N19's fleet - very slow Capri progress

[Tadhg Tiogar]

19 hours ago, N19 said:

... having to go to Graeme Park). 

Grahame Park (the original bit) is every bit as terrible as the banlieues around Paris. I 'm not sure the unaffordable new developments around it are making it any better.

[N19]

See also - Dollis Valley. 

Anyways, this weekend I've swapped to a different type of rwd Ford to help a sibling with a house move. Haven't tried to get the back out just yet... 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

22 minutes ago, N19 said:

See also - Dollis Valley. .... 

You're not wrong there. I've always given that area a very wide berth.

Chalkhill Estate in Wembley used to be equally intimidating until most of it was demolished in favour of low-rise housing. 

[N19]

2 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

You're not wrong there. I've always given that area a very wide berth.

Chalkhill Estate in Wembley used to be equally intimidating until most of it was demolished in favour of low-rise housing. 

Apparently, back when milkmen had rounds covering the entire area, you could tell the milkfloat which did the Dollis Valley - it had metal grilles all over it...

Yeah, I've heard a lot about Chalkhill - I work nearby, the juxtaposition now is... interesting... with hipster boutique sandwich "street food" outlets and overpriced private developments. Cheapest flats in the region of £2k a month to rent - you couldn't pay me £2k a month to live in one...

[N19]

Later this week sees the Capri going up north, so time for a bit of a tidy up. (car on the left entirely unrelated to me). 

Sorted out the toolbox that lives in the boot. Wonder if this is enough... 

... Nah, let's go for more. 

Looks like the Capri day at the Ace will be happening in August, which is certainly a good thing to look forward to! 

[Essex V6]

On 3/9/2021 at 9:22 AM, N19 said:

I figured that I have been filling News 24 with posts about my fleet of tat and should probably start my own thread to keep it all in one place. I'm N19 (Tom), a cynical shiter from north London (though originally of farther northern extraction).

 

So, fleet is as follows...

 

1979 Capri 1.6L

 

I've owned this for about 5 years now. It was always my ambition to own a Capri one day... and I haven't looked back! For a while, I lived in inner London (see username!) and used the tube or bus to get around most of the time - so it was my only car for the duration! It's had a fair few trips in my time (from London, to Aberdeen, Bristol, Norfolk, Brighton, and lots of places in-between), although the last year has been much quieter due to lockdown. Always garaged, but never a queen - it'll still go out in the wet, just looked after and dried.

It's a pretty original car; the first owner had it for 20 years, it then passed through a number of keepers until I bought it. Therefore it managed to avoid the abuse of boy racers in the 90s! It seems that the first owner was a giffer who, from the mid-80s, only did 2k miles a year. (Yes the paintwork is original - it's an unusual colour, only used on Capris for one year as far as I can tell).

In my ownership I've essentially been trying to keep it reasonably neat. Manual everything - steering, radio knobs, choke, windows... comes with the extra options of a heated rear window and a parcel shelf. Perish the thought! There are a few bits of rot which need addressing, I hope to do this next winter. Other odds and sods here and there which are just artefacts of regular use. 

 

1980 Nissan Bluebird 1.8GS

I bought this as a result of a chance discussion with a guy from the motorfactors who was selling it. At the time I was feeling bad about using the Capri for mundane things, so when this was up for sale I gave into temptation and a low price, and picked it up.

Again, quite an original car. Would I call it dull... not quite, it's very good at being an car, it's not the most exciting thing you'll ever drive, but is pretty practical. It's also usually bombproof and reliable - although I prodded the wasp's nest to iron out a few final issues I'd been living with recently, so naturally it then threw up different issues! Reasonably easy to work on.

Very comfortable and easy for the driver; you can understand why so many of these were minicabbed in the 90s! This currently does some share of daily duties.

 

2000 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia X Estate

Purchased from this very forum, when I realised that I now relied on a car for commuting and putting the eggs in the basket of one car was tempting fate. Plus it came at a good time when I was post house-move and needing to sort out a heck of a lot of stuff, so the estate comes in very handy.

