danthecapriman

Great news,👍 I know from personal experience what an absolute twat it is when something ends up in a cylinder.

Looks bloody great! Nice job on the radiator, I had to do the same on my old one after some utter twat put a screwdriver through the old one. Nothing wrong with it apart from that either.

Something else I used to see on Wheeler Dealers fairly often was, the car would gradually get done up through the show then they’d run through the ‘costs’ and you’d often see the car again after this either being driven around or polished up somewhere. Id always notice how many of them had, by now gained a nice new set of tyres. None of which were included on the costing rundown! A new set of tyres all round would certainly add a good bit onto the bill.

Didn’t get any pics today (sorry!) but it was only boring stuff anyway. Job 1 was to sort out the fuel door. This was fitted and working a while back, but the doors bump stop was missing which allowed the door to close too far causing it to look wank from outside but also made a paint on paint interface where it definitely shouldn’t. Looking at it revealed a bit of an error by the bodyshop. They’d wrongly assumed the bump stops metal tab to be a seam for between the outer rear quarter panel and the bowl the fuel cap sits in, and they spot welded it down! I think it was an honest mistake, possibly because of unfamiliarity with this type of car and I don’t hold it against them at all tbh. One of those things. I thought I could fix it by drilling out the spot weld then bending the tab back up and popping a rubber bung in the hole but after drilling the spot weld out it had been done with a mig welder so the weld was actually huge and not round so the spot weld drill couldn’t do the job unfortunately. So instead I carefully used a cutting disc in a dremmel and sliced the old tab off completely then ground off the remaining blobs of weld to leave a flat smooth surface. This wasn’t easy as it’s inside the fuel cap recess so space was at a premium. This was why I didn’t want to put petrol in the tank yet! Not a place you want sparks flying around! With the old tab gone I simply made a cardboard template for a replacement, then transferred that to a bit of old steel sheet I had laying around. Drilled a hole for the bump stop rubber, etch primed and painted it blue. I did this yesterday and left it to dry overnight. This morning I fitted it into place. It’s not welded in. I decided welding it was more trouble than it was worth tbh. Given there’s no weight on this tiny part and minimal pressure on it (all it does is hold the door in line with the rear wing when closed and stops it closing too far) I decided to mix up a bit of epoxy metal adhesive and glue it with that. Then once it was in place I drilled two holes through it and the panel it attached to and put a couple of pop rivets in to hold it. It’s absolutely rock solid now and you can’t see the back of the tab or the rivets when the doors open or closed so I’ll put a bit of seam sealer over the joins to keep moisture out then touch in the paint. It works a treat now, very solid and the door closes into the perfect position with the rear wing. Job 2 was to fill up and bleed the brake system. I thought I’d done this already tbh, but clearly not. I’ve filled up with standard Dot 4 fluid and bled it up. No leaks anywhere so all good! Took a while to get the air out but to be expected on a bone dry new system I suppose. They work now too! I rolled the car down the drive and pushed the pedal and it stopped well enough. Might give them another bleed before hitting the road though just to be sure. While the wheels were off I also gave all four wheel arch bowls/inner wings a second coat of clear UB wax so they should be well protected now. Not a thrilling update, but one step closer!

Same. I like watching it and find it entertaining and interesting to see some of the cars they do, but it is a load of bollocks really. The costing at the end is laughable sometimes. And they never factor in labour costing. It’s how they do it all though and fix stuff that bugs me, I’m restoring a car right now, as we speak and I can 100% assure anyone that what happens on TV shows is most definitely not what happens in real life! You never see them finding rusted to buggery fixings, bits missing, bits fitted wrong/badly, rust falling into your eyes while lying on your back under the car on the driveway etc etc.

Ooohh, less modern? Volvo? You have my interest! What did you get?

Someone posted this pic of an early car with these mirrors way back in the thread, one of the cars that convinced me with the mirrors!

