Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

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Will01
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Joined: November 26th, 2012, 3:50 pm
Location: Dumfries, Scotland
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

So the latest update is.....
The Safety Devices Bolt in Roll Cage has arrived. It took longer than expected due to high level of orders. But now at least i can get on with the car. Got this weekend coming to start playing with mocking up in the car.
Didn't quite appreciate that it would come powdercoated ready to fit. i thought i would have to weld on bits and pieces.
Also now that these and the seat rails are here i can get a move on.
Next order Bucket seats and side frames and radiator.

Once i have this sorted then i can start to put more effort into planning other upgrades. e.g. Suspension, brake details, engine etc etc etc
Pictures to follow
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

Some pictures as promised.
Please accept my apology for the state of the room in the background of the picture. I was assembling everything in our storage sort of guest room which is a proper tip.
Anyway, weld in seat rails and Cage visible.
Plastic cover will stay on until it is fixed in the car to give protection and also the interior will be sprayed so will be removed after paint.
Attachments
Cage paperwork with parts
Cage paperwork with parts
20151013_195326.jpg (124.83 KiB) Viewed 35118 times
SD Roll Cage(Oscar new climbing frame!)
SD Roll Cage(Oscar new climbing frame!)
20151013_192016.jpg (139.27 KiB) Viewed 35118 times
Seat rail kit
Seat rail kit
20151008_165047.jpg (106.18 KiB) Viewed 35118 times
Seat rail kit
Seat rail kit
20151008_165054.jpg (99.92 KiB) Viewed 35118 times
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

More pictures as promised.
We trial fitted the cage in the shell, it is obvious that there is a bit of work to do to make up reinforced foot paltes for the cage to attach to. Some of this will involve modification to the floor in order to get a good clamping fit between cage feet and foot plates.

This may seem obvious but in a Capri you also have to cut out the interior light weldings at the top above the centre of the doors. this pushes against the cage and makes alignment impossible. These will be cut out asap.
The front feet are a good half to 3/4 inch away from the floor. Therefore i am going to have to make up wedges that meet the cage.
For this my idea is to make up 3mm boxes which are wedge shaped and then where the bolts go through i will weld on tube which has enough ID to allow a socket and bolt to be put from underneath. This means that i don't have to try and re-sahpe the floor to meet the cage and look very non-standard.
Where these tubes poke through the underneath of the floor they will be welded and cut off as flush as possible. Then i will have a little access panel that will screw in and seal over the top to prevent ingress of water and rusting the botls of the cage.
I know with the modifications intended it will be in no way standard, but i am trying to keep as much essence of the Capri as possible.

It is interesting that the cage only comes with a fitting kit which is for 4 points of the cage and not 6?
Therefore i am going to have to make up some reinforcement plates for the rear arches aswell. For this i am going to make up the sheet metal parts and rely on a good welder friend to do some nice looking welding as these will be visible and in future may be judged by scruitineering!
Attachments
Mocked up outside
Mocked up outside
20151017_132110.jpg (225.91 KiB) Viewed 35094 times
Mocked up
Mocked up
20151017_132129.jpg (220.69 KiB) Viewed 35094 times
Cage just placed inside shell
Cage just placed inside shell
20151017_143343.jpg (154.54 KiB) Viewed 35094 times
Main hoop to floor
Main hoop to floor
20151017_143407.jpg (149.99 KiB) Viewed 35094 times
Front above screen
Front above screen
20151017_143348.jpg (108.94 KiB) Viewed 35094 times
Main hoop feet and SD fitting kit plate
Main hoop feet and SD fitting kit plate
20151017_154303.jpg (140.29 KiB) Viewed 35094 times
Front foot to floor
Front foot to floor
20151017_154315.jpg (97.62 KiB) Viewed 35094 times
Weld in seat rails mocked position. Will be finalised after seat arrives
Weld in seat rails mocked position. Will be finalised after seat arrives
20151017_143339.jpg (139.43 KiB) Viewed 35094 times
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

As promised see pictures of my Card templates. Sometimes referred to as CAD.

