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

[Spottedlaurel]

Very lucky for it to survive! Especially being a Mk2, which has always been slightly overlooked.

 

Back then I suppose £100-150 would have been more than banger racers would have paid, plenty of Mk3s would have been going into the scrapyard.

[danthecapriman]

Very lucky for it to survive! Especially being a Mk2, which has always been slightly overlooked.

 

Back then I suppose £100-150 would have been more than banger racers would have paid, plenty of Mk3s would have been going into the scrapyard.

It was lucky! I'm convinced if it wasn't me that took it on it would have been done for. It'd already outlived most other early Capri's as even in 2001 it was an old car.

As you say, back then there were loads of mk3's still around for cheap and they were at the age of being old bangers, failing their last mot in many cases. The guy I worked with back then was a banger racer and I'd always had a keen interest in the sport too and he was constantly being given Capri's, Cortina's and Granada's for free. He took no real notice and stripped them out and went racing, quite often the vast majority of the other drivers were using the same types of car for racing too. It was common to see nothing but old RWD Ford models out on the oval every weekend. Goes to show how many were being lost because of it.

 

The mk2 was always the forgotten Capri, the mk1 was the first to be noticed as a classic icon and the mk3 was the one that had the aggressive looks and 2.8i engines etc etc so they were noticed too.

The mk2 wasn't made for that long really (1974-1978) and although sales were strong at first they were decreasing rapidly by the end of production. The mk3 kickstarted it all again and was consistently a good seller right to the end. Many people don't even remember the mk2!

 

This one shouldn't have made it really. There were many many better cars being scrapped or raced than this one but it somehow avoided death. Everything was against it too - mk2, rusty, low spec, small engined... weird how it survived really!

Who'd have thought back then (or even when it was new) that it'd survive to become a desirable classic and end up having such an insane amount of work done to it. Crazy really!

[eddyramrod]

You sure I can't interest you in a Rover 213, Dan?

[danthecapriman]

You sure I can't interest you in a Rover 213, Dan?

Thank god it's at the opposite end of the country!

[fordperv]

It looks like something I wouldve bought in 2001 seeing the potential in it, I really wish I had the from the start pictures of my mk1 sierra.

 

How was the insurance for you in 2001 on it? I was going to have a lovely red 2.0 mk3 and they tried to shaft Me cost wise so I gave it a miss, bear in mind my 1st car was an orion 16i ghia, it was even more than the escort cabriolet (insurance group 16-17) that I bought instead, which i never understood

[danthecapriman]

It looks like something I wouldve bought in 2001 seeing the potential in it, I really wish I had the from the start pictures of my mk1 sierra.

How was the insurance for you in 2001 on it? I was going to have a lovely red 2.0 mk3 and they tried to shaft Me cost wise so I gave it a miss, bear in mind my 1st car was an orion 16i ghia, it was even more than the escort cabriolet (insurance group 16-17) that I bought instead, which i never understood

I can't remember how much insurance was tbh. It wasn't too bad from memory though, can't have been really otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford it! 1st car too!

 

It wasn't on the road for much more than a year or so though before I started pulling it apart.

It's replacement was a B reg Fiesta mk2 1.3 Ghia, great car and went well. It was rusty as hell though and the clutch went on it in the end. It was so rusty it wasn't worth fixing so I traded it in for a H reg Orion 1.4glx which was an absolute turd! I wish I'd have kept the Fiesta really in hindsight, maybe hidden it away in a garage or something. It would have been worth fixing now.

The Orion didn't last long at all being quickly replaced by the Volvo 340 which was a great car.

The 340 was dirt cheap insurance. I was 18 when I got that, it was RWD and had a 1.7 litre engine too! Everyone else my age was running around in mk2 or 3 Fiestas or Novas and my Volvo cost less to insure.

[Hendry]

The pictures of it when you first bought it are very flattering, it looks mega tidy in those pics, really wouldnt imagine from them how rusty it really was in your other pics. 

[Sir Snipes]

It looks like something I wouldve bought in 2001 seeing the potential in it, I really wish I had the from the start pictures of my mk1 sierra.

