Garage find Capri

[Essex V6]

On 10/6/2022 at 11:54 AM, Soundwave said:

 

Indeed, that would be Regency Red.



 

There was also a solid burgundy colour called Lacquer Red. I had a 2.0 Laser also on a D plate which was in that hue

[wuvvum]

On 10/31/2022 at 8:25 PM, trigger said:

One thing I do think is that it's not very quick, it doesn't pull very hard, my old Mk3 Cortina with the same engine, Type 9 box and Atlas axle felt much quicker? 

That Cortina of yours did go bloody well though, I was quite surprised when I drove it.

I concur with the others that the Capri's long slumber probably hasn't done it any favours - I expect it'll get better with use (especially if you give it the occasional Italian tune-up).

[Essex V6]

Thanks for taking the effort to start a thread for this - I was one of the guilty parties asking for this!
 

You have done a great job resurrecting in it in such a short period of time! Crystal Blue really is a lovely colour - I haven’t owned a Capri in that colour…. yet.

Hoping to get my 3.0S out of storage before the end of this year

[Faker]

Bloody magnificent 

[bunglebus]

I know MK1/2 Escorts used to rot on the strut tops (and the saddle that the strut goes in under the inner wing) but I don't recall seeing a Capri gone there despite the same suspension. Is it common? Been ages since I could afford to play with RWD Fords

[Bren]

Only the V6 capri had any performance. Even a modern turbo diesel would give one a hard time.

But that's not the point. They are an uncomplicated car from a much better time.

You need to enjoy it while you can.

[steveo3002]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

I know MK1/2 Escorts used to rot on the strut tops (and the saddle that the strut goes in under the inner wing) but I don't recall seeing a Capri gone there despite the same suspension. Is it common? Been ages since I could afford to play with RWD Fords

yeah was common back then , dads had been bodged up  at around 10 years old 

[Datsuncog]

A fella I used to work with back in my Halfords days was restoring a Mk3 Capri; the strut tops were gone on his too.

I went with him to look at a spares car he was considering buying for £100 - and the strut tops were even worse on that one...

[Matty]

My uncles currently restoring 2 Capris for customers and both needed strut tops. Common repair panel now apparently. I may have this wrong but the strut top pressings are different from the pintos to the v6s? Beefier obvs on the 6 cylinder cars. Could well be making it up mind 😁

[Bren]

3 hours ago, Matty said:

My uncles currently restoring 2 Capris for customers and both needed strut tops. Common repair panel now apparently. I may have this wrong but the strut top pressings are different from the pintos to the v6s? Beefier obvs on the 6 cylinder cars. Could well be making it up mind 😁

I believe V6's have reinforcement underneath inside the wheel arch.

[danthecapriman]

As said, V6 models had the reinforcement sections, 4 cylinder cars didn’t. 
Strut tops are common issues on these (hence the repair panels available for it!). You can tell if a cars got its original ones because it’s got the VIN stamped into the panel around the top strut mount. My 74 car is still on its original ones! God knows how!

Rear spring hangers are another rot spot well worth looking at. If they’re good, cover them in underseal or wax etc to keep them that way.

[trigger]

Today I pulled the diff cover off, the old one was a nice pin hole though it. 

And got that back together, afterwards me and my dad tackled the ugly strut plate under the bonnet. 😕

Ekk... So that looks like a winter job for my tamed welder then... 

[N19]

7 minutes ago, trigger said:

Today I pulled the diff cover off, the old one was a nice pin hole though it. 

And got that back together, afterwards me and my dad tackled the ugly strut plate under the bonnet. 😕

Ekk... So that looks like a winter job for my tamed welder then... 

I think the general rule with fords of this era is to expect about three times as much work as you first think. I've stripped mine down with the interior and dash out, and been poking around, which has resulted in several more jobs than I had anticipated.

Repair sections are available for the strut tops I think, CCI etc should do them, if you need them.

[sierraman]

On a nice example like that it wants doing properly, you don’t want pigeon shit jobs plating over the top. 

[2flags]

11 hours ago, sierraman said:

On a nice example like that it wants doing properly, you don’t want pigeon shit jobs plating over the top. 

I agree with this. You have an excellent example there. It is worth getting it done correctly. Yes, compared to anything modern they will be slow. However, it will keep up with modern traffic, after all 70mph is the speed limit on the motorways. With all the cameras out there, you very rarely see people doing stupid speeds anymore. Just enjoy it for what it is.

[trigger]

Don't fear, it will be cut out and stitched in properly, the idea of removing the plate in the first place was to fix it correctly. 

[robt100]

Just caught up on this thread. Looks like a great little project! Got a 1986 2.0 laser myself.....well...it WAS a 2.0 laser, now running a 24v cosworth from a Granada Scorpio and had a full body resto completed in 2019, just in time for me to get it back for CoVid and all the shows shutting down😕 (gratuitus photo of said car below)
Can definitely recommend martin at CapriGear for parts, cheaper than CCI and faster delivery too (though that advice is probably a bit late now with a lot of the work done).
Got a feeling I need to do my diff plate soon, its one of the few 'just bolted on' 2nd hand parts we used in the conversion (its now the LSD from the injection special) and I have a feeling its also got a pinhole in it going by the little blob I saw on the floor the other day. A job for next year once I have a driveway again, car was up for sale, but thanks to the financial crisis prices dropped and nobody wants it😭

As for the strut tops, dont bother with the plates, it only makes a rust trap as they were added as a bit of an after thought. People ask why I don't have them with the 24v conversion, but with the alloy heads it weighs as much as the original pinto engine!

