Race Engine Forum UK

Nice to read that the Capri project is still ongoing. Good luck with the bathroom and I'm looking forward to more updates. It's kind a quit on the forum, from myself as well but I'll get on with wrenching at the start of winter and share my experiences.

Best regards,
Charles

It does seem to be very quiet at the moment.

Back to the cars, i soo hope the bathroom goes well as i really hate doing housework and not getting time in the garage.
Just want to be able to get this Capri rolling around on its wheels before the year end. Soo much to do and soo little time.

I look forward to seeing more updates from you aswell Charles

Seems we have mutual likes as well as mutual dislikes

Few pictures of the front strut conversion

I might have said already, but i made up shim to sit under threaded collar as i found there to be a loose fit between that and the outer strut tube.
I tried a full length shim, but the grinding involved was immense, therefore i cut this back. If i had a lathe at home i would have made up new strut tubes with threaded section, but i do not have that option currently!
In the end i settled with 30mm shim up top and 50mm shim at bottom. THese were ground down until i got a tight fit to centralise the collar and hold it tight.

THe top of the threaded collar is approx 25mm from top of tube, i will tack weld this in place. The reason for setting it slightly lower than top is simple. There is an internal thread which is where the top strut nut fits into. If i weld on the back it may deform the thread as it is very thin walled.
Once i have the inserts in my hand i will do some checks to finalise collar placement. At the moment it is tack welded in situ. The bottom will be fully seam welded. Then the excess of my shim will be ground away.I am hoping to have a slight gap between top of reinforcement triangle and the bottom of collar as i need somewhere to put some clamps around the strut body for my droplink pickup for my double arb setup. If not, i may have to make some ellaborate plates up which weld onto the reinforcement plates. But i want to avoid that!

I feel good as i done something at least in last few weeks! Inserts to follow, then i can update with pictures after a good clean up and bit of paint. Maybe paint them yellow, we will see! The idea about yellow is more about detailing. I am thinking about painting everything underneath in yellow that is non-standard and black for standard items. But i don't have alot of standard items!!!

hi dear Will

you are followed to a remarkable extent here so I want to say something, given I have followed you too!

Top work and well done!!

MODEL POST, one of the most thoroughly documented ever recorded here.

Time attack, talk to badlyworntoy (Ian Nixon!) forget oval.

Very sincerely and thanks for documenting this superb resto here.

GC

Thanks Guy

I will be speaking to Ian for pointers for sure. I also see he build is taking on a new dimension which will be awesome once completed.


Still slow progress, but hey.
Unfortunately still not finished the bathroom wooooops. Sometimes you need a rest from projects so the Capri is a welcome distraction.
Been a little hard after Christmas after paying out for that and now my wife is full time housewife/mum with no job.(excuses i know)
Was getting a little down, so decided to buy some parts for the old girl, sorry i am talking about the Capri now rather than the wife! haha.

Talked again to Mark & team @ GAZ shocks to get some adjustable inserts for the front strut conversion & some helper springs.
GAI-4103 part number and 40lb helper springs and collet for fitting up to standard 2.25" coil.

Helper spring to prevent the coil going loose when in full bump, whether that be because i have gone mad and start jumping the car or when being jacked up etc.
I should make it clear that the team at GAZ do advise against using an insert for the use i have intended, this is becuase for my ultimate setup i really do need a setup of minimum GAZ Gold coilovers. Unfortunately budget dictates that is not possible, but i really just need to get the car running.
To maybe explain a bit more to start with the car needs a good shakedown along with it's driver. This will be alot of trackdays and test sessions and some sprints/hillclimbs etc.
When i get to the point of being competitive or need to push the car for longer periods i have to make the upgrade to Golds or Mono's. This will happen soon, but not yet.

At the same time i also imagine i will be making an upgrade to Stage 2 brake setup using Brembo calipers i have, this is also where i will be using floating 2 piece discs. That can't happen at the moment with my current strut/hub setup.


So this still leaves Cooling & Fueling to sort out. Really i am only worried about the fuel setup as i need to get a custom tank made up. In the meantime i am going to mock up some tanks in card and then possibly thin gauge steel to see what will work in combination with the rear suspension setup. Then and only then i can get an alloy tank made up to my own spec.

Cooling is sorted in as much as i know what i need, but haven't purcahsed the parts. I am just biding my time here until some other tings get sorted first. Pictures to follow once inserts and springs arrive and i finish building the coilover units with brakes.

Yesterday got a few hrs in garage and finished welding up the threaded sleeves with adjusters. Welded the bottom of the sleeve, then built up with another layer to make doubly sure. Then linished bk.

Cleaned and spray with primer. Clean threads and greased.
Filled oil in strut body to keep inside from the rusting and fitted the inserts. Fitted down with top lock nut.

Drilled out top spring cap to 16mm. Fitted coil helper spring adapter and helper spring. Top cap and trial fitted top mount.

Got loads of adjustment for ride height so happy.
Next job masking up and spraying yellow.
Pictures to follow

Pictures

Need to get the struts stripped down and painted and replace the wheel bearings in the hubs.
Still need to buy top hat adjuster spacers for top mount to allow bearing to swivel and ready for fitting trials.
Approx guess as it stands the ride height will be at least 1" lower than Bilstein. However i expect alot more drop anyway with the threaded sleeve and insert length. Target was 2" drop for arch clearance reasons.

