Both our Flux winners' cars are now officially out of hibernation and their ownership experiences continue to blossom. Well, up to a point, as you'll see.
You can read the latest on Matt Purdon's Capri here (background to it here) and our first prize winner John has recently updated us on progress with his Integrale. Click here to read that.
Thanks again to Adrian Flux for sponsoring the competition.
It's been a busy start to the summer for 'Tony'
It's often said that what the universe (or your deity of choice) gives with one hand, it takes with the other. This month's update is a frustrating case in point.
It's been a little while since Tony the Capri and I last checked in, but we've been keeping pretty busy. At the end of May I got a call from the guys at Flux inviting me up to exhibit at Classic Ford, which saw Tone, Faye and I heading up to Santa Pod for a weekend of late nights and far too early mornings. The show saw a massive turnout and a huge spread of cars with some seriously impressive action on the strip - nine-second Pinto-powered Mk1 Escort, anyone? There were a few gripes from people, largely aimed at the marshaling, but all-in the show had plenty going for it and the atmosphere seemed very much that of community. I was glad to have made the effort and the car went down a treat too, which is always nice.
On show at Classic Ford; shame about pilfering
That was until the give and take kicked in when I headed over to meet Terry Dolphin at Dolphin Motorsports. Keith at Burton Power suggested I track him down to discuss the future plans for the Capri and couldn't recommend his knowledge and skill enough. After a few days of trying at his surprisingly local unit, I finally timed it right to meet the man himself.
I'd not had the now-filthy car out since Classic Ford, but that didn't matter - we were there to talk engines. I popped the bonnet and noticed the car was now lacking both headlight covers and even a single nut from the K&N filter. Lesson learned; bonnet stays shut in future. If whoever pocketed those would like to send them back my way, just get in touch.
Seeing the old tyres out in suitable style...
Following this came some giving; the guys at Toyo answered my terrified pleas for help following the 'skidpan' sessions I've recently been treated to by the Ditch Finder 9000s. Those of us still running 13-inch wheels are somewhat limited on what boots we can fit these days. Rubber bands for that 'Sarf Landan' look on your Escort seem plentiful, but for anyone looking to stay a little bigger you hit a wall almost as quickly as you can type '205/60R13' into Google.
Track-biased tyres are available, such as the Toyo R888 and Yokohama A048, but when you're after something suitable for more than smooth, dry tarmac, where can you go? Unless you know a guy who knows a guy who might be able to supply some mystery Falkens, you have to compromise on the size. For me, that came in dropping to a 185 profile Toyo CF1. The initial impressions of these, however, are fantastic. I've only managed to upset them once, and that was under a schoolboy combination of hard braking and too much steering when met by a surprise red light mid-roundabout.
...before heading off to get new Toyos fitted
They saw plenty of abuse on my travels, trying in vain to get them loose but they just wouldn't have any of it. I can't even get my Professionals on anymore when giving it a boot full; it's been slipping the clutch before lighting the tyres up. I've entered the power-grip cycle and am infinitely sorry to my future bank balance.
They've even upped my fuel economy, I had to move out of my house in Brighton and the car doubled up as a removal van - another feather in the cap of what must be the country's most used 3.0 S. Loaded with two passengers, seats down and as much as I could fit in the back it returned 28mpg over 400 miles, with some very un-sympathetic driving thrown in while trying to keep myself awake.
I was hoping to give these a proper, considered thrash and review now, but we'll have to re-visit this. Before I could get out and do so, the final 'take' came last night when nipping out of a junction in traffic. The new grip-and-go tyres combined with Ford's utterly genius decision to make the timing gear out of cheese resulted in me coming to a clattering halt 20 metres from where I started. The sound made by a V6 suddenly losing all co-ordination under load at 4,500rpm is simply hideous.
And it was all going so nicely too
A phonecall later and out came Paul, my RAC hero for the day. Surprisingly he was very au fait with Capris having worked for Ford at Dunton, and even had a Brooklands 280 as his last company car. We whipped the distributor cap off, spun it over, no dice. The camshaft's not spinning so our fears were confirmed.
I got the car recovered back down to the south coast where we have a workshop in lieu of the strip-down to assess the damage, but I'm not feeling good about it. My current plan is to simply drop in a replacement Essex to get it up and running again, then shelve the original engine for a rebuild some time in the future when I'm a grown-up with time and money. Finding a replacement, however, seems to be far easier said than done. It could be an opportunity to bring forward the go-faster modding, but with a bill currently over my head for next year's housing at uni it really couldn't have come at a worse time.