And another non-Porsche project - 1974 Capri V6

[Arne]

very cool i see a Capri RS in the future....

Probably not. For this type of project, stock restos are easier to sell. And this one is too original to muck up.

Give me a minute to buy some stock in the rubber hose industry. Fun winter project.

Yeah, slightly daunting. I haven't quite got myself psych'd up to tackle that yet. Soon, though.

[Arne]

Waiting on parts now, so I began refreshing the wheels. Here's number 1.

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[Arne]

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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[Arne]

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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[Arne]

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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[72targa]

A nifty little car. Looking forward to seeing it up and running.

[runsub5]

Enjoy following your progress.

[Simonjjb]

Great thread ! It's looking really 70's cool.

[Arne]

Still waiting for the fuel pump to arrive. So I clean and refurb stuff to pass the time.

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[Arne]

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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