N19's fleet - Capri rebuild moving forward at pace

[N19]

20 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

Don’t think I could resist spraying that cam cover in the matching blue paint. It’s a little too close that it looks wrong being just off.  But thats just me…..carry on, looking great so far, 

It is almost the same, yes. Albeit that the cam cover is the 'stock' colour for 1.6 engines (black was for 2 litres).

[N19]

The clocks now work - well I haven't tested the speedo yet other than tweaking it and observing the needle twitching. The temperature sensor needed a bit of abrasive and contact cleaner but then picked up.

Other odds and sods done included the bonnet rod and horn fitting, washer jet testing (fun without a windscreen!) 

I'd bought a set of carpet underlay from CCI, as the original stuff had pretty much fallen apart.

There was a bit of tweaking and trimming needed to get it to fit nicely, but it went in and stuck down nicely. This was the last job for the day as I wanted to get it done and left the adhesive curing overnight! Tomorrow for the top carpet, which will then be hastily covered in card/film.

..although I think the rear seat bit over the transmission tunnel will need tidying up first

 

 

[N19]

Hot on the heels of the underlay, the first job today was the carpet. It got laid pretty quickly...

To make sure it was properly positioned, and to help it "bed in" a bit, I reinstated the seat fixings with giant penny washers on them.

I got the rear washer hooked up and tested. This is the first time it's ever worked during my ownership of the car! 

I've protected the wings and tailgate from scratches/oily smudges, with this thick masking paper, which does helpfully double as something to write notes on.

and/or aspirations to the finished vinyls being applied...

One thing that you do notice refitting parts, is that the nice feeling of a freshly cleaned/refurbished/de-gunked part. The tailgate opens and closes beautifully now with a scrubbed, degreased, then lightly re-greased catch.

I got the seatbelts out of their box, and they seem to be stuck in the coiled up position. They've been sitting in a box for 2 years, so I'm not sure why they might have done that?!

I've fitted all the new brake pipes, filled the brake fluid reservoir and tried to bleed it through, using my trusty one-man-brake-bleeding-milkbottle-and-valve kit, but nothing's coming through. I even cracked the farthest nipple and left it slightly ajar, hoping that fluid would come out if pumped, but nothing. May be a need to force it through harder.

I'm also missing the rear numberplate lights. I feel sure that I'll find them somewhere... or I hope so anyway!

Rear wheel well / boot area all cleaned up and boxed up. I'm planning on printing out the fuse listing and/or other pertinent information and sticking it to the back of the spare wheel compartment/boot floor board... never know when it'll come in handy!

Big jobs still to do :-

• finish wiring in dash (switches, radio etc) all the top half bits - leaving the bottom half of the dash off for now. The original radio is kaput, but will be installed in position so that the dash doesn't look empty. Might even wire it in so it lights up when the headlights are on?!
• go through all lighting circuits, fault find/repair (it'll be an earth somewhere, I bet, it's always a bloody earth)
• re-fit gear lever, adjust clutch
• windscreen and quarterlights in
• drivers door on, bonnet on
• fit exhaust backbox, tidy up/tighten up/fit properly the rest of the exhaust
• sort brakes
• set timing
• give everything a final check over
• road test!

Hopefully nothing impossible along there...

[mk2_craig]

3 minutes ago, N19 said:

I got the seatbelts out of their box, and they seem to be stuck in the coiled up position. They've been sitting in a box for 2 years, so I'm not sure why they might have done that?

By their nature they are sensitive to angle. Bolt the reels to the correct sides of the car and the belts should pull up as normal. 

[N19]

4 minutes ago, mk2_craig said:

By their nature they are sensitive to angle. Bolt the reels to the correct sides of the car and the belts should pull up as normal. 

Thanks. The position of the reels is inside the B-posts, effectively, and the seatbelt threads upwards to the upper mounting - I will try screwing them into their right place and seeing if they settle ok.

(I've taken this tactic with a few bits - if I can't get it to work or figure it out, fix it on, and then at least it's on the car and I can come back to it at my leisure).

[N19]

On 29/12/2024 at 22:31, N19 said:

Thanks. The position of the reels is inside the B-posts, effectively, and the seatbelt threads upwards to the upper mounting - I will try screwing them into their right place and seeing if they settle ok.

(I've taken this tactic with a few bits - if I can't get it to work or figure it out, fix it on, and then at least it's on the car and I can come back to it at my leisure).

@mk2_craig You were absolutely right. Mounted it in and it came out perfectly. 

 

[mk2_craig]

5 minutes ago, N19 said:

You were absolutely right.

Thank f*ck for that, I had been hoping that I’d remembered correctly what I used to do years ago on the Fiestas!

