It’s always amazed me,and your build confirms the theory again, but the Chevy small block V8 fits into a Capri a lot better than a Ford Small block. No doubt I will get roasted by the Ford Afficinados for saying it, but seeing most of them wouldn’t have done the conversion, how would they know? 🤣🤣🤣
It’s always amazed me,and your build confirms the theory again, but the Chevy small block V8 fits into a Capri a lot better than a Ford Small block. No doubt I will get roasted by the Ford Afficinados for saying it, but seeing most of them wouldn’t have done the conversion, how would they know? 🤣🤣🤣
You are right.
The Chevy engine is a much nicer fit.
I owned these 2 1973 Capri's at the same time, I put a Small Block Chevy in one, a Ford 351W in the other.
The Chevy is shorter but wider ( width is not a problem in the Capri ), slightly heavier ( although the difference isn't much compared to a 351W ), the olipan has a better shape for the swap ( although a Fox body pan is usable for the Ford swap ), with much more aftermarket support, and in my experience, the SBC is just a better engine...
( I've owned several cars powered by the Windsor family of engines, a 260, several 289's, several 302's, several 351's ) and I've phased all but one out ( my wife's '63 Falcon which has a rare 5 bolt bell 289 )
I have offended Ford fans too by saying this...
Some people are hung up on some sort of Ford in a Ford purity standard, which to me is nonsense.
I don't see myself ever buying another Windsor.
But for the future, the new Godzilla engine may be interesting.
Its in the new Ford Superduty trucks, about SBC weight and size, about 7 litres, pushrod/ cam in block, and as a crate about 1/2 price of a crate Coyote, with by early reports good tuning potential.
This is one of the first times I took it to the track.
I'm still figuring out the car, and you can see I'm still unsure about shift points, etc.
The handling needed refining too, it had a lot of understeer ( unexpected because the front/rear weight distribution is good, I expected something a lot more like my old Escort ), but with the torque of the V8 the rear was more than willing to step out.
The biggest disappointment was the Super T10 gearbox, though.
I thought by using a gearbox that lived behind a Big Block Pontiac I had a bullet proof combination, but that wasn't the case.
The thing has about the same structural integrity as a wet noodle ( I went through about 3 total rebuilds before I finally gave up on it ), and the shifting action is vague heavy and awkward ( it feels like it belongs in a dump truck ).
And you can see in this vid, it jumped out of gear at times ( which really messes you up if it happens mid corner )
So the "Super" part of its name is exaggerated, as far as I'm concerned...
Other than that, the car felt like it had lots of potential and it was a lot of fun...
Just a small technical tip... if the steering wheel was on the correct side of the vehicle , your hand would drop straight onto the gear lever.😉 Happy to help!
