Picking it up and trailering it home tomorrow.
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Printable View
Picking it up and trailering it home tomorrow.
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Should be fun!
https://youtu.be/ob22NZYr62Q?si=DYtRT4zW5P7j9E-D
Or, as far as you can take it .... ;) (Monterey '06)
Looks like another fun project Arne ... :)
Amazingly straight, original blue-plate CA car, no rust, all original. I may ditch the big rubber bumpers and smog gear, but otherwise stock.
Brought it home today.
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Nice original looking example. I agree on getting the too big bumpers off.
Richard
Nice find Arne!! I bought one new in 1971. Had the 4 cylinder 1600 CC Cortina engine in mine. V6 came later. Loved that car.
The Cortina 1600 was a lot simpler under the hood than the CA-emissions V6 with A/C in mine. Making plans to seriously simplify things here.
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I grew up in NZ with Escorts, Cortina's and Capris. If you had one of these you were very cool !
very cool i see a Capri RS in the future....
Give me a minute to buy some stock in the rubber hose industry. Fun winter project.
Probably not. For this type of project, stock restos are easier to sell. And this one is too original to muck up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dmill
Yeah, slightly daunting. I haven't quite got myself psych'd up to tackle that yet. Soon, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by JT912
Waiting on parts now, so I began refreshing the wheels. Here's number 1.
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So since that last post, I've finished de-smogging the engine, verified that it runs (yay!), refinished all the wheels and installed the new tires, done a complete brake overhaul (master cylinder, hoses and all), and started putting the dash back together at least far enough to be drivable.
More to come, of course.
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Engine tuning and refresh is mostly done. Much cleaning of oily gunk, valve adjustment, rebuilt carb. Lots of oily gunk. Someone's idea of dealing with leaky cork valve cover gaskets was to just keep tightening them down until they were paper thin. Who knows how many years they'd been leaking.
I decided not to mess with the ignition yet, as I knew it worked as is, and why introduce an additional change when messing with a fresh carb.
Runs much better, idles smoothly at around 800 rpm, revs cleanly. So I'll probably pull the distributor for cleaning, service and normal tune-up stuff soon.
This means I should be able to drive it to DMV for VIN check and papers soon.
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Well, DMV trip still on hold. The car runs well with new carb and ignition tune up, until you work it hard. Under load (like steep uphill pulls in my neighborhood), it quickly stalls out. It felt to me like the float bowl ran dry. The car was equipped with a small electric fuel pump shortly before it was parked back in 2008 or so. Running that pump with the hose from the carb inlet pointing into a beaker delivered a sad trickle of fuel. I'm not sure if the pump is bad, or just not big enough—it claims to output at 2.0-3.5 psi and 28 gph. Specs I've found for V6 pumps seem to vary from 3.75 to 7.0 psi.
The original engine-driven pump was still mounted on the block. I think I'm going to revert to that style rather than another electric. So still not drivable yet. I'll spend some of the time waiting for a new pump refinishing the air cleaner.
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A nifty little car. Looking forward to seeing it up and running.
Enjoy following your progress.
Great thread ! It's looking really 70's cool.
Still waiting for the fuel pump to arrive. So I clean and refurb stuff to pass the time.
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Fuel pump arrived a couple days ago, and works well. The car is a little fussy when cold, but runs well once warmed up. Nice, smooth idle at 600-700 rpm. Pulls cleanly, shifts well. Final prep for the trip to DMV for papers is pretty well complete.
Last bit is the wipers, since rain is predicted all week. I dislike modern black plastic wiper blades on vintage cars like these, so I was happy to find a pair of period-correct silver Anco Aero wiper blades in the car when I bought it. I refinished the arms and blades in matte silver. The proper vintage-style refills won't be here for a bit yet, but if they don't arrive before I need to drive to DMV I found I can rob the blades from my '96 Tacoma—they fit just fine.
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Brings back good memories. I bought one new in , I think, '73. Same silver over black V6. Kept it only 12-18 months as I became infatuated with a 2002tii. I don't remember all that plumbing under the hood though.
Tom
Another milestone - the Capri is now registered and road legal. First time in almost 15 years.
The drive across town went well, up until it didn't. The engine, transmission and brakes all work well. Suspension is very soft up front, really need to get some new struts soon.
