Project Project Capri. Back on the road! Running like a scouse watch!

[danthecapriman]

Glad to have caught up with the updates on this!  Last time I looked I think you were still pondering colours.  It's going to look fantastic in Miami Blue.

 

Hmm, wonder if I should get the Rancho media blasted?  (Not the GRP bits, obviously.)  There's a thought.

It's come on quite a bit since the colour discussion. More recently the welding has carried on in various areas, and the order for all the new panels has been made. There will be a delay here as the manufacturer has a lead time of a few months. Doesn't matter really though.

The axles have both been stripped down and a list of new bushes etc it's going to need made. They've also been prepped and media blasted too, ready for re painting.

 

Skizzer, I would seriously consider getting your Rancho blasted, assuming they won't damage the fibreglass bits!

Now I've had this car done and it's revealed exactly what crap is beneath all the old paint, filler etc I'd say it's worth every penny if your going for a good restoration. It will reveal everything and that way there's no danger of accidentally leaving something behind. Imagine spending so much time and money on restoring the bits that you can see then spending even more on a respray only to leave something under it all that you didn't know about.

The lower A posts and inner sill bits on this car were hidden under filler and underseal, they'd been like it a long time and I didn't know how bad it was in those areas. Without the blasting there's a chance it could of been missed.

It's not for the faint hearted though! Literally everything must come off the car and it will look worse afterwards. Plus you need good undercover space to work on it and store it afterwards. There's no way I could of done this level of resto at home.

[Captain Furious]

Wow, you don't do things by half do you!  Great work, I would love to do a full resto one day, but I don't think I'd have the patience, skills, deep pockets or nerve to drive the finished article on the road.  Will be keeping an eye out for further updates.

[danthecapriman]

I've finally got some suitable wheels for this.

I wanted to go back to the 'sport' style steel rims this car had on it originally. They were the 5x13 type just about all old Fords seemed to have at the time but they were rusty and battered so like an idiot I threw them in the scrap skip preferring instead the mk3 'Laser' 4 spoke alloy wheels.

I do really like the alloy 4 spokes but they don't fit the look I'm going for with this car. So, I looked for a set of the sports steels to go back on the car, but being an inch narrower than the alloys wondered about the look of them. I also seem to remember when I had these wheels originally the car didn't feel as good on corners. The skinny tyres seemed to roll a bit and weren't that grippy.

The answer was to find a set of the 5.5x13 deep dish 'sport' steels, they look exactly the same but have a much better look and are wider too.

As it turned out these weren't that easy to find! I think they might be popular with the Escort lickers too which means they are a bit more pricey!

In the end I asked a few Ford specialists to find me some but also kept an eye out myself.

 

IMG_0266 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0267 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

These ones came from Germany in the end, three of them are almost like they've never been used and are extremely clean for their age. I'm still going to get them fully stripped and powder coated though and I have a decal set coming too for the black inlays around the air holes in the wheel centres to give them the as new look the rest of the car will get, aswell as a set of nice new tyres when the time comes.

I'm dead pleased with these, I think they're a lovely looking wheel and should finish the car off nicely.

Luckily I kept my original wheel nuts and stainless centre caps which will be cleaned up and in the case of the nuts be re chromed.

 

Hopefully the week after next I'll be going to see the car again to swap these wheels for the Laser alloys which I'll shift on.

[fordperv]

I love dartboards, are you going to have them all silver or are you going with black inserts?

[oldford]

For some reason I think that the Capri wheels were all silver.  The decals on the face of it seem a good idea, however you'll still need the black the edges.  Whenever I've painted these wheels, I've done them black first, then masked the black parts and painted the Silver.  I wonder if you could follow the same route with the powder coating, but using the decals as the masking medium with masking tape on the edges?

[vulgalour]

Not caught this thread in a while.  I admire your ethos with this, should look excellent and 'right' when you're done.  I'm amazed how solid it appears to be in those post-blasting pics, not at all what I expected to see of a Capri.

[anonymous user]

I'm sure my Capris had black painted bits in the wheels, although as neither was a new car at the time that may not have been original, one did have the very nice trim-rings on it which I think were original, as it was a swish GL no less.

[Tamworthbay]

Every one I remember had the black painted, including all of mine. The laser alloys were silver but had black bits painted in on some others. Maybe that's what they are thinking of perhaps?

[danthecapriman]

I love dartboards, are you going to have them all silver or are you going with black inserts?

For some reason I think that the Capri wheels were all silver.  The decals on the face of it seem a good idea, however you'll still need the black the edges.  Whenever I've painted these wheels, I've done them black first, then masked the black parts and painted the Silver.  I wonder if you could follow the same route with the powder coating, but using the decals as the masking medium with masking tape on the edges?

