Project Buying a Crapi - 2020 Update!, Still slowly bleeding me dry

[coalnotdole]

I really really wish I had your enthusiasm! Must be a good three months or so since I did anything on mine.

I'm not sure if enthusiasm is the right word! - The capri purchase was done whilst in the middle of breaking up with my girlfriend and was a bit of a distraction I guess. I really should have sold it on for a small profit as soon as I'd MOT'd it and had my weekend of fun taking it to the peak district and back.

 

Its now at the stage where I've poured so much money into it on bits and pieces that without sorting the rust issues, wings sills and arches I don't think I'd get my money back.

 

Having it sat around looking tatty and scabby has been a bit depressing especially since I poked all the holes in it, I need to get some progress made with it else its just adding to my feelings of underacheivement.

Also from a purely practical point of view its blocking the only vehicular access gate into this part of the yard so needs to be got rolling again sooner than later!

 

Dave

[coalnotdole]

Well progress on this has been slow due mostly to the weather. Then I got pneumonia which has laid me up for a couple of weeks.

 

 

Rear floorpan above spring hanger area cut out:

 

 

 

 

Scabby:

 

 

 

 

New metal:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inner wheel arch bottom was pretty rotten:

 

 

 

 

Fashioning a new section:

 

 

 

 

Badly MIG'ed up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dressed up with the powerfile:

 

 

 

 

 

The floor area where it meets the inner wheel arch has taken a bit of thought as theres quite a few angles coming together. Ive decided to do the repair in stages so I don't lose the datum of where the floor and crossmember are supposed to be.

 

 

Replacement section made up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fits here:

 

 

 

 

Welded:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a very good photo as it all looks a bit flat - Ive cut out part of the end of the crossmember so I can replace the final section which had rotted out from where the spring hanger box attaches to the underside:

 

 

 

 

Passenger seat mount finished:

 

 

 

 

New doubler plate using old captive nut:

 

 

 

 

Rear footwell repair given a coat of zinc rich primer:

 

 

 

 

And from underneath - chassis rail needs repairing next:

 

 

Thats how it stands after doing a few hours finishing the rear inner arch repair today. I still feel awful so after a few hours of lying on the ground under the back of the car drowning in lung fluid I kind of lost the will to live and packed up for the day!

 

Dave

[fordperv]

Great stuff going on there with the repairs, just remind yourself there is only one way the prices are going on these

[vulgalour]

Be sure to take care of you more than the rust, we don't want you contracting more unpleasantness for the sake of an old Capri.  Very nice thorough work so far.  Looks like lots of really fiddly annoying repairs that add up to one big job.

[coalnotdole]

Various panels have arrived - current plan is probably to finish the floor repairs and replace the spring hanger parts but not worry too much about attaching it to the (partially missing) inner sill. That way I might at least drive it to the shops for a bit and in february when I have space inside the workshop I can crack on and replace both outer sills, rear arches, front wings, A post repairs and scuttle corners.

 

 

Rear arches:

 

 

 

 

Dubious Magnum sills:

 

 

 

 

NS front chassis rail skid section, this has been overplated in the past and is generally a mess:

 

 

 

 

Lower A post/sill front repair section - Magnum panels and utterly horrific pressings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few weeks later a pair of ExPressed Panels sections cropped up on eBay and I made an offer of 100 quid for the pair, compare the difference in shape and quality:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plan will be to brace the door aperture then cut the lower quarter panel in front of the rear arch lengthways beneath the rubbing strip.

Then lop the bottom three inches off the B post (which needs repair work where it meets the sill anyway)Likewise cut the bottom of the A post out.

 

Hopefully I should then be able to remove the old outer sill in one piece, Repair the inner sill as required (mostly at the front and back ends I think) and fit the new full outer sills.

 

Then plant the cut off sections of A and B posts back on top of the new sill and weld back in place before finishing off by welding the section of quarter panel back.

 

Theres an area of front footwell which will get replaced whilst I've got the lower A post section cut out, Also that chassis section beneath there to replace along with the front outriggers which are currently very mangled.

