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It’s hard to believe, but the ‘85 Mercury Capri that we’ve been modifying over the last several issues is now 25 years old. That’s two and a half decades since it rolled off the assembly line with its 5.0L powerplant and five-speed manual transmission. Overall, it’s in pretty good shape for a four-eyed car, which so often are found beaten, abused, and generally thrashed.

Photo Gallery: 1985 Mercury Capri Lakewood Industries Suspension Upgrade Final Chapter – Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords

Photo Gallery: 1985 Mercury Capri Lakewood Industries Suspension Upgrade Final Chapter – Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords

In the last few issues of MM&FF, we’ve been modifying an ‘85 5.0L Mercury Capri with bolt-on parts from Summit Racing Equipment, Performance Distributors, Holley, Weiand, Dynomax and Weld Racing. The modifications have allowed us to take this once-sluggish 15.6-second ride to a mercurial 13.31 at 102 mph. This month, we aim to improve on this accomplishment with the addition of high-performance cylinder heads and a hot camshaft.inline_mediumwraptextright0033044364/tech/mmfp_1006_1985_50l_mercury_capri_flo_tek_cylinder_head_and_cam_upgrade_part_4mmfp_1006_01_o+1985_50l_mercury_capri+mercury.jpgtrue

Photo Gallery: 1985 5.0L Mercury Capri Flo Tek Cylinder Head And Cam Upgrade Part 4 – Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords

Photo Gallery: 1985 5.0L Mercury Capri Flo Tek Cylinder Head And Cam Upgrade Part 4 – Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords

Although the late-model Mustang movement didn’t really take off until the fuel-injected 5.0L Mustangs started taking out Brand X cars left and right, Ford’s carbureted 5.0L Mustang and Mercury Capris were plenty fast given similar mods. We’ve so far proven this with our project ercury Capri, and this month we continue to chop at the elapsed-time clock with a dual-exhaust setup, a few changes to our track procedure, and a couple of mechanical modifications.inline_mediumwraptextrightAnd Fast Fords-the second half of our magazine title that doesn’t get much action, but our project Mercury Capri is making it a reality. Banging gears in a five-speed 5.0L is a lot of fun. Try it some time.32748243/tech/mmfp_1005_1985_mercury_capri_5_0_dual_exhaust_system_part_3mmfp_1005_01_o+1985_mercury_capri+burning_rubber.jpgTrue

Photo Gallery: 1985 Mercury Capri 5.0 Dual Exhaust System Part 3 – Muscle Mustang & Fast Fords

Photo Gallery: 1985 Mercury Capri 5.0 Dual Exhaust System Part 3 – Muscle Mustang & Fast Fords