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The about bloody time Capri resto thread - resto done! We are on the road!


Tamworthbay

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Yup it came from stoke originally. Lived there for nearly thirty years (poor sod) then moved to Sutton Coldfield as a first car for a lad of 17, much like I had one as my first car. It suffered a lot in the year he had it and was in a sorry state when I got it. On the surface is looked scruffy but another year in his hands and I think it would have ended up being broken.

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Yup it came from stoke originally. Lived there for nearly thirty years (poor sod) then moved to Sutton Coldfield as a first car for a lad of 17, much like I had one as my first car. It suffered a lot in the year he had it and was in a sorry state when I got it. On the surface is looked scruffy but another year in his hands and I think it would have ended up being broken.

I tried to look after mine despite it being my first car even though it was pretty ropey anyway at the time.

My mate wanted one too so a few years later he found a really nice D reg 2.0 Laser that had been in a garage it’s whole life, one elderly owner, low miles, almost mint it was too.

He didn’t look after it at all sadly. Within a couple of years it was looking quite sorry for itself. Rust starting to come through in places, dirty, he kept booting it everywhere trying to get the twin choke Weber to kick in too which I don’t think did the old thing much good.

He sold it on at a loss after that but luckily the car went to be restored. It’s a shame he kicked the crap out of it first though.

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I have to admit I ragged the arse out of my first Capri, but they were cheap cars then and all the lads I hung around with did the same. Between four of us we wrote off or scrapped six of them :-( I was only responsible for one and that wasn’t my fault, it was totalled by a moron in a Volvo 240. My mate John Wilson scrapped three, but to be fair they were all crap anyway. He had a 1.6LS that he took for MoT, I gave him a lift to pick it up and when he asked the guy if it had passed the guy just burst out laughing. The carpet was the most structural area in the passenger side front. He lived up a hill the other side of a roundabout from Albert Looms scrapyard. They gave £30 if you delivered the car but only £10 if they collected. I remember standing by the roundabout and giving him the thumbs up when it was clear so he roll another one of his down the hill as fast as possible to have enough speed to clear the roundabout. That had died in spectacular form going around the Pentagon island when the crank and a con rod parted company. I also remember helping another lad swap an engine on one, he was stood on the inner wing with a mate the other side, they lifted it between them on a rope and I slid bricks in underneath. After a couple of pulls there was a massive cracking sound as his foot went through the inner wing which had been ‘repaired’ using mess and filler. That one was also scrapped.

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He had a 1.6LS that he took for MoT, I gave him a lift to pick it up and when he asked the guy if it had passed the guy just burst out laughing.

 

icon_biggrin.gif

 

A work colleague of mine from 23 odd years ago had one (or rather it was her husband's). It was silver and had steel wheels. I told her that I really liked it. She thought it was a piece of crap. Indeed it failed to start a few times from what I can recall. I think it was binned in favour of an E reg Sierra Sapphire (carry on the RWD Ford theme).

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Capris always rotted, even the German ones (all of them after 1976) were bad. My old man bought a 2000S in 1977, late 1976 R reg and by 1980 the inner tailgate was rotten so he chopped it in for a 1 year old 3000S.

 

He Waxoyled that one and it was on the road until 1994. That was an epic car, ordered by the first owner from Whites of Taunton who were an RS dealer - it had the 7" wide RS wheels, Bilstein suspension (X Pack) and fishnet Recaros. In black as well - that would be a £20'000 car now, if not more.

 

He always said the 2000 was a Cortina in drag.  :-D

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I'd still love a Capri, but I refuse to pay the silly prices.

 

If I could afford a Capri these days I'd buy a Bentley!

Yup, they are shit quality for the money, parts are just stupid for what they are and they weren’t well designed in the first place really. The Capri on the other hand..............

 

 

 

 

 

(Jokes aside I would still buy the Capri though, Bentleys have always been old men’s cars to me, I can’t see the fun in one personally, but I do wish everyone buying Capris would buy something else so I could have more of them)

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Yeah but when I grow up I want to be xtriple!

You could still get a lot of Capri for the money that has gone into that Bentley. Wasn’t it something like £2k for a set of discs and pads? That’s why they are so cheap to buy, like old rollers, purchase price is about the same as a years running costs.

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I remember when you couldn't give one away in the 90s early 2000s, when I make a time machine I will bring a few v6s back to sit with the other fords that were worth the square root of fuck all I bring back

I turned down a 3.0 for £1500 as it needed too much work, and that wasn’t that long ago. As always you regret all the ones you missed.

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  • 3 months later...

And the pictures of the AJS?

As requested, it will be on the Bay tomorrow (unless an interested party gets back to me). I have sadly come to the realisation I will never finish it and need to cut down on projects. I inherited from my old man, it was his last project and he did most of the work that has been completed so far. I have done bits but he passed away twenty years ago so the realisation has come to me that I don’t want to pass it on to my daughter unfinished when I die. Sad thing is that Dad would have had it done in a couple of years but hey, what can you do?

post-19712-0-76645400-1534008984_thumb.jpegpost-19712-0-33320300-1534009002_thumb.jpegpost-19712-0-75899500-1534009017_thumb.jpegpost-19712-0-90817000-1534009032_thumb.jpegpost-19712-0-58622600-1534009049_thumb.jpegpost-19712-0-70341900-1534009072_thumb.jpegpost-19712-0-26982400-1534009087_thumb.jpegpost-19712-0-16297400-1534009102_thumb.jpegpost-19712-0-75353000-1534009118_thumb.jpeg

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All resto project bikes have rusty rims and spokes ... what do you do , re-chrome them or find a nos rim ?