 

Couple of days work...

[fordperv]

The magnum panels repair stuff is a bit meh across many cars they offer parts for but I see it as they are cheap so you get what you pay for, the expressed stuff is much nicer, I found those sill end repairs are physically too large and require a quite a bit of work to get something like

[danthecapriman]

Whs^

 

I think the Magnum panels are more for a cheap MOT style repair than a proper restoration. I had a few for use on mine but tbh I just couldn’t live with the quality of them so I used only Ex-pressed. Much more pricey but they look and fit way better.

I suppose it all depends on your budget really which ones you use.

 

Nice job so far, welding looks great!

[tooSavvy]

Will those Magnum 'chewing gum wrapper' lookalike pressings be made on a High Density Rubber tooling/press.

 

I remember a long discussion on the IMP forum - about the herring bone floor reproduction - about price vs 'crispness' (rubber or steelform).

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_pad_forming

[junkyarddog]

Shit!!

 

I've purchased a pair of Magnum rear arches for my Mk11.

 

Will see how it goes.

[coalnotdole]

Not much done today as I felt pretty worn out still from my efforts yesterday.

 

 

Cut out the last rotton area above the spring hanger:

 

 

 

 

Showing condition (or total lack of) inner sill in this area:

 

 

 

 

Bit of metal bashing and folding:

 

 

 

 

And test fitted with the bit of crossmember I cut out to get to it:

 

 

 

 

 

Finished inner wheel arch bottom, Will just need the inner arch lip plate repairing once i do the outer arches:

 

 

 

 

 

And finally showing where I'm intending to cut the rear quarter panel and B post in order to get the sill in and out:

 

 

 

If anyone has experience of changing the full outer sills (and possibly the inner sill) I'd be interested to hear how you went about it - the only photos I can find just show people welding partial sills over the cut off remains of the originals.

 

I want all the old sill out and the replacement fitted as per factory because I like to make life hard for myself...

[coalnotdole]

Will those Magnum 'chewing gum wrapper' lookalike pressings be made on a High Density Rubber tooling/press.

 

I remember a long discussion on the IMP forum - about the herring bone floor reproduction - about price vs 'crispness' (rubber or steelform).

Thats pretty interesting - I'd never come across that process before but it makes a lot of sense as you only need one die rather than a set. Downside presumably being you can't restrain the blank like you would with a proper die set so you end up with folds and wrinkles?

 

 

Shit!!

 

I've purchased a pair of Magnum rear arches for my Mk11.

 

Will see how it goes.

To be honest from what I've seen all the rear arch repair panels are much of a muchness - I've got a pair of klockenheim's purely because they seemed to have a bit more meat/margin around them than the Magnum ones and I'm not sure whats lurking underneath the wob on my nearside arch!

 

I daresay the ExpressedPanels ones are probably better defined and they have the rear lower corner included, but then they're £170 each + VAT...

[TripleRich]

Nice work, good to see you getting stuck into the fabrication.  The Klokkerholm arches are actually not that bad and don't require as much fiddling as you would expect.  Heres some fitted...

 

 

With regards to the Magnum vs Expressed panels both have their pros and cons.

 

Magnum are usually thinner than original (easier to press) and are often cover panels.  If you actually cut the rot away you'll find the magnum panel wont fit because you're meant to tack it over the top and fill with plod.  They can be made to fit very well but it requires hours of work.  They are however cheap and take less than a week to arrive.

 

Expressed are generally much better quality but its real hit and miss.  An example is the complete MK1 Capri quarter panel which is a fantastic bit of work and is pretty much a direct replacement for an original.  Compare that to their Mk1 Escort front chassis legs.  Neither match the originals and they don't even mach each other.  We had to put 5 days of labor into a pair to get them within tolerance on the car-o-liner. That was after we rejected them and sent them back to expressed for 'correction'.

[danthecapriman]

The mk2/3 complete rear quarter panels I got from Ex-pressed were very very good, almost a perfect fit. They did still have a bit of fettling though.

