73 Capri. Ford folks, I need help!

Hey Ford folks. Im looking at a 73 Capri. It comes with the 2.6L V6 and 4 speed box. Looking at the ITCS, this is an ITA car. At 2390lbs, it looks like it will be in the ballpark of the RX-7 in terms of performance (on paper). Does this hold up in reality? Im also looking at the ITB cars and see the same 73 listed with the 2.0 motor. Legality issues aside, is it difficult to convert from one engine to the other? What parts need to be changed? Im working on getting a final answer on the legality of the swap, but I wanted to first ask about the feasibility. If its too hard/illegal and I decide to get the car, Ill just make it ITA. Thanks!

I did the 2.6 to 2 switch and it takes a few parts. You will need a bell housing and a 4 cyc transmission as the imput shafts are different. I am pulling some of this stuff from the air but I think that was what we did. Anyway I suck at typing so if you want to talk.

Ron Sattele
Atlanta GA
Day 770-757-1447
nights 770-218-9967

You need to talk to Joe Craven in Richmond, CA. He runs a very fast Capri in CA. He used to post on here all the time. Look at his old postings.

(You'll need to swap VIN Plates...oops.)

Without both cars in front of you, it will be difficult to pick out differences.

Obviously motor mount locations, cross members, etc. come to mind.

Have fun; Good Luck!

I have not owned a Capri, but know folks that have and I would not be too off-put on the specs. That motor can make some pretty good power - once you get it apart you'll find it can turn some RPM. I'd be more concerned about the 4 speed than the motor, but, Z cars have 4 speeds and have no problem being contenders for race wins. Don't know where you are at, but in the SE there are a lot more A cars than B, thus running in a more active group would probably be preferrable I think.

Ron

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Ron Earp
NC Region
Ford Lightning
RF GT40 Replica
White Jensen-Healey ITS
Silver "Skull" 260Z ITS
Email: "rlearp at gt40s.com"

Hey Ron. Im in SoPac and the most popular IT group is E followed by S. Actually, A and B seem to be almost equal. Im planning on running some races in NorPac after I get my national license, so Ill have to look at what the class breakdown is like up there. Im trying to decide if the 6 cylinder ITA car is worth doing. Im looking at it tonight, so that will give me a better idea.

In Norpac (SFR at least), ITB is basically dead. We have one ITB VW, and one ITB Bimmer. ITA has one really fast Rx-7, and one fast Acura (both are running similar times right now) and 7-8 Rx-7's just off that pace. I'll be ading to it next year in another Rx-7. TIA also hs 20-ish SM's running dual classes.

CalClub has at least acouple VW and Bimmers in ITB from my last excursion down south. I don't know what the ITA field looks like. (I also run a Pro7 with them.)

Marcus

We ran it for a few races as an ITA car and in the southeast we were getting killed. We went to a four cyc. car and with good cars we were running in the top 5. The 2.6 has weak rocker arms that hate to be buzzed the motor is very heavy and parts are not very easy find. The 2 liter is a great motor parts are easy, they were and to some extent still used in mini stock racing. The only reason we went away from the Capri to a Mustang was that beyond motor parts, everything else was hard to come by. and if you crash it as we did twice last year with the Mustang replacing the front end would have been hard. With the Mustang I went to the junk yard 10 minutes from my house and got an entire front clip for $900.00 and had a frame shop put it on for another $1,500.00. The Capri would have difficult to find a front clip in the southeast. My dad raced a capri in the 70's with IMSA, I loved the car and I still think with enough time we could make it go, but for my time the mustang was a better fit.

Hope you are coming out to Cal speedway this weekend. We are running our ITB 1979 PINTO Glenn

Post has aged but I'm back. I've been racing and having a ball in NASA GTI Cup but plan to bring the ITB Capri back to life for the 25 hour enduro coming up in December 05!

Jive, let me know if you want more info. I actually own 4 Capris and 2 of them are current IT legal cars. One is a 71 ITB 2.0 Capri and the other is a 72 ITA 2.6 capri. Both are well developed and competitive. I had seriously thought about racing the ITA Capri this year but the changing tire landscape for 05 tipped the scales for me.

To answer your question, both cars are almost identical.
Here are the differences that might matter to you. Lots of minor stuff that probably doesn't like the stock tach and (call or email me).

Radiator hoses are located in different corners on the radiator. I actually had a radiator shop put 4 holes in mine so I can swap the radiators between cars.

Drive trains are different including all the accesories like the alternator and brackets etc. Bell housing, trans , drive shaft all are slightly different but they'll swap in the body w/o a mod. Take a complete 2.0 with engine mounts alternator, to driveshaft and it'll bolt right in.

BTW, Capri motor is a bit different than the Pinto motor. Higher compression, smaller crankshaft pulley help it make a wee bit more power. I get about 140HP from my 2.0 and the 2.6 puts out a bit more. The big difference between the motors is that the 2.6 has a lot more torque at low rpms which is very beneficial for autocross and less so for most road racing courses.

If you end up with one, let me know and I'll share some secrets that help a Capri compete with the best that ITB has. The ITA is competitive with the RX7 class cars but hopeless if one plans to be a nationwide frontrunner.

Joe Craven
ITA Capri
ITB Capri
VW GTI Cup

We still have this Capri sitting in the Basement... Maybe we should get it back out on the track in ITB... Do you honestly think it could win against the Volvo's and Audi's???

1988 NARRC Runoffs win at Lime Rock Park, ITA.

http://www.rstperformance.com/pictur...pri/capri1.jpg

Here is a scary shot of yes non other than (from left to right) Raymond Blethen IV (me) Stephen Blethen (My Brother), and Ray Blethen Sr. (our Dad).

http://www.rstperformance.com/pictur...pri/capri9.jpg

Raymond "back before coilovers in IT" Blethen

Raymond, I've never run against an Audi but your cars sound impressive and fast from past information and posts. My ITB Capri is the fastest ITB car in the SF Region in a straight line once I got all the engine problems sorted out. My suspension needs somework and I don't see why it's handling can't be improved to match it's power. I've run with many cars including a well prepared Volvo 142e, Golfs, GTIs, Plymouth FireArrow (2.5liter!) and 2002s and had great battles with the Volvo and fast 2002s. I'm able to run near most local track record speeds so with some further suspension development probably could break them. Of course, improving driver capability might be all that is needed - LOL.

I've attached some pictures of the natural state of a racing Capri. The black car is my ITB (NASA PS3) Capri and the pic is at Laguna Seca on the last lap of that race. The white Capri is the ITA (NASA PS2) version and leading a pack of ITA RX7s is where it should be. I included a picture of my former GTI Cup racer on 2 wheels and the Capri just annihalates it in the corners and straights.

Joe gald to hear you are having a fun year with the Rabbit! Gald to see you on the web again! as you might have read the Pinto is in bad shape but we are woeking on it! So much to fix! Should be ready for next seasons 1st race Glenn

Glenn, didn't know that Pinto is in bad shape. I looked through the posts but didn't find anything. What happened?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Joe Craven@Sep 15 2005, 01:03 PM
Glenn, didn't know that Pinto is in bad shape. I looked through the posts but didn't find anything. What happened?

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I think it was lost in the forum migration....

Pinto Crash
and a CalClub thread on it: http://www.calclub.com/forums/index....=ST&f=3&t=1408


Marcus

Wow, interesting thread on the CalClub site and even better video. Sorry to hear the Pinto is damaged. Hmmm, a few thoughts while we are in this thread...... Race a Capri! I know you love the Pinto and I have to admit I like them too.

I'm attempting to add a couple of pictures to this post. I think the orange Pinto is still for sale for less than a G.