'79 Mercury Capri RS8 turbo

[The Creative Explorer]

This kit was trying to catch my attention for a while, why? I don't know. But since the DS is being sanded and is boring, the Victoria is hardening, I took this one, just for fun.

I was rather enthused when starting this kit, the body fits really nice. The kit was slightly started, but nothing serious. So I started, I was going to start with the engine, but I found out that the previous owner forgot to put the engine back in the box,

So, Problem!. Luckily, I've got a nice partsbox with a variety of engines. I found rather quick a 4-cilinder from Ford Motorsport, but it looked a bit lost in it's engine bay. And since there were many engines on my desk, I started fitting, the 427 was not going to fit nicely, but I did found a 283 from Chevy. It fitted pretty good, the oilpan was right and it gave me some space for another idea. Ofcourse, a chevy-engine doesn't go in a Ford, so the engine will be camouflaged and you would've had no idea it was a GM engine.

But because this is a Capri-turbo, I will add a turbo to the V8 engine.

The approach is going to be like; What If.... So what if the Ford Motor Company would've put a turbocharged V8 in it's Mercury Capri. So, I am not going with customised paintjobs, wild interior or oversized aluminium wheels. It is hopefully going to be a mirror of what it could've looked like in the '80's

The new engine in it's place

I tried to get rid of most motorparts for painting

A dryfit before primer

With primer

This is the Capri in it's 2nd gray coat, I wasn't happy with it first, so I rinsed it off.

And I added a second color to the lower side of the body, pretty much like the boxart

[The Creative Explorer]

In the eighties, it was common to shout with Decals on the car to show them what you had. And because this car now has a huge engine, I thought I would make some new decals. I used the original decals as example, loaded them into Photoshop and I put the name RS8 on it, RS for rallysport and the 8 for the v8 engine.

And a comparisation with the old decals, not a big difference, but just enough

[diymirage]

that looks like a fun project

i figured you wouldnt be able to build a kit OOB though

(not that im any better at it)

i think they usually refer to these "what if" models as a phantom

if you think about how car companies trade bits and pieces around a chevy engine in a ford really isnt that far of a stretch

they used mazda engines before and during the DSM era youd find mitsu mills in dodges

even today if you buy a JDM 4G93T of ebay there is a good chance it still has the hyundai valve cover on it

[The Creative Explorer]

Hehe thanks, I did not had the intention to go modifiying the kit, but I don't like curbsides and so I had to. Fitting the turbo to the V8 was tricky, but I managed. I hope to give a new update soon.

Even today, a lot of parts are interchangable and used between different brands. But to find a small-block GM V8 in a Ford is quite unlikely. But now I am a bit further on the engine, you can't see it was a GM product at all, so that is a good thing ;-)

[crazyjim]

Love that body style. I had a 1980 Capri with the Ford small block/4 speed. Very quick little car.

[Modlbldr]

The more I look at these and the Mustangs of that era I'm really wishing i had never traded off my Monogram 79 Mustang Pace Car kit years ago. That's one I wish they'd reissue soon. Prices are crazy on them and I want to build my buddy's mom's old car.

Nice work so far. keep it coming.

Later-

[W-409]

Great build! I like these late 70's American Cars... It would be nice to build this kit some day. Your one looks very good so far, that color combo works just fine for me and nice job with those decals! Engine looks nice so far, keep this thing going, can't wait to see more.

Edited January 8, 2011 by W-409

[RodneyBad]

Great looking Capri.

Paint and decal look good.

But for more of an 80's thing, The decal should be as big as the door

[whale392]

Nice concept. I too have one of these kits (still using the turbo4 though.

We won't get into everything non-Capri about this kit here; but as to the decals. They are scaled way too big in the original kit. They are almost twice the real aplique/decal size. Placement is correct by the instructions, but the size is just WTF? I wanted to find a way to scale them correctly and market them, but two things stopped me:

1) I am technologically illiterate

2) How many of these kits (with the Capri nose and hood) still exist and how many people really know what the CapriRS turbo was?

I will keep an eye on this build, FOX lover as I am and all.

[cruz]

The fact that you won't see many of these on the contest tables makes me drool for one, this is certainly a very cool project!

[diymirage]

i know that swap is somewhat popular among Hyundai's but it's a Mitsubishi engine.

the new decals look cool but i wonder if they would fit and look better on the leading edge of the door instead of squeezed onto the fender?

my point was that there are tons of car companies that borow parts from each other

(in this case hyundai borrowed the 2.0T from mitsu)

[GTMust]

I just ordered a Testors Snap kit of the Mercury Capri Turbo RS from Ebay. Don't know if it's a rehash of the old Revell kit or what. Seller wasn't even sure of the scale and he deals in models. I don't expect to receive it (snail mail from the US to Canada) for a couple of weeks, but wondered in anyone had any infor on this kit.

Here's the box art:

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks all,

I must say, the kit is quite simple, but it does build nicely. No major issues with the fit and because of the lack of parts, there are not a lot of problems with the parts either haha.

@Dave & Bradley; I had tought of the decal on the door, but it didn't seem right in the middle of the door, for it to look right, it had to go on the lower halve, and because that is black, it would not be noticable. So I did cramped it on its place now, it does not look that bad in real life. If I had known that the decals were to big, I also would've scaled them down. Too late now unfortunately.

So to the update;

One of the lenses were missing, so I had to make a new one myself.

The engine with the exhaust side of the turbo and the turbo installed

And we are getting closer to a finished product. I put the body on the chassis for now, testfit and made some pictures.

The engine and (now) visible turbo

With the front end on

Interior

And backside

[Cobrawannabe]

Uh-hoh-hoh YES!!!

[spkgibson]

Wow Nice Paint on this, Where can I find this kit? I liked the Capri's of this era. Looks great Very clean