Got the paperwork completed, and went to start it for the drive home, and the only ignition key broke off in the ignition. Since none of the lower dash parts are in place yet, I was able to remove the steering lock from the column and quickly hot wire it to get home. Annoying, but not horrible. I've got the broken key extracted now, and I'm working to get the key code to have a couple new keys cut.
Still pretty good feeling to have it registered...
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super cool! is there enough paint to run some clay over the body and rough polish it?
You are an amazing mechanic, Arne!
Nope. Not even close.Quote:
Originally Posted by brookedale091462
This past month brought a nasty ice storm (almost 2 ½" accumulated on the ground), new parts, new plans, and even a new tool. Let's begin.
First, working under this (and other) car(s) is going to be a lot easier with the delivery of a set of QuickJacks. Not sure why I waited so long on these, but that's sometimes how I roll. Saved $500 by getting an 'open-box' set direct from QuickJack. Going to be a nice help on this and future projects.
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Past that, new OE-type strut inserts from the UK are installed, and have restored the ride and handling to a nice, original feel. I did find that the internal steering rack bushing is bad, and will replace that as soon as the part arrives. Otherwise the suspension is pretty well under control.
A small shipment from Denmark brought a left quarter window trim and a used turn signal switch. Both parts are extremely nice, and the turn signal finally cancels reliably, every time, either direction.
Still waiting for a final quote on the paint, the shop had some computer issues last week that have set him behind.
But in preparation for that, I've re-worked my schedule and plans. I was planning to drop the oil pan for new gaskets and clean the engine from years of oil leaks, but it sounds like the paint shop may want the car within a couple of weeks. So I don't think I want to pull the engine apart just yet.
Related to that, I think the engine cleaning and resealing is going to go a bit farther than I had originally planned. The farther I dig into this car, the more it looks like (with no way to confirm) that the 76k on the odometer might be original and correct. I'm reasonably comfortable that it hasn't rolled over yet. Which means that I'm fairly sure the original and notorious fiber timing gear has probably not been replaced. So the oil pan drop will be expanded to include pulling the timing cover, and most likely the replacement of the gears. Will probably replace the water pump as well, as long as I have it off anyway.
So today, in preparation for the upcoming repaint, I removed the entire heater-A/C box from the car. This is a rather major project on the '74 factory A/C cars. But it had to be done as the entire system (including the cowl plenum) is stuffed full of leaves, pine needles and other related junk that must be cleaned from the cowl before it can be painted. Will begin cleaning out all the crud tomorrow.
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beautiful old capri 1 - congratulations! The factory tuning program at the time called for scheel seats. If you want to convert to Scheel, I still have two original folding brackets from that time for capri 1 here. I could give these away for little money. Recaros fit there too. Have fun with the car...
regards uwe
The Capri goes in for paint a week from next Monday. Final trim and glass removal is in progress.
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Arne, this very cheaply made and rather cheesy tv programme about the Ford Capri aired on “ Men and Motors” TV channel a couple of decades ago — while a bit cringeworthy you might enjoy a few gems from it like original footage of the launch of the Capri at a motor show in late 60s
https://youtu.be/Hq4d5brxBGo
Steve
Disassembly complete. No surprises, no rust in the window channels. On track for the painter next week.
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I had one of these about 35yrs ago. Saw it in a local street 5yrs ago, still the same apart from a bit of a ding in the back. I recall getting a LOT of speeding tickets in it.
Great project Arne.
As a youngster I thought I was the bees knees in my Capri until a well known historic racer who lived nearby and has owned some of the world’s finest historic cars roared past me in his D Type. I got my first speeding ticket on a different occasion in the capri ironically just as I was passing this chaps business premises.
On its way to the painter this morning.
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Had a chat with the paint shop owner yesterday, now that they have had some time to touch the car and look for things they missed on the original estimate. And while I always expect these jobs to cost more than they first say, in this case the estimate was pretty good—largely because the car is solid.
It will require a lot of surface prep, due to the desert sunburned paint, but we knew that going in. No real surprises there. But the bumpers are a bit worse than we thought, and will require extra attention. Still far less expensive than sourcing and converting to chrome, though.
Estimating 3-4 weeks in the shop.
Described by uk eBay seller — colour chrome and rust!
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Buying that bumper and shipping it to me in the US would cost almost as much as I'll pay to refinish both original bumpers. And I'd have to have it re-chromed, and still need to find a matching front.