 

How was the insurance for you in 2001 on it? I was going to have a lovely red 2.0 mk3 and they tried to shaft Me cost wise so I gave it a miss, bear in mind my 1st car was an orion 16i ghia, it was even more than the escort cabriolet (insurance group 16-17) that I bought instead, which i never understood

Actually looks like the GTE Mantas I would have had about the same time, too. I had a few and they were all rusty and generally tired but fucking cool and much cheaper to insure than, say, a Fiesta.

I should have chosen more carefully back then, or saved-up and bought one really nice one (this was when a decent Coupé couldn't even make £2000, never mind the £5/6000 you see on eBay nowadays) as I eventually had to sell them on as "projects".

[danthecapriman]

The pictures of it when you first bought it are very flattering, it looks mega tidy in those pics, really wouldnt imagine from them how rusty it really was in your other pics.

 

It's definitely the pics that flatter it!

The paint was flat and actually felt rough to the touch, like someone painted it and didn't bother flatting back or lacquering it.

The rot to the arches/rear quarters was there and showing through, but it only started getting really bad and visible after a 6 months or so. Probably from use I suppose, where it hadn't been fixed properly damp and salt must have gotten into the damaged area and made it worse.

That's the trouble when you get an old car and somebody's been at it before you! It hides the problems, at least for a while. In many ways getting one that's visibly hanging with rust would be better as you can see what you've got to deal with.

 

That's the reason I went for a bare metal job this time around. Once it's blasted there's no hiding anything and no way you can miss anything. Plus, it means you know everything's sorted so it's easier to then keep it pristine afterwards.

[danthecapriman]

I wanted to get the engine finished today so made a start on the clutch and rear crank oil seal.

 

IMG_0643 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Old and new seals. Old came out pretty easily and looks very old, also has Ford part numbers so I'd say it's original. The new one is slightly different having little ribs around the outside and a slightly different shape to the inside edge. Must be a modified design to make it seal better.

 

IMG_0644 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Back of the engine cleaned up and flywheel off.

 

IMG_0645 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

New seal in place.

 

Now, I put the backplate and flywheel back on and offered up the new clutch. It looks about right and is the one listed for this car but sliding the plate over the flywheels dowels showed the bolt holes to be a fraction out!

All I can think is it's down to piss poor quality non genuine parts.

 

IMG_0646 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Here's the new clutch on top of the old one and you can see the holes don't align properly.

Needless to say this part can be returned! I did think about filing out the holes but I don't think that's a good idea?

 

Very irritating really as I wanted this finished. I'll go to the local motor factors tomorrow and see what they can get.

[mat_the_cat]

Was this your first car too? Really enjoying the thread!

 

Hopefully by the time my Stellar needs any more bodywork I'll have the funds to do a bare metal job like this.

[danthecapriman]

Was this your first car too? Really enjoying the thread!

 

Hopefully by the time my Stellar needs any more bodywork I'll have the funds to do a bare metal job like this.

Yep, first car! I was actually 16 when I bought it. Always wanted one so bought one at the first opportunity.

 

I got absolutely slated for it by most other people though as they weren't desirable cars at the time. Hot hatches were the in thing not big old coupes. How times change!

[mat_the_cat]

You got slated for buying a Capri? Imagine the comments I got owning a grandadmobile Stellar!!!

[danthecapriman]

You got slated for buying a Capri? Imagine the comments I got owning a grandadmobile Stellar!!!

Fair point!

[Timewaster]

I think it's pretty universal.

I had a mini and got the piss ripped for that too.

Could be worse. I worked with a guy who had a 126 Brown as a first car. I'm not sure he has got over it yet.

[danthecapriman]

I think it's pretty universal.

I had a mini and got the piss ripped for that too.

Could be worse. I worked with a guy who had a 126 Brown as a first car. I'm not sure he has got over it yet.

It went both ways though. I ripped the piss out of the others for having (and actually liking) small granny cars! Hot hatches suck and they're girls cars!