I'm going to have the little black inserts, I think it makes them look a lot less plain with them.

My old 5x13 versions I had when I bought this car did have the black inserts so it's a feature I'd like to retain, also, if you look at the pic, the wheel in the centre of the stack at the bottom still has them.

I will as you say have to get some satin or matt black paint to do the edges with as the decal won't cover it.

 

Not caught this thread in a while.  I admire your ethos with this, should look excellent and 'right' when you're done.  I'm amazed how solid it appears to be in those post-blasting pics, not at all what I expected to see of a Capri.

Yeah, I've nothing against modified cars at all but I just think with this one being a fairly unusual base spec and such an early car it'd be nice to get it back to as close to original as possible, while putting my own stamp on it by picking the colour I want most etc.

It does seem to have survived remarkably well for such an old Ford, especially as it's lived near the sea most of it's life before I bought it. It's not low mileage either at 140k odd. It's a hell of a relief though! I was shitting myself before it came back from the blasters, wondering what, if anything, would come back!

 

I'm sure my Capris had black painted bits in the wheels, although as neither was a new car at the time that may not have been original, one did have the very nice trim-rings on it which I think were original, as it was a swish GL no less.

I did consider trim rings. But it didn't have them when I first had it, and being an L model I thought it might be a bit too bling!

[Essex V6]

Interesting resto, looking forward to seeing this one progress. Can't believe the price of body panels now.

Had 3 Mk2s many yrs ago, a factory-orange mid 78 3.0 Ghia manual, a silver 76 3.0S with cadiz deckchair seat fabric, and a silver 77 2.0S heap with clanky rod-change box which a mate fortunately wrote off.

Your 1.6L reminds me of a lady schoolteacher I do work for who had a new 1.6 Capri every 2 years from 1971 till 1985. In 1985 she retired early and bought a met blue 2.8 Special.

My 1976 3.0S has the original seats but they are going to need some work soon - using it too much these days due to my Manta being out of action

[Essex V6]

I'm sure my Capris had black painted bits in the wheels, although as neither was a new car at the time that may not have been original, one did have the very nice trim-rings on it which I think were original, as it was a swish GL no less.

They definitely came with black inserts originally

[Spottedlaurel]

Great work here. A good companion piece to the Cavalier resto.

 

Particularly pleasing to see a 1.6L receiving such through attention. We had one new when I was a youngster:

 

1976 Ford Capri 1.6L MkII in Wales, 1977 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

All the MkII pic’s I’ve found on my Flickr stream show black inserts on the wheels. I suppose the idea was to visually enlarge the hole and make them look more like Minilites?

 

1974 Ford Capri II brochure by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

I think it was later Mk3s that started doing without the black bits, like this LS (which I assume has the wider rim):

 

1981/82 Ford Capri Mk3 LS by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

[oldford]

Looking at some 1980/81 &1982 brochures the 5" sports rims had the black bits and the 5.5" sports rims were all silver.  It was the MK3 GL models that had the 5.5" wheels, though the February 1980 brochure shows the GL as having the 5" wheels with the black bits.

[Tamworthbay]

My GL was an 81 had the 5.5 rims (with 205s squeezed on) and black bits painted in.

[danthecapriman]

The deep dish 5.5 sports came out late 72 on the Mex and RS1600. All silver, no black bits. From summer 73 the RS2000 had them too, some had graphite centres with silver rims.

Mk1 and Mk2 Cappas never had the deep dish sports wheels from the factory, only the standard offset 5.5, even 3.0 models, although theoretically they are period correct dealer options and the black bits do look better IMO. Don't know why Henry didn't just offer these as standard as they couldn't have cost any more to make than the narrower-looking 5.5s.

Mk2 RS Esccorts - Mex, RS1800 bda & RS2000 base-spec had the deep dish sports steels, all silver. As did Mk3 Cappa 2.0GLs around 1981 W-reg to use up old stock.

Trim rings look fake bling shite.

Fantastic Cappa thread by the way, thanks for your time posting. Tin of black enamel and a steady hand will have your wheels looking ace.

This is about my understanding of things.

No mk1 or 2 Capri had these wheels from new, but as you say they were an optional extra dealer item so anyone could of gone into a Ford dealer and bought a set for a Capri, Cortina or Escort.

This seems to be why I've found these wheels hard to find and more expensive than I'd like as they are part of the Escort Mexico/RS bollocks, hence the tax is higher on them!