The paltes that i have designed are larger than the spreader plate kit supplied with the cage as it picks up minimally in the shell. I am hoping therefore the larger plates will look far more beefy and therefore put me in a better stead in the future if and when going through scrutineering.
Not to go too over board, we are also going to reinforce the bottom of the floor with another strengthening plate from the underseide to help even more.
The hope here is that if for some reason in the future we repalce the cage for a weld in unit, then we have all the strong points ready to go and re-use.

The reason why i have done this is because of reading many different forums and websites where scrutineers have given feedback on particular setups. It is obvious that if you just use the as supplied spreader plates it can lead to painful times ahead when trying to pass a car through scrutineering.
Attachments
Both main hoop spreader plates
Both main hoop spreader plates
20151025_171218.jpg (108.03 KiB) Viewed 34958 times
Compared to the supplied spreader plate.
Compared to the supplied spreader plate.
20151025_171229.jpg (109.15 KiB) Viewed 34958 times
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

Done a few little things recently.
Whilst i was waiting for material supplies to arrive i also got cracking with another little addition for the Capri, which comes in the form of an hydraulic handbrake.
Before i go any further i should expalin that in the UK if a car has a cable operated handbrake this must still remain.
Because my car will also be MOT'd i will be keeping the standard handbrake, however i am also going to convert it slightly so that i can also run a hydraulic handbrake master cylinder.
For this i had a little rectangular tube lying around so i have made this into a mount, this will then be mounted on some 2 or 3mmplate and welded or bolted to the transmission tunnel. This is not so i can do big handbrake turns or anything like that, but it may come in handy when launching the car etc.
Anyway with only a small amount of work i just need to finish a bit more welding and then its ready setup for the master cylinder when i plumb in the brakes.

Once the materials had arrived i also looked at geting the CAD templates turned into metal.
It is unbelievably difficult to bend 3mm sheet steel, which i did under-estimate and have pulled my back and neck!
However my way around this was to use a disc cutter to score the plate to allow easier bending and once finished i will weld this seam to regain the strength a little.

The other obstacle was to try and get the floor and the spreader plate to lay flat against each other. For this it has taken alot of work but i have managed to get the floor shaped with hammer and dolly to sit flush against each other. This will ensure the spreader plates can work effectively.
I have also slightly oversized the paltes and will try to bend around the sill so i can weld to the sill panel join. But time will tell if this will work. It means alot of hammer and anvil action. This may make the material in the localised area brittle, so hence why my comment about it may or may not work.
Attachments
Spreader plate fitting in
Spreader plate fitting in
20151102_155547.jpg (134.58 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
Both plates bent into basic shape
Both plates bent into basic shape
20151102_154500.jpg (151 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
Floor after a little shaping, still needs finishing but plate sits flat against now
Floor after a little shaping, still needs finishing but plate sits flat against now
20151102_151838.jpg (127.88 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
Floor before re-shaping on other side
Floor before re-shaping on other side
20151102_151829.jpg (133.67 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
Mock up of hydraulic handbrake mount and tag to be welded onto arm
Mock up of hydraulic handbrake mount and tag to be welded onto arm
20151101_140142.jpg (117.93 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
little dressing up still to do but welded
little dressing up still to do but welded
20151101_140035.jpg (98.81 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
Cut off top part of tube to reduce weight but also make mount more useable
Cut off top part of tube to reduce weight but also make mount more useable
20151101_133849.jpg (106.27 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
mount bent into position after notching tube to allow 90° bend
mount bent into position after notching tube to allow 90° bend
20151101_132916.jpg (136.26 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
v-notched
v-notched
20151101_131549.jpg (130.3 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
starting piece
starting piece
20151101_131157.jpg (134.64 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
Varies 25.4mm CDS tube with varying wall thicknesses will be converted into adjustable ARB units for rear suspension. THis way i can have different bars for different ranges of stiffnesses. At the moment i don't know what will work so i am going to collect a few more thicknesses in between and experiment
Varies 25.4mm CDS tube with varying wall thicknesses will be converted into adjustable ARB units for rear suspension. THis way i can have different bars for different ranges of stiffnesses. At the moment i don't know what will work so i am going to collect a few more thicknesses in between and experiment
20151030_143703.jpg (171.43 KiB) Viewed 34917 times
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

Ok so a little more progress whilst the weather has been truly awlful.
Because i am a wimp i still have a very stiff neck and back so couldn't spend a whole day playing.