 

Takes all sorts I suppose but who's laughing now!? The Capri isn't an undesirable car anymore, quite the opposite now. Not that I'm in this for the money of course.

[Hendry]

It's definitely the pics that flatter it!

The paint was flat and actually felt rough to the touch, like someone painted it and didn't bother flatting back or lacquering it.

The rot to the arches/rear quarters was there and showing through, but it only started getting really bad and visible after a 6 months or so. Probably from use I suppose, where it hadn't been fixed properly damp and salt must have gotten into the damaged area and made it worse.

That's the trouble when you get an old car and somebody's been at it before you! It hides the problems, at least for a while. In many ways getting one that's visibly hanging with rust would be better as you can see what you've got to deal with.

 

That's the reason I went for a bare metal job this time around. Once it's blasted there's no hiding anything and no way you can miss anything. Plus, it means you know everything's sorted so it's easier to then keep it pristine afterwards.

 

Like your thinking, I totally agree, bare metal is what id do on an older car I was doing a resto on so I was sure it was all sorted properly and I didnt spend a fortune and a lot of effort getting it sorted only to miss a big rusty bit somewhere.

 

I also agree about it better buying a car warts and all than one someone has fannied up which hides all the issues. 

[danthecapriman]

Nothing more to report here yet.

However this involves another old Ford so I'll post it here.

 

 

Today I took my works Mercedes Sprinter to the local garage we use to get the Adblue topped up. Pulled up outside and immediately notice there's a mk3 Cortina sat out front...

I got chatting to the mechanic who did my Adblue about it and it turns out it's a one owner car that's just been dragged out of a garage after years off the road.

It's a 73 L reg 1600 GXL, totally standard too.

It's had all the brakes replaced, cam belt, service, diff and gearbox oil changed and loads of other recommissioning done. It does need a few little bits of welding doing still but it's really very good on the face of it (though it does have a black tide mark around its sills and lower extremities so that's likely hiding something.

From what I understand the owner is struggling to find the cash to pay to get everything done and he's interested in selling.

I've had a quick look over it and can't see anything that scares me at all. Even the interior looks pretty good. It just looks a little tired from sitting so long and in desperate need of a bit of tlc and cleaning up.

 

The figure mentioned was £5k which I think is a bit much but even so, I seriously have the horn for it!!

Now is a really stupid time for me to be thinking about this but mk3's like this don't appear very often and it's standard-ness is really drawing me to it!

 

I'm really having to fight hard here not to call the guy...

I love mk3's and always wanted one aswell.

[AndySnapper]

Surely you have enough babies to feed already Dan

[OwdChina]

Nice work with the Capri Dan............any pics of the MKIII.

 

Totally the wrong thread for this but I removed this boat anchor from that old ford truck we were playing with a few weeks ago............ Not wanted you see.........it should be a direct fit for your old yank........yours if you want it..........just cost of postage.

 

[chaseracer]

You got slated for buying a Capri? Imagine the comments I got owning a grandadmobile Stellar!!!

 

I bought my GS1220 at age 19.  It replaced my first Dyane.  Imagine how impressed* my mates were... 

 

Not that I gave a flying one, then or now!

[Eddie Honda]

I bought my GS1220 at age 19.  It replaced my first Dyane.  Imagine how impressed* my mates were... 

My mates were impressed* with my Dyane 6 - well they didn't give a shit because #firstoneontheblockwithafulllicenceandasetofwheels.

[danthecapriman]

Not anything exciting to update with, although it won't be long now, but today has been a reasonably decent day weather wise so I've taken the opportunity to clear out and rearrange the garage in anticipation of most of the big heavy stuff going back to the car to make it rolling again soonish.

 

As luck would have it, all the big heavy stuff was at the back of the garage! A bit of poor forward planning on my part really but of course what I need is all this stuff up at the front next to the double doors.

So I've emptied everything out of the garage, shoved the engine along some old decking strips while it's still sat on its metal drip tray (much easier than lifting the twat!) and I've got the axle etc etc all sitting on an old pallet next to it. The idea being that when it needs to go back to the car I can back my van up to the garage doors and simply lift them all straight in. That's the plan but the engine lift will be a right bastard, though I do have a cunning plan up my sleeve for this!