 

It had a few challenging times, especially with the cooling system. It took a few months to finally get to a stage where it wasn't an incontinent old thing, and I didn't need to carry a gallon of mixed antifreeze in the back. One memorable occasion saw it towed home by the Bluebird (which resulted in the battle scar covered over by gaffer tape on the bumper).

A high end executive car of its time, and it carries the 165,000 miles well. Most things still work - the central locking is a bit temperamental sometimes, but the other toys are all there - heated seats, heated windscreen, air con, cruise control, electric seats, etc. Very good over winter cos of the heated bits, and in the height of summer cos of the air con. I guess it should be taking a backseat for a couple of months and letting the Bluebird do a bit more work! There are a couple of bodywork issues that need addressing to keep on top of - the bumper I replaced and promptly cracked two months later... and I've still got foglights to refit. Fuel economy isn't exactly great, but probably not helped by being used on a 30mph pootle to/from work - it's much more at home belting up the A1. Hoping to also fit a towbar thanks to @Tim_E's kindness donating a spare one. I mean, I don't have anything to tow nor any particular [i]need[/i] to tow, but why not?

 

The Capri lives in a lockup garage where I do minor tinkering and spannering. I'll do most jobs on the Capri myself, except anything welding related or needing a ramp. I have a good local garage who are sympathetic to old stuff and don't charge much, especially as I'm never too pushy on timescales.

 

and, because I'm sad- err I mean pedantic, I keep notes in a book for each car...

... oh, and all three cars have cassette players - who says I'm stuck in the past?! I did for a while organise the collection into the era of each car, but that got too messy.

 

So, that's me, that's the fleet, now for updates...

Absolutely love your Capri!

[Matty]

On 5/28/2021 at 5:38 PM, N19 said:

Haven't tried to get the back out just yet.

They will you know. Dont even have to try that hard 😁

[Steviemillar]

18 hours ago, N19 said:

Later this week sees the Capri going up north, so time for a bit of a tidy up. (car on the left entirely unrelated to me).  

 

How far North are you coming? Must admit I would love to be going for a decent road trip in my one.

Capri looks fantastic too.

 

 

[N19]

1 hour ago, Steviemillar said:

How far North are you coming? Must admit I would love to be going for a decent road trip in my one.

Capri looks fantastic too.

 

 

London to, at the furthest point, Aberdeenshire!

[Steviemillar]

47 minutes ago, N19 said:

London to, at the furthest point, Aberdeenshire!

Fantastic,  looking forward  to seeing your trip updates.  
I’ve made the very same journey a few times in Capris I’ve bought down south over the years, not something I’ve done recently though unfortunately.
Safe trip, if you need anything when you’re up here, give me a shout!

[N19]

2 hours ago, Steviemillar said:

Fantastic,  looking forward  to seeing your trip updates.  
I’ve made the very same journey a few times in Capris I’ve bought down south over the years, not something I’ve done recently though unfortunately.
Safe trip, if you need anything when you’re up here, give me a shout!

I'll definitely be doing updates throughout. Are you up there? The rough plan at the moment is London > West Yorks > Edinburgh > Banchory > Edinburgh > Lincolnshire > London. Usually take the A90 up, and one way will go via Fettercairn/Edzell and the Old Military Road, then return via the Slug Road if you know them. Both beautiful drives.

[N19]

Leg one of the trip, I stopped at the original supplying dealership for a photo or two. Now a multi badge place. 

[Saabnut]

I live in the triangle of Cairn o'Mount and the Slug Road. I am away both weekends but about Tues PM to Fri AM so if you need anything I have a trailer and a workshop complete with 2 post so shout out if you need.

[N19]

2 hours ago, Saabnut said:

I live in the triangle of Cairn o'Mount and the Slug Road. I am away both weekends but about Tues PM to Fri AM so if you need anything I have a trailer and a workshop complete with 2 post so shout out if you need.

Fingers crossed I won't - but offers like this are what makes the site fantastic! Cheers! 

[N19]

Having visited the garage, I decided to take a trip on something that makes the Capri look modern. 

And, for appropriate AS Ness, this was in the car park. 

