Project Buying a Crapi - 2020 Update!, Still slowly bleeding me dry

[fordperv]

Buy a mk1 Cav coupe. Much better value, and not common as mook.

He will be able to practice his welding a bit more on those front chassis swan necks

[junkyarddog]

I think it’s the steel that was used back in the day. German cars used better quality steel apparently, the U.K. built cars tended to rot quicker and worse.

Mines a Halewood U.K car! Though oddly the main chassis itself was almost completely untouched by rust, even the strut tops in mine are both original. Spring hangers both original, though one did need a small repair. It was almost everything else that was bollocksed!

All mk3’s (I think!) are German built as production shifted fully to Cologne when they were introduced. I think the last two or three years worth of Capri’s were only sold here, everyone else had seemingly moved on!

My MK2 is German built.

 

It's quite solid apart from around the edges!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

He will be able to practice his welding a bit more on those front chassis swan necks

True. Mind you at least 70's/80's Fords are well known for their lack* of ginger issues.

[coalnotdole]

Well if you want someone to talk you out of it im not your man either, they are great and only appreciating in value, if you can weld and don't mind the graft its perfect for you

 

I can weld medium and heavy gauge steel assemblies MMA and MIG quite happily all day long, And quite happy gas welding thinner stuff on the bench. My concern is that i have very little experience of welding thin body panels - all the ones I've done previously have been full panel swaps and mostly spot welded either with a spot welder or mig'ing through where i drilled out the old spot welds.

Changing a rear arch on this for example scares me a bit with panel distortion etc - I'd probably do what dans cars previous owner had done and joggle it in and stitch weld it!

 

 

 

Buy a mk1 Cav coupe. Much better value, and not common as mook.

Luckily there isn't a mk1 cav sat the other side of the road for sale - if there was it would already have been bought probably.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a look here for an idea on panel prices. They do stock some genuine panels still too... http://www.steelpanels.co.uk/category/ford/capri-mk-3/

 

A lot of my panels came from here. Including a pair of new rear quarter panels. Feel free to wince at the price of those!

 

I got very lucky with a pair of new unused genuine Ford mk2 wings off eBay. Bought before prices went mad luckily.

The difference between genuine and non genuine is pretty significant when you try fitting them. Non gen can require hours of fettling to get right which adds labour costs. They’re also often thinner gauge metal than original panels.

By comparison my genuine wings pretty much fell on and we’re very close to perfect straight away. It costs more to get them but you save on labour rates getting them fitting and looking right.

Cheers for the link - The exploded diagrams are quite handy actually! I had been looking at the ex-pressed panels yesterday and got a bit scared by the pricing - £300 for a inner sill? I see they do a bare sill without the gussets around the drain holes or captive nuts which is only £100+vat which seems a lot more acceptable but still soon adds up!

 

I have big concerns as my default position on everything is to do it 110%. Better than factory - but thats what your doing to your car and the figures involved are just scary, I have a large boat (just spent over a grand on engine spares this week alone) the Red Rebel which was a body off and all NOS parts but is still due a second respray due to poor choice of paint first time round, The SS1 which was only supposed to be a brief fling but is still here two years later - Then all the "shared projects" which are with joe on the mainland.

I don't have time or funding to sink 10K+ into this and I don't know if that means i'll be disappointed by it.

 

 

 

Whilst true a couple of years ago the ridiculous rise in prices have largely removed the cost issue. Thy have finally caught on (sadly for those of use who have always loved them) and I see projects far worse than mine SELLING fro £2k, I paid £600 three years ago. Parts fit is variable like many aftermarket bits but most are ok with a bit of time, just don’t expect to drop them on in minutes. The front wings are BIG and take a bit of work to get right.

Sadly this will cost me somewhat more than £600. At sub a grand it would already be bought and I wouldn't have started this thread!

Mind you given the prices of intact dashboard tops and decent front wings (even aftermarket) and the prices paid by the "omg type9" crowd on eBay i think you could probably get a grand breaking it for parts...

[fordperv]

True. Mind you at least 70's/80's Fords are well known for their lack* of ginger issues.

True they are all shit

[danthecapriman]

To be fair, I’ve only spent what I have because it absolutely had to be my car. If it was anyone else it’d most likely been scrapped! I’m very sentimental about that particular car and I’ve got a lot of attachment to it so it was more a case of having to!