 

Next job was to sort through all the boxes and get anything suspension or wheel related sorted into boxes ready to go too.

It's amazing how much shit comes off a car when you strip it down like this, and this is a very basic car. I can only imagine how much would come off something as complex as my dad's modern Mondeo Titanium X for example!

I've managed to put everything I think will be needed in its own boxes, labelled each box and made an inventory list for each box! Any nuts, bolts, washers and clips are in sealable bags and all labelled for what they are for so in theory it should be as easy as possible for the reassembly.

It's not a job I was looking forward to tbh but it needed doing and now it's done so job well done.

 

 

In other news I've stripped back the gearbox crossmember, sanded it down and painted it in black enamel to match everything else. I've got a new gearbox mount with it too.

Also, for some bizarre reason I'm having a job and a half getting hold of a clutch kit that fits properly! So far the two non OE ones I've had are a terrible fit and frankly not good enough so I've sent them back for refund. Cheap jap shit!

Instead I've looked around and found an ideal solution. The place I've had loads of bits from in the past list the correct part but it appears to be a reconditioned original item done on exchange basis. It's more expensive than pattern parts but unlike them it will fit properly, plus I'll get a bit of cash back returning my old one. It should be here in a few days time so we'll see.

 

 

It's been a while now since I've payed an instalment, but the next one is the final payment on the bodywork. Which means it's currently having the seam sealing done, then the flexible underseal/stonechip coat underneath. Followed up by filler and primer, then paint, lacquer and polishing up.

Can't be long now before I get the call to pay up!

Once that's done the car goes back to the workshop to have the axles, suspension, hubs, wheels, engine and box reinstalled along with the headlining and glass. Then it'll be the last payment and it'll be coming back home for me to drool over and rebuild the remaining items into the shell.

I really can't wait to start doing that bit! I was looking at what's left in the garage after all the running gear bits go to be fitted and there isn't really all that much left. With any luck I'll have it back on the road for next summer!

[danthecapriman]

Here's a few pics of the pile of shite in the garage.

 

IMG_0687 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0688 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0689 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0690 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Should start to empty out a bit soon!

Also found a few bits a bobs I'll not be needing again too, like the old spoiler fixings and alloy wheel nut set. There's a spare mk2 grill I found too.

[JeeExEll]

It's like opening an Airfix model car kit on Christmas Day just to have a quick look at the wheels and all the other bits.

[danthecapriman]

New clutch is here from Germany.

 

It's not a cheapo one and guess what? It fits this time!

 

New clutch assembled, lined up and bolted on.

IMG_0691 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

New bearing installed onto the clutch arm.

IMG_0692 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

Good job I changed this. The old clutch itself wasn't too bad really but the bearing sounded rough as arse holes when I removed it and spun it. If it was left unchanged I don't think it'd have been long before it became noisy and needed the box taking out again.

 

Old bits,

 

IMG_0693 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0694 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Not in terrible condition really and would likely have been ok for a good while longer in this car, bearing excluded, but makes best sense to do stuff like this while it's in bits.

 

I'm running out of stuff to do on this now. The engines finished, pretty much everything else has been cleaned repaired or replaced and painted. I just need the shell back now!

[danthecapriman]

Went to see the Capri today.

Main reason was to drop off the new door seals I'd been asked for a while back. They need them later to fully align the doors once the paints done.

 

Works well underway. The doors etc are both all finished and hung back in place. They align well now but obviously will need to come off again shortly for the paint to be done.

Most of what's being done now is flatting off, filler work, knocking small dents and imperfections out etc before the big change to shiny blue paint!

There's lots of really small indents and tiny dings in a lot of the new panels. The guy showed me some on the new front wing tops, you can't see them at all but if you gently run your fingers over the panel they are there and they'd look awful if you just painted over the top of them. I guess it's these little bits and bobs that are the time consuming part of the job. Plus, many of the new non genuine panels have had to be fettled a bit to fit and most of the panel folds and lines had to be fettled to make them 'square' and sharp whereas before they're quite undefined and rounded. It's great that he's bothering to do this stuff though.

