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Project Capri. Back on the road! New earths.


danthecapriman

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Cheers guys!

The bits for the handbrake turned up so that became today’s job.

Here’s the bits.

78326335-DB42-48A1-B715-560E5BE4BBD9.thumb.jpeg.e2cc69dff0bdd133ae6ad4bbb9083361.jpeg

Top cable is the so called primary cable which hooks onto the hook on the underside of the handbrake lever.

Middle cable is the old transverse cable, you can just make out the damaged bit (awkward kink in centre!).

Bottom cable is the new transverse cable. New old stock, but not genuine.

Then on the bag, is a new old stock handbrake pulley wheel for the rear axle. I didn’t necessarily ‘need’ this, but saw it and got it anyway. Why not since everything else is new! Then the original clamp removed from the old transverse cable end (this is also the adjuster), then finally the new spring for the arm on the axle. The spring just keeps tension on the arm to pull the handbrake off unless the lever is pulled up.

I fitted the primary cable first. The lever end of which is a simple hook and the shackle on the end of the cable just fits over it. Then the cable feeds along the transmission tunnel, a little plastic bush clips into a bracket on the underside of the rear floor to hold it, then the cable feeds onto the pulley, turns 90 degrees and the threaded adjuster on the end attaches to the top of the arm on the axle. The spring simply hooks onto the arm at one end and a bracket on the axle casing, and pulls the arm in the brakes off position. It’s not a perfect match for the original but does fit and hasn’t fallen off either! Then to adjust the primary cable you push the arm off it’s stop slightly and wind the adjuster nut tight until all the slack is out of the cable. Thus...

1B7ABD6D-84B4-42A4-8286-75C40885EA48.thumb.jpeg.a51277d7110473e9fe90f39560de4ff4.jpeg
 

Then the transverse cable can go on. This just attaches to the left hand handbrake arm on the back of the wheel cylinder, then through the little bracket on the bottom of the arm (with the little pulley wheel on it) then the adjuster shackle fits onto the back of the right hand wheel cylinder arm. Adjusting this is just the same, tighten the adjuster nut until the cable slack is gone but the handbrake arms on the wheel cylinders don’t move.
 

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Notice in the pics the spring is in two different ways round! I actually fitted it, then found it fits better the other way so took it apart a refitted it! The first way it was just fouling the arm when moved.

It seems to mention greasing the fuck out of every point of contact, shackle, pin, pulley wheels etc etc in the manual, so I’ve done just that! Everything moves freely and works as it should. I’ve tested it too, with the car pushed up the slope on the drive it rolls freely without my wheel chocks, pull the handbrake up and it locks it solid! Job done! 
 

Here’s the old bits.

D5C54B37-C363-4490-8B94-B908A05CAC4F.thumb.jpeg.54a9f88cd4cadc4f29e42cc9907ae494.jpeg

I’ll keep them just incase. The pulley wheel is still very much usable so will be a handy spare. The cable, while worn and slightly damaged might still get me out of the poo given the fact these aren’t exactly off the shelf parts anymore. The spring is completely screwed, but it might still come in handy if I need to source or get made another if the new one doesn’t work properly.

 

 

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10 hours ago, mat_the_cat said:

Good work Dan! What are the dangling connections for?

Ta!

Those two wires are for the fuel tank sender. There’s also a dangling plastic breather pipe for the fuel tank! Fitting the fuel tank should be my next job, I’d deliberately left it out until now to give me better access to the back axle for doing the brake cables.

I do need to spray a bit more of the clear Dynax UC wax around underneath first too. I’m trying to get everything rustproofed before access becomes difficult. It’s the area under the rear seat and backs of the spring hanger sections. Access is very good at the moment, but won’t be so easy to swing the cans around with the tank in.

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Just a little bit done today. My backs aching like a mother today, I think from laying in an awkward position yesterday.

