Ford Capri Mk3 Track/Race Car Project

[TomLouwrier]

Do wear some form of breathing apparatus, a dust mask, whatever.

regards
Tom

[Will01]

I do have some great masks. With all the grinding I have had to, otherwise I would be full of rust. I not sure if the masks will be good enough, time will tell. I don't really know what to expect, but I will post as and when. Been looking at hoods today to get an idea of cost etc.

[Will01]

So i thought i would update on the pot blaster after the weekend.
Unfortunately due to heavy rain and high winds i really couldn't get on to stripping the car back, although i was only wanting to try the pot blaster out on a small area anyway.
Before i start i knew it would make a mess so only tried a little glass bead and use for sacrificial testing. I can confirm however even a cup full of glass bead makes a massive mess, it goes everywhere! It was not pleasant having glass in behind my ears and in my hair etc etc.
Anyway after a little fettling about i did setup the blaster to strip very well and very quickly. See photos. I was amazed out how easily it cut through the rust and paint, but even more surprised at how easily it cut through the oil and grease and bitumen on the section of the engine crossmember i tried it out on.
Next step is to invest in some tarpaulin and plastic sheeting. Luckily i have found a supplier who can provide a 50m x 2mm plastic roll for under £10 and found some thick tarpaulin sheet for putting on the ground. I can then seal up the garage and make an attempt to catch all the glass bead and be able to re-use it.
Also i had another idea at the same time which may save a few pennies as we were also going to invest in a bead blasting cabinet. However i can get access to some large crate boxes which could be easily converted into a blast cabinet. Therefore i will be able to use the same kit to clean up all the smaller parts like antiroll bars etc etc.

I can also say that the 3M twin filter masks i have worked great and did not let any dust in, although it wasn't much of a test. Next piece of equipment needed is a dust hood.

[Will01]

So just a little update. I managed to pick up some scrap 2mm thick mild steel sheet from a good friend, which will be used to construct the strengthening gussets for the inner wing/bulkhead/chassis rail area in the engine bay. Plus there may be a little extra to help reinforce some other little areas.

Also i am looking for some sort of flexible gasket material like cork etc. This will be required to attach the access panels for the front leaf spring mount to the underneath, as i want to keep the weather/crud out.

On another note the polythene sheet roll i ordered has arrived & a large tarpaulin sheet. This will be used to help seal up the garage so i can get on with stripping the shell back to bare metal.
As luck would have it i have also been asked to strip some other parts down for friends, so i may be able to re-coup some of the costs and maybe earn a little extra on the side. As a result of this and the results i have seen from using the blast pot, i will also be constructing a cabinet which i can use to clean up small and some large parts. At the moment the plan is to make the cabinet large enough to fit a complete Jaguar IRS, or front subframes in. Therefore it will be plenty big enough to fit the Atlas axle and wheels and other parts (like Capri wings). I will post pictures of this as and when as a bit of a side project.

I have another question for all you folks out there. I have found two different roll cages which are available at a budget cost. They are both circa £500, however one is bolt in (FE45 ~22kgs) and the other is weld in (CDS unknown weight).
The weld in cage does seem to have better door bar bracing (x-frame) compared to the bolt in which has one angled door bar.
I do not have access and i cannot afford to get someone to TIG the cage in, even though i would love to, also i cannot afford the cage that i really wanted from Custom Cages in T45, hence why i am settling for a clubman cage. I only have access to competent MIG welder.
I really need advice on this so i can save my pennies and put an order in for the right roll cage for me.
Does anyone also know if you could also add extra gussets and bars to a bolt in cage as and when(technically making it more weld-in)?

All help much appreciated
Will

[fingers99]

Apropos the bead/shot blaster -- there's a lot of stuff on DIY cabinets and dust extraction on the Mig Welding Forum. The commercial guys here tend to do it in shipping containers, wearing full suits with a pressurised (and discreet) air supply.

There's no reason why you shouldn't weld a cage in with MIG. TIG will look prettier, but........... All else apart, welding 2mm and above steel with TIG is not hard -- but it isn't anything like as quick as MIG.

There's plenty of stuff in the Blue Book on fitting cages. Also Sparco et al have stuff on the web. The basics, though, are box sections should be re-enforced with 3mm steel plates. If you can weld/fab these plates in in such a way that you have flanges to other panels at an angle to the box you're re-enforcing, so much the better. Bolt holes through box sections should be tubed to prevent crush.

If you've one nearby, joining your local motor sports club (a fair few have cheap bars!) will give you access to experienced scrutineers and people who'll want to help.