One example, the passenger door skin was genuine Ford. That one sat straight onto the repaired door frame and fitted perfectly first time.

The drivers door skin however was non genuine, so needed carefull adjustment and the panels creases and fold lines better defined before it could be permanently fitted.

Not much you can do about it though unless you get genuine panels only and that's either impossible now or takes a long time waiting for them to come up and cost £shitloads.

 

 

It's not a big update but rest assured progress is being made and I'm told it'll be a couple of weeks before the paintings done.

It's looking really really good now though and it's just wearing primer at the moment. It's the best this cars looked in about two years, aswell as the most complete!

 

I'm getting really excited now as we're so close to the most dramatic part of any restoration project! I just can't wait to see it in that beautiful metallic blue. Just the way it should look as an early mk2.

It's actually put me on a bit of a high now after seeing it again! Don't know what I'm going to with myself until then as I can't wait!!

[AndySnapper]

Went to see the Capri today.

Main reason was to drop off the new door seals I'd been asked for a while back. They need them later to fully align the doors once the paints done.

 

Works well underway. The doors etc are both all finished and hung back in place. They align well now but obviously will need to come off again shortly for the paint to be done.

Most of what's being done now is flatting off, filler work, knocking small dents and imperfections out etc before the big change to shiny blue paint!

There's lots of really small indents and tiny dings in a lot of the new panels. The guy showed me some on the new front wing tops, you can't see them at all but if you gently run your fingers over the panel they are there and they'd look awful if you just painted over the top of them. I guess it's these little bits and bobs that are the time consuming part of the job. Plus, many of the new non genuine panels have had to be fettled a bit to fit and most of the panel folds and lines had to be fettled to make them 'square' and sharp whereas before they're quite undefined and rounded. It's great that he's bothering to do this stuff though.

One example, the passenger door skin was genuine Ford. That one sat straight onto the repaired door frame and fitted perfectly first time.

The drivers door skin however was non genuine, so needed carefull adjustment and the panels creases and fold lines better defined before it could be permanently fitted.

Not much you can do about it though unless you get genuine panels only and that's either impossible now or takes a long time waiting for them to come up and cost £shitloads.

 

 

It's not a big update but rest assured progress is being made and I'm told it'll be a couple of weeks before the paintings done.

It's looking really really good now though and it's just wearing primer at the moment. It's the best this cars looked in about two years, aswell as the most complete!

 

I'm getting really excited now as we're so close to the most dramatic part of any restoration project! I just can't wait to see it in that beautiful metallic blue. Just the way it should look as an early mk2.

It's actually put me on a bit of a high now after seeing it again! Don't know what I'm going to with myself until then as I can't wait!!

Wot no pix Dan?

 

Sent from my SHIELD Tablet K1 using Tapatalk

[danthecapriman]

Just had a little result, of sorts on eBay.

 

To go with my refurbished steel wheels I need a set of the matching centre caps. The later versions of this wheel design used a grey or black plastic centre cap. These are fine, for later cars but mine being early I want to use the much much nicer looking early stainless steel centre caps.

 

I kept my old ones from this cars original wheels luckily so I do have a set of 4 already. However, one of them, the steel clips on the back have rusted and snapped off. It still clips to the wheel ok but how securely I don't know.

 

These are the ones I've already got.

IMG_0704 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

So, for ages I've kept an eye on eBay for some better ones.

I spotted a brand new unused pair yesterday and lobbed a bid in shortly before they ended this afternoon and won them.

 

Great little find as they're hard to find now, so I'll use the best two original ones (cleaned up) and the two new ones. Then the best of the other two can go on the spare wheel leaving the rusted one as a backup!

Not cheap though! £64 + p+p! Not much point moaning about the price though because scene tax and the fact I needed them.

[mercrocker]

Good to hear about Capri progress, Dan - I will hopefully see for myself next month when the Cowley goes in....