Ive dragged the fuel tank out from its corner in the garage and had a look over it. It weighs a shit ton load too so not a good thing for me to lift today, but oh well!
It’s pretty clean & tidy on the outside. It was painted quite some time back, and though it’s not perfect it’s good enough for something that lives under the car. I’ve dusted off the cobwebs from the outside, and wiped off some of the spider shit and dead woodlice. There’s no rust as it’d been cleaned back before painting but it’s a bit rough and uneven in places and there’s a little dent in one corner. It’s ok though.

Removed the foam temporary bung from the filler neck hole -

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Then removed the sender unit -

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For a 46 year old steel tank thats pretty dam clean inside! All I found was a couple of little crumbs of sandy stuff and one or two little cobweb bits so I’ve hoovered them out. 
On the outside there’s two breather tubes, one on the higher end of the tank and one on the opposite end, these are linked by a length of plastic fuel pipe with a T piece in the middle. On the spare end of the T piece is a short stub of rubber fuel hose and two jubilee clamps to secure it. This joins onto the end of the plastic breather pipe already fitted to the car. The hose was pretty old and soft and the old clamps were rusted solid so I’ve replaced them all for new.

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Now to the sender.

I’ve taken one out of another Capri before so thought I knew what these look like...

So I was surprised to see one that looks like this come out of the hole!

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They don’t normally look like that! A bit of research seems to show they’re fitted to early mk2’s only. And I can’t find any new or used replacements, so I hope this ones still ok. It worked when last used anyway.

Id bought a new seal for it, but given this one looks totally different to normal Capri ones I don’t think it’ll fit properly. The original seal is a thick flat O ring type seal but the replacement is a different shape. It goes over the sender and fits in the right place, but to be safe I’ve cleaned the original one up and reused it. It’s undamaged and still supple so should be fine. Just applied a thin smear of grease to it before refitting to stop it pinching. Ive cleaned up the crud from around it too so It’s nice and clean now, and the fuel pickup tube sock filter is spotless so that was left alone. I don’t want to fanny around with it too much given it’s not easily replaced! Once back in I used a fibreglass pen to scrub the dirt and corrosion off the two electrical terminals for a good contact.

The two tank straps that hold it into the car are already painted and ready to use so hopefully tomorrow this will be back in the car.

Despite it’s rough appearance I’m actually pleasantly surprised by how good the tank is inside. I’d expected it to be much more rusty tbh. The tank out of my Mercury is only a year older and that was absolutely full of rust and muck and had to be replaced so this is a bit of a bonus.

 

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8 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

The arm on the float is a different shape on my sender. I was messing around with it last week. The seals seem good for a few uses so you should be ok.

The other one I took out (on a D reg Mk3) had a long float arm, with a longer pickup tube which went down at a much less steep angle. Weird they made them like this.

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Just now, danthecapriman said:

The other one I took out (on a D reg Mk3) had a long float arm, with a longer pickup tube which went down at a much less steep angle. Weird they made them like this.

That is what mine is like, I can’t remember how long the pickup tube was though. Filter plastic on mine is the same colour as the float.

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On 03/08/2020 at 21:20, danthecapriman said:

Cheers guys!

The bits for the handbrake turned up so that became today’s job.

Here’s the bits.

78326335-DB42-48A1-B715-560E5BE4BBD9.thumb.jpeg.e2cc69dff0bdd133ae6ad4bbb9083361.jpeg

Top cable is the so called primary cable which hooks onto the hook on the underside of the handbrake lever.

Middle cable is the old transverse cable, you can just make out the damaged bit (awkward kink in centre!).

Bottom cable is the new transverse cable. New old stock, but not genuine.

Then on the bag, is a new old stock handbrake pulley wheel for the rear axle. I didn’t necessarily ‘need’ this, but saw it and got it anyway. Why not since everything else is new! Then the original clamp removed from the old transverse cable end (this is also the adjuster), then finally the new spring for the arm on the axle. The spring just keeps tension on the arm to pull the handbrake off unless the lever is pulled up.

