wheels andB.F. Goodrich TA 50 tires. The com­plete deal, less dealer prep, destina­tion charges, tax and license, but In­cluding the "S" package and above­mentioned options, will list out for$6848, and for that you get to turn thekey and drive it away.

Those of you who already have aCapri II can purchase blind-rivet, pop-

The small-block Ford V8 nestles In theCapri engine compartment nicely. Itlooks like this is the place it wasmeant to be and it Is.

Bronco oil pan, along with thenecessary pickup, was Installed toclear the rack and pinion and the frontcrossmember.

on kits directly from Roger and, on aSaturday afternoon, assemble yourown sinister-looking pseudo road rac­er. The components are available InCapri "S" white or black, so if youhave any other color, you will need tohave the components painted beforeassembly. There are two less expen­sive kits available: an S/1, which In­cludes a Shadow rear window louverand hood, trunk and side body stripes($149); and there's an SI2, which In­cludes the rear window louver, allbody stripes, front air dam and rearspoiler ($287). • •

HOT ROD JULY 197643

WIUD'S ITALL ABIJ1JT IIJGER?

DEVIL IN DISGUISE

THYIN' TO GETTHE FEELINGSome people don't go In for engineswaps; they'd rather retain the stockpowerplant and try to get it to performso people will think It's something itreally isn't. The Capri V6 is a popularengine and it's doubtful that many die­hard Capri lovers would ever agree toparf with one. Jerry Kugel had onesuch customer-a va was out and acarefully prepared V6 was in. The ba­sic rebuild consisted of a blueprintthat brought all specs down to the mini­mum and clearances to a max. Theheads were cut to give an overall com­pression ratio of 9.0:1, and a completethree-angle valve job added. The clear­anced crank, rods and stock pistonassemblies were carefully balancedand an Isky No. 450465 cam Installed.Offenhauser produces probably themost efficient two-piece manifold avail·able for a V6, so It and a Holley 390­cfm carb made up the induction sys­tem. The stock Ignition curve wasquickened to produce more "low-end"and was tailored In conjunction withClifford Research headers. Althoughall this added up to one mighty im­pressive yet drlveable package, Itwould be necessary, at least in Call·fornla, to have the engine tested foremission levels. After all, this Is awhole bunch of changin' as far as theFeds are concerned. __

44 HOT ROD JULY 1976

The Chastain & Associates (Shadow)pop-on parts differ drastically from theEuropean Ford components. Of coursethe Ford pieces were designed specifi­cally for one thing-racing. The S/3 kitwas engineered for the street and un·

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derwent many hours of Intense consid­eration before finalizing shapes, at­tachment method and overall design.For your edification, we present thisstriking comparison, as it tells youwhat Roger had on his mind. __

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ILIN DI~... OR HOW TO ROCK OUT WITHFIBERGLASS PANELS

PART2

I

Black is beautiful but it's difficult to keep clean. What we did was order a Custom FitCar Cover from Beverly Hills Motor Parts. It was made for our car, constructed of 100%green cotton drill, is water-repellant and soft enough not to scratch our shiny blacklacquer. Price is $45 to $55, depending on size.

Last month we introduced whatwe feel is an exciting vehicle,one which looks very similar to

a present-day road racer and onewhich could quite possibly be easilylost if compared to tomorrow's streetfreaks. A slow-moving trend is begin­ning to take shape, and that shapewill be bold, very bold.

Without resorting to tea leaf read­ing or fortune telling cards, it's asafe assumption to guess that youwill be seeing more and more freaky

I'

Stock fenders were trimmed toaccommodate larger tires. Sheetmetalremoval was done by drilling holes andtearing away the material with a chiseland punch. Lip was then turned underwith pliers.

body panels and spoilers. RogerChastain has set a precedent with his"pop-on" blind rivet panels, as theycan be installed without expensivebodywork. And although they arecurrently available only for Capri lis,it's just a matter of time before thesetypes of parts are made for otherpopular vehicles. Of course that dayhasn't come yet, which means thatwe either have to modify existingpieces or make our own.

