danthecapriman

I’ve never seen that, but I often go on YouTube and just search for stuff like Los Angeles 1970’s, New York 1980’s etc and watch all the old road and street filming. Usually packed with old Detroit iron!

Should be doing a few more jobs on this tomorrow. For now though, check this rarity out! A dash facia that’s still got both the radio and accessory button blanks! Never seen one before tbh so I bagged this one! I probably won’t be using it here in all honesty, since I’ve got a decent period radio lined up and already fitted the aerial etc to the car but I just wanted it purely for the rarity value!

Hmm, strange. No idea why it won’t work? It looks and works fine for me. It’s uploaded the same way as I usually do pics. I’m not exactly good with stuff like this though unfortunately!

I didn’t get a video of it but I decided it was so good I’d jump in and drive it up and down the driveway. Which it did with no issues at all. Granted, I’ve only used 1st and reverse but that’s the first time it’s been driven nearly six years! There’s still a few things to do and bits to check & sort but there always will be with a project like this. I also checked the alternator was charging, since everything has been painted and reassembled sometimes the paint stops the circuit being complete, but no problems there either. Next jobs. I might pull the starter motor out and clean/lube it inside as it seems slightly lazy to engage and disengage. I’ll check the coolant again after it’s cooled down, and I also want to change the engine oil. The oil in it is clean, but it’s been in there a few years now just sitting so I’ll run it up to warm it, then change it for fresh. Probably won’t bother with changing the filter as it’s not been used hardly itself.

Video seems to work! No idea what the black box is below it though? It started up easily, it’s on choke in the video so was running a bit fast. This time it gulped down the coolant pretty quick so needed topping up (it didn’t do that last time) and the temperature gauge rose to just below half and stayed there. The heater is hot, the hoses all got hot and the radiator got hot too after the thermostat opened so I’m calling it fixed. Luckily I had a new spare housing gasket and a new spare rubber O ring for inside. Whatever the gunge was it’d made the old rubber ring go all lumpy and weird! Very strange. One good thing though, the heater is incredible now! It’s never been so good! Honestly, it’s a rival for my Volvo now it’s that good. So my bodge fix of fitting a mk3 heater matrix into the mk1 casing seems to be a good one. Its running much nicer now too, sounds great, doesn’t stink of petrol and it can be revved without any hesitation. No smoke out back either! IMG_0058.MOV

Stuff’s been happening here, not all went to plan but it’s golden now! So, I decided earlier this month to get the thing started and running properly, on its own from its own fuel tank. The exhaust, fuel tank & lines etc etc were all fitted last year so it was really just a case of get some petrol and pour it in, then see what happened. I got a big Gerry can (is it Gerry or Jerry??) of super unleaded, mixed in a dose of Tetraethyl lead which according to the can made my petrol something like 101 octane! Good shit! Poured half the can into the tank, just did half in case anything did leak! No leaks from the tank or pipes so all good there, so dumped the rest of the can in. Then it was time to check oil, water etc - all good, I did pour some fresh oil over the cam just so it wasn’t starting dry too. Cranking it over took ages to even get fuel into the fuel filter! It actually drained the battery. I should have probably primed the system by filling the filter with fuel or squirting some petrol down the carb, but never mind! with the battery charged up trying again resulted in it firing up pretty easy! It was a little rough to begin with, stank of fuel and did not want to rev either. Then a problem… As you would, I kept a close eye on the temperature gauge, just in case. Unfortunately it climbed up past half way and started heading for the red. I shut it off after that and left it to cool off. A bit of poking around later I’d concluded it was a simple case of the thermostat not working. So a new one was ordered up. In the meantime, since the battery was hooked up I tested most of the electrical stuff for functionality. The heater fan didn’t want to play ball, I think it was dirty contacts in the switch as repeatedly switching it on and off eventually got it going, on both speeds! A few other bits and bobs needed fettling too but so far it’s a full house, with one exception…. The sodding fuel gauge isn’t working! I’ve checked the wires, which seem ok. Checked the float sender and cleaned the contacts which made no difference. Shorted the wires at the sender to earth which did nothing either. Then connected my spare sender and moved the float up and down by hand - still nothing! So I think there’s something wrong at the gauge end. More investigation required. Any other ideas?? Anyway, the new thermostat arrived. However, looking into the radiator top tank the coolant looked a bit cloudy. Weird. Removing the thermostat housing revealed why the thermostat wasn’t working. Basically it was plugged solid with gunge!! No idea wtf it was but it looked very much like limescale or that limey gunge you get building up in washing machines! It had all gunged up in the thermostat and was pretty much glueing it shut. I’ve cleaned it all out, then used hot water to flush out the entire system and block. Lots more did come out. Then I rebuilt the system without the thermostat in and filled with water only, then ran it up again. Once it was hot, I drained the system out fully, which looked much better. no idea what happened there or why? Only things I can think of are maybe the new radiator had something inside it like grease or flux or something from the new core being soldered together and that reacted with the coolant? Or maybe there was lots of old limescale and crud in the block that had dried out over the years of inactivity and now it’s full of liquid again and being used it’s become dislodged and got stuck in the thermostat?? Who knows! I did notice too the old gunged up thermostat was an 88 degree one, but my new one I got the 83 degree one, just to keep things cooler. I might test the old one in a pan of boiling water and see if it does work, it was new only a few years ago! so the result… IMG_0057.MOV IMG_0057.MOV