On some of my Ex-pressed panels they had to be worked a bit to make their shape more defined as the original panels are. I don’t know if that’s down to old worn tooling used to press the panels or what but I had one genuine Ford door skin and one Ex-pressed. They both looked great but if you sat them side by side the Ford part had a much crisper shape and the corners and angled bits were much sharper. My bodywork man was a real pro though and spent quite some time making all the non gen panels as good as a genuine panel though so you’d never know.

The best thing to do is use new old stock genuine Ford panels but they’re becoming very scarce now and prices are becoming insane. I used lots of them in my mk2, bought over years previous to the restoration to ease the costs but they do fit really well as you’d expect. The rarest of the lot I had was a complete mk2 front panel and valance! Rare as fuck and I’ve never seen another new unused one since for the mk2.

Mind you, Ex-pressed aren’t exactly cheap either. The mk2/3 rear quarters are £1200 odd each! I needed both for mine! Rotten bodged rear arches covering the originals and dents/rust damage further up from an old vinyl roof meant it’d actually probably be easier and cheaper to replace the entire panels than piss about trying to fix the originals by fitting repair panels and making good.

[Scruffy Bodger]

I used to work for a firm making press tools and I can't believe the quality* of those Magnum panels, they look truly dreadful.

[Eddie Honda]

The Klockenheim arches

Klokkerholm?

 

Yeah, their stuff is decent enough.

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

Can only add praise for het welding ongoing - and surprise really that they're actually selling that quality* panels as worthy of fitment to be honest! I'll definitely avoid them in the future. Don't mind a bit of 'fettling' but they're horrendous!

 

It's bloody donkeys years since I helped my uncle replace the sills on his MkII - I do remember him almost crying upon seeing het state of the inner sills too. I seem to remember he braced the door gap - as he deemed it unsafe to rely on the car not folding in on itself once he removed what was left……… sadly - no photos as I was a nipper and was just there as tool monkey.

 

Best of luck dude - these are truelly iconic cars and well worthy (financially) of the effort you're putting in.

Obviously - don't push it too much with your health - better you survive to finish it and enjoy it!

[cort16]

On that seam between the bottom of the quarter panel and the sill I just seam welded it solid on the Cortina. I imagine it's spot welded from the inside but the ball ache attached of re-doing that plus leaving another seam that can draw in moisture and rot just didn't seem worthwhile .

[coalnotdole]

In preparation for the inevitable front end rebuild at some point in the not too distant future I've dug out my good* headlight bowls - These came as part of a front end body section included with the car when I bought it (as the bowls on the car are mostly rusted into oblivion)

 

 

The better of the two:

 

 

 

 

Most of the flange which gets welded to the front wing is missing from the other bowl so this one is being used as a pattern:

 

 

 

 

New metal cut:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And test fitted on the other bowl:

 

 

 

 

Hopefully this will give me a datum point to work to when replacing the missing top section:

 

 

 

 

While I was at it I also cut a replacement section for a large rust hole where the headlight earths attach to the bowl:

 

 

 

And after welding and dressing:

 

 

 

[Tamworthbay]

Lots of progress being made!

[coalnotdole]

Rear Chassis rail - I knew the bottom of this was very thin at the front and required replacing but the axle stand was positioned under it further back by the spring hanger so I hadn't been able to evaluate it fully. I've moved the stand under the rear chassis leg/back spring hanger which means I can actually see whats going on.

 

 

Patch which was welded next to the spring hanger:

 

 

 

 

And peeled back, why do people overplate drain holes?! :

 

 

 

 

The lower outboard edge of the chassis rail was also very thin so I cut it out including the section hidden behind the spring hanger:

 

 

 

 

New section cut out of 1.5mm zintec on the bandsaw:

 

 

 

And welded:

 

 

 

 

New and old chassis rail bottom section, Note the flange off the spring hanger which will get welded back in place once the new plate is in situ:

 

 

This needs a small amount of fettling before its ready to weld in place.