I fitted the primary cable first. The lever end of which is a simple hook and the shackle on the end of the cable just fits over it. Then the cable feeds along the transmission tunnel, a little plastic bush clips into a bracket on the underside of the rear floor to hold it, then the cable feeds onto the pulley, turns 90 degrees and the threaded adjuster on the end attaches to the top of the arm on the axle. The spring simply hooks onto the arm at one end and a bracket on the axle casing, and pulls the arm in the brakes off position. It’s not a perfect match for the original but does fit and hasn’t fallen off either! Then to adjust the primary cable you push the arm off it’s stop slightly and wind the adjuster nut tight until all the slack is out of the cable. Thus...

1B7ABD6D-84B4-42A4-8286-75C40885EA48.thumb.jpeg.a51277d7110473e9fe90f39560de4ff4.jpeg
 

Then the transverse cable can go on. This just attaches to the left hand handbrake arm on the back of the wheel cylinder, then through the little bracket on the bottom of the arm (with the little pulley wheel on it) then the adjuster shackle fits onto the back of the right hand wheel cylinder arm. Adjusting this is just the same, tighten the adjuster nut until the cable slack is gone but the handbrake arms on the wheel cylinders don’t move.
 

FF586256-9D75-42F8-BFA9-63B78E8A4C5E.thumb.jpeg.02d2bceb306ee49752ada0deaa7f2a90.jpeg

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Notice in the pics the spring is in two different ways round! I actually fitted it, then found it fits better the other way so took it apart a refitted it! The first way it was just fouling the arm when moved.

It seems to mention greasing the fuck out of every point of contact, shackle, pin, pulley wheels etc etc in the manual, so I’ve done just that! Everything moves freely and works as it should. I’ve tested it too, with the car pushed up the slope on the drive it rolls freely without my wheel chocks, pull the handbrake up and it locks it solid! Job done! 
 

Here’s the old bits.

D5C54B37-C363-4490-8B94-B908A05CAC4F.thumb.jpeg.54a9f88cd4cadc4f29e42cc9907ae494.jpeg

I’ll keep them just incase. The pulley wheel is still very much usable so will be a handy spare. The cable, while worn and slightly damaged might still get me out of the poo given the fact these aren’t exactly off the shelf parts anymore. The spring is completely screwed, but it might still come in handy if I need to source or get made another if the new one doesn’t work properly.

 

 

Just sorted my handbrake and the set up is completely different. The cable joins the balance arrangement which is odd. A cable goes to the drivers side wheel adjuster and a solid bar links this cable to the passenger side adjuster. It is held in place by a spigot off the bar which locates in a tube on the back of the diff housing. It seems very simple (and cheap) compared to the arrangement on yours. Evidence of Penny pinching at Ford I think.

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3 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

Just sorted my handbrake and the set up is completely different. The cable joins the balance arrangement which is odd. A cable goes to the drivers side wheel adjuster and a solid bar links this cable to the passenger side adjuster. It is held in place by a spigot off the bar which locates in a tube on the back of the diff housing. It seems very simple (and cheap) compared to the arrangement on yours. Evidence of Penny pinching at Ford I think.

That’s probably why they changed it from how mine is. There’s more slack and points of wear/adjustment/failure in the way mine is. It seems a bit of an over complicated way to do it too.
Works well at the moment though! There’s something very satisfying about a nice tight handbrake!

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Just now, danthecapriman said:

That’s probably why they changed it from how mine is. There’s more slack and points of wear/adjustment/failure in the way mine is. It seems a bit of an over complicated way to do it too.
Works well at the moment though! There’s something very satisfying about a nice tight handbrake!

I think the common split cable or U type arrangement works well. Mine is totally reliant on the self adjusters working as they should or you are knackered. And whoever thought the adjuster should be stuck up the arse end of the transmission tunnel needs a kicking.

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1 minute ago, Tamworthbay said:

I think the common split cable or U type arrangement works well. Mine is totally reliant on the self adjusters working as they should or you are knackered. And whoever thought the adjuster should be stuck up the arse end of the transmission tunnel needs a kicking.

Putting there was probably an after thought, on mine there’s just a single guide with a bush in it and the cable just runs in the tunnel above/along side the prop so you don’t have to do anything in the tunnel. All the adjustments are made from the back axle.