[Will01]

So just a little bit of work was acheived on Saturday morning as i have had parents in-law staying, it would be rude not to entertain. However i did think i needed a little space so i could go into next week thinking i have at least acheived something!
One of my firends helped me out with a bit of scrap mild steel 2mm+-ish thick plate. This was then used to transfer the cardboard templates onto and start cutting out.
I really wish i had a nice plate notcher(cutter) as it would make it alot easier, however i had to use a combination of cutting wheel, hacksaw and file to cut up the plate.
Then it was just a simple case(yes right) bending the plate so that it would fit and trim and shape to make a good tight fit. Easier said than done as its hard to get a clean bend with such thick plate.
Please excuse some of the picture views as i had the shell rotated and i was trying to hold gussetts in place whilst taking picture

I also had a little extra spare time so i carried on with preparation for bias box fitting and measuring.
As mentioned earlier in thread the servo sits on brackets which angle the complete assembly upwards. SInce i want to keep the remote master cylinders directly above the master cylinders i need space to do this. Since i have parts for 2x Mk3 Capri's lying around i have decided to use two small (short) servo brackets and bend them slightly in order to allow the bias box bulkhead panel so it is closer to having the whole assembly more horizontal and therefore lower. The larger (longer) brackets are therefore no longer required. I am also going to take some time to strengthen these brackets with their own gussetts.
It also helps to keep some of the Ford with the Capri if i am using standard parts albeit slightly modified. This is exactly the reason why i am not wanting to cut out large sections of the car e.g. 4 link boxes etc as i want to keep as much of the cars character as possible.

I am getting alot of pressure at the moment to finish this car and get it on its wheels as my other car (Alfa 156 GTA) is going to be needed back on the road in few months and it needs alot of work carried out still. My current daly driver is probably not going to pass next MOT & my wifes Mini we have plans on taking it off the road for some TLC. Therefore i may need the Capri to commute in!
Hopefully i will be able to save up enough for a rollcage in the next 6 months!

[Will01]

So i managed to get a little more done to the Capri over the weekend although not as much as i wanted.
The Strengthening Gussets were welded in to the inner wing/chassis rail/bulkhead area. These went in nicely and i am pleased with these, in time when i am undersealing the car i will also be drilling a little hole in these so i can inject with rust preventative.

As for the rest of the car i just went to work with the Pot Blaster on the underneath. Downsides are it does cause a load of mess, however the tarpaulin sheet did a great job of capturing most of it, only thing is i need a seive so i can filter out all the poor so i can re-use. I ran into a few problems with large pieces of poor clogging up the feed which was very frustrating as when it was working properly it was clearing the underseal nicely and very useful for getting into those hard to reach areas.
I also found that wearing goggles is just no good because the glass still finds its way into the gaps in the goggles and straight into my eyes which was not pleasant, so i am also investing in a blast hood. The dust mask works great so i will be keeping that for sure.

My Alfa is really needing attention and has to take a priority as it will be needed in the next six months, there is alot f mechanical work needed to reinvigorate. So i really need to start spending money on her and put the Capri on a slight hold, hopefully not for too long. I really need to start trying to earn more money (problem for most of us i would say). Trying to fix all these cars up on a spare £100 or so every month is very tricky with such a tight budget. It is the only thing however that is keeping me sane-ish.

Pictures of progress will follow.

[Will01]

Here's some pictures as promised.

Still alot to clean back, and i am only priming what i am striping back, still alot of hard to reach areas which need a real clean up, so this will follow. Once the whole underneath is primed, it will be built up with heavier primer, top coat, sealant in joins and underseal to protect it for as long as possible.

[fingers99]

FROST have some sieves in the catalogue, but I think that the better commercial vendors of blasting stuff have them on the shelves.

[Will01]

Thanks for the info i will be checking them out as i have found they do a nice tube nothcer aswell.

[fingers99]

Thanks for the info i will be checking them out as i have found they do a nice tube nothcer aswell.

I just bought one -- not from FROST but very similar to the Eastwood one they do.

[Will01]

Where did you get it from, jjc??

[fingers99]

Where did you get it from, jjc??

Off the Bay. All the way from California. Didn't save a lot over buying one from FROST, though.

With luck I'll be knocking up some tubular braces next week, which is why I bought it in.

[Will01]

I may hold off buying one for a while and see how you get on with yours. It would be great to get some feedback on the one you bought, let me know how it works.

[fingers99]

Sure, will do.