N19's fleet - blower box & heater matrix out

[N19]

Local car show at the Spires today - most attendees being old sports cars and quite fancy rather than at "our" end! But still quite a nice day out.

And the Capri is no stranger to this car park - here it is, in January 2020, on a boring everyday shopping trip!

...on the cars 40th birthday!

At the time I lived further away but would often be around this neck of the woods, where I now live. Here also is a picture of the Bluebird after it had done 2,000 miles in the salt and grime. I took it for a jet wash right after this picture!

[N19]

I can't remember when I last washed the Mondeo, and it could probably do with another going over. The paintwork has definitely seen better days!

I'll be taking the Capri to the Enfield Pageant on Saturday, before it gets laid up for a little while - any shiters who are going welcome to say hi!

[Bmwdumptruck]

I’m on my way to the Pageant in my Nephews Golf gti Cabriolet. 

[N19]

I'm here! V sunny. Will look out for the correct knob @Wibble !

[N19]

[N19]

A few from today. 

 

[High Jetter]

Love the Unigate float!

[danthecapriman]

Lovely stuff there. 
Those two Transit tippers look superb too. Great to see stuff like that getting some restoration and recognition!

[Bmwdumptruck]

Found a nice blue Capri, not far from where we parked.  Between us was a stunning Astra Van, I use to run a Mk1 Astarvan back in the early 90s. Although I’m not so sure about the base spec headlights, don’t recall them ever being standard on the vans?? 
I did buy a nail gun for £25, hope it works, I’ve been borrowing an identical one off a mate so will swap his battery adapter over and chuck one of my Makita batts in it tomorrow and try it.  Other than that I bought the wife a Corgi Vulcan model for £5, seem to recall these were sold for about £75 from Vulcan to the Sky back when it flew, it’s rather heavy being diecast.  Another £5 went on a book on Armstrong Siddeley adverts.  Having the connection of my uncle that use to restore Sapphires and Stars I couldn’t resist it. 

 

[N19]

3 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Love the Unigate float!

Not quite the right date but, given that there was a green goddess behind, it made me think...

 

(iykyk)

[N19]

1 hour ago, danthecapriman said:

Lovely stuff there. 
Those two Transit tippers look superb too. Great to see stuff like that getting some restoration and recognition!

They were in fantastic nick from what I could see. Fully restored and almost untouched from the looks of it - they could have just rolled off the production line!

[N19]

40 minutes ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

Found a nice blue Capri, not far from where we parked.  Between us was a stunning Astra Van, I use to run a Mk1 Astarvan back in the early 90s. Although I’m not so sure about the base spec headlights, don’t recall them ever being standard on the vans?? 
I did buy a nail gun for £25, hope it works, I’ve been borrowing an identical one off a mate so will swap his battery adapter over and chuck one of my Makita batts in it tomorrow and try it.  Other than that I bought the wife a Corgi Vulcan model for £5, seem to recall these were sold for about £75 from Vulcan to the Sky back when it flew, it’s rather heavy being diecast.  Another £5 went on a book on Armstrong Siddeley adverts.  Having the connection of my uncle that use to restore Sapphires and Stars I couldn’t resist it. 

 

Yes, saw that Astravan! Love the Vulcan model - my grandad used to fly them, so a place in my heart! 

I'm now home and (a) quite tired from 25k steps, (b) very well toasted.

[N19]

Purchases!

The quality of the stalls varies. There are some which are literally a Luton van that's been tipped onto a bit of tarpaulin. There are ones which are very organised individual trays for each manufacturer. There are others which are somewhere in between and can turn up some exciting and useful things. Some are just re-selling consumables (cleaning products, redex, engine oil, WD40 etc) - a couple seemed to have genuine bargains but the others were at the same price that you'd get it retail. I remember 10 years ago there'd be a huge number of old tool stalls which now seem to have diminished slightly - a few which sell new items (some of which with hallmarks of storage for a while), others second(etc) hand but not in huge quantity. There used to be a few with tables of crates of different tools at low prices. Still, I got a handful!

I don't need any of these Capri parts right now, but you never know. The instrument cluster, there are none currently on ebay but when they do turn up they're north of £200 - this one was £20. The water pump pulley, see upthread, I bought another one for a couple of quid, and a spare mirror. 

I also acquired a brand new servo for a decent price. My own one is possibly iffy, as there's a vac leak somewhere, so one on the shelf makes sense.

The event itself, I feel is quite 'samey' - it's exactly the same layout, exactly the same attractions, displays etc year-on-year. I don't mind it, but it may put people off after a while. 

[danthecapriman]

23 minutes ago, N19 said:

Purchases!