The rear brakes are totally different to yours too, yours has the standard double acting wheel cylinders with separate adjusters. Mine has old (mk2 Cortina etc era) single acting floating cylinders, with the adjuster combined on the cylinders. Then the handbrake arms go through the back plate to the cable, but inside the drum there’s a little finger that pokes down onto the adjust cog. As it all wears the movement just pulls the finger and winds the cog out to move the shoes further out.

Its not a bad set up, very basic and easy to work on, but the weakest bit is the adjuster fingers. They get old and just snap off meaning you get no self adjustment. On mine both of them had snapped off, one did it on the motorway but as I was driving you could hear it rattling around inside the drum! I couldn’t get replacements then either so had to manually adjust the rear brakes every 6 months or whatever it was!

Ive got a pair of new ones now (at great cost!).

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In other news,

I got the last bit of rust proofing done on the rear end. Just the backs of the chassis legs/spring mounts and the floor area under the rear seats and transmission tunnel. It’s all already covered in that rubbery factory look coating and blue paint but I’ve just used Dynax UC clear wax to give it that extra bit of protection and water resistance. The clear stuff looks brilliant too with the blue paint showing through! I’ve also given the four fuel tank mounts a good squirt of it too before they become hard to get at.

Then I used the Dynax UC to coat the top face of the fuel tank. This will be totally inaccessible once it’s in so best done I think. It’s got black POR paint on already but, again, the Dynax just gives it that bit extra protection.

Next was to find the big rubber O ring seal for where the fuel filler pipe goes into the tank and seals the joint. This just slipped on with a squirt of wd40 to help it. Next was the bit I wasn’t looking forward to! Lifting the tank into place under the car!

I think Ford must have got a deal on Army surplus armour plate to make these tanks! They weigh a shit load and that makes it so hard to wrestle them in and then hold it in while you secure it. The first thing to do is coat the big filler pipe O ring in something slippery to guide it onto the filler pipe easily. I used a smear of KY jelly, I mean Vaseline! There was something disturbing about rubbing that around the O ring!?

Anyway, with that now fitting together with the tank I could put my trolley jack under the tank to take the weight and lift it into its final position. There’s four little rubber pads on the top of tank so once they hit the underside of the boot floor you done. Then the two tank retaining straps clip onto lugs at the back of the car, hinge round under the tank and then a long bolt with a hook on one end hooks into another lug above the axle. The threaded bit passes through the end of the strap and then you tighten the nuts to pull the straps tight. Takes a while but it’s blatantly obvious when your under the car doing it as it will only go on one way.

Once the tank is tight and secure the breather vent tube can be joined to the T piece on the tanks breather tubes (rubber hose & jubilee clamps). I’ve secured these tubes with a couple of leftover clips I had from doing the brake lines just so nothing can move or rattle. Then the two sender wires just push onto the connectors on the sender unit making sure the earth wire is on the right one!

Its hard to get a pic underneath now as there’s not much space but here’s one showing the tank is back in place!

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One more job of the list! Just got to run the front - back fuel pipe now.

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26 minutes ago, Mally said:

Ha ha ha, self adjusters working as they should!

Click them round with a screwdriver until the drum just goes on, like everyone does.

I was still doing that on our MK6 Transit.

Silence you! Mine actually do work at the moment... they probably won’t for long though once it starts moving around and getting dusty!

24 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

Totally different to my set up! Even the shoes are rotated 90 degrees. I like the theory of your set up but can imagine how good it is in real life usage!

Yep, they’re an odd set up, but probably very much of their era I would imagine. I know mk1’s use this set up and mk2 Cortina’s etc do too. 
It’s very simple, and so easy to build up new brakes, but I wouldn’t expect they’re as good at actually braking as your car! I’d imagine doIng a comparison between the two would probably show the deficiencies in mine! 

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  • 8 months later...

Yes, an update. No, I’ve barely touched this since the last post! Winter, other shit and lack of enthusiasm is my excuse.