 

Working on this has been pretty miserable as there is only 12" clearance between the ground and the floor of the car so your laid at a stupid angle on your back trying to weld something that's almost pushed against your stomach. When it come to doing the sills and front chassis rails I will definately block it up a couple of foot or more so i can sit under it.

 

Dave

[fordperv]

Good progress, I was lucky with the headlight bowl area I welded into mine, the donor I bought to cut it out of was solid around that area, just rotten everywhere else in between the numberplates

[Minimad5]

Some cracking work sir !

Really good to see someone take pride, make good repair panels and fettle it well.

So many folk would have lobbed big dirty MOT patches over it by now.

 

Keep up the good work squire, and if you ever fancy welding up a Lada - Let me know haha

[coalnotdole]

I had a bit of a go at the Capri on saturday - Partially spurred on by the realisation that the tax runs out on the first of march.

Got the chassis rail repair welded in and made a start on the spring hanger reinforcement/boxing sections.

 

 

Forward end of chassis rail welded up (replacement section shown in final photo of last post) :

 

 

 

 

And seam welded to the new section I let in on the side of the rail:

 

 

 

 

Back end of repair showing a second run of weld on bits I was unhappy with after dressing it off, Also the spring hanger flange welded back in place: (also note plastic fuel pipe clipped almost out of harms way!)

 

 

 

 

Because I'm crap at forward planning the car is so low that I was bruising my ribs on the diff whilst welding all the inner faces of this section - And when you get a bit of hot metal or burning underseal down your neck there's no room to roll over and try to lose it... :

 

 

 

 

 

Where I got to by end of play - Made a start on welding on the spring hanger reinforcements, These appear to be galvanised rather than zintec so need a bit of thought and flap discing the galv off the areas to weld before hand. Note the little mushroom type stud (upper left ish) which is to retain the OE fuel line clip, I've used the head of a nail poked through a hole and welded from the other side!

 

run of weld on the inner corner of the chassis rail still needs grinding back and a few more spot welds to do on the repair section but gave it all a quick blast of weld through primer to stop it rusting before i get back to it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the final reinforcement section poked into place to check fitment - I may remake this as the originals have a flanged edge around the cutouts. which the bloke who makes these sections doesn't appear to bother with, presumably because it would add extra work and also acts as a water and shit trap as the flange faces inwards on the OE panel:

 

 

 

Cheers for reading!

 

Dave

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

ETG has guilt trip - great work dude. Car up - or gut down?

[coalnotdole]

I may remake this as the originals have a flanged edge around the cutouts. which the bloke who makes these sections doesn't appear to bother with, presumably because it would add extra work and also acts as a water and shit trap as the flange faces inwards on the OE panel

It was bothering me so I put a slot in a bit or bar and tweaked the edges of the holes to replicate the OEM panel:

 

 

 

 

Other than that no further progress as of yet.

[coalnotdole]

Spent the afternoon welding, Spring hanger is now finished and I've even made a start bolting the new leaf spring on this evening until it got so cold that lying under a car with a work light in the dark started to loose its appeal!

 

 

Just before dropping the replacement rear floor section in and welding the crossmember back:

 

 

 

Need to make a temporary closing plate to go on the left where the back end of the inner sill is rotted out and missing. I'll do a proper job of it when the outer sill is off sometime after the tax runs out ate the beginning or march:

 

 

 

Overview, doesn't look like much - which I think means I'm happy that it looks close enough to OEM:

[fordperv]

I'd say this cars lucky it found you

[stuboy]

hope you gonna call it tea bag

[Herr Bruce]

Learned how to weld on a Capri years ago when I was a feckless youth, the tinworm loves to munch away on Capri's, and as has been said previously the inner wings are prime candidates for the 'worms nest',  Ford never fitted plastic inner wing guards and as such the cavity became a mud trap for everything the tyres threw up in there, wouldn't mind so much but the thing drove like a pig when it was all done despite new bushes all round, seem to remember Jezza coining the phrase ' it drives like a plank on wheels'.

[Joey spud]

So refreshing to see some proper fixing of old stuff going down on here.

 

Your posts are always top notch,more power to your Elbow.