Not a whole lot done today but did manage to get something done that makes the car look more finished, and imho makes it look even cooler! Firstly, it’s picked up some bullet holes!! Oh yes, it’s time to fit the door mirrors!! This bit was a bit of a one shot deal, get it wrong and you’ll see the error! As usual, I could find no information anywhere about exactly where these needed to be fitted on the door so it was a case of find what pictures I could of the right style mirrors and cobble something together that looks right. There’s a variety of different types of mirrors that were fitted to these cars from the factory, depending on the cars age and specification. Believe it or not the earliest mk2’s actually had no set mirror type, some were even sent out with no mirrors at all or, like mine did, with a single extra cost mirror on the drivers door only. Then of course there’s a whole shed load of non genuine mirrors that people fitted too. When I got the car it had a non gen mirror on the drivers door (chrome TEX item). Then after it’s first rebuild I fitted a pair of standard late Mk2/Mk3 mirrors, the chrome version. These, while not being a bad choice weren’t right for the age of my car so I decided to hunt down the right ones. I mentioned this earlier in the thread somewhere, but my car being so early was almost certainly originally fitted with a mirror similar to some Mk1’s had. Despite looking similar it’s actually a new part for the Mk2 in 1974. However it seems this design was very short lived (from what I gather the ‘ball’ type position adjustment between stem & mirror head was prone to wear which meant the head would just flop down rendering the mirror useless unless you liked looking down at the road!) This design was only available from Jan 74 to Nov (I think) 74… nowadays this is a rare part! Naturally this was what I wanted as I just love making life difficult for myself! I looked for ages for a pair, and eventually got lucky finding a new old stock left hand one in Germany. Then shortly afterwards spotted a mis-described right hand one, also new old stock, here in the U.K. Since I’m aiming for reasonably close to factory looks for this car I should have only needed the drivers side one. But, I’m going for the pair as having both door mirrors will just A; be safer - better visibility. And B; I think having both looks better! So, masking tape stuck to the door in roughly the right area I measured, offered up, measured, offered up… many many times to be absolutely sure! Then compared measurements from one side to the other just as confirmation. Then drilled a pilot hole through my lovely doors. This was followed up with the step drill bit through to a 6mm hole x 2 per side. After that, I cleaned up the swarf and painted the bare steel edges of the holes, first with primer, then a coat of blue, then finally I swabbed in a bit of thick Waxoyl just to be absolutely sure rust can’t start on the holes if any damp manages to creep in under the mirror stem seal. Here’s what I used to get approximate position from, a Ford press pic. I actually had someone hold my mirror in place then I jumped in the car to check I could see properly from each seat (before drilling the holes!) but I found I could see more by moving the mirror further forward up the door than Ford put them so I went with that. It’s barely noticeable tbh but I’d rather be able to see properly than worry about absolute mm perfection to original! Fitting is easy once the holes are drilled, slide the stem seal on, push the two studs through the holes then stick your hand up inside the now freshly wax filled (!) door and do up the nut. They didn’t come with washers, but I did add a big penny washer and spring washer to each, just to be sure. I’ve also smeared grease over the studs/nuts to stop corrosion and then blasted wax over the backs of the holes inside the doors to protect the hole edges. I’m well pleased with them! Exactly what I wanted, and quite an unusual item on these nowadays. I forgot to get a pic but standing back and looking at the car now it looks really nice with these on. They really set it off imho. Now these are on I can fit exterior glass seals, chrome trims and also fit the interior door plastic membrane and door trim panels, arm rests etc. Right angle drill is due for delivery tomorrow so once that’s here I’ll do the fuel flap door stop, then fill the fuel tank up and run it up from its own tank! If I can get any fuel!