 

Personally I would go for stainless rims if it was me. I used to get them rechromed at a fantastic old school place in Nuneaton but that has sadly closed down and people who do them well are few and far between. And always new spokes.
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A few too many bits for me. I have some knowledge but little time.

Be careful not to under price it, these things are worth a considerable sum these days.

Guy on our street has many old bikes in his garage, I said they must be worth 4K each, yes I gave 40 quid he replied.

I offered it to someone on here at £1800 which I thought was fair given the spares and work done, projects seem to make £2500+ depending on condition as they are rare. But it looks like it will be risking the bay and as everyone knows anything could happen but I am bound to get ‘will take it for fifty quid 2nite m8’. Thinking of starting at a grand but have no idea really what it will make on there. It’s hard for me to sell it so I really need to move it fast now the decision has been made or I will change my mind (again) and it will sit for another ten years.
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  • 1 year later...

Well it’s been far too long since I updated this. As my paint mate has been busy with other stuff the Capri has been left with little done. The arrival and work need on the 205 also delayed things last year and then being ill for two weeks of holiday killed any progress. So today I started it up and it fired after a couple of seconds (battery lives on trickle charge). It spat the usual amount of sooty smoke out on choke but a good blast will clear all that. In between showers I have made a list of jobs to do. Essentially it needs the wings, one door, one rear arch spraying and the front valance finishing and spraying then the interior needs putting back together. So it reality not that much but all weather dependant as the space in the garage only allows work outside. So I need some dry weekends in April and progress should be good. I scared myself looking in the engine bay when I saw the heater matrix has been bypassed. Then I remembered it was me who did it to sort the heater motor out.

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I need to get some new polythene to replace the stuff that was on the Capri. It’s the sheet that is fixed to the door and protects the door card from getting damp. I have had a look on eBay and it ranges from 250g to 1000g. Does anyone know what is best to get and anywhere good to get it from? And how best to fix it on?

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Well it’s been a bloody fight today. Just when I was about to do the doors I realised that I can’t until they are sprayed as I will need to refit the mirrors. So I though I would rebuild the dash, fitted the refurbed heater ok then went to connect it up only to find the coolant was the colour of mud. So I set about flushing it through but didn’t notice when one of the pipes slipped and landed up against a hole in the bulkhead. About 30 seconds later I noticed but by then the drivers side was like a lake. Shit. So out with the seats, carpets and undermats. I dried everything I could and have the dehumidifier going in the garage. Thankfully the water wasn’t too bad by then and the carpet has survived. Then to cap it all my wife decided to help by bringing my socket set in, the one with the dodgy catch that must be picked up flat. You can guess the rest. So a few hours work and I am further from the end than when I started.

Does anyone have any suggestions for decent undercarpet stuff? The Ford stuff is like a sponge which isn’t great.

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I used FF10 Geniemat in the BM because I blagged a load of it from somewhere. Wanted something waterproof and that didn't act like a giant sponge. It is a bit thick though and clumsy in the corners.

https://isostore.com/geniemat-ff-roll-out.html

Also used Neopream too, again because 3ree.

 https://www.rubberstock.com/sheeting-gaskets/neoprene-sheeting/neoprene-sheet-6mm-1-4m_15907.html?channable=e24197.NDgwNjAwMDE0MC1CbGFjay1TSVpFX1BMQUNFSE9MREVS&gclid=CjwKCAjwgbLzBRBsEiwAXVIygJiYuXlN6puyNqnakPGTf_AIjsTH-kRBDOGF6_zrEnKl5szVG2xILBoCbRUQAvD_BwE

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3 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for decent undercarpet stuff? The Ford stuff is like a sponge which isn’t great.

See Dan's excellent Capri thread, around summer 2019 onwards.

You have to stop all water leaks into the interior first though.  I once used domestic household carpet rubber underlay in a Mk1 Escort 1300E which unfortunately had a leaky windscreen seal, leaking somewhere up under the dash.  Used absolutely loads of the underlay (brand new scrap offcuts). All nice and quiet but after a few winter weeks the whole interior stank of rank wet rubber.  Best intentions, etc, but end result was not ideal.

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1 hour ago, JeeExEll said:

See Dan's excellent Capri thread, around summer 2019 onwards.

You have to stop all water leaks into the interior first though.  I once used domestic household carpet rubber underlay in a Mk1 Escort 1300E which unfortunately had a leaky windscreen seal, leaking somewhere up under the dash.  Used absolutely loads of the underlay (brand new scrap offcuts). All nice and quiet but after a few winter weeks the whole interior stank of rank wet rubber.  Best intentions, etc, but end result was not ideal.

The leak was entirely my fault, just bad luck but a pain in the arse. When it’s done it won’t see the rain, but don’t want anything that traps the damp no matter what.

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And forgot how hard it is to work on these without constant interruptions. I don’t mind and forgive the 15 year old who was genuinely interested in my Ford Cavalier that must be worth £100,000 (yes it is mate, payment in cash please) but the usual ‘I had one of those, it was a JPS special 2.8i and you had to put two paving slabs in the back to make it move’. Yes of course you did mate. I just smile and agree now.

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I grew up with Capris due to a favourite uncle buying a new one every few years. Got my first one in 1994, Y reg 2.8 with full Janspeed. Appalling brakes, lethal handling in the rain, old fashioned even then but I absolutely loved the thing as it roared its way along. Still miss it. As said the prices are daft now and I don't think I'd buy another 2.8. Lovely shape though and superbly comfortable driving position looking out along that bonnet.

If you need a hand at any point with it bud let me know.

Dave

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