Okay, first question. Was the 1984 Mercury Capri ascMcLaren the first asc/McLaren ? Was it the first ascMcLaren CAPRI ?
Answer? NOPE !
Recall the original Capri, sold at Mercury dealers in the USA? A European model Capri !! Well, who knew that car was the first ascMcLaren Capri ?
Found one along with a Car & Driver full article on it. The owner lives here in the USA with the car. This is the real thing, as the article proves, beyond any doubt.
I will try in a bit to post what I have, herein. Just remember I am "Computer Handicapped" ~ will do my best.
Seems that ascMcLaren had a long standing relationship with the Mercury Division.
Oh Boy! Look what I have found !
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Sandy
- Posts: 5965
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 5:13 am
- Location: Northern New Jersey GSP Exit 148
- Contact:
Oh Boy! Look what I have found !
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascm ... _mclarens/
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascm ... _mclarens/
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Sandy
- Posts: 5965
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 5:13 am
- Location: Northern New Jersey GSP Exit 148
- Contact:
IM003649
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascm ... _mclarens/
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascm ... _mclarens/
1976 ASC Capri II R/S
Gentlemen,
I own the car Sandy is talking about. All this time I thought people knew about it.
Here's the story as I know it. In 1976 ASC decided to convert Euro Capri II's to "X-Pack" configuration. They decided that all the cars would be white with black stripes and would be based on white Capri "S" models. Rumor was that they would also be available in the reverse image, black with white stripes but that never happened.
The cars would get Euro "X-Pack" kits. That means they got HUGE fender extensions that were riveted to the bodywork. They got whaletails and front spoilers. They also got very large wheels for the time (13" dia x 7" wide cast aluminium). All the cars were 2.8 V6 with manual transmissions with a blacked out trim and interior option. The price of the R/S option was almost half the list price of the car.
A prototype was built and offered to Car and Driver for an article. C&D loved it.
Unfortunately, it was essentially stillborn. Ford and ASC had some squabbles. The price was so high as to price it out of the market, and ASC had some serious difficulty doing the conversion. As far as I can tell. 46 cars were converted. My understanding is that a fire at ASC destroyed records as to the production of this vehicle.
I remember getting this issue of C&D while I was in college. I wanted one bad but it was so expensive I couldn't afford it nor could I actually find one.
Fast forward 23 years later....
In the fall of 2000 I saw an add in a local items for sale newspaper. The add read " 1976 Mercury Capri X-pack, rare $600 OBO" followed by a local phone number.
I called the number and a gentleman answered. He said that yes, he had this odd Capri that appeared to have what a book he found in the car called an "X-pack". He bought the car from the second owner in the early 80's but shortly after he bought it the clutch cable broke and he parked it in 1983. It had been sitting in an open sided pole barn since then and he wanted it gone.
I asked myself if this could be one of the old R/S's I had dreamed about. I figured probably not as no one knew what they were and it was far more likely that this was just someone's mess.
I drove the 60 miles to the car and was astounded as I turned in the drive. Although it was covered with green mold it was obviously a real Capri R/S. It had been repainted at some time incorrectly and the fender extensions had the rivets filled over to smooth them in better. The trans was out of the car and the valve covers had been removed from the engine. That meant the engine was rusted solid. The odometer showed 56,000 miles.
I pulled out the checkbook and wrote him a check for $600 on the spot. As I turned to leave, he asked me "do you want the parts car too?"
WTH?
He led me behind a shed and there sat a second one that had been painted black. It was missing some of the fender extensions and was VERY rusty. Yeah, I wanted it too and he threw it in for free as long as I got it out of his yard within a week. They were moved within a week.
I spent several years looking for the C&D issue that had the Capri R/S article. It's January of 1977 and I eventually found 2 copies of it.
The car has now been repainted correctly although it is missing the door Capri R/S logo script. It is now running on 15" BBS wheels as the 13" tires needed are essentially impossible to find. I have one set of the proper 13"s in storage.
I'll post pictures on a web site in several days.
I'm astonished that you guys didn't know about it. It was at Carlisle 2 years ago for the all Ford nationals. I expect to have it at Carlisle this year also on June 8.