 

Mine did have the standard 5x13 version with the black bits but I'm going to use these as it retains the original appearance but also gives me the advantage of the wider rim. The laser alloys it did have fitted were 6x13 so it's not too different.

Besides that I love these wheels and with the black bits added they'll look great on the car.

[danthecapriman]

From summer 73 the RS2000 had them too, some had graphite centres with silver rims.

Funny you mention this bit.

 

 

I also now have these! Same wheel but in this (IMHO rather unattractive) colour scheme.

I said I'd found it hard to find them and that I like them so when these also came up I bought them too! These are a set of 4 so I still need to find another one for a spare.

I'd planned to use the best condition 5 wheels for my car then sell the other 4 but they are all in very good straight nik so it didn't matter in the end. I'm going to keep the tyre less ones and get them reconditioned for my mk2. These ones will need the same treatment so I'm not gaining anything by mixing and matching them.

I don't know weather to keep them, find a spare to make a set of 5 then recon them or just sell them tbh.

Plus I've still got to go get the Laser alloys back so I'm flush with Capri wheels at the moment!

[Tamworthbay]

Funny you mention this bit.

I also now have these! Same wheel but in this (IMHO rather unattractive) colour scheme.

I said I'd found it hard to find them and that I like them so when these also came up I bought them too! These are a set of 4 so I still need to find another one for a spare.

I'd planned to use the best condition 5 wheels for my car then sell the other 4 but they are all in very good straight nik so it didn't matter in the end. I'm going to keep the tyre less ones and get them reconditioned for my mk2. These ones will need the same treatment so I'm not gaining anything by mixing and matching them.

I don't know weather to keep them, find a spare to make a set of 5 then recon them or just sell them tbh.

Plus I've still got to go get the Laser alloys back so I'm flush with Capri wheels at the moment!

if you are selling the steelies as well let me know.....

[NorfolkNWeigh]

MuthaN had a 1975 N reg 1600 XL in red with a black vinyl, from when I was 14 to 18. I painted the sports wheels with black gloss and nicked some trim rings off a brand new Cortina GL on the forecourt of our local Ford dealership. I liked to think it looked like those RS steels. When I started driving it at 17, I put 51/2j 'Lotus' Cortina* steels on it with 185/70s. Proto OldSkoolford Racist style.

In the 80's you could buy templates to mask the black and silver from the blokes at car auctions that sold giant cans of tyre black, seat covers and stickers that said 'Car of the week' or ' Heated Rear Window'.

[danthecapriman]

It's been a few months since I've reported on this but stuff has been progressing.

 

On the mechanical side, the axles and other bits and bobs related to them have been fully stripped, cleaned and painted.

The brake components have been checked over along with the suspension parts. Anti roll bar and brackets etc have all also been blasted and painted with the axles. The front beam/cross member has also been stripped, blasted and painted. I bet they had fun with this as I remember the cross member was minging! It was thick with 40 years of grime and oil residue, you could literally scrape it off with a scraper! At least all the oil leaks stopped it rusting though.

 

On the bodywork, the real work is now well in hand.

The doors have been re-hung temporarily to align everything and ensure everything is already square and in order as far as panel gaps etc go...

Then, they came off again and various sections of angle iron and steel tubing were welded into the cars shell to brace it and prevent anything from moving or the shell twisting and distorting during the next stage. Which is the removal of the sills, rear quarters and A post side panels. Not all at once obviously, but that's what will be coming over the next few months along with the new panels going back on and the repairs to the floors.

 

I've not been to see it for a while and could do with seeing how it's going so I might try to go sometime soon.

And, yes, it is beginning to cost too! It's not anywhere near the level I spent on the Mercury rebuild. Not yet anyway! But it's certainly a commitment.

I am certain it will cost more than the Mercury once it's done but, sod it. This is why I go to work and earn a wage and it'll be worth every penny at the end.

 

I've also found some pics of this car from when I bought it which I'll try to get off the old PC and upload onto here. Should show how bad it was back then and how far a car that really was at the end of it's life has come!

[danthecapriman]

Forgot to mention, I also managed to get a set of the mk2 'II' italic style Roman numeral decals for this.