If you take a bit of care and find one that’s good still or already been sorted, they are still out there, you can save yourself a shit ton load of money.

It also depends on what your after. I’ve gone over the top with mine I think. But you can get great results by doing stuff at home on a budget and in all honesty most people wouldn’t notice the difference anyway.

 

Maybe buy it if you can afford to and just run it more or less as it is, then decide? If you like it try a rolling restoration, keeps it going and you can improve as you go.

[Steviemillar]

I've had a few capris over the years, great cars.

 

My only advice would be to save as much of its original panels as possible. I have only seen one or two instances in thirty years of being around capris where aftermarket wings have been made to fit as well as Ford panels, and these only looked decent at all shut lines after a lot of hours tinkering with them. Even a good second hand Ford item is better even if only to sacrifice fto repair your own wings.

Has anyone mentioned the roofskin? Very difficult to repair corrosion.beside the sunroof, this area seems to rust more on later cars like that Laser. Earlier Mk2/3 cars rusted at the hinges more than ar the sunroof itself.

 

Looking forward to updates

[danthecapriman]

Buy a mk1 Cav coupe. Much better value, and not common as mook.

A guy I used to do work for bought a Cav coupe, it was a T reg in metallic dark blue. It looked gorgeous but it was a patchwork underneath. I’d still of had it though!

He bought it because it had PFC at the start of the number plate...

 

It turned out later he took the plate off it for his shitty Merc (dick head Pompey fan!) and scrapped the Cav. Absolute tosser.

[eddyramrod]

I'm with Dan here.  If the car in question can be made viable for 12 months or so within time and budget, then you might as well go for it, if you don't bond with it you won't lose.  But you only have to read his thread.  A proper restoration is a massive undertaking, which it doesn't look like you have time for.  It'll help if you're not relying on this car for work, of course.

[AMC Rebel]

I liked them back in the day - My Ma had a series (then moved on to Opel Mantas) and my sis had a 1300 - slow as flip but actually the nicest to drive. My Mas always had a pull to one side or he other when driving - never cured inspite of much suspension, tyre and steering work (on each one).

 

Rust was ever present, even when quite young. Pinto engines were decent - the main problem was premature camshaft wear - I did the replacement on one of my Ma’s . I also did the valve stem seals on one to stop it smoking. Cambelt change a piece of piss.

 

Deffo would have one now - get it bought

[cort16]

Pintos aren’t amazing but they’re easy to work on plus you get the satisfaction of spending 6 grand trying to get it to make 150bhp.

[DodgeRover]

Pintos aren’t amazing but they’re easy to work on plus you get the satisfaction of spending 6 grand trying to get it to make 150bhp.

Or you could lash a turbo on to make 200bhp for a few hundred quid. 25psi of boost makes them go well and the expected ring land demise never happened....

[Felly Magic]

Do it the autoshite way and replace the pinto with a Peugeot 2.3 diesel from a Sierra LOL

[Uncle Jimmy]

Not base

[Ghosty]

My dad used to have a white 1.6 Laser (not his first midlife crisis car either, he had a Scimitar before it). He sold it after he had some work done on the diff, but they somehow forgot to put any oil in it, so it locked up. It was replaced with a K11 Micra, that my mum hated and almost immediately had replaced with a sad face Fiesta, that was a world of pain but she begrudgingly held on to for eight years, until it was worthless.

 

Never got so much as a sit in that Capri to my memory, we'd have used my mum's mk2 Fiesta to take me places at that point.

[fordperv]

Pintos aren’t amazing but they’re easy to work on plus you get the satisfaction of spending 6 grand trying to get it to make 150bhp.

Cheaper to get a low comp tranny bottom end, cosworth head and bits to go with it and run it on a stage 1 chip instant 270bhp

[MorrisItalSLX]

Don't! They're utter shit! Soft tops leak and engines are gutless.

 

 

Oh, one of THOSE Capris!

 

Carry on.