[N19]

We close off 2024 with some good progress on project capri.

First off, drilled a couple of new earths to replace ones sealed up during the bodywork.

There's still some earths that aren't doing what they should, which is causing some electrical gremlins. I'll get to them in due course. For the sake of paraonia, I'm keeping the battery off when I'm not working on it.

I refitted the boot trim and speaker mounts / parcel shelf supports. The boot now looks quite booty!

Seat belts fixed in and tested. (front only - due to the age, no rear seatbelts required. If I carried passengers I'd retrofit them but I don't).

Rear numberplate lights - no connection due to paint overspray, sanded off, working fine now (233 bulb).

Sweet and sour chicken - purchased and eaten.

Checked all earths in the rear lights, all good and continuity there.

Gearstick screwed in and tightened into position. Clutch adjusted. The cars wheels moved for the first time under its own steam in a long time! Have yet to actually use it to move but I "drove" it through the gears whilst on the ramp. It covered a mile, so the mileage has gone up during the recommissioning! All gears happily working except reverse, which I can't get it into.

Rear bumper reattached, positioned and bolted down.

Face vent pipes fed through the dash (pig of a job) and connected up. 

Exhaust back box fitted. Another pig of a job. Used cable ties to position everything and make adjustments as needed, I think it's in the right-ish position now, just going to test whether it's fouling the rear wheel when moving (a common issue with sportex exhausts on pintos). I had to adopt some pretty odd positions underneath the car getting it to slide in position. Whilst not dropping it. If I never have to fit another exhaust in my life, it'll be too soon!

Then the old non-working radio went in, a bit of swearing and fiddling to get all the fixings into position.

With this the dash frame could be screwed into its correct position and the front fascia screwed on which was another eureka moment!

I'm considering the best position for the actual functioning radio. The glovebox might be the best location although it would make changing tapes or volume etc impossible on the move.

Door seals and treadplates fed in and sitting nicely - thought they'd be more difficult than they were.

Next steps: further checking of earths and electrical circuits. Check/adjust timing. Work out what's going on with reverse gear. Get brakes working. Get glass in.

Parts lost (so far) : boot rubber seal, numberplate light housings.

[danthecapriman]

Happy new year!

Seeing all that going on with your dash brings back memories. Those air pipes for the vents are an absolute pig to get in properly aren’t they!?😄

Im likely to be in the garage sorting it out in the next few days when it dries up a bit outside so I’ll keep an eye out for those screws for your heater.

[DSdriver]

Instead of using the what I would call 'a mole wrench' (because I am old) to the window winder, fix a spare battery powered drill/screwdriver by its chuck, you will then have instant power windows.

Happy New Year 😃

[N19]

5 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Happy new year!

Seeing all that going on with your dash brings back memories. Those air pipes for the vents are an absolute pig to get in properly aren’t they!?😄

Im likely to be in the garage sorting it out in the next few days when it dries up a bit outside so I’ll keep an eye out for those screws for your heater.

Oh sorry I thought I'd replied - I actually found them in another box, in a bright red cash bag, labelled up and everything!! But thank you anyway!

[N19]

5 hours ago, DSdriver said:

Instead of using the what I would call 'a mole wrench' (because I am old) to the window winder, fix a spare battery powered drill/screwdriver by its chuck, you will then have instant power windows.

Happy New Year 😃

90s upgrade!

It'll have a suitable winder handle on it before too long...

[Steviemillar]

Gearstick could be in the wrong way round (out by 180 degrees) which is maybe why you can't get reverse?

 

[N19]

10 minutes ago, Steviemillar said:

Gearstick could be in the wrong way round (out by 180 degrees) which is maybe why you can't get reverse?

 

I spoke to Martin from CapriGear earlier who suggested exactly that. Looking at the Haynes manual I can see that the lever is notched on one side. When you try to select reverse it's as if there isn't a path for the stick, rather than feeling like it can't engage, so that figures. Will be looking at this tonight.

[N19]

No pictures today, but summarised,

Found an issue with the fuel pump down to my assembly - a lot of head scratching and swearing but got it all back on properly and firing up nicely.

Gearstick repositioned so that the notch was in line, reverse now selectable and wheels turning appropriately.

Gearstick and handbrake rubber (under) and leather* (upper) gaiters put on.

 

Saturday's to do list: re route rear brake line into correct clips, fit bumper corners, fill & bleed brakes, sort out remaining lighting gremlins, bonnet on, test run up and down the alley?, drivers door on.

[Bmwdumptruck]

Forgot how basic these old fords were, not even a trip meter. 

[N19]

9 hours ago, Bmwdumptruck said:

Forgot how basic these old fords were, not even a trip meter. 