Fiberglass is a wonderful thing and

Fiberglass panels were held In place andaligned so that the straight body seamscomplemented those on the doors. Oncelocated correctly, the steel fenders weremarked with white grease pencil.

WE'RE SORRY, BUT ... It seems thatsomewhere In our production depart­ment we inadvertently left out a shortparagraph In our Initial Devil In Dis­guise article. The paragraph dealt withour intentions of having our Capri onhand at the NSRA Street Machine Na­tionals and the NHRA Indy Nationals.We made reference to this In the story,but you would be hard-pressed to figureit all out, since there was no mentionof the events we Intended to make. Oursincere apologies for the mistake ... Iguess the Devil made us do It.-JD

The fender alignment mark was used as aguide so that the metal could be groundwith a body grinder. This Is to makepreparation for the fiberglass bonding andto ensure proper adhesion.

HOT ROD AUGUST 1976 95

CAPRI

is not really difficult to work with, butin all fairness to those of you whoare interested in purchasing race­type 'glass for street use, be readyfor a considerable amount of hand­finishing. For one thing, most ofthese components are designed for

Once the fenders were ground down tobare metal, resin-soaked fiberglass matwas applied to those areas where thefiberglass panel lips would be attached.

With the fenders secured by a few rivets,the attaching lips were drilled at 2-lnchcenters and blind-riveted to the fender.The rivets close most large gaps.

Final step was application of body filler tocover and blend all attachment areas.This was done In steps so filler wasn'tapplied too thickly in any area.

sophisticated race car applications,so there's not a lot of attention paidto paint-ready surfaces. This, ofcou rse, means that once the partsare installed, it takes a capable body­man to spot-fill and sand the highand low spots to achieve a smooth,

After the fiberglass resin cured completely,a body grinder was used to make a smoothtransition from the 'glass panel to thesteel body, but the rivet heads were left.

After each application of filler material;the puttylike material was grated andsanded to arrive at a nice-lookingcontour. This simplified final blocking.

CAPRI

waveless body panel. A word to thewise here: Select a light-color paintand carefully placed accent stripes.We went just the opposite and se­..Jcted black, which shows any andall body flaws. Our Capri body is re­ally straight, but that's only becauseJeff Scozzaro outdid himself andblock-sanded the body until his fin­gers were raw.

This type of fiberglass panels canbe installed and finished in basicallytwo ways: One is simply to blind-rivetthem in place and paint over the pro-

truding rivet heads, and the secondis to rivet them on, blending the pan­els with fiberglass mat and body fil­ler. The second alternative gives amore custom appearance but is farmore costly. While the simple rivetedpanels can be done in your backyardwith very little hassle, if you're inter­ested in a smoother approach, wesuggest that you carefully look overthe accompanying how-to photos.They should give you a detailed ideaof what is really involved in clothinga Devil. ••

Devil In Disguise

Part 1:

Hot Rod Magazine

July, 1976

Part 2:

For More

August, 1976

Information

on English

and European

Fords Visit

Hot Rod Magazine

The only clear on the car was applied tothe multi-color stripes and white. Theblack was not cleared. Jeff Scozzarohand-rubbed the black and finished it withglaze. He feels It's easier repaired lateron.

With the panels in place and contoured tothe fenders, the entire car wasblock-sanded. Careful attention was paidto all modified areas so that the endresult looked more custom than it didracy.

Three colors of stripes were used, with nocolor separation between them. This givesthe paint scheme a striking appearancebut makes removing masking tape atedious job. When removing, pull back,not up.

The basic car received 1'!2 gallons ofblack lacquer, and the entire body,Including the rear window slats, wl!scolor-sanded. This, along with bodypreparation, Is the basic differencebetween a good and a bad Job.

Ed Herling of Kim & Ed's In Fullerton,Calif., plnstrlped the car. He mixed ametallic sliver/gray paint that accents thestripes Just enough. Anything more gaudywould take away from the overall effect.

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