 

Same as these:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/61090099@N04/9577345337/in/photolist-fAjp6K-juFAgR-dWskHc-dXe45h-juGSAR-bMcEK4-oip16m-nhDm2a-auZbJC-bzYHaj-puX5FE-auWuDX-awF2Xw-awChHn-auWuba-awAZei-auZaPb-9Cg3Cm-ej8ECt-appqEw-7UvBud-awF2Hf-bzYGYS-auWtMH-7Zzxkz-9PKuNF-apLKiW-ib7kwR-9PNn33-dLjZQQ-apLKuA-ejemVS-efNo1Y-bzYGXw-apLKVd-9PKuRM-9PNn3S-pMoU1a-8DbuYk-9R5FSf-fHYtLP-ejeqSm-9CdFyp-apJ2HZ-bySa9L-bySa3w-82qdop-zmNBLg-8Z6Dza-ciGDaY

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/6for2/7929396404/in/photolist-c3Nbts-8DbuZZ-puXDee-9R5FTw-peFAx2-9CdFiD-9BgPo6-9CgAj5-puZFpL-bNTmwP-9pA6ta-dxyW65-9PNn6h-314MwU-bNTmrz-bNTmuv-dxtyQF-9PKuPP-9pA6u8-7TqMcK-eo2fDQ-8yLhkJ-8yLiX9-7stMYs-r2NeJN-6Do1Mn-FwoiBT-d5Ge9j-d5Gei7-BUC5kJ-xoDqnw-xFfZGZ-xoKQPg-BFRZPR-Fwr7dF-MUjJyT-J9UkBx-iNpH9k-DL8Nxe-DnewaK-DSuYub-DmTTSo-EhiiGL-Ebogw4-Ehig7W-DmTU6j-xUQ1H2-xxMS7S-xxMU4Y-nUheXR

 

I know it's a while off being needed yet but it's a nice little original detail that most mk2's are missing now.

[danthecapriman]

My 'II' decals arrived from the states today.

 

IMG_0314 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

They look good quality and weren't expensive either. Shame the only source I can find for them is so far away really but at least I've finally managed to get some. I thought I'd best get a pair, just incase!

 

The old sets of wheels are now all sold and gone too. Both sets sold on ebay and they were picked up as promised with no dramas either.

The 5 Laser alloys went for £120 and the 4 brown/graphite centred dartboards went for £180. Nice bit of cash back in the bank anyway.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

This is about my understanding of things.

No mk1 or 2 Capri had these wheels from new, but as you say they were an optional extra dealer item so anyone could of gone into a Ford dealer and bought a set for a Capri, Cortina or Escort.

This seems to be why I've found these wheels hard to find and more expensive than I'd like as they are part of the Escort Mexico/RS bollocks, hence the tax is higher on them!

 

Mine did have the standard 5x13 version with the black bits but I'm going to use these as it retains the original appearance but also gives me the advantage of the wider rim. The laser alloys it did have fitted were 6x13 so it's not too different.

Besides that I love these wheels and with the black bits added they'll look great on the car.

 

 

 

IIRC, the first Capri to have the sports steels was the 3000E @ 1972.

[danthecapriman]

Another bill just dropped through the letter box. This one actually almost went straight through the floor when it landed!

 

December has seen my panels arriving. So far:

 

Pair front and rear floor pans

Pair inner sills

Pair outer sills

Pair A posts

Pair of inner corners

Various closing/reinforcing panels

 

These are expensive but the best way of sorting the cars rust. It'll give a much better finish than just patching up so I'm happy with it.

There's still more to come as/when, like a complete pair of new rear quarter panels.

 

 

Work wise, the old sill on one side has been cut out, and the floor pan marked where it's still good enough to be kept. I think only certain parts of the new floor pans will be required.

The inner sill and grotty bits have also been chopped out. Any surface rust found has been treated and cleaned back, then the new inner and outer sills have been offered up along with the door and front wing to check alignment.

Then the original seat belt mountings were transferred over from the old inner sill to the new. The old floor pan was cut back to good metal ready for the new sections to be welded in.

 

I've still not had chance to go down and see how the car looks but hopefully I'll have time to go down there soon, I'll get a few pics too as they've been a bit lacking on this thread lately!

[Skizzer]

Pics pics pics! Can't wait to see how this is going!

[Noel Tidybeard]

i was trying to remember the colour of my mates mk2 scrote and it came to me this week, prolly too late for you deliberations now but what the hell- Gemini blue met- std ghia colour but avail as special order on 1.3l

[danthecapriman]

Apologies first! I've not had chance to get down to see the car so no pics yet. I will go down at the end of this week though and have a look so stay tuned for those...

 

Work has continued en mass since the last update.

I'll shorten it down a bit instead of going into fine details but the inner sills, outer sills, sill ends, front floors have all been chopped out. New panels prepped, aligned, everything cleaned and treated one way or another for corrosion, and cut/fettled for fitment before being permanently welded in place. All welds dressed down.