Nice one Eddy, sounds like you’ll be back to hesitation free license loosing driving again. It’s certainly a handsome looking car too, and the colour really suits it. Classy and sophisticated!

This is a fabulous old beast of a thing. Despite its rough looks it’s one of those cars I bet would drive anywhere without major issue. Long may it live! That street scene is funny too, quaint English street scene… with a dirty great big yank tank parked in it! Love it!

I know you can’t tell 100% when it comes to colours from a photo, but here’s mine. I think it’s a close enough match. I think the POR paints do come in colours for the different manufacturers, the blue is Ford blue but it’s American paint and I’m not sure it’s the same as euro Fords?

I’d concur with it being blue. I did this on my Capri’s Pinto, painted the block in black engine enamel and the rocker cover & timing belt cover in blue engine enamel, both shades from POR15 I think. They look a close enough shade to me. When you paint the rocker cover, avoid painting the inside surfaces. The paint is designed for being on a hot oily engine but I’m not sure about it being inside, if the hot oil ever did loosen the paint you don’t want it coming off and blocking oil ways etc etc. The mirror, I’d say fit one. I had this dilemma too! My Capri didn’t have one from new but I tracked down the exact right type and fitted it. It’s much safer having one than not and if you can get an original it won’t look out of place. Electronic ignition… personal preference I suppose. I was running points & condenser on my Capri and Mercury but found getting good quality replacement condenser’s was a ball ache! In the end I fitted electronic ignition to the Mercury and it massively improved running and reliability. It’s been fitted years now and has never needed adjustments or replacement. I decided to fit it to the Capri too and it starts well now, better than it did with old points. On both cars you can’t tell it’s fitted either unless you start looking hard! It’s a worthwhile upgrade imho, it’s dead easy to fit too. The points & condenser were always a weak point on old cars so if a bit of concealed modern tech can improve on them then why not!?

Well done chaps! Looks a cracking Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaag and a great trade for both sides. Dont worry though Eddy, you can pilot my Mercury anytime your getting withdrawal symptoms!!😆

Great work on this. Amazing how these old bricks become an obsession! They’re fantastic old cars, still capable of everything they were built to do all these decades later. If a lump hammer can’t fix it, then it can’t be fixed!

Not that you’d know it was spring of course, it’s been snowing and sleeting on and off the last couple of days and it’s freezing out there now!

I know I know! Not much done over winter I’m afraid. I can’t stand cold and wet weather so don’t tend to do much. Had a few other things going on too. Spring has sprung now though and I’ve got a can of fresh petrol sat here with the Crapi’s name on it!! Watch this space…

I’ve heard of using tin foil wrapped around the wiper drive spindle then forcing the arm on over the top to pack out the gap from the worn away splines. It did cross my mind to do something similar with this but the grub screw method actually completely prevents it from slipping again so should be a permanent fix. God knows how you strip the splines off in the first place though! Maybe not clearing snow/ice off the screen then trying to use the wipers to do it?? Must take a fair bit of force to strip them all.