So today I dragged the Capri out of the garage and decided to get stuck into it, I’m not working at the moment so getting it finished is now my priority. 

Job number 1; fit the sodding exhaust! 
Id cleaned this up and given it a coat of paint a while ago then put it away ready to fit when I got round to it. 
Here’s all the bits,

Front pipe, rear pipe/silencer and new & old rubber mounts, clamps and repaired & painted hangers.

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The original rubbers are still probably usable but are beginning to crack and perish so I bunged a full set of new ones on. The two black hangers are the originals and have been removed from the shell, stripped, repaired where needed (rust!) and painted in chassis black. The big middle box clamp is one I ‘acquired’ years ago from a former employer! It’s in really good unused condition (original was broken and rotten). The front pipe - manifold clamp had been cleaned and repainted when I did the rest of the exhaust but I put it away somewhere safe... so safe I can’t find the damn thing! So the one I used here is a spare. It’s still a bit rusty and I’ll just take it off when the good one surfaces. For now it fits and works.

Getting it in place wasn’t particularly easy, it’s heavy and awkward to do laying on your back on a driveway! First thing was put the front pipe in place and just nip it up to hold it, then slide on the middle pipe/box. Then I fitted the rear pipe/box which slides in at an awkward angle over the rear axle. The hanger for it bolts through the rear chassis leg with one of the rubber mounts between it and the silencer can. This one mounting was an absolute arse hole to get on as there’s no space to get your hands in, the new rubber was incredibly tight and I was scared shitless of knocking the paint around the tailpipe! Got it in the end though!

With everything loosely joined together and hung from the mounts I could slide it and adjust the position of the whole system so it runs clear of everything and doesn’t knock against the body. Once happy I sealed up the joints with a bit of exhaust paste and did up the clamps, then finally tightened the two manifold studs. 
Sounds easy, but it was actually time consuming and hard work! But it’s on now.

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You might notice a bit of rust starting to come through the silver exhaust paint... not much I can do about it unfortunately! It’s an old used system and I couldn’t get it to bare metal all over. I knew it’d do this eventually though, it is what it is. It should be ok for a while but I’d like to get a new custom made system fitted at some point, so it’ll be fine until then. 
There’s also loads of blobs and marks of the brown cavity wax dotted around the cars underside that I’ll wipe off with a bit off white spirit, just to tidy it up underneath. I’ll go over those areas with the clear wax instead though.

Job number 2;     
I want to fit the front - rear fuel pipe next but decided doing that now would make waxing the floorpans difficult. I don’t want wax all over the pipe or it’s little retaining clamps so I’ve used yet more of the Dynax UC clear wax to coat the entire floorpan both sides, and also the chassis legs. I’ve also given the backs of the sill - floor seam a nice dousing in the UC as it’s the sort of place where rot can start and not be seen so easy. That can now dry overnight before I fit the fuel pipe tomorrow.

Job number 3;    
Petrol hoses. I did these last year with some hose I had already. It was new but I had doubts about its quality tbh so I bought some new marine grade hose to replace it with. I’ve now cut this to size and fitted it instead.

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This new hose is all branded, has the ethanol E10 compliant marks and marine compliance marks too so should be good. 
The old hose I had fitted before had, believe it or not, gone hard already and if you squashed it between your fingers at its ends there were splits and cracks in the rubber already! It must have been cheap shit! Goes to show what crap is on the market out there!

 

So now the exhaust is finished I should be able to fire this up and let it run for a longer period without flame and heat damage to the engine bay paint! It does need this too as I need to get it hot and bleed the cooling system through.

 

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I’ve also managed to source a pair on new old stock wiper arms over winter. The ones on the car are quite weathered and someone’s painted them by brush at some point so having the new ones should mean I won’t need to strip and sort the old ones.

Also, in a stroke of luck I bagged a spare fuel sender/pick up. As noted further up the thread these are unique to the early cars and not available new, even used they seem very hard to find. So I’ll keep this one as a backup. 
And I got a new old stock mini wiring loom & pin switch for the glovebox light switch. My original needed soldering back together as it was broken, so I’ll use this now instead.