Oh what a day! Its fighting me every step of the way but it’s creeping forward bit by bit. First thing to do was finish off the last dregs of cavity wax in a couple of cans I had lying around so I’ve just gone wild with it inside the doors! Then left them both open for a couple of hours to drip the excess into some old trays. Each door must have a full large can of Dynax S50 in them now so I’m considering them about as well protected as they can be! And it’s got rid of a few half used cans of wax. Next up was to get the door check straps installed and the two courtesy light switches in the door shuts. The switches involved drilling a hole through the A post to fit them, something I wasn’t keen doing tbh but it’s got to be done! I googled a few photos of mk1 Capri’s (same type of switch this car should have, which I’ll explain later…) to get a good idea of positioning. It doesn’t matter too much really but ideally I wanted them to be about in the right place, both in the same place per side and they need to miss the framework inside the A post and let the wire reach the backs of them. If I’d remembered I’d have taken a photo of them before the car came apart but unfortunately I did not! I also did a practice run on a scrap of steel to gauge what sized hole worked best for the switches. If you go too big with the Mk1 type switch your fucked as the switch will just fall out! They simply stay in under tensioned metal tabs against the edge of the hole which also double up as the earth for the switch. Measuring up on the car, I used a flexible trimmers tape measure (to get in the space and shape, steel rulers etc wouldn’t fit!) then marked where I wanted the hole centre on a strip of masking tape. If, in the unlikely event anyone ever restores a Mk1 or early Mk2 on here again my measurements for them; 60mm lower than the bottom edge of the check strap slot. 30mm out from the door seal attachment flange. 11mm hole diameter. I did look online but couldn’t find anything about what other people doing this did so that’s mine! Then pop a brave pill and I drilled a 2mm pilot hole in each side, followed up with the 11mm final hole. Best way to do this and get it neat is to use a step drill bit. For those that don’t know, these are cone shaped drills that get bigger in steps so you simply keep pushing the bit through until you hit the size step you want the final hole to be. They also leave a perfect smooth round hole unlike some normal drill bits! I’ve had mine years but recommend a set of them to anyone doing stuff like this. Normally I’d paint the edges of the holes but in this case I need them bare metal for the switches earth. I might pop out the switches again yet and put a bead of sealer around the rubber seal then pop them back in, just to make sure damp can’t get under it. Heres the finished result. After that I just stuck the new self adhesive check strap foam seals on, then pulled the strap into position and put new pins through. I also put a smear of grease onto the straps to let them slide and move freely. This one was easy. Drivers side check strap was a right twat and took me hours to actually get it to work properly. Not helped by the door now being full of fresh wax and the window frame being right in the way! Also had to cut off the switch wire connectors as they were the wrong type for these new remanufactured switches, then crimp on new ones. Here’s a comparison of new different switch types. The round ones are Mk1 & early Mk2. The other one is later Mk2 & Mk3. Imho the later style switches are better parts and design, and I was going to use them instead but since I want my car ‘right’ I decided to go as original instead! Now that’s done I can wax out both A posts inside and fit the A post kick panel trims. Then finish the carpet edges off and fit the door sill finisher trims. Question is, do I fit the grey plastic Mk3 trims or the stainless steel non OE ones Ive got???

Depends on what you’ve been drinking!