The list of 'optional extras' is impressive, as is the basic spec and exactly what they manage to use as a selling point - I'll dig out the brochure later and post it!

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, N19 said:

The list of 'optional extras' is impressive, as is the basic spec and exactly what they manage to use as a selling point - I'll dig out the brochure later and post it!

Yours has actually got more fitted to it than mine does! Despite both being L spec. Possibly down to things moving forward from mk2 to mk3?

Also for a truly nerdy point of interest*, those 2 clock dial sets used on the basic Capri models… they actually vary as time goes on. There’s an early mk1 style of it, then a later mk1 style that was also used on early mk2’s, then I think there’s a couple of different types of it for mk3’s. 

[Bmwdumptruck]

I’m guessing these dial sets were also used in Fiestas and Escorts too.

[N19]

There's definitely similar ones if not identical - I think Mk1 fiestas had a gear lever diagram in the middle.

[N19]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Yours has actually got more fitted to it than mine does! Despite both being L spec. Possibly down to things moving forward from mk2 to mk3?

Also for a truly nerdy point of interest*, those 2 clock dial sets used on the basic Capri models… they actually vary as time goes on. There’s an early mk1 style of it, then a later mk1 style that was also used on early mk2’s, then I think there’s a couple of different types of it for mk3’s. 

I don't know if there was ever a "Capri base" or if L spec was truly the lowest? Do you have a heated rear window? 

[danthecapriman]

41 minutes ago, N19 said:

I don't know if there was ever a "Capri base" or if L spec was truly the lowest? Do you have a heated rear window? 

Yes, heated rear window. 
No rear washer or wiper. 
no parcel shelf or brackets. 
no boot carpet - it had a rubber mat instead. 
single piece folding rear seat back. 
no radio. 
no centre console. 
originally it had a black crackle finish dash facia (now wood effect)      
no body side trims.

Im sure it’s only original upgrade extras were:     
Metallic paint. 
Sports steel wheels (dartboards)      
Heated rear screen.

When basic really meant basic!

If you have a brochure it’d be interesting to compare to the mk2 one I think I have somewhere.

[High Jetter]

13 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Yes, heated rear window. 
No rear washer or wiper. 
no parcel shelf or brackets. 
no boot carpet - it had a rubber mat instead. 
single piece folding rear seat back. 
no radio. 
no centre console. 
originally it had a black crackle finish dash facia (now wood effect)      
no body side trims.

Im sure it’s only original upgrade extras were:     
Metallic paint. 
Sports steel wheels (dartboards)      
Heated rear screen.

When basic really meant basic!

If you have a brochure it’d be interesting to compare to the mk2 one I think I have somewhere.

You have HRW in both sections there

[danthecapriman]

11 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

You have HRW in both sections there

Yes, I meant my car does have it, but I’m sure it was actually an option at the time. Although I can’t actually ever remember seeing a Capri mk2 or 3 without one.

 

[adw1977]

1 hour ago, N19 said:

I don't know if there was ever a "Capri base" or if L spec was truly the lowest?

There was a "Capri 1300" below the L spec when the Mark 3 was first launched, although it didn't last long.

Sep 1978 brochure

[danthecapriman]

3 hours ago, adw1977 said:

There was a "Capri 1300" below the L spec when the Mark 3 was first launched, although it didn't last long.

Sep 1978 brochure

I have driven a mk3 1300! They were discontinued not long after the mk3 came out leaving the 1600 as the smallest engine choice.

Like the mk1 & 2 1300’s I don’t think there was much available in the way of options on them. 
They were slooooow too. Ok once up to some sort of speed it just took an age getting there! Pulling out of junctions and roundabouts etc took a bit more planning too as the grunt to accelerate just wasn’t there.

[adw1977]

The 1300 base was discontinued sometime between October 1978 and July 1979, but a 1300 L continued to be offered until mid-1981.

There were a few options available on the base, including a radio, rear wash/wipe, "sports" wheels and a passenger side door mirror.

17.4 seconds was the claimed 0-60 time, slower than a 950cc Fiesta!

[danthecapriman]

17 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

The 1300 base was discontinued sometime between October 1978 and July 1979, but a 1300 L continued to be offered until mid-1981.

There were a few options available on the base, including a radio, rear wash/wipe, "sports" wheels and a passenger side door mirror.

17.4 seconds was the claimed 0-60 time, slower than a 950cc Fiesta!

My 1600 base mk2 didn’t have a passenger door mirror when new either. It has now though.

[N19]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

My 1600 base mk2 didn’t have a passenger door mirror when new either. It has now though.

Mine has never had one!

[N19]

Located the spare indicator stalk in the lockup. Will see if this makes any difference. It's effectively NOS.