[tooSavvy]

Re: 'photo of engine' we see above.... [That is fitted in car!]

The CrapiKlub had a guy (80's) who took a bonnet off/down photo of a 2.8i engine bay >> blew it up size >> coated a white bonnet with developer and 'photo exposed' the piccie onto the bonnet. It looked well cool...

*technology moves on and it would be a quick wrap these days.

[HMC]

Love capris, just too expensive for my budget these days. I will just have to stick to 20 year old s class coupes which are beer money by comparison.

[Matty]

Just now, HMC said:

Love capris, just too expensive for my budget these days. I will just have to stick to 20 year old s class coupes which are beer money by comparison.

Have you had a 350z yet? They strike me as a modern capri

[trigger]

I've been a bit crap at updating this but stuff has been going on with it, a dropped the car off with the welder i use who kindly patched in a new strut top plate i bought from the Capri club, my dad took the photos with his potato cam.

It's hard to tell from the photos but he done a really neat job of it and charged me £50 which i thought was very fair, I didn't take many photos of the finishing but i needed the smallest bit of filler on the welds and with a lick of paint it looks much more presentable, and stronger!

Compare before and after and it's much better!

Unfortunately the drive home from the garage didn't go without fault, it was missing and spluttering all the way down the A12 until i got to a slight incline and struggled to get above 50mph up it so i pulled into a garage about 2 minutes from my house where it just died and wouldn't start. 😒

I just couldn't get it to idle without dying straight away again, so good old dad got a call for a tow home, we was certain it was fuel related so checked all the obvious things like pump, flow, pipes and then stripped the new carb down finding a load of brass filings inside thinking they had blocked it.

but it was to no avail, the guy who welded it said to try the condenser as that can give the same symptoms and though i'd already replaced it with a brand new one i ordered another intermotor one for £7 and would you believe it, it only fixed it straight away! 2nd times this year i've broken down on the A12 with a cheap ignition part!

It was also featured in this months Retro Ford magazine, although they got the colour wrong!

 

[danthecapriman]

They did a brilliant job on the strut top, bargain for the price too.

Thats exactly why I’ve fitted electronic ignition to all my oldies now. Points & condenser were always a weak point, but with absolutely shit quality modern parts they’re even worse now. I lost count of the amount of condenser’s of different makes and prices I went through with the Mercury but since fitting electronic ignition it’s been absolutely flawless and not needed any replacement or adjustments. My Capri has electronic now too as a result.

[trigger]

I'm debating on fitting electronic on the Capri but there's so many horror stories about crap ones on the market now, the Accuspark kits are meant to be toilet, i certainly had a lot of issues when i fitted one to my old Rover SD1, apparently the Lumenition Magnetronic kits are meant to be good though but they are quite expensive at £100.

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, trigger said:

I'm debating on fitting electronic on the Capri but there's so many horror stories about crap ones on the market now, the Accuspark kits are meant to be toilet, i certainly had a lot of issues when i fitted one to my old Rover SD1, apparently the Lumenition Magnetronic kits are meant to be good though but they are quite expensive at £100.

I can’t remember now what make kit I put on my Capri. I’ll have to have a look at it. 
Pretty sure on the Mercury it’s a Pertronix kit which has been great so far.

[junkyarddog]

Get an electronic ignition set up from a Sierra.

[trigger]

I'm not very good at keeping up to date on this but there's not much to say really, I've done about 250 miles now and apart from that condenser FTP incident back in December it's been perfect, today a garage i use set the tracking up for me and it was miles out, both front wheels were massively towing out which would explain why it felt shite to drive

 

the transformation is unbelievable, the wheel is now straight and it just feels so much more planted.

Anyway i haven't took any nice photos since i finished it so it felt a good opportunity to take some as the sun was out.

  

[danthecapriman]

Great to hear it’s behaving itself and sorting the tracking has improved things. I’ve said it before but, it’s a dam nice looking car that👍

[Bren]

Lovely. 

[mercedade]

What an absolute peach. I love this.

[Zelandeth]

There's nothing particularly special about the condensers used in car ignition systems.  They're just waxed paper and foil capacitors - and have always been consumables on account of being made very much down to a price.  When you could get them for £0.50 apiece from any parts store and they'd last a few years that was fine.  Now it's a royal pain.

Thankfully there is a solution...use a better quality capacitor!

Something like this will usually do just fine: Link.

These polypropylene film capacitors are basically fit and forget items - being hermetically sealed means they're not prone to dying if left for long periods too.

In my case I found them too big to fit in the original condenser can, so mounted the new one in a weatherproof enclosure elsewhere in the engine bay and left the original physically in place for cosmetic purposes but electrically isolated.  

Has been like that for about two and a half years now I think and so far no issues to report.

Let me know if you need one, sure I've got one I could stuff in an envelope to you - both RS and CPC have pretty steep postage charges for small orders so not worth ordering singles of something like this from them.