Coyote Powered Capri Runs 8s On The Gas!

V8 swapping Ford’s Capri platform follows a recipe so old, that Moses may very well have etched it in to stone tablets himself - take the tiny two-door, do away with whatever paltry motor FoMoCo cursed the car with in your part of the world and find the biggest, baddest V8 you can to replace it! 

It’s a recipe that Aussie drag racers have been using for decades, most recently Adam Rogash’s bad arse twin turbo big block Chev powered Capri that debuted at MotorEx in 2023. It’s the latest of a long list of worthy engine swaps for the Capri platform, many of which hail from the halls of the General Motors powertrain division, which is why we had to do a double take when we saw this Coyote V8 powered Capri!

We’ve spoken with engine swap expert Jason Waye from Tuff Mounts/Muscle Garage about the Coyote V8 and why it’s constantly overlooked, with Jason citing the sheer size of the engine that makes it a difficult task to fit in to most muscle car engine bays, however seeing the Mod Motor sitting sweetly in the Capri’s bay has given us a newfound appreciation for the potential of the Blue Oval bent eight.

Built by James Meredith of Carrollton, Georgia, the conversion was no cake walk and necessitated fabricating an entirely new front end - no sheet metal was removed from the Capri’s engine bay, however the entire front suspension was re-engineered, a fact made easy by the Capri’s similarity to the Fox Body Mustang. 

A red-blooded racer, James’ Coyote is no slouch and the car has been prepped to run in to the 8s, including a host of chassis and safety upgrades, as well as bolstering the internal strength of the E85-sipping Ford slugger to cop an extra 100hp shot of nitrous!