The quality of the stalls varies. There are some which are literally a Luton van that's been tipped onto a bit of tarpaulin. There are ones which are very organised individual trays for each manufacturer. There are others which are somewhere in between and can turn up some exciting and useful things. Some are just re-selling consumables (cleaning products, redex, engine oil, WD40 etc) - a couple seemed to have genuine bargains but the others were at the same price that you'd get it retail. I remember 10 years ago there'd be a huge number of old tool stalls which now seem to have diminished slightly - a few which sell new items (some of which with hallmarks of storage for a while), others second(etc) hand but not in huge quantity. There used to be a few with tables of crates of different tools at low prices. Still, I got a handful!

I don't need any of these Capri parts right now, but you never know. The instrument cluster, there are none currently on ebay but when they do turn up they're north of £200 - this one was £20. The water pump pulley, see upthread, I bought another one for a couple of quid, and a spare mirror. 

I also acquired a brand new servo for a decent price. My own one is possibly iffy, as there's a vac leak somewhere, so one on the shelf makes sense.

The event itself, I feel is quite 'samey' - it's exactly the same layout, exactly the same attractions, displays etc year-on-year. I don't mind it, but it may put people off after a while. 

Nice find with the Capri instrument cluster. I’ve got a couple of spares here, but you’d be amazed at how many variations of those two clock low spec clusters there actually are! If you start looking there’s loads of different styles of the gauge back plates.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, N19 said:

Not quite the right date but, given that there was a green goddess behind, it made me think...

 

(iykyk)

Different colours, Express dairies?

[N19]

16 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Nice find with the Capri instrument cluster. I’ve got a couple of spares here, but you’d be amazed at how many variations of those two clock low spec clusters there actually are! If you start looking there’s loads of different styles of the gauge back plates.

I'm pretty sure this one is absolutely identical (I've looked at my own one for 34,000 miles!). Going to see if the Perspex cover will come up a bit nicer as my own one has a couple of scratches.

[N19]

15 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Different colours, Express dairies?

It's from a film in which the previous shot has a series of green goddesses being sent out of the city, pending a nuclear war (which strikes 30 minutes after the milkfloat passes by).

[N19]

Right gang, bit of advice for anyone else who pulls a Capri apart for restoration, if you have to take out the blower box and heater matrix (which you probably will) then *get it refurbed/fit a new motor whilst you have the chance*. Don't put it all back together and then find yourself having to pull it out a year later because the fan motor has finally given up the ghost and thus you have absolutely zero blower effort unless the car is moving.

So in other news I spent the afternoon pulling the dash to bits. Luckily I've done this a few times so it isn't too much of a challenge!

One of the Capri suppliers offers a service where he will replace the motor and the heater matrix, clean/grease and test everything on his bench, which will save me some hassle. Will get that boxed up and off to him shortly. 

In the meantime, it does give me the opportunity to tackle a few other jobs on the car which need doing. The speedo cable grommet requires replaced, which involves getting it over the end of the cable. I know there's a tool which looks like something of a torture instrument you can get to do that - and they recommend soaking the seal in boiling water first to make it more pliable. There's also a facer plate on the interface between the blower box and the bulkhead which I fitted the wrong way around - didn't affect anything, but will be nice to have it "right". 

[N19]

[N19]

It also means I can look at the drivers door, which I think needs a very slight adjustment as it sits slightly too low. The nuts required to adjust it are behind the dash, so ideal time. I will probably bribe an assistant to help hold it, as last time I did it with a trolley jack and/or rope overhead alone, which isn't fun.

[danthecapriman]

I remember the heater box in mine. It’s as though Ford built the rest of the car around the heater box! 
Trying to get it back in place in my car and everything working took ages but copious amounts of unpleasant language saw it right in the end.

[N19]

It's a ballache, but I really should have done it when it was out of the car and sitting in a box for ages! Never mind - will be a good opportunity to tie up a few loose ends I suppose.

[danthecapriman]

2 minutes ago, N19 said:

It's a ballache, but I really should have done it when it was out of the car and sitting in a box for ages! Never mind - will be a good opportunity to tie up a few loose ends I suppose.

Mines the old Smith’s heater box. Same as mk1’s. I don’t think there’s replacement bits for them anymore. 
Some things like the foam seals are still useable but a lot is different. Even the matrix itself is different. In the Smith’s unit it’s a tiny little matrix, roughly half the height of the later type. I managed to modify my heater box to accept the bigger mk3 matrix though. 
I did bench test my motor when it was all apart. It worked so I just cleaned it up and reused it. So far (touch wood) it’s been ok. One of the control cables for mine had snapped off though on the little ring connector on the end which took ages to find a used replacement.