[Amishtat]

Buy it! Even if you do nothing for a year except keep it in the dry you'll get your money back plus a bit

[Felly Magic]

I can't afford a real one, so have one in small flavour, a mate did the graphics for me, he has several in his own collection, wheels are made from white metal. More detals in the shite in miniature thread in a bit LOL 

 

 

 

[Amishtat]

Just while we're all on about Capris, I wanted a black 2.8i for years, long before I could drive. When I was 19 I worked in a pizza place in Coventry and the chap who did the dough announced one day that he'd bought a Punto Turbo and he needed to sell his previous motor, which just happened to be an A-reg 2.8i. I took it for a spin at his behest (£350 with tax & ticket..) and it was borderline lethal. It must have been on shit tyres and admittedly it was a damp afternoon but all it wanted to do was spin its wheels and snap sideways. I still regret not having it but later experience with a 1.6 and 2.0 just left me with the impression that four cylinders are enough for a Capri. Apologies for the thread derailment, and I still say buy it!

[Amishtat]

(But a Manta is a much nicer car)

[Felly Magic]

What I would love to do if I had loads of cash is turn a very, very late Manta to look like a 1970s Cavalier GLS coupe to confuse the crap out of rivet counters

[New POD]

I saw one rallied on the 1985 lombard rac rally. In some sort of privateers class.

Seemed to be no worse than a mk2 escort at going sideways on gravel with a little snow and a lot of ice.

based in that alone i'd suggest its a great find.

[coalnotdole]

Thanks everyone. Plan is to stick it up on a lift at lunchtime and see whats lurking underneath, make sure its not completely out of my comfort zone.

If i think it looks doable without having to stick it on a rotisserie then I'll buy it and worry about the crippling financial implications later....

[New POD]

I saw one rallied on the 1985 lombard rac rally. In some sort of privateers class.

Seemed to be no worse than a mk2 escort at going sideways on gravel with a little snow and a lot of ice.

based in that alone i'd suggest its a great find.

[Sir Snipes]

What I would love to do if I had loads of cash is turn a very, very late Manta to look like a 1970s Cavalier GLS coupe to confuse the crap out of rivet counters

You'd be better just getting a Cav coupe as early cars rotted far less!

[fordperv]

(But a Manta is a much nicer car)

The only problem for me is the manta doesn't have the good looks of the capri, I used to have a manta but it was because I couldn't get a solid capri for sensible money at the time and it was the right price

 

It was a 1.8 berlinetta, I had to put quad lamps on it and lower it to make it a little more acceptable, later on I put some gte sideskirts on

 

[fordperv]

A mate has a manta as a road rally car, I bet you all would like to see it

 

[TripleRich]

Like others have said if its got a ticket buy it and see how you get on with it.  If you need to sell later you shouldn't have any trouble as these are always in demand.

 

The rot is always the biggest problem.  Others have said they rot everywhere and they're not joking.  Ford was/is the master of rot traps and the Capri Mk2/3 was probably their finest hour.  I've never seen a shell with so many seams and joints exposed to the elements.  We get all sorts of stuff through the workshop but the Fords usually need the most time in Fabrication.  Check the following areas...

 

Back of headlamp bowels (mud trap)

Front valence base where it meets the rad box

Front chassis legs were the bumper irons go (never seen a Capri that didn't need these doing) 

Top corner of front wings (mud trap)

Inner wing flitches (especially if wings have been replaced in the past)

A posts rot badly on the bulge at the bottom

Joint between floor pan and bulkhead on both sides (the seam is the wrong way round and grabs anything thrown up from the road).

Strut tops (always blown out and plated up)

Scuttle corners (moisture trap)

Front bottom corners of doors (moisture trap)

Sills (bad drainage and no protection from the factory)

Rear arches / inner wheel tub (another moisture trap) 

Rear spring hanger under the back seat (very bad design and always rotten or rotting)

Base of tailgate (bad drainage and moisture trap)

Leading edge of bonnet

Rear chassis legs have usually gone on especially bad ones.

 

Heres an example of a typical Capri.

 

 

Its got all the usual problems and so far I've spent 70 hours just doing the passenger side floor, inner sill, A post and bulkhead.  I'd guess this car will need 400 hours of metalwork at least.

 

 

This one is on the road to recovery.  Long way to go yet though...

[coalnotdole]

Good to see some pictures showing both inner and outer sills off. Hoping the inners on his one would be saveable but won’t know until I’ve had a better poke later today.

 

It’s not MOT’d. I believe it was laid up sometime before the mot expired in may and the current owner had been intending to do a full rebuild before taking it in for a test. I’d be tempted to bing it in and see what it fails on but would be surprised if it passes without welding to sills and headlamp bowls.