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

[coalnotdole]

In order to get the front of the new springs to actually line up with the spring hanger bolts I've had to disconnect the rear anti-roll bar. As I'd previously bought new bushes and rubbers it seemed to make sense to take it right off and change them whilst I was at it.

 

 

 

Original Bush:

 

 

 

 

Into the arbour press and after pushing out the rubber middle I split the outer shell of the bush with the makita reciprocating saw on the left of the photo then pressed the remains out:

 

 

 

 

 

No photos showing the new bushes being fitted for some reason. Also annoyingly it appears I have one standard bush and one uprated one which is a lot stiffer. Have fitted them for the moment and will keep an eye out for another standard one as they're no longer available as far as I can tell.

 

I don't want to fit poly as I've decided to fit all new old stock ford bushes so it'll be a more accurate impression of how it would have been when new.

 

Getting the antiroll bar back onto the axle seems a bit of a struggle - I've got both clamps back on now but neither rubber is sat very nicely so will need a further fiddle.

 

 

Also whilst under there I replaced all the exhaust hanger rubbers with NOS ford ones, the mounting for the rear silencer had an interesting period repair:

 

 

I've cleaned it up and welded it back together which seems to be an improvement!

 

 

Finally I've knocked up a couple of bits of zintec to make a closing panel for the back of the sill - this makes up for the missing back end of the inner sill and is purely temporary until I do a proper job of the sills:

 

 

Cheers

Dave

[fordperv]

You need it on its wheels, with weight in the boot to get the correct tension for the rear arb I usually have them on ramps and by someone to sit in the boot to refit them

 

I presume this is what your problem is

[coalnotdole]

You need it on its wheels, with weight in the boot to get the correct tension for the rear arb I usually have them on ramps and by someone to sit in the boot to refit them

 

I presume this is what your problem is

That might well be the case - I did try jacking the axle up but it didn't seem to make much difference.

I'll shove a few hundred kilos of coal in the boot and try again! (have half a tonne of coal to hand and its probably less impatient at staying in the boot than people!)

 

Cheers!

[fordperv]

If I remember correctly off the top of my head the factory settings are only around 60-62kg of weight in the back when setting the arb up (this is why I use people haha)

 

Hope this helps

[coalnotdole]

If I remember correctly off the top of my head the factory settings are only around 60-62kg of weight in the back when setting the arb up (this is why I use people haha)

 

Hope this helps

I ended up with 25kg of coal, 30kg of mig wire, 2x batteries, 25ltr hydraulic oil and the work experience lad in the back which got the antiroll bar almost perfectly in line. (had a look and the manual states loading the back of the car with two adults)

 

unfortunately it also made it too low for me to get underneath or swing a spanner on the front spring bolts so ended up sitting the back wheel on some blocks:

 

 

 

 

And after a quick drive around the industrial estate for a bacon roll and to settle the springs:

 

 

 

 

Immediate impressions are that the back end is firmed up a lot - less body roll and more of a tendency for wheelspin when pulling away from junctions!

 

Engine is a bit rough at idle, Have new (nos) points and condenser to fit which may help. Was ok before being parked up to change the rear springs so can't be much wrong.

 

Good to have it back on four wheels and gone from down the side of the workshop - its left a capri shaped rust stain on the concrete though!

 

Dave

[fordperv]

Great stuff glad you got sorted, my memory is getting crap as I get older for the little things

[coalnotdole]

Seems like I might as well try and bring all or my various project threads up to date so here's another 15month update!

The Capri mostly sat around unused last year, When the MOT was due it got treated to some new tyres of the correct profile to replace the smaller nankangs one of which had an impressive sidewall bubble:

The higher profile tyres have actually made a surprising difference to slow speed manoeuvring making the steering a lot less of a struggle when parking.