Amyway, roll cage spreader plates now better fitted in position after fettling the floor a little more. Before it is all finished i will try and flatten out and make the floor changes look a little more factory as they do look very beaten currently underneath. Once the top plate is where i need it to be i will also weld a strengthening panel underneath the floor to help a little more.

Good thing is the cage main hoop feet sit perfectly flush on the spreader plates.
I also started to make up small thin paltes for the rear cage hoop.
Where these feet sit on the rear arch there is a manufacturer lip where panels join. Therefore i have also made up some small plates which will mean the thicker proper spreader plates will sit flat. This also means i have thicker and clean steel to weld the 3mm paltes to, hopefully making it less likely to burn through.

The front feet i haven't started with until the rear and main feet are in place. I got some good advice from someone else off the forum about bolting the cage down before welding, which funnily enough i hadn't already thought of.
So thanks to Perry.(The guy with dragsters and other toys etc)

Something i have also started mocking up is the rear mini cage i have spoken about before. I will make this so that it bolts down into captive nuts etc. This is so that it can be easily removed if required. It will have spreader plates welded above the rear spring hangers and then spreader plates on inside of the rear turrets.
A bolt on section will bolt into the spreader plates across the turrets and then will have front to back tube going from cross bar to above rear spring hangers. Another reinforcement bar will then brace across the back to help stiffen up the shell. Because it will be removable it will mean if for some reason the shell is too stiff we can tune it to work for other conditions e.g. wet weather etc.
Attachments
Passenger foot plate ready for welding in situ
Passenger foot plate ready for welding in situ
20151108_095440.jpg (125.55 KiB) Viewed 35185 times
Driver foot plate ready for welding in situ
Driver foot plate ready for welding in situ
20151108_113251.jpg (136.53 KiB) Viewed 35185 times
Rear arch palte ready for welding before spreader palte can sit flat on the arch
Rear arch palte ready for welding before spreader palte can sit flat on the arch
20151108_115236.jpg (136.66 KiB) Viewed 35185 times
Starting to get measurements for rear mini cage
Starting to get measurements for rear mini cage
20151108_115415.jpg (125.26 KiB) Viewed 35185 times
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

So weather was absolutely terrible over the weekend.
The nights certainly were wild with Abigail blowing a gale. SHould expalin that was Storm Abigail the first named storm in the UK apparently!
Back to subject, not alot was managed over the weekend, however i di pick up some good cobalt 10.5mm drill bits for drilling out the spreader plates and floor in order to start bolting down the main part of the cage.
Next step is to then mark out the reinforcement panels and spreader plates for the rear arches. These will also be tied into the shell in the surrounding area to give more strength.
All of this means the main part of the cage will be sorted. In order to keep the hole position as accurately as possible each hole is drilled 3 times with varying size drills. If you try to drill the hole with the large drill the hole will wonder around a little, which is what we do not want!

Once that is sroted i can start making the spreader plates for the front of the floor and start looking at getting the plates welded in.
More pictures will follow once i have made more progress.
Baby 2 is only just around the corner now, but i am still keeping my fingers crossed that at least some of the Christmas break will be Capri related. At least i have sent Santa a large list of Capri parts that will come in mighty handy.
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

So as promised a few pictures of the car soo far.

4 cylinder Capri struts and 2x axles sandblasted and primed ready for paint and modification.

