No, it wasn't noticeably nose heavy - it drove about the same as a '74 with a V6, except much faster. With the 2.52 axle, Offy Dual-Port intake, tweaked 500CFM Carter AFB, and a severely tweaked distributor advance curve, I clocked 29mpg on the highway one time - better than any of the four cylinder Capris I ever owned. With the small V8 and tall gears it wasn't all that impressive at around-town speeds, but on the highway the power delivery was almost hydraulic - at 100mph, a toe tip on the pedal would slide it up to 125 or more with no fuss at all; the engine always sounded like it was just loafing along. The absence of sturm und drang meant you often wound up going much faster than you expected, which brought up the problem of the pathetically small brakes. I hadn't got around to that part when the idiot with the truck decided stop signs didn't apply to him.
Right side view of car. Note snazzy Pinto hubcaps on 13x6 Vega GT wheels.
Shows the fit a bit better. The first body had the plenum on the firewall
clearanced to clear the Chevy's distributor; a matter of tin snipping an
appropriate section out and carefully trimming and fitting a coffee can in to
make a nice semicircular cutout. You can also see some of the "bridge"
crossmember. A Ford V8 drops its mounts right over the Capri's crossmember.
The Chevy's mounts are further forward. The new crossmember spreads the load
across the sheet metal "frame rails".
Driver's side. The exhaust manifold had a longish outlet "tail" in the middle.
To clear the steering shaft, the "tail" was cut out and the pipe flange welded
directly to the manifold. It was easy to bend the pipe around the steering
shaft then.
283 and Muncie four speed coming out. The clutch and bellhousing are from a
V8 Monza; the Capri clutch cable hooked right up. The rear end was also
Monza, 2.54 ratio. I had a 2.29 posi, but never installed it. The Monza
wheels were 4-on-4; I redrilled the Capri front hubs to match.
Chevy crossmember. Front section runs across and is bolted to the box
sections on the frame. The zag backwards is to clear the harmonic balancer
on the engine. I didn't like the idea of trying to weld to the body; the
metal was thin.