Its getting close now!!

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  • danthecapriman changed the title to Project Capri. exhaust fitted, pg.45.

Didn’t get chance to work on the car itself today, but did get a couple of hours to prep a bit of it so it’s ready to go back on.

The fuel pipe, which connects the tank to the engine mounted pump. This has been stored somewhere safe since the car came apart and I’d not really payed it much attention until today. It’s basically just a long moulded to shape plastic tube, a short stubby plastic tube and a few rubber hoses. At the engine end it’s got a steel pipe that bends up and around the chassis/inner wing towards the pump. 

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The plastic tubes are both fine, just filthy so I stripped everything down and used some degreaser spirit wipes to clean off the decades of gunk, followed by a bit of a scrub with warm soapy water. 
The metal section was also sound but filthy so that got a degreasing and a rub down with emery cloth. Then afterwards I sprayed it with etch primer and silver top coat (left over paint from the exhaust!). It was black originally but I think silver makes it look a bit nicer! 
Finally, all the old rubber hose sections were removed. All of them were rock hard and perished badly! One just crumbled to bits taking it off. All have been replaced for the new marine spec hose, with new hose clips to replace the rusty original ones.

Its ready to go back on now, but I’ll need to come up with a new way to fit it onto the fuel sender/pick-up at the tank as originally the plastic end was heated up, pushed on then held tight with a crimped clamp. I can’t do that this time but hopefully a short stub of rubber hose and metal screw clips will do the job instead.

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After that I ended up cleaning up a big mess as I’d spilt some waste oil at some point and not noticed. It’d soaked its way down to the bottom of my tool box and made a right mess! 

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  • 1 month later...

Should be having a weekend on this now, so fingers crossed I can get some progress on it! 
A few weeks ago, since the last update, I have now fitted the front - rear fuel pipe. Took a while though as the plastic pipe had spent nearly 5 years coiled up so had started to lose its preformed shape a bit. Obviously it needs to go back on straight and without twisting. I’ve used new clips throughout to hold it all to the floorpans and chassis leg in the engine bay. These either simply push into little round holes or slide onto pegs welded to the floorpans. For the bit that attaches to the tank pick-up/sender I’ve simply cut back the plastic pipe to get rid of the original end that was heated then pushed on while soft. This won’t work again and I don’t want the risk of leaks, so instead I’ve just cut a length of rubber fuel hose and pushed that onto the plastic pipe and then over the metal union on the pick-up/sender. Then tightened both ends with proper hose clamps, wristed up tight as fuck! I’ve pulled on the hose and it won’t move at all so fingers crossed it’s ok.

Today, I’ve made a start on the passenger side door. 
Firstly I’ve hoovered out the inside of the door to get rid of any dust, dirt and cobwebs etc then offered up the door handle and a few other bits to see where they sat inside the door and where the fixings go. Once happy I broke out a new box of Silent Coat sound deadening pads and stuck a load of them inside the door, onto the back of the outer skin panel. It’s almost completely covered (missing only the points where things fit onto the panel and the extreme outer edges). The door feels absolutely solid now, and doesn’t have that empty ‘tinny’ sound. It’s probably heavier than it ever has been now too!
With that done, out came yet another couple of cans of Dynax S50 cavity wax! I’ve sprayed all the exposed surfaces inside the door, and used extension wands to get it into all the seams around the edges of the panel. It is literally everywhere! Being a hot sunny afternoon helped as it thins the wax and lets it flow into crevices and joints easier. 
I had to stop there as the excess was literally pissing out of the drain holes in the door bottom! I just left it sat for an hour with old pots under each drain hole to catch the drips! Hopefully by tomorrow it will have drained and gone hard.

Tomorrow’s job will be to start building up the door itself (handle, lock mechanism etc etc). I’ve also got to drill a hole through the A post for the courtesy light switch, and drill two holes through the door skin itself my lovely new mirrors! Not something I’m particularly looking forward to! Get it wrong and it leaves a mess! The new door seals also need finally cutting to size and pushing into place. They’ve been fitted since the car came home so should have shrunk/stretched as much as they’re ever likely to by now so cutting them shouldn’t pose future problems regarding the ends shrinking away from each other. 
Ive also got to remove the top section of the door frame as one of its fixing bolts has snapped, so it needs drilling out, re-tapping and new bolts fitted.