Then followed a nice little blast around some country roads, including a ford in a Ford. 

 

[N19]

Today, A65 > M6 > A74M > A701. Some beautiful roads, and the A701 is perfect for the Capri, enough curves to keep it interesting and get a reasonable speed. 

[N19]

I'd had the trim around the steering wheel off for a while as I'd had a phase of dropping the dash on a regular basis trying to sort out some electrical issues. Got them back on today. Also re marked the choke lever with tippex - I wait till it's dry, then wipe the excess off which leaves a neat marking of white in the groove. 

Went through the normal fluid etc checks this evening, as a lot of mileage has been covered this week. All good. Topped up the expansion tank slightly with water, then decided to check on my fuel line I replaced - touched it and a horrible wet feeling... Oh christ I think. Till I realised it was water from when I poured it in the expansion tank above. Duh. 

[N19]

Cairn O Mount achieved without too much of a smell of burning clutch. 

[N19]

Followed by finding that a tape had got stuck in the player. Roadside repair done, Hits 11 RIP. 

[N19]

The return trip via the Slug Road involved a nice stretch of 70, officer, along the straight bit. Always a lovely drive. I did realise a little further on that the brakes weren't quite doing what they should... Got down into Stonehaven and you could smell them strongly. Had a low speed pootle around then parked up for a bit to let everything cool. Fortunately normal braking resumed.

Passed some other Capris... 

The last couple of days have been spent catching up with friends around Edinburgh. Tape player was getting crackly and dull, so cleaned the heads up in an Asdas carpark. Fluids checked, a dash more DOT4, ready for the trip south tomorrow. 

Also, saw a Belgian registered rhd Capri S in black in Bruntsfield, nice surprise, mutual thumbs up. 

[Cord Fourteener]

I passed an E reg blueish Capri on my road today, it was coming down and I was blatting my way up, leaning hard round all the bends and doing things Volvo 740s ought not do.

I hope he was as pleased to see the crazy G reg 740 as I was to see the Capri!

[N19]

I always flash/wave other cars that are either classic or enthusiast-owned shite. Exceptions are old BMW/MGB/Merc drivers who like to ignore you. 

[N19]

Today I drove the length of the A1. Except for the couple of diversions for lunch etc.

1,250 miles in six days later... And time for the Capri to have a bit of a rest. 

It's had a quick wash, just to remove some of the grime that was sitting on the paintwork. Also left the oil draining as it'll be due a change.

Nice work! 

[Cord Fourteener]

Good journey, good going!

[N19]

A day of tidying up odds and ends today. Capri has had new oil & filter. Mondeo headlight has been intermittent - dodgy multi plug given a shove into position - now works, nice. Knackered batteries weighed in. Slept.

[N19]

I was convinced that the Mondeo air con worked, just poorly. I had a nosey around. There's the pulley for the compressor in the bottom right, the beltless one! 

[Cord Fourteener]

1 hour ago, N19 said:

I was convinced that the Mondeo air con worked, just poorly. I had a nosey around. There's the pulley for the compressor in the bottom right, the beltless one! 

Psychological aircon. Cheaper and more reliable!

[N19]

Mondeo sills re sprayed. The bodywork on this isn't pretty to start with, so I don't feel too bad at inflicting my rattle can on it. 

We'll see how it looks come MoT time. 

Meanwhile, some prodding and poking done on the Bluebird osf window. The track has detached, having rotted away, so the window has quite a bit of play to it. I suspect this is why the original regulator went kaput. 

[N19]

Mondeo service time. I'd given it a service just after I bought it which is pushing for a year ago now, so figured it was time. 

A satisfying couple of hours fettling and tightening and noseying and so on. Oil changed, air/pollen/fuel filters are OK for another year on these, and were in reasonable nick anyway. 

One of the tyres does have a nick in the sidewall, which is sub optimal. 

Dammit. There's something about this car and tyres that really don't get on. 

The brake fluid could also do with being changed and flushed as its quite murky, and the pads will need doing in the not too distant future, so I'll put that on the to do list. 

[Cord Fourteener]

That's quite a good gash, but I suppose if its holding air its ok?