I'm not going to into the drivetrain right now as that is VERY un-original and I suspect I may offend some people other than to say that is EFI turbocharged to about 300 hp.
I have also since acquired a third one but that is another story....
Don Haulsee
1976 ASC Capri II R/S (1 of 46)
Virgina
I own the car Sandy is talking about. All this time I thought people knew about it.
Here's the story as I know it. In 1976 ASC decided to convert Euro Capri II's to "X-Pack" configuration. They decided that all the cars would be white with black stripes and would be based on white Capri "S" models. Rumor was that they would also be available in the reverse image, black with white stripes but that never happened.
The cars would get Euro "X-Pack" kits. That means they got HUGE fender extensions that were riveted to the bodywork. They got whaletails and front spoilers. They also got very large wheels for the time (13" dia x 7" wide cast aluminium). All the cars were 2.8 V6 with manual transmissions with a blacked out trim and interior option. The price of the R/S option was almost half the list price of the car.
A prototype was built and offered to Car and Driver for an article. C&D loved it.
Unfortunately, it was essentially stillborn. Ford and ASC had some squabbles. The price was so high as to price it out of the market, and ASC had some serious difficulty doing the conversion. As far as I can tell. 46 cars were converted. My understanding is that a fire at ASC destroyed records as to the production of this vehicle.
I remember getting this issue of C&D while I was in college. I wanted one bad but it was so expensive I couldn't afford it nor could I actually find one.
Fast forward 23 years later....
In the fall of 2000 I saw an add in a local items for sale newspaper. The add read " 1976 Mercury Capri X-pack, rare $600 OBO" followed by a local phone number.
I called the number and a gentleman answered. He said that yes, he had this odd Capri that appeared to have what a book he found in the car called an "X-pack". He bought the car from the second owner in the early 80's but shortly after he bought it the clutch cable broke and he parked it in 1983. It had been sitting in an open sided pole barn since then and he wanted it gone.
I asked myself if this could be one of the old R/S's I had dreamed about. I figured probably not as no one knew what they were and it was far more likely that this was just someone's mess.
I drove the 60 miles to the car and was astounded as I turned in the drive. Although it was covered with green mold it was obviously a real Capri R/S. It had been repainted at some time incorrectly and the fender extensions had the rivets filled over to smooth them in better. The trans was out of the car and the valve covers had been removed from the engine. That meant the engine was rusted solid. The odometer showed 56,000 miles.
I pulled out the checkbook and wrote him a check for $600 on the spot. As I turned to leave, he asked me "do you want the parts car too?"
WTH?
He led me behind a shed and there sat a second one that had been painted black. It was missing some of the fender extensions and was VERY rusty. Yeah, I wanted it too and he threw it in for free as long as I got it out of his yard within a week. They were moved within a week.
I spent several years looking for the C&D issue that had the Capri R/S article. It's January of 1977 and I eventually found 2 copies of it.
The car has now been repainted correctly although it is missing the door Capri R/S logo script. It is now running on 15" BBS wheels as the 13" tires needed are essentially impossible to find. I have one set of the proper 13"s in storage.
I'll post pictures on a web site in several days.
I'm astonished that you guys didn't know about it. It was at Carlisle 2 years ago for the all Ford nationals. I expect to have it at Carlisle this year also on June 8.
I'm not going to into the drivetrain right now as that is VERY un-original and I suspect I may offend some people other than to say that is EFI turbocharged to about 300 hp.
I have also since acquired a third one but that is another story....
Don Haulsee
1976 ASC Capri II R/S (1 of 46)
Virgina
wow that's bada$$!!! Thanks for sharing. That thing has to FLY with a 300 hp Turbo 4. I'm assuming it's a 2.3T?
We'd certainly love more pictures of course!
We'd certainly love more pictures of course!
Mike
86 AscMcLaren Capri Coupe - #026 | 11.4@118 | 290/322
86 9L SVO
www.mikemartinelli.com
www.baldguydesigns.net
86 AscMcLaren Capri Coupe - #026 | 11.4@118 | 290/322
86 9L SVO
www.mikemartinelli.com
www.baldguydesigns.net
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Sandy
- Posts: 5965
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 5:13 am
- Location: Northern New Jersey GSP Exit 148
- Contact:
I have not eaten since yesterday when I saw the pics. I can't eat 'cause I am salivating too much 
Sandy passed away in 2012. He will be forever missed.