Also i have finally got the plates and rear cage bolted down after some fettling. Almost ready for welding in, but first i still need to get the front floor plates fabricated. Happy soo far.
Not sure how much progress i can make now in near future as my wife is literally only a couple of weeks away from giving birth to our second child. Time will tell.
So to give rough idea of progress to get soo far.sit cage down all bolted loosely to see where it sits. Mark out. Make plates to suit.
Have re-shaped the floor to sit flush with cage feet and plates. For rear arches i have welded in additional 1mm palte to help make surface flat for welding spreader plate to.
Every plate is to be fully welded around the edge and then rosette welded to further improve strength of plate to chassis/body.
Each pair of holes drilled from one side to the next to ensure the cage bolts down properly and each hole is drilled with pilot and then 10.5 drill to finish off. This makes sures the cage botls down tightly.
Cage removed and area cleaned up and weld thru primed ready for painting. Plates treated in same way.
Attachments
Rear arch
Rear arch
20151122_111732.jpg (97.61 KiB) Viewed 35092 times
Main cage spreader plate
Main cage spreader plate
20151122_111728.jpg (116 KiB) Viewed 35092 times
Front struts blasted and primed ready for coilover conversion
Front struts blasted and primed ready for coilover conversion
20151114_101741.jpg (173.53 KiB) Viewed 35092 times
1st axle
1st axle
20151114_101915.jpg (173.51 KiB) Viewed 35092 times
2nd axle
2nd axle
20151114_101840.jpg (171.15 KiB) Viewed 35092 times
cleaned and primed ready for high build and then black paint
cleaned and primed ready for high build and then black paint
20151114_101926.jpg (152.02 KiB) Viewed 35092 times
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

Few more pics

Really need to get a move on now with bucket seat order so i can move forward with getting correct position for driver seat so i can weld in seat rails to chassis. Maybe Santa will bring??
Attachments
Spreader plate with holes for rosette welds due to non access from underneath e.g. sill area and front boxes for leaf springs
Spreader plate with holes for rosette welds due to non access from underneath e.g. sill area and front boxes for leaf springs
20151122_155839.jpg (93.02 KiB) Viewed 35091 times
Floor with holes to weld from underneath to main spreader plate and primed ready for welding
Floor with holes to weld from underneath to main spreader plate and primed ready for welding
20151122_154224.jpg (107.45 KiB) Viewed 35091 times
Plates primed ready for fit
Plates primed ready for fit
20151122_141700.jpg (134.06 KiB) Viewed 35091 times
1mm spacer plate part welded insitu. Still to rosette weld and then weld 3mm spreader plate to
1mm spacer plate part welded insitu. Still to rosette weld and then weld 3mm spreader plate to
20151122_154219.jpg (74.74 KiB) Viewed 35091 times
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

Been a while since i last updated, alot has happened recently.

Most importantly my wife gave birth to our second child just before Christmas. We now have a baby girl called Abigail to join Catherine, my son Oscar & myself.
Hopefully we will eventually make a great team in the garage as i am afraid there is no escaping cars etc in our family.

So as you can imagine my time has been cut back even further, but we are not giving up. Just alot harder to make alot of progress with only a handful of days available!
Santa was good to us and delivered some very nice presents for the Capri, how did he know?
- Soldering Iron Station, this will come in handy with making up of various looms etc that will be needed. Its soo nice to have a decent soldering iron now rather than having to make do with a cheap £10 iron.
- Pinto mechanical fuel pump blanking plate found in my stocking!
- Weld in and bolt in harness eyelets for shell
- 2.5L fuel swirl pot with AN8 fittings, also configured to accept twin pumps.
- Christmas money which has already been spent on a Tube notcher hole saw kit. THis will allow me to notch tubes with hole saw from 20 to 51mm size tubing. Great for making cages etc with.

I also spent a little time cleaning up and reinforcing areas for the roll cage spreader plates.
Hopefully in the next few weeks my friend who is a very competent welder will help me get these permanently fitted.