I’ll try to get a few more pics tomorrow too.

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Good to hear of progress Dan.  So much detailed work is required to make things work as they should, just basic stuff which nobody thinks twice about.  It all has to be done, and done right.  Or as 'right' as you can make it.  Personal acceptable standards mean a lot, and it shows.

The Capri jigsaw puzzle is nearer completion.  But what's next!!!?

(You may be able to do some decent doughnuts with a fresh 1600 and a 3.89 diff).

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Right, from now on I am NOT making or setting myself targets. Of any kind! 
Ive been on it all day so far and achieved almost fuck all. I mean stuff has got done, but not what I really wanted and it still looks exactly the same as when I started this morning!!

Firstly, here’s a pic (a shit one!) to show the fuel line now in place.

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I had to use double pipe clips as I couldn’t find and singles new? Does the job and doesn’t look out of place so it can stay like that.

Today’s first job was adjust the drivers door. 
This was ok but recently seems to have dropped, oddly? I’d actually been putting this off, as getting to the top hinge bolts on this side is a right twat (behind the dash!) but having had a look I could actually lift the door up and wobble it so something was clearly amiss. It turned out to be the bottom hinge bolts. One nut was missing and the other two were loose! Easy fix for once! I just lifted the door up to where it should align against the top of the rear quarter panel, tightened up the nuts and tried opening and closing the door. All good, no rubbing on the bottom of the front wing. Job done. I’ve double checked the other hinge nuts and those on the passenger door and they are all tight.

Next job was to repair the snapped bolt on the passenger door frame. On a Capri the entire window frame can unbolt (5 bolts) and lift out of the door itself. Naturally the one that had snapped was the difficult to get at one. 
So with the frame off the car I covered the snapped end in WD40 and tried to just wind it out, which didn’t work. So I centre punched the snapped end, then drilled the little bastard out then re-tapped the threads. Sounds easy but it took ages! The old snapped bolt was absolutely rock solid and took an age to drill without work hardening it. 
It was in the process of this I noticed the frames rubber & felt seal channel for the door glass was actually broken in half with a lump missing. So that was ripped out for replacement while I was at it. It was well overdue too as the rubber was split and gone hard, bits of it just crumbled taking it out. Fortunately because I horde stuff, I had a brand new seal in the shed (it’s been sat there in it’s bag for about 15 years!) so that’s now fitted. 
The frame was an absolute arse to refit to the door as it’s tight anyway and your scared of scratching paint or smashing the glass! Got there in the end but everything is now properly aligned and properly fitted now so it wasn’t a wasted day.

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Here’s the door itself with the wax and sound deadening inside. Just need to remember to remove the masking tape covering the holes.

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The door feels very heavy and solid now. Feels like a quality car the way the door closes! I’ve wound the window up tight for now so hopefully it pushes against the new seal and seats it properly.

Heres the old seal! 

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Old seal next to an off cut of new showing how hard and rotten the old one was.

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I’ve put the car away for the day now as it’s getting hot outside and I’ve had enough for the day. Tomorrow will see more work, hopefully that actually makes some sort of advancement in how it looks.

For tonight I’ve got the door handles and door end reflectors out for a wash ready to be refitted. The handles have a pair of brand new rubber seals ready for them. Fun fact: you can tell on a Capri where it was built by looking at the door handle locks. If the key slot is horizontal it’s a British (Halewood) built car like mine. If the slot is vertical it’s a German (Cologne) built car! Obviously much later cars had a separate lock and handle but by then all cars were German.

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Also relevant to the doors, I’ve ordered a new pair of check strap pins as mine are awful and the retaining pins are missing. And I’ve sourced a fell set of 4 new rubber seals for the doors. These are small shaped rubber sections that glue on over the join between the door and the top window frame part to reduce wind noise and help keep water out of the door. Lots of cars seem to be missing them nowadays and I’ve never seen new ones be made until now. Hopefully they’ll be good… coming from Germany though so might be a few days yet.