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascm ... _mclarens/
1990 Final Car prior to the 12 Silver Anny Editions
1990 Silver Pearl Anny Edition
1986 Coupe Full Pkg #109 of 114.
http://public.fotki.com/ascmclaren/ascm ... _mclarens/
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Kendal Coker
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:27 pm
- Location: Alabama
Yes, the engine is a turbo 2.3 4 four cylinder but its not quite what one would think. The engine block is a Ford 2.3 LIMA block but that's where the Ford parts stop. Let me explain..
The 2.3 LIMA turbo will put out 195 hp at 15 psi boost in a late Thunderbird Turbocoupe. More power can be gained by increasing boost, adding a better intercooler and porting the head. Taken to an extreme there are Esslinger SVO heads available that will really increase air flow. From my point of view its still old technology in that its still a SOHC with 2 valves per cylinder. If I'm going to build a special engine for the car I should build something as modern as I can.
There is another option here. Volvo 1989-1991 2.3 engines were available as a 16V engine. It turns out the Volvo shares the same bore spacing and essentially the same cylinder head bolt pattern. Water jacket and oil passages don't line up but that can be fixed. Flow bench testing shows that the Volvo 16V head stock outflows virtually all Ford 2.3 heads, including Esslinger's SVO. Matter of fact a stock Volvo 16V NA engine puts out almost 160 hp versus a Ford Lima NA of 88 hp. Basically, bolting a Volvo 16V head to a 2.3 Ford block will almost double the power output.
To make a long story short, that's what I've done. Right now the car is only running 9 psi boost with a mismatched air meter as I don't have large enough fuel injectors and a Megasquirt to properly control it. I'm pretty sure the engine is putting out somewhere between 275 and 300 hp at the flywheel.
BTW, I saw one of the these Volvo headed Ford 2.3's (we call the Folvo's) on the dyno at last years Carlisle All Ford Nationals. It was in a Merkur XR4Ti built by Phil Marshall. It broke the tires loose on the rollers every time Phil went for it. The dyno was showing about 550 hp at 6000 rpm when it smoked the tires. Phil was running about 30 psi boost at the time. He told me it will actually do about 700 hp at 8000 rpm on a better dyno.
Here's a picture of the engine on the stand just before I dropped it in the car last May.
Don Haulsee
Here's one of it in the car.
The 2.3 LIMA turbo will put out 195 hp at 15 psi boost in a late Thunderbird Turbocoupe. More power can be gained by increasing boost, adding a better intercooler and porting the head. Taken to an extreme there are Esslinger SVO heads available that will really increase air flow. From my point of view its still old technology in that its still a SOHC with 2 valves per cylinder. If I'm going to build a special engine for the car I should build something as modern as I can.
There is another option here. Volvo 1989-1991 2.3 engines were available as a 16V engine. It turns out the Volvo shares the same bore spacing and essentially the same cylinder head bolt pattern. Water jacket and oil passages don't line up but that can be fixed. Flow bench testing shows that the Volvo 16V head stock outflows virtually all Ford 2.3 heads, including Esslinger's SVO. Matter of fact a stock Volvo 16V NA engine puts out almost 160 hp versus a Ford Lima NA of 88 hp. Basically, bolting a Volvo 16V head to a 2.3 Ford block will almost double the power output.
To make a long story short, that's what I've done. Right now the car is only running 9 psi boost with a mismatched air meter as I don't have large enough fuel injectors and a Megasquirt to properly control it. I'm pretty sure the engine is putting out somewhere between 275 and 300 hp at the flywheel.
BTW, I saw one of the these Volvo headed Ford 2.3's (we call the Folvo's) on the dyno at last years Carlisle All Ford Nationals. It was in a Merkur XR4Ti built by Phil Marshall. It broke the tires loose on the rollers every time Phil went for it. The dyno was showing about 550 hp at 6000 rpm when it smoked the tires. Phil was running about 30 psi boost at the time. He told me it will actually do about 700 hp at 8000 rpm on a better dyno.
Here's a picture of the engine on the stand just before I dropped it in the car last May.
Don Haulsee
Here's one of it in the car.