In the meantime i have also now started to focus my attention on getting the car rolling so i can start taking vital measurements for other bits and pieces.
One of these areas was to start converting a set of old struts to a coilover design. This is mainly because one of the braking kits i have for the car involves drilling out the caliper mount holes. Therefore i took the risk with a very rusty set of struts to get sandblasted. Luckily for me they are actually in great shape and they were gonna be scrapped.
To start off with i removed all the internal parts of the damper. Then very carefully cut around the standard spring base mount.
This HAS to be done very carefully so as not to cut into the strut tube itself. It only took a matter of seconds to cut through all the way around. Then taking a hammer bash the spring seat off. In fact i kept them in such good condition i could actually sell to someone if they wished to use to modify a set of standard struts for any reason. They won't be binned anyway.
Next step was to grind down this lip to be same diameter as strut casing.
Then primer to avoid rusting up.
Then next step for these is to wait for the coilover threaded sleeves to arrive and then weld these on ready for fitting new adjustable inserts and 2.25 coilover springs. This is a very cheap and easy way to make height and rate adjustable coilover units, that will also allow me alot more wheel options due to having a narrower spring. Perfect for a track/race car.
Attachments
Fuel Swirl pot
Fuel Swirl pot
20151225_113651.jpg (82.62 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Harness mounts for welding in
Harness mounts for welding in
20151225_113622.jpg (107.66 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Strut after sandblasting before cutting up
Strut after sandblasting before cutting up
20151229_144804.jpg (157.12 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Cutting around spring seat
Cutting around spring seat
20151229_145311.jpg (114.61 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Spring seat removed
Spring seat removed
20151229_145527.jpg (148.34 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Cleaned up with wire brush
Cleaned up with wire brush
20151229_145929.jpg (121.29 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Ground back
Ground back
20151229_150758.jpg (137.17 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Lick of primer to stop the rust
Lick of primer to stop the rust
20151229_151817.jpg (110.93 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Rear arch spreader palte reinforcement. Put in place to level the area to weld on the thicker 3mm plate. Linished or a better finish
Rear arch spreader palte reinforcement. Put in place to level the area to weld on the thicker 3mm plate. Linished or a better finish
20151229_153030.jpg (75.22 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
Also cleaned up inside of rear turret ready for welding on reinforcement palte to accept my own removeable rear mini strengthening cage
Also cleaned up inside of rear turret ready for welding on reinforcement palte to accept my own removeable rear mini strengthening cage
20151229_153040.jpg (104.52 KiB) Viewed 34798 times
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Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

Newest update, i have given up trying to drill out the front struts at home myself with a hand drill so have passed to my local friendly engineer.
This means i can fit new caliper brackets for big brakes.
Also spoke to Mark @ GAZ shocks and we discussed great coilover setup for the rear. Will be going for 1.9" Coilover units with ~120lbs helper springs.
I think i will also be using GAZ adjustable inserts up front.
Making good progress with suspension then. i think i will be sitting at approx 500 to 600lbs front springs and approx 200-300lbs rear. We will see i suppose once i start getting the car moving. I think it will be toward the lower end as i still want to be able to take on the road.
As for the roll cage i still need to wait a wee while longer before it is fitted. The weather has been truly awlful
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Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Guy Croft »

MODEL POST

Marvellous Posts dear Will, superbly documented and with excellent photographs.

Some great old-fashioned craftsmanship and careful though/skill here..

well done indeed, yes I do follow!

Very sincerely,

GC
Guy Croft, owner
Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

Thanks Guy for your kind words.
I try, I am really just trying to push getting the car rolling.

I am.really looking forward to start playing with an engine for her.
Definitely going to need some help there, will also be a lot of fun learning see.more new skills
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Guy Croft
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Guy Croft »

Needs a GC 2 liter TC that car, not a Pinto...!

G
Guy Croft, owner
Will01
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Re: Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

Post by Will01 »

The Pinto might only be slightly breathed on, but I only plan to use it to shake the car down.
We will see, but I would love to have a few more cylinders. Dream engine for a Capri would be a GA V6 Cosworth with Weslake heads. But I will never own one.

I definitely wouldn't say no to a GC TC. For time attack it would be great. But for certain regs if i decide to race it later, you have to keep same block manufacturer as the car.
Could make it a Fiat Capri though ;)
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