Agree it would make no economic sense. However the original bumpers on USA version are fecking ugly. Even though I generally lean to originality and the over use of hot rod, outlaw and similar terms / wannabe racer look often make me cringe those big bumpers, waist side trim and front festooned with auxiliary amber marker crap together almost amount to “automotive cruelty”
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Maybe less is more for that era Capri?
Heck it seems to be smiling here at the relief of being set free from the monstrous carbuncle
:)
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Your car; your call. Just my tuppence worth
Steve
This is a fun post to follow!
My first car was a 1973 2.6 Capri. These were definitely under appreciated in the US. ‘73 was also the last year of the “ok US bumpers”.
Cheers
If I was building it for myself, where cost is less of a concern, all of that stuff would be gone. But for resale, it's generally safest to stay stock. Any mods make the target audience smaller.Quote:
Originally Posted by 911MRP
Visited the car in the shop last week. Progress is being made. No new surprises since the last visit. The first of the 2 badly weather-checked rubber-like bumpers has been prepped, and looks good, ready for paint.
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Hi Arne...Just for fun...did you see this blurp in Hagerty News?
https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinio...4-ford-capri/?
I did, yes. All too typical of where these cars have gone. Consider that they sold ~120k Capris here in the US—in 1972 alone. The entire Mk1 run from '70-74 was almost 400k cars in the US. It looks like the remaining cars are a very small percentage, probably low single digits, say 3-5%.Quote:
Originally Posted by larwik
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Great looking car and a great project...I always liked them...Looks like you found a good, solid one...Good luck and I will follow.../ Lars...
Fresh out of the paint booth...
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looking excellent Arne ! Great work !
Spotted this Capri at a car event today not too far from Ford’s Dagenham plant in England — restored, immaculate:
Steve
Pre-facelift Mk1. Very nice!Quote:
Originally Posted by 911MRP
It’s the entry level 1.3 litres as my grandfather used to say about underpowered cars “ it couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding” !
I remember my first car 73 ( L suffix had British licence plate YUP435L, Daytona yellow with black vinyl roof and black vinyl interior; it had an antenna in front wing ( fender) whereas this doesn’t. I worked as a tyre fitter to earn money while studying and managed to get a set of wider wheels from my boss free trade — they had come off some customer’s car.
I’m pretty sure I have the same Ford branded radio ( possibly a Blaupunkt) with those knobs and a Ford manual aerial, latter still in packaging
Steve
The aerial (antenna) on mine is a German Hirschmann, looks identical to the ones on early 911s. Original radio is long gone. I'm going to fit the aerial, but otherwise put it together as radio-delete. The new dash skin is not perforated for the stock centre loudspeaker.
First pic in natural daylight. At home now, reassembly in progress.
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NICE Arne !!! .... :)
Great color
Looking great! Really makes me want one again.
Back on the ground again, with almost all of the exterior trim installed. Installed the new steering rack internal bushing yesterday. Starting on one of my less favored jobs now—new headliner.
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Looking good, Arne....the pretty color reminds me of my Gemini Blue -72....You're quick too!...:p.../ Lars...
New headliner install has been postponed due to mis-boxed product. Vendor is handling the issue well, but there is still going to be some delay before the correct item arrives.
In the meanwhile, I've started fitting the new carpet instead.
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Side glass and trim is all in place now. Still waiting on more parts.
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New headliner snugged into place and glued from the B pillars forward. Will begin final stretch and fit on the rear half tomorrow.
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It's been a little slow lately, but today things started to break loose. I finished the headliner last week, and so today I picked the Capri up from the glass shop with both front and rear glass back in place with new rubber and chrome lock strips. The car is finally weather tight for the first time in many years. In honor of the new all-weather capability, I quickly installed the new/restored period-correct wipers. I'm also working now on final gauge testing before reinstalling the dash pad.
And more good news! The new seat covers arrived from France this afternoon. Will share more on these later, but initial impression is they are really nice.
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Looking Awesome! I had a 74 Ford Escort 1100 in NZ back in the day. Of course that meant you really wanted a Capril.....or an RS1600
More fun with electrics. While working to refit the dash today, I installed the gauge cluster for testing. And everything worked... at first.
