This ‘80 Mercury Wagon Has the Fury of a Godzilla to Produce Monster 7-Second Time Slips While Still Carrying a Family to Fun Times Together
Once considered uncool by some, station wagons have come into their own. We’ve seen everything from classic 1960s and 70s wagons in both stock-appearing and modified forms, and more 1980s and 90s wagons are also getting added to the mix.
In the case of Kevin Schweizer’s 1980 Mercury Zephyr Wagon, it combines the suspension design of the popular Fox Mustang with the extra space for not only family and friend use, but for all the stuff Kevin plans to bring when he competes on his first drag-and-drive at the 2024 Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive later this month.
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“After going to Hot Rod Drag Week as a spectator for 4 or 5 years and watching my friends compete, I knew it was something that I wanted to get involved with,” said Kevin. “I had planned to build a Mustang, but figured it probably wouldn’t end well since I could only take myself and either my wife or daughter. So, we decided that a wagon would be better suited for us since we all could go plus take a friend.”
The Mercury will roll into Sick Week with a decent amount of shakedown time on it, on both the street and strip. Kevin has logged close to 500 street miles, participated in a couple test and tune events, as well as the National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) series finale in the 8.60-index Street Race class.
“I like the idea of having a dual-purpose car,” said Kevin. “I got tired of having a track only car that I could only race on the weekend. It’s nice to have a car that you can race on Saturday and Sunday and take to lunch on Monday.”
To reach the mid 8-second times that are needed to be competitive in the NMRA class, as well as several classes that are limited to 8.50 elapsed times due to the roll cage, Kevin employed one of Ford’s newest engines, the 7.3L Godzilla pushrod engine. His is built by Mike Curico Race Products in Easton, Pennsylvania, and is based on a stock block and crankshaft. Callies connecting rods and Diamond pistons combine with a Paul’s High Performance timing chain, and a Comp Cams steel camshaft spec’d out by Brian Friedentag to complete the short block.
Mike Curico Race Products ported a set of stock cylinder heads, and they use stock rockers with trunnion upgrade from CHE with a set of Johnson short travel lifters. Topped with a Brian Tooley Racing (BTR) intake, the engine gets force-fed air from a pair of 72-millimeter turbos from Forced Induction Solutions, selected and spec’d by John Bewley at Full Proof Performance. Tuning is handled by Brian Friedentag (Freezy).
A Bald Man Transmissions Powerglide transmission passes the ponies to a Customs by Bigun 9-inch rear end packed with Strange Engineering components.
Kevin selected a set of RC Comp wheels wrapped with Mickey Thompson rubber for the rolling stock, and the wheels offer enough space to see the Baer disc brakes providing the clamping force at all four corners.
UPR Products was sourced for an outlaw K member up and supporting suspension up front, while Custom by Bigun handled the upper and lower control arms for the rear suspension to complement Merillat upper and lower torque boxes. AFCO struts and shocks take on the job of dampening and controlling the movements.
To make everything safe inside and pass NHRA tech, Customs by Bigun constructed an 8.50-legal roll cage to clear the front and rear seats, with Bivins Race Cars doing an update afterwards. A Holley ECU provides Kevin all the important data, whether he’s rolling down the road on navigating the track in search of another single-digit time slip.
“I’m looking to complete Sick Week with an 8-second average,” said Kevin, who will make the trip from Indiana to compete in the wagon he calls ‘ZephZilla.’ “I will be bringing my wife, Jaime, and daughter, Lynnsie, and possibly a friend,” he said. “It goes back to the whole reason we built the wagon, and that is to go as a family.”
“The biggest challenge is the street driving. All the hours driving on the street are the hardest. The car was specifically built for drag-and-drive events with a large cooling system, a large transmission cooler, and dual fuel cells along with a small set of airbags mounted between the rear axle and chassis so I don’t have to adjust the coil overs with the added weight in the car.”
And even though Kevin has most of the car spec’d and scienced out, he’s always on the lookout for new stuff, including an oil pump pressure relief and oil pan from Indy Power Products. “I removed the stock oil pan so there was a way to regulate oil pressure,” Kevin admitted. “With all the piston squirters installed, the pressure was always lower than I wanted. With Indy Power Products, I have predicable oil pressure, and no more low oil pressure. The new setup allows me to block off all the factory piston squirters and brings up the oil pressure and the relief valve keeps it from going to high. Plus, the baffles in the pan are much better than what I previously had.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Kevin Schweizer.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com