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

[Crusty Sills]

That's not good. Take care of the important things first. 

[Mally]

21 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

 

If it does fire, it’ll be loud! No exhaust yet!

I'd not be firing it up without exhaust, don't want flames near that blue paint.

[danthecapriman]

Got a little bit of time this morning to carry on.

I got a new set of points and an old stock condenser delivered the other day. However, having thought with a clear(er) head, the old points are already stripped out of the dizzy, so I decided I wasn’t losing anything by just fitting the electronic system and trying. At the end of the day, if it didn’t work I could just refit the new points & condenser and try again.

They really are a piece of piss to fit, remove points, remove condenser, remove wire & grommet between coil - and points.

Then the electronic sensor and it’s baseplate screw in place of the points using the original fixing points. Run the two wires from the sensor around the inside of the dizzy (taking care they don’t stop the advance mechanism or foul anything) through the original wires opening and out to the coil. Black wire to coil - terminal, red wire to coil + terminal. Then push the moving magnetic pickup sensor over the dizzy cam and refit the rotor arm and dizzy cap. It really is that easy!

So with that done, I hooked up the fuel supply and battery and go for a crank to test for a spark off the king lead... SUCCESS!! Nice big stream of sparks.

King lead fitted, and go for a start.

This is when I shit myself! The fuel must have drained back down out of the pipe and filter since last weekend. When I started cranking this time some fuel shot back up into the filter, no problem with that, but the fuel was bright red!! 

The fuel can Im using as a tank for this is what I normally use to fuel my chainsaw and garden tools with... which are 2 stroke... yeah. Fuck! Luckily it wasn’t what I thought though. The fuel in the can is clear so it must have been the dye from the fuel filter paper element staining the fuel a funny colour and the red fuel was just the old stuff from last week coming back up. I honestly thought I’d just filled my carb with 2 stroke oil!

Anyway, it still wouldn’t fire so I poured fuel straight into the carb, which caused a little fart! Pumping the accelerator showed fuel to be getting through ok, so I just kept cranking, which eventually led to this vv

 

[danthecapriman]

Video seems to work!

So, Yeah, success at long last. A very fitting day for it too, 6 June!

I haven’t run it for long as there’s no exhaust and there were a few flames! I had to jam a piece of old plywood between the exhaust manifold and inner wing to stop any damage.

That video was the first start too, and it ran bloody well and started almost on the key. Ok, it sounds a bit crap but with an exhaust system fitted it’ll be sweet. That’s the first time this engine has run for 4 years now.

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Excellent news! 

Bit better than good enough, mind ?

 

[Tamworthbay]

Great news! A bit of two stroke wouldn’t harm anyway. The old UCL wasn’t much different to normal two stroke oil.

[Amishtat]

Well done, you must be over the moon! 

[Mrs6C]

Brilliant progress!

Well done!

[Skizzer]

Superb!!!

I’m made up for you chief.

[danthecapriman]

Cheers chaps and chapesses.

Im well pleased with it!! If I’d had a clearer head last week I could have had it going then, but never mind!

 

In theory I could bleed the brakes up, stick a seat in and drive it up the road with the fuel can cable tied in place! I won’t, but it’s that close now!

[big_al_granvia]

fantastic, the 1st start is the best

[Angrydicky]

Congratulations! Not far to go now!

[TripleRich]

Brilliant!  A big milestone for the restoration!

[eddyramrod]

Well done Dan!  Proud of you!

[Timewaster]

You must be well chuffed. What a milestone! 

[greengartside]

Just spotted this Capri on eBay, a few numbers away from yours.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-1974-Ford-Capri-GT-39k/293629381482?ul_ref=https%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F1%2F710-53481-19255-0%2F1%3Fff3%3D4%26toolid%3D11800%26pub%3D5574637365%26campid%3D5337910453%26mpre%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FRare-1974-Ford-Capri-GT-39k%2F293629381482%26srcrot%3D710-53481-19255-0%26rvr_id%3D2494077146085%26rvr_ts%3D0269af691730a6e5b5e5f287fffdc675&ul_noapp=true

[eddyramrod]

Bloody hell!  Not getting yours together with that one for a photoshoot would be a criminal waste, Dan.  He's only down the road!

[danthecapriman]

8 hours ago, greengartside said:

Just spotted this Capri on eBay, a few numbers away from yours.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-1974-Ford-Capri-GT-39k/293629381482?ul_ref=https%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F1%2F710-53481-19255-0%2F1%3Fff3%3D4%26toolid%3D11800%26pub%3D5574637365%26campid%3D5337910453%26mpre%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FRare-1974-Ford-Capri-GT-39k%2F293629381482%26srcrot%3D710-53481-19255-0%26rvr_id%3D2494077146085%26rvr_ts%3D0269af691730a6e5b5e5f287fffdc675&ul_noapp=true

Jesus! I wasn’t aware of any other survivors in the same registration numbers to mine, and for that to be only down the road is unbelievable! BK is a Portsmouth issued reg, mines never left the area, but that one went to Portugal then back here.

I might send the guy a message and see if he knows much about where it was sold etc etc. The same probably applies to mine.

Thanks for posting that up!

[Christine]

Like buses aren't they ?

[danthecapriman]

1 minute ago, Christine said:

Like buses aren't they ?

Common as muck, by the looks of it! Down here anyway!

If he’s selling that one that’ll probably leave just mine around here though.

[Tamworthbay]

Just used the MoT check to look for any survivors near the reg of my Capri and the next number along was a milk float!

[danthecapriman]

BBK243M is/was a Reliant 21E (plastic pig!)

BBK242M is a Honda ST70, monkey bike!

BBK241M is a Citroen AK400 (2CV van) this one is local too as I’ve seen it about until about a year back.