 

I also pulled the front struts off to change the shockers and springs:

 

New standard springs vs what came off:

 

Trying to get them compressed down enough to fit turned into a rather arse clenching experience as I only have oldskool sykes spring compressors intended for coilovers, Dubious use of sash clamps saved the day:

 

Whilst the front struts were off I also stripped all the front TCA arm bushes out along with the antiroll bar bushings:

 

And as the tca bush sleeves were somewhat past there best:

 

Ended up machining replacements out of stainless:

 

Fitted along with OE spec rubber bushes:

 

It then went in for test but the MOT man had obviously found his corrosion test tool wherever it was he'd presumably misplaced it the previous year and decided to get stuck into various bits around the cills and B posts, Following photos show some of the offending areas and my repairs - As all this will be coming out again when I get round to replacing the full cills so I haven't got too carried away with the standard of the welding...

 

O/S B Post bottom:

 

 

 

 

 

I also chopped out a little bit on the O/S strut mount area where there was rust starting to come through - MOT man didn't mention this but I could see it becoming a problem if left, The rest of the strut mount areas are actually very good:

 

 

N/S B post bottom/sill area:

 

 

 

 

 

Also a small section of the inner and outer sill doorstep area on the N/S, again this wasn't on the fail sheet as it was hidden behind the door seal but it wanted doing:

 

With a fresh ticket issued I decided to drive it down to cornwall from the isle of wight to visit my mother in early december, The drive down was pretty enjoyable on an evening with quiet roads and the capri really is a great car to drive when you can open it up a bit! There was an intermittent issue with loosing power to the dash gauges which also caused the indicators to stop working, (I think I've traced this to the voltage regulator failing)

 

Parked up outside my bargain £25 a night country house hotel:

 

And squeezed in as tightly as I could parked on some backstreet in penzance:

 

The drive back up to the island was on what was possibly the worst day of the year - the rain was so torrential and i lost count of the amount of accidents I passed, Capri handled it well apart from the exhaust downpipe pretty much parting from the mid box, a combination of being somewhat rotten already and the thermal shock of getting submersed in several flooded sections of A Road I think!

You can buy 2.0ltr downpipes fairly cheaply, However it would seem that where my car started life as a 1.6 and was presumably upgraded fairly early on in its life they had kept the original 1.6 exhaust system. 1.6 downpipes are not available...

 

Several pound notes later and I have a whole new 2.0 exhaust system:

 

As I wanted to make sure the exhaust was fitted correctly i took advantage of this time to also replace the engine mounts with some new OE spec ones:

 

Ive also replaced the gearbox mount although I'm not totally happy as I had to go for an aftermarket one and am uncertain if its a slightly harder rubber than original:

 

 

Also replaced the prop shaft centre bearing which turned out to not be as bad as I had thought it was:

 

Shotblasted and painted the carrier before refitting it all:

 

When I replaced the rear antiroll bar ends a few pages back in the thread it turned out I'd got one OE spec bush and one "uprated" one, I fitted them both as i just wanted to get the car back on the road but I also ordered another correct spec one. Whilst fitting the new exhaust i noticed the harder bush had started to tear itself apart so I've now changed it for the correct one:

 

 

Finally you may remember back at the start of the thread I removed the torn sunroof panel, It took me a while to get the right shade of the textured and punched vinyl material (mainly as i didn't want to pay the omg ford tax which i ended up having to anyway) Then the tennant of one of our workshops who is a cover maker had it for over a year before I finally harassed him into doing the single line of stitching required! Anyway is now done and refitted.

The sunroof seal i fitted is still not much better despite having had a year to bed in - it works fine for opening the sunroof fully but if you just tilt  the sunroof rather than opening then it won't sit back down unless you push the panel down from outside as the seal is just too stiff. I can see i'll have to end up buying the OE spec german seal which is still available from mk1 Golf suppliers.

 

Original headlining:

 

New panel:

 

 

And refitted (where it promptly picked up a massive dirt mark the first time i opened the sunroof! )

 

That about brings it all up to date - I've also picked up a NOS genuine ford N/S front wing which leaves me in a bit of a quandary as compared to the aftermarket wings i already have which i was planning to fit the quality is night and day....

 

Cheers for reading,

 

Dave

[danthecapriman]

Great to see an update Dave.

Brilliant work so far, and good to hear the cars still up to being used for a living! I’d be looking for another genuine wing and fit a pair of them instead of the pattern ones. As you say, the quality difference is amazing. You’ll definitely find it much easier to fit them and get everything lined up properly afterwards too. Its finding the genuine panels at a good price nowadays though!