1985 ascMclaren Capri Specifications

[HachiRocker]

Hi there. I'm new to the community, and I'm seriously considering buying a 1985 ascMclaren Capri.
I've looked all over the place -including this forum- and I haven't been able to find any performance specs.
If somebody could help me out, it would be much appreciated.

[negusm]

Hi there. I'm new to the community, and I'm seriously considering buying a 1985 ascMclaren Capri.
I've looked all over the place -including this forum- and I haven't been able to find any performance specs.
If somebody could help me out, it would be much appreciated.

Are you talking Coupe or Vert?

My armchair analysis:

Performance on the vert will be a little less than the standard Capri 5.0L as I think it is a bit heavier due to the bracing. Also the loss of the bubble back to a more "Mustang" like back would make it less aerodynamic too and possibly move the weight distribution forward (which is not the best for a rear wheel drive car).

The Coupe may or may not have gotten the B303 CAM. Regardless, the rest of the car is stock from Ford so performance is going to be pretty much the same as a factory stock Capri. There is a little weight added due to ground effects, etc and I am not sure if the ground effects reduce the drag coefficient enough to make a difference.

Bottom line is that the cars were such a limited production and so few performance modifications were made by asc that they never ran performance tests on them that I know of.

Verts were meant to be touring cars and the coupes meant to be modified/raced. That is why the 85 Coupes were spec'ed with the manual tranny and the verts spec'ed with an automatic.

-Mike

[HachiRocker]

Thanks a lot. That helps. It's the coupe by the way.

[negusm]

If the '85 coupes did have the B303 in them (we've had conflicting reports and no real verification) then the '85 asc Coupe would have been the fastest Ford 5.0 production car that year. (Saleen doesn't count since it wasn't a sanctioned Ford production car . ONLY asc cars were modified on the assembly line by Ford for 3rd party post production modifications (same as the cars prepped for C&C vert/t-roof conversions)

The 5.0L Capri was a tad faster than the 5.0L Mustang with the bubble back and lower coefficient of drag. The B303 (if true) should raise the asc Coupe's performance bar even a bit more than that.

I think the SVO may beat it though?

-Mike

[Agent-J]

Has anyone torn down a stock engine out of an ASC McLaren and truly found a B303 Cam. I am not disagreeing but I was told years ago from someone who worked for ASC that none of the cars received any engine upgrades

[negusm]

Has anyone torn down a stock engine out of an ASC McLaren and truly found a B303 Cam. I am not disagreeing but I was told years ago from someone who worked for ASC that none of the cars received any engine upgrades

It's really hard to tell by tearing down an engine unless you have the equipment to mic the cam. The cams aren't stamped all the time either.

We've had someone tear down a stock engine, but never had a definitive answer because the cam wasn't marked.

The B303 (if installed), was done at Ford. No engine mods were done at asc. Dunno if the guy you were talking to is saying that he never saw an engine opened up at asc or actually knew the build specs that were agreed to between asc and Ford.

-Mike

[MRBRUSER]

I know from my 88 that the stock motor and a stock cam. My car had 4600 hundred miles on it When I got the car in 07. I don't know about other older mclarens. I opened it up because I was curious also about the cam.

[negusm]

B303 was supposedly only in the Coupes.

The verts were meant for touring and weren't considered "Sports Cars".

-Mike

[tfs2121]

My 85 coupe had a stock cam. I used a micrometer to check. As much as I wished it was true it wasn't.

[tfs2121]

This question has been around for a long time. This is the best I could dig up for you

http://www.ascmclaren.org/phpBB/viewtop ... sc&start=0

Look like several people found they had a stock cam. This is from 2009 when I said I would pull my cam and look. Well I never did... till today. I found that my car also had the stock cam in it. I measured the lift on both intake and exhaust to be 442. I wish I had found a b cam. Also on one end of the cam it reads C25 if that means anything.

That quote is from this thread.
http://www.ascmclaren.org/phpBB/viewtop ... hlight=cam

[ChuckG]

I'd argue that the stiffer specific rate shorter springs and the improved gear ratio afforded by the 225/50/15 tires, along with the stickier compound was a prime reason my '85 was so quick. A B303 isn't that big a bump in a car that already had surplus power.

My thought is ASC just knew that needed to be harnessed and in a way that didn't upset EPA or CAFE..