The rear wheel tubs have both been repaired, front valance, crossmember and rear panel repaired, both headlight bowls repaired also. Most of the work on these bits has been cutting out grot and making sheet metal repair panels before welding them in.

It's also had the B posts cleaned up and repaired while the sills were being replaced and the A posts have pretty much been completely replaced, with all associated strengthening sections etc either repaired or replaced.

 

Pretty much all the panels and parts that arrived last time are now rapidly being used and there's a lot of new metal and welding going into it.

The doors have been trial fitted along with the new wings to check for fit and alignment after all this so hopefully it won't be much longer before it starts looking like a Capri again and less like a chopped up wreck and heap of parts!

 

 

At this point, I'd be lying if I said my arse wasn't going a bit! I've spent more on this than anything ever before and it's not a natural feeling for me to say the least! I'm normally very good with money and save up instead of spend, but you know what? Fuck it! Interest rates for savers are shit at the moment and I do have the cash available to complete this so it's not a stretch, and I have no other vices either to spend money on so it's ok? Right?

One things for sure though. Once this project is done it's going to have to be a case of minimal spending and getting my savings back up for at least a couple of years.

Besides all that, it's too late to stop now anyway!

 

Pics (hopefully) within the next few days.

[alf892]

Money is for spending..........and you're doing it right.

 

Forget the guilt!

[danthecapriman]

Money is for spending..........and you're doing it right.

Forget the guilt!

Your right! But it's nauseating for me to spend money like I am lately!!

[DeeJay]

Think of the spending as an investment in your future enjoyment of the car.

I don't know how much you've spent but being a Ford you are bound(ish) to get it back.

[danthecapriman]

Ok, so as some of you might already know, this has gone completely to shit!!

 

The situation with the car is,

The place doing the work have been taking far too long to make progress, this didn't mean the bills for work have been cheap though. Basically they've been billing me a lot for very questionable amounts of work and I'm afraid it's just not stacking up.

So, I've stopped them working and taken all the parts and the cars shell away from them. This was a massive pain in the arse given the cars current condition but it had to be done.

The whole thing has really killed my enthusiasm for this project tbh. I'd even considered cutting my losses and just selling the lot! It means walking away from the car and all the money I've spent on it up to now. But it would mean keeping what money I've got left in my savings.

 

Since moving the car however and having a break from it all I've made my mind up that I'm not prepared to walk away from this car. The money would be a bad thing to lose but I can always earn more of that but the car is a big part of me after having it so long and I don't want to lose it. Believe it or not after talking to my parents about this situation even they said they'd have been heartbroken to see that car go. This Capri really is priceless to me!

I've also got some really good and rare parts to do this car up with, these are worth a fortune now of course but if I walk away then the chances of me getting any of this stuff again are slim!

 

I've now got a nice new 'log cabin' style wood garage being delivered on Thursday this week, I'd need this anyway for the car when it's finished so I'll get this built and then all the parts that are currently all over the house and filling up the shed can be sorted through and stored in the new garage.

Then I'll be sorting out the shell...

I've been in touch with another company fairly locally who can take this on. I'd considered finishing it myself but realistically I'm short on space and facilities to do that level of work so the plan is to get the other company to complete the metalwork to the shell and panels, then carry out a full inside and out respray.

Then I'll get them to reinstall the suspension, axles, wheels etc to enable the car to 'roll' again. This will make moving it far easier!

I might get them to install the cars headlining kit and glass/seals at the same time which will make it weatherproof too.

 

Once the car is to this stage I'll trailer it back home, roll it into the new garage and then spend every spare hour I possibly can rebuilding the rest of the car, installing the engine and transmission, interior, trim etc etc etc. Being an old basic car this shouldn't be to bad a job but it's got to be righ so I'll take my time and make sure everything is done properly and all parts to be reused are good enough for the job.

The interior will still be getting retrimmed but it's not a priority yet so it can wait till the end.

 

This whole thing has been a right pain in the arse and has really put a huge burden and strain on me recently. Not helped by other things in my life not going too well at the same time either.

So far this has cost me my Granada, which I loved, and almost cost me the Transit aswell. I've also had to take on extra work to help pay for it all. This means doing a 1 in 7 evening and weekend standby rota at work. I've never liked the idea of this tbh but the money is good and needs must at the moment.

 

Sadly, in hindsight I should never have started this. I should have left the car as it was for at least a while longer since it was still a good driver but it's too late for that now!

But it is what it is and I am not going to lose this car. I will get it finished one way or the other and it will then at least be as good as one of these ever can be and it'll have its own garage to live in from now on which will keep it in the best condition possible too.