I am very happy how they have turned out so far.

Now playing around with brake ducting for cooling the disc.

I have mocked up a couple designs, 1st iteration was rear disc shield and tube forcing air into centre of disc. However it was not sealed very well into interanl bell of disc so alot of air would be expelled behind the disc. This may also mean the back of the disc will be kept hotter than front due to poor airflow around the disc.(thoughts at least)
2nd iteration is a lot smaller plate that will sit inside the rear of the disc in the bell and seal as close as possible. It does mean maybe alot smaller ducting pipe, but i can force into the disc and with rotation it will pull the air up through the vents alot better. Also will be alot lighter as added bonus.
CAD models to follow

Great stuff Will, this is an epic build! I am amazed at how you have managed to keep the momentum and enthusiasm going throughout. As a master of unfinished projects I know difficult, frustrating, but ultimately rewarding it is to see such a project through to the end. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Simon.
I can't say it has been easy to stay enthusiastic, but I just want her done now.
Hard trying to find time round young family and keeping up with household jobs lol.
Be nice to see her on her wheels this summer rolling at least :)
I'm just like you then, I also have many Un finished projects, but trying to commit to no more until these others are done haha.
Been doing some radio control models in down time due to the awful weather recently and generally feeling ill for past 3 weeks.

Sorry i know it is not car related, but i did eventually finish the bathroom!
So here is the excuse as to why i have not been spending too much time on the Capri.
I think it went quite well, but we are delighted with finished result.

This does now mean i can crack on more with the Capri.
For the first time in i think 2 years my wife came into garage and helped me with the old girl. My father also joined in.
First off i spent a morning cleaning, blowing and vacuuming out the interior ready for sealing up the interior.
Catherine & I both learnt how to mask up a car ready for sanding bodywork. Don't want to fill the interior with lots of dust etc since it is sorted.

Catherine & I both spent alot of time sealing all the joins under the car. Now i know some of you may question this, but for me it is very important i protect the car from water as much as possible. I do intend to drive on the road in all weathers when i feel like it and it will be use din the rain on track days and sprints/hill climbs etc.
Yes i know this adds a substantial weight...... but how many years has it taken me to cut out the rust. I would rather be driving her than repairing yet more rust. It is an old Ford afterall so it will already be rusting away haha.
I need to think of more ingneious ways to cut some weight out elsewhere, maybe a diet haha.

So so far the roof and the front scuttle panel have been rubbed back ready for primer. Again not taking back to full bare metal as this requires alot of time and alot more expense where i don't see a massive return. Paint weight on a car of this size is probably 3-4kg's. Hopefully less. However we are going for a rub back and light prime and then paint. So i expect it will have more paint than factory, but it does mean at least we can get paint on the car ready to assemble more of it. I have been told i am being evicted from my garage this summer! haha

At the moment it is pointless to post pictures as it doesn't look much different. However now we hav tarted we really need to crack on and get to the priming layer quickly whilst the weather is on our side.
Have also sourced a few other people's compressors so i will have a pick of them for painting the car when the day comes.
So we will have min 2 compressors working in tandom in order to allow us to paint the car successfully.
Alot of tarpaulin sheet to be on the next order in order to seal up the garage for a good finish.

I appreciate alot of you out there have never seen what i can be capable of, hence why i though i would share my bathroom. I had never redecorated a room before, but with a little help from my father & wife we have made a good finish. I just hope the Capri turns out even better than my bathroom.
It will at least be more fun i suppose haha.

Haha, well done Will. Good to her the Capri is progressing again and somehow I think that will be as clean as your bathroom.
Best regards,

Charles

Thanks Charles, fingers crossed.
Evening tonight is to continue the long process of stripping back, the fun stuff eh! (this is my least enjoyable thing to do on a car, always seems endless!)

I have now lost count how many hours i have spent rubbing down the Capri shell.
Obviously it is not ideal to have any filler on a track/race car for weight reasons, but then again it also looks poor when you see panel joins.
Really the use of filler is against what i would normally consider so i would definitely say my hammer and dolly skills have greatly improved as i have tried my hardest to pull and push and hammer out the panels as flat as i can possibly do it, therefore minimising greatly the amount of ffiller i actually have to use.
I am doing that much sanding that i guess there will actually not be that much original paint left, so i cam getting very close to have a bare metal re-spray anyway.
Such hard work and such a long process. Where possible i am finishing work going to the garage having dinner and then going back to the garage so my wife is well happy getting lumped with the kids on her own.

Alot of the work so far has just been using heavy 40 & 60 grit paper to get shape correct where filler was needed, but now we are progressing onto 180 and in time finer grades so primer can be applied. i am guessing 2 coats will proabbly do it, but we will see.

Also i have been in touch with a sticker manufacturer to get some original(ish) design Capri stickers made up for this old girl to help with the original(ish) look of the car.
Think i am going to have to call a family weekend working on the Capri to get more people round to help with rubbing down. I am exhausted.
I will share a few select choice pictures of the car before rubbing and after final rubbing down before primer so i don't bore you with what looks like no progress day in day out.

Really pushing to get this car to a local car show in June this year with paint applied and rolling only for display so far.