While testing all the warning lights, suddenly I caught a whiff of magic smoke escaping, and the dash illumination lights all came on by themselves, and would not go out. After pulling the cluster back out I found that there were some rather crude repairs to the printed circuit at some of the bulb "sockets", and one of them shorted and burned a section of the circuit. [Big sigh!]
So add another foreign country to the parts sources list. So far I've bought parts from Germany, England, Denmark and France. Now I found that there is a shop in Australia that has reproduced the printed circuit sheet for these cars. I've started the order process now.
While I wait, I removed the damaged traces so that I could install the gauges and drive the car while I wait. Apparently the only damage was to the dash illumination. I don't plan to drive at night, so I can get by until the new part arrives.
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Arne.....Great project and the car looks really good in Gemini-Blue ;) and the US-bumpers looks just fine.....as usual, "Murphy" is always around but you'll fix-it and it just adds to the memories...Best of luck.../ Lars...
Note to self - I like having A/C in a street car so that I can drive through the summer months, but the factory A/C in a Capri really complicates the dash and underdash plumbing. It's worse since I wasn't the one who took it apart, and I've never seen it assembled. So it seems like everything I do has to be done two or three times, as I find some new bits to do the more I put together. I'm getting close now, pretty much all that's left is the glovebox. I'll be glad when this part of the project is behind me.
Side notes - The new circuit sheet for the gauge cluster is still in Queensland, but is "booked for flight".
The new seat covers from France seem to be quite nice, but I found that no headrest covers were shipped despite the website indicating that they would be included. Turns out that in Europe and the UK Capris did not come with headrests, and the supplier told me that the item description was in error and they do not have a pattern for Capri headrests. So I'll be sending one of my headrest covers to France to use as a pattern as soon as I can get one removed from the foam and reinforcing plate.
My clock was working fine a few months ago when I hooked it up for testing, but only works in spurts now. Dang!
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Yep my first car a 73 capri didn’t have headrests. On 911 the headrests were optional in England even for the RS with sport Recaro seats and that in a car that cost almost twice the price of a e-type jag when new.
If I had a buck for every time someone whined about the bumpers, I wouldn't be over budget on this car now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lordsman
They are original, and would cost a pile to backdate properly. It's not happening, and everyone should forget that and move on.
...lol....:)
since those are original to the car i`m not asking you for a bumper swap --just want to whine a bit ---do you accept paypal so i can send the buck?Quote:
Originally Posted by Arne
thanks for sharing your project--like it very much
What he said !!! It's how the car was delivered. I like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arne
First public outing... in the rain! Took it to a PCA monthly coffee gathering. Because of the rain, there was less time for people to gather 'round, but the Capri was a big hit anyway.
Drive across town was uneventful. Pretty much everything worked as expected. The car is solid, water-tight, and rattle-free.
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Beyond cool. Congrats on a winner.
Just great Arne !!!
Quick update - Replaced the transmission output shaft seal. No drama.
I've also been troubleshooting speedometer failure, and after disassembling the dash (yet again) found the inner cable was bad. Getting the correct replacement cable has proven to be a bit harder than expected. The latest attempt should be here sometime tomorrow. So the dash has not been put back together yet.
While I wait, I've started working on the seats. The seat covers from France are looking like really nice stuff at this point. Stretching the thick vinyl into place is more work than I remembered, but seems to be going well so far. Just starting with the passenger seat back.
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The first seat is complete.
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Looking great Arne!
And today I have mostly finished the interior. The new covers for the headrests are not here yet, I want to wrap the steering wheel, and I'll need to find a knob of some sort for the gauge dimmer, but that's about it.
Next up will be timing gears, water pump and general engine reseal.
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Confirmed today that the original fiber composite timing gear is still in place. Probably the best clue yet that the 76k on the odometer is probably correct. New metal gearset is on its way.
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Dropped the steering rack and lifted the engine for clearance, and then dropped the pan. No serious surprises. Found one of the water outlets was massively corroded, amazed that it wasn't already leaking. A replacement and a few additional gaskets are all on their way now, as well as new rack mount bushings and a new steering coupler. While I wait for parts, I've been reviewing what I'm going to need to make the A/C work.
I've included a new pic from the day before I started tearing it all apart. Looks pretty good with the exterior and now interior largely complete.
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Whole lotta cleanin' goin' on.
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very cool i see a Capri RS in the future