 

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2 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

The Capri jigsaw puzzle is nearer completion.  But what's next!!!?

Probably a bit early to be thinking of the next project yet but it’s almost certainly going to be blue oval! If not it’ll be another Volvo of some sort… a 242 or 164 or maybe a 780!

Ill most likely be sticking to Ford though tbh so it will almost certainly be a mk1 Capri or a Cortina 3/4 or 5 as I’ve wanted one since forever. Maybe not quite so involving next time though!🤪

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18 minutes ago, Tamworthbay said:

On the MK3 the rubber window trim fits into small clips that attach to the ally strip that clips on the top of the door. Is the mk2 different? It’s a stupidly complicated system if you ask me, and leaves nasty possibilities for rust.

Mk2 is the same. 
There’s a window ‘scraper’ seal that fits into metal clips on top of the door that also hold the door top trim on. Black trim on Mk3 usually chrome/bright on Mk2. Ive got a pair of new ones for mine. I’ve also got new clips for both doors and new rivets to hold them to the door, but I usually dip the rivet into a pot of Waxoyl before securing them so when it squashes and fills the hole it also squashes the Waxoyl under the rivet stopping damp getting to the steel door tops.

On all Capri’s the seal I changed in my last update fits inside the groove in the door frame top section. The glass actually fits and is guided by the felt in the seal. It runs all the way around the three sides of the top frame inside the channel where the glass sits when the window is fully closed. You can barely see it tbh but it’s in there! 
I changed the drivers side one on mine some years ago but never did the passenger side so the new seal just got left in the shed in its sealed bag! I don’t know if you can even still buy them tbh?

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As usual, less done today than I wanted, but it wernt arf warm out on the drive today!

Started by digging out all the bits for the door latches/locks, nuts, bolts & clips etc. First thing to go back on were the chrome door handles. Put these on assembled up with their two open/lock rods, little bushes, lock barrel seal ring and a new handle - body seal (old ones had gone rock hard after 47 years!), tightened up and look very nice!

Spent ages poncing around with the remaining operating rods. There’s a shortish one that just goes up through the top of the door for the interior lock pull handle. One was a pain as it just refused to go through the bush on the latch mechanism. Not made any more pleasurable by some bell piece deciding to fill the door cavity with wax…! 
Then was the long rod that goes from the interior door handle to the latch mechanism. This wasn’t too bad but I did do the first door by fitting the wrong side rod (they’re handed). 
Decided to test it all then, the passenger door worked-ish once then fucked up. So I had to remove the latch mechanism as it had jammed up. I spent about an hour flushing it through with wd40 and working it free. Visually the mechanisms look clean but this one was full of brown gunk inside. It’s all come out with the wd40 and works well now, I guess it was just years worth of old grease sticking the mechanism up. 
It’s all good now, though I have found the passenger door interior handle assembly is a bit of a state. The plastic back part is all discoloured and brittle, probably age and sun damage, so I’ve left it fitted for now and it works fine, but I’ll keep my eye out for a replacement. They’re similar to mk3 ones but have chrome handles and not as easy to find!

Chrome handles still want a proper spit & polish buff up but I think they look great. I still absolutely love the blue paint on this!

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It was getting hot by now though and I’d had enough so I spent the next hour or two doing odd bits & bobs, fitted the door end reflectors, greased up the door window winding mechanism, window runners and various bits of the locking mechanisms and handles etc etc, then found the interior rear view mirror in the bottom of a box so I fitted that too since it was easy.

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The beige trim cover bit is a brand new reproduction part as the original was disintegrating. It looks like a loose fit, but fitting the original and another dark grey one Ive got (both Ford parts) gives the same finish so it must just be how they are? 
 

Next jobs hopefully should be drilling the hole for the courtesy light switches, fitting those and wiring them in, and fitting the mirrors.

 

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