Famous last words wasn’t it!? I’ll get it done for this summer… yeah bollocks! Its not done! It’s sat exactly where I left it how I left it after the last update. Tbh I had something else come up shortly after that but since then I just couldn’t find the interest or enthusiasm to touch it, so I didn’t. This week’s weather is supposed to be ok though so I’m going to use it to get as much as possible done. Hopefully to break the back of it now. So, I’ve picked up where I left off and continued work on the drivers door. Last time I’d assembled some bits of it, sprayed in a quick blast of cavity wax around the very bottom of the frame and left it to soak in. Today I’ve attempted to finish this but as usual ran into a problem, which I’ll get to later. I started by hoovering out the cobwebs and dead flies from the inside of the door, then fitting all the door lock and latch rods. I’d actually already done the rod for between the interior handle and latch mechanism but it turned out to be fitted the wrong way round so I had to re-do it. With all those now in place (the rod for the interior door lock pin was an absolute cunt!) I went to fit the exterior chrome handle, which is where I ran into problem number 1. Basically on offering up the handle it was clear that the the locating dowels/bolt holes on the back of the handle would not line up with the holes in the door itself. There was also an issue where the lock cylinder would fit tight against the hole in the door skin. All this meant the handle would not ever fit in the door skin. You can see how misaligned things were here. The cause of this, boys and girls, is because of non genuine parts. Unfortunately, the drivers door skin I got for this car is a new pattern part. The door frame however is an original Ford part and you can see here the quality issue trying to line them up together. The skin itself looks absolutely fine, it’s just the holes for the handle misalign with the original frame, the hole for the lock cylinder is significantly too small and as a side note, the non genuine skins don’t have any factory made holes on top for the chrome trim retaining rivets (these are easy to drill, but still…). The solution isn’t difficult but a bit of a pain, simply use a file to open out all the holes. After removing a little bit at a time until everything fitted as it should the next job was to protect the now bare steel edges where I’d filed it down, so a modelling brush was used to carefully touch in the edges with a couple of coats of Miami blue paint. Once dry the handle could be slid in, with its new rubber seal and bolted into place. With that done I tried operating the latch and lock mechanism. Which completely failed to do anything! As per the passenger side, the mechanism was just gummed up and seized from sitting unused for so long so several blasts of penetrating spray and working through saw the latch mechanism working. However, problem number 2 was the lock mechanism was having non of it! It was jammed solid and wouldn’t work from the key in the lock or the manual interior pull. It actually took me hours to find what was wrong with it, which pissed me off no end. Turns out that because of the trouble I had with the door skin not being aligned, this actually meant that the handle itself was now not sitting in exactly the same place as it was originally. This caused the latch handles operating rod to be sitting too high up which forced the lock mechanism interlock to become stuck! Easy to fix once you work that out though. The two rods on the back of the handle have a hairpin bend in the middle of them, which I guess is how you adjust their lengths to fine tune them. In my case I needed the latch rod to be a gnat’s cock length longer, so simply putting a big flat blade of a screwdriver into the hairpin and twisting it slightly was enough to open the bend out a tad, making the rod slightly longer and allowing the mechanism interlock to work. The result? A working lock! Finally! Next up was fitting the last few sheets of the sound deadening material, as per the other door. I’ve said it before, but the difference this stuff makes is incredible. The panels feel and sound so much more solid and heavy than without it. Infact, I reckon this car will be bulletproof with all this stuff lining the panels out! It’ll certainly weigh a good deal more! After that I cleaned all the gunk and grease out of the mechanism and then gave the inside of the door a second, heavier coating of cavity wax to finish that off. Another job I need to sort is the fuel filler door. This is fitted but the bump stop for its closed position is missing. Turns out the bodyshop fucked up a bit! Unfortunately, not being familiar with Capri’s they’ve actually thought the metal tab that holds the rubber bump stop was a spare seam for the inside of the fuel cap area and they flatted it down and spot welded it down! So I now need to drill out their spot weld, bend the tab back up and find a rubber bung/grommet to fit as the bump stop. Shouldn’t be too hard but access is tight so I’ve ordered a right angle drill attachment to do it. Hopefully that’ll be a job for later this week.

Tbh, the feeling I got from doing it was uncannily similar to that when you piss yourself on a cold day! A sort of nice warmth in a small patch. Until you realise what it is of course! Flames or piss… never good!

I was welding the floor on a mk2 Granada once, I was under the car with my visor down welding away when I started to feel a very warm sensation down one side of me. Thought ‘wtf is that’ but couldn’t see sod all because of the visor… Eventually managed to flick the visor up and found Id set the sweatshirt I was wearing on fire! It was well alight too! I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast frantically shuffling myself out from under the car while alight. Very close call that was. It must have been a splatter landing on me and smouldering for a while before getting hot enough to light up. No injuries thank god, but one sweatshirt and the T shirt I had on under it were well and truly written off! Lesson here is to wear appropriate clothing. It’s quite funny in hindsight but could have been nasty.

Take a few obvious safety precautions by all means, use common sense - if something doesn’t feel right to you then don’t just do it anyway, find an alternative or make doing it safer another way. Then just get stuck in. It’ll take a bit of practice to get the hang of it but you’ll get it eventually so don’t get disheartened and give up. Everyone starts somewhere and it’s never a bad thing to pick up a new skill, especially one like this as it comes in very handy and opens up a whole new world of shitty car - no longer will you look at a car and not buy it because it’s rusty! You buy it anyway and can now weld it! Anyway, best of luck… you’ll be fine once your into it.

Wow! Nice pair! The Cortina is absolutely fantastic! Great colour and spec too. I’d love one myself one day. The Senator is beaut too.