BBK245M is a 2001 MG TF, private plate then!

BBK246M is a 2001 Benelli?? No idea wtf that is!

Not much consistency with registrations was there?!

 

 

 

[Tamworthbay]

7 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

BBK243M is/was a Reliant 21E (plastic pig!)

BBK242M is a Honda ST70, monkey bike!

BBK241M is a Citroen AK400 (2CV van) this one is local too as I’ve seen it about until about a year back.

BBK245M is a 2001 MG TF, private plate then!

BBK246M is a 2001 Benelli?? No idea wtf that is!

Not much consistency with registrations was there?!

 

 

 

Benelli is an Italian 2 stroke motorbike. Very cool!

[danthecapriman]

54 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

Benelli is an Italian 2 stroke motorbike. Very cool!

Is it the same Benelli that makes shotguns?

[Tamworthbay]

7 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Is it the same Benelli that makes shotguns?

Not sure, never thought of that! Could be though. My first SA was a Benelli, bloody thing hated feeding anything under 30 grams, went to a Beretta (A381 I think) and that would cycle anything you liked.

[danthecapriman]

Just had a google search for the company, it was the same company but the motorcycle and firearms sections are now separate companies. Apparently the motorcycle bit is now Chinese owned.

[Tamworthbay]

13 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Just had a google search for the company, it was the same company but the motorcycle and firearms sections are now separate companies. Apparently the motorcycle bit is now Chinese owned.

That’s a shame, I had  one like this:

Probably worth a fortune now! They were cheap bikes when I started riding in the mid 80s. Not as good as an RD but good fun.

[danthecapriman]

Funny how you can go from chatting about Capri’s and wind up going onto motorbikes and shotguns!

Anyway, in Capri news.

The weather lately has slowed any sort of progress! We seem to have had a brilliant May and then lately this month nothing but wind and rain. All I’ve been able to get done is a few small jobs around the front end and a bit of finishing off in the engine bay. The new wiring for the electronic ignition has now been routed a bit less ‘temporarily’, I’ve wrapped the two new wires in the same loom tape as the rest of the loom and fed it up and behind the coil to try to keep it out of the way and look a bit tidier.

Since the car now runs again, I’ve also finished the engine bay fuel hoses in a more permanent manner, these being unleaded and ethanol compliant (but it remains to be seen how well they last...) and the cleaned, painted and polished up air filter has been reinstalled. This is the bog standard early style round air filter and housing. The metal end that can be moved up or down to draw in warm air from the exhaust manifold in winter was a bit crusty but responded well to cleaning up and a bit of rust converter, then some satin black paint. It’s now bolted back onto the top of the carb/manifold and actually makes the engine bay look much more ‘finished’. The air filter itself, being the round type, seem to be getting harder to find now so I’ve fitted a cotten washable long life replacement. It’s identical to the original paper filter other than it lasts longer and can be washed out occasionally. Apparently it also lets the engine breathe more freely for some additional horses! If you believe or care about that sort of thing!

Fingers crossed the weather will improve and I can get on with the final underside items.

[Tamworthbay]

Eurocarparts list them at £10 before discount (works out £6) and Bosch. I need to order a few service bits so have them on my list. Will be interesting to see what arrives.......

[danthecapriman]

Very little going on since last update. Weather was on and off a bit, and I’ve had a bit of a break from it too!

Two week’s holiday from work now though, so I decided to get going again. First job I wanted to get done was refitting the handbrake cable’s.

I dug these out and gave them a check over. They’re original Ford parts (probably the original ones), I gave them a quick look at ages ago and just thought they looked ok so can go back on at some stage. Of course today when I actually looked properly they actually aren’t so good!

These are the basic parts. Slightly different to mk2 and 3 set ups because mines such an early car!

2 Cables, one for the handbrake lever to pulley on the back axle - this one is in fine condition and will be reused.

The other cable goes between the two rear wheels with a pivot point in the middle, the first cable effectively just pulls this one tight which pulls the handbrake arms on the rear brakes on. This cable has worn at the pivot point in the middle unfortunately. I probably could reuse it in all honesty as none of the wires have broken, but a few are very thin so now is a good time to just replace it. Of course getting one is no longer as easy as going to the local parts place because it’s so old and actually only fits mk2’s from Jan 74 to Dec 74! But Ebay seems to have turned up a new old stock one for £6 so that should do. Once it gets here.

Which means I couldn’t fit the handbrake cable’s today after all. But there was another problem too. On the rear axle where the two cables join is an arm that moves as the handbrake is operated. This is the bit that pulls the second cable. But to get this arm to move back off again is a big spring to pull it back into the brakes off position (you can see it in the pic above). This spring looks a bit rusty but I thought it’d be fine with a wire brushing. It’s actually rusted to buggery at one end and if I tried fitting it the end would literally just snap off. Naturally, it’s now not available! I can’t find a used one either so I’ve been looking for generic springs of similar sizes to fit instead. I think I’ve found one but it had to be ordered in, so I’ve got to wait for this too.

Anyway, this is the pic from the Haynes book and what it should look like.

So with that job on hold I decided instead to get the front seats fitted. I don’t think I need the space to work inside the car anymore as most of that is now done so why not.

They went in ok, just took a bit of effort clearing the bolt holes in the floors of all the carpet and under felt. Both seats went back fine though.

 

With that done, I did a few odd jobs around the car including fitting my tool kit into the boot!

This was always missing on this car from when I bought it but I managed to find a used early style jack and the lever bar/wheel brace. They should be in a hessian sack for storage so I got a reproduction one off eBay (again!) and then put them in the boot using the original rubber hold down ties.

I’ll get them back out again at some point and paint them as they’re a bit scabby, but at least I’ve got them now.

Not exactly the job I wanted to have done, but it’s something done none the less!