Post by stuey650 on Dec 29, 2008 15:19:42 GMT
It started back in June last year at the Fraserburgh car show when someone came upto the club stand asking if anyone might be interested in a capri that the guys brother in law had that had been sitting for a number of years. He knew nothing about it other than it was sitting rusting away and needed some TLC.
A few of us from the club went up for a look, the capri turned out to be a 2.8 special and wasn't too bad, good enough to be saved. From what we could see it needed door, tailgate, possibly a wing, and the tops of the door pillars plated. It also didn't start however this was temporarily resolved with a different fuel pump and a live ran straight from the battery. It didn't run that great and with no kidney boxes didn't sound great either. Never the less a deal was done and I bought the car.
A few weeks passed until I got the car, it was now about 5 or 6 weeks until our show. I had a plan, throw it together and get an MOT on it and take it to the show, it would have been the roughest capri there but that wouldn't have worried me. Then take it back off the road for the winter and get the bodywork sorted out ready for next year. I set about replacing the lower arms, track rod ends, refurbished calipers, new brake cylinders rear. Got straight through S pipes in place of the kidney boxes from CCI, fixed the indicators, lights, brakes lights etc (various issues with all of them). Next up was to get it to start on the key. Replaced fuel pump and traced the wiring fault to be a wire near the relays which had a corroded connector. easy fix but the car still didn't sound right and would die after about 20 seconds of running. Compression test revealed low compression on one of the cylinders. After this I knew it wouldn't be ready for the show so decided to take a more thorough approach. Heads off which revealed a completely burnt out valve seat. With the heads off and the exhausts out of the way i though best to change the clutch, I didn't have a clue what condition this was in and the last thing i wanted to do was get it all together and on the road to then have to replace the clutch. With the gearbox out I thought it might be easier to take the bottom end out as well, it would mean i could clean up the block better and also spray the engine bay without the engine in there before fitting it back.
It turned out the clutch must have only done a few thousand miles and was in pretty much as good nick as the new one I'd bought. I cleaned up the block/gearbox and painted them. Steve gave me a hand refitting some replacement heads that were kindly gifted to me. This pic was taken before though.
Before refitting the engine I wanted to spray the engine bay, but before i could do that i needed to repair the headlamp bowl and passenger wing. My dad had already cut of the old wing, so one day i set about cutting out the old headlamp bowl. I don't know how long it takes a pro to do such as task but it took me hours! The new one was a piece from ebay from another capri, it came without alot of extra metal that needed cut off so this took time in itself. Eventually i had the old one out and the new one clamped in place. I got my uncle to check alignment (he's a panel beater). We refitted the bonnet and test aligned the wing on. Looks perfect, meets the scuttle at the right height, front of the bonnet is level with the wing, passenger door was off to repair the post so couldn't check that.
The headlamp bowl is now welded in place and I've set about sorting the other areas that need welded up. Have decided to get the whole car painted then refit engine so need to sort all the holes first! The scuttle needs patched so have removed windscreen for that, have removed the dash and all interior as the area round the sun roof cassette where it meets the roof needs some attention. The floor isn't to bad. Water has got under the sound deadening at one side so that needs a few pieces welded there however on the other side its like new when the deadening has been removed. Theres a few other holes need sorted that I've not even looked at yet and still got the pillars to sort-out which is gonna be fun!
When the car will be back on the road is anyone's guess, depends what else I find that needs fixed! 1st of April? Ready for Caste combe (June)? Our show? Place your bets now!!
Finally (if there's still anyone reading this) if anyone knows anything about this cars history I'd be interested to hear. When I got the log book back it had 17 previous keepers so someone on here might be a previous owner?
A few of us from the club went up for a look, the capri turned out to be a 2.8 special and wasn't too bad, good enough to be saved. From what we could see it needed door, tailgate, possibly a wing, and the tops of the door pillars plated. It also didn't start however this was temporarily resolved with a different fuel pump and a live ran straight from the battery. It didn't run that great and with no kidney boxes didn't sound great either. Never the less a deal was done and I bought the car.
A few weeks passed until I got the car, it was now about 5 or 6 weeks until our show. I had a plan, throw it together and get an MOT on it and take it to the show, it would have been the roughest capri there but that wouldn't have worried me. Then take it back off the road for the winter and get the bodywork sorted out ready for next year. I set about replacing the lower arms, track rod ends, refurbished calipers, new brake cylinders rear. Got straight through S pipes in place of the kidney boxes from CCI, fixed the indicators, lights, brakes lights etc (various issues with all of them). Next up was to get it to start on the key. Replaced fuel pump and traced the wiring fault to be a wire near the relays which had a corroded connector. easy fix but the car still didn't sound right and would die after about 20 seconds of running. Compression test revealed low compression on one of the cylinders. After this I knew it wouldn't be ready for the show so decided to take a more thorough approach. Heads off which revealed a completely burnt out valve seat. With the heads off and the exhausts out of the way i though best to change the clutch, I didn't have a clue what condition this was in and the last thing i wanted to do was get it all together and on the road to then have to replace the clutch. With the gearbox out I thought it might be easier to take the bottom end out as well, it would mean i could clean up the block better and also spray the engine bay without the engine in there before fitting it back.
It turned out the clutch must have only done a few thousand miles and was in pretty much as good nick as the new one I'd bought. I cleaned up the block/gearbox and painted them. Steve gave me a hand refitting some replacement heads that were kindly gifted to me. This pic was taken before though.
Before refitting the engine I wanted to spray the engine bay, but before i could do that i needed to repair the headlamp bowl and passenger wing. My dad had already cut of the old wing, so one day i set about cutting out the old headlamp bowl. I don't know how long it takes a pro to do such as task but it took me hours! The new one was a piece from ebay from another capri, it came without alot of extra metal that needed cut off so this took time in itself. Eventually i had the old one out and the new one clamped in place. I got my uncle to check alignment (he's a panel beater). We refitted the bonnet and test aligned the wing on. Looks perfect, meets the scuttle at the right height, front of the bonnet is level with the wing, passenger door was off to repair the post so couldn't check that.
The headlamp bowl is now welded in place and I've set about sorting the other areas that need welded up. Have decided to get the whole car painted then refit engine so need to sort all the holes first! The scuttle needs patched so have removed windscreen for that, have removed the dash and all interior as the area round the sun roof cassette where it meets the roof needs some attention. The floor isn't to bad. Water has got under the sound deadening at one side so that needs a few pieces welded there however on the other side its like new when the deadening has been removed. Theres a few other holes need sorted that I've not even looked at yet and still got the pillars to sort-out which is gonna be fun!
When the car will be back on the road is anyone's guess, depends what else I find that needs fixed! 1st of April? Ready for Caste combe (June)? Our show? Place your bets now!!
Finally (if there's still anyone reading this) if anyone knows anything about this cars history I'd be interested to hear. When I got the log book back it had 17 previous keepers so someone on here might be a previous owner?