Ford Capri 2.8i Restoration (will be picture heavy)
Discussion
Thought i'd finally join up here after god knows how long of reading threads but never actually posting anything.
Back in 2005 I made the sensible decision of going out & purchasing a 1983 Ford Capri 2.8i with 81000 miles on the clock, I did a few small modifications to it before passing such as different wheels, an ashley exhaust system & manifolds, electric windows, central locking and a cat 1 alarm & immobilisher & swapped the interior from the tired looking half leather interior to a much better condition shark grey recaro interior. I then went and passed my test and made it my first car at which point I spent the next two years getting seriously shafted for insurance until I managed to get a 2nd car & stick the Capri on a classic car policy.
Some pictures of how it was looking back around 2007ish -
It looked like that until about 6:30pm October 2009 when some silly woman decided to ignore the road markings and park in the outside lane of a busy 2 lane NSL road, yes I should have spotted her sooner but I was took by surprise by the Golf in front suddenly cutting left in front of the HGV I was overtaking and it being replaced by a stationary Hyundai Getz, I had nowhere to go other than jam the brakes on and hope for the best, unfortunately I ran out of road just before making contact, this left the front end looking like this-
The car sat on the drive collecting bird poo for nearly 2 years following this as i'd just moved in with my girlfriend therefore had no money and the DIY build of my dads nearly triple width garage was nowhere near done, infact there was still no roof on it so DIY repairs were out of the question.
The garage was far enough completed late last summer to finally get a car into, so work could begin.
Progress is slow as until I started this i'd not even done an oil or brakepad change myself, i always asked my dad to do it, so stripping a car down, cutting out any rot, welding in new metal, repainting it and then rebuilding it is going to take me some time, plus funds are a bit tight. Just to make things a little more interesting I decided that the engine is coming out and being replaced with a 77k Mile 2.9 Cosworth V6 before the car goes back on the road.
Pics to follow of what horrors were unearthed under the shiny exterior to follow.........
Back in 2005 I made the sensible decision of going out & purchasing a 1983 Ford Capri 2.8i with 81000 miles on the clock, I did a few small modifications to it before passing such as different wheels, an ashley exhaust system & manifolds, electric windows, central locking and a cat 1 alarm & immobilisher & swapped the interior from the tired looking half leather interior to a much better condition shark grey recaro interior. I then went and passed my test and made it my first car at which point I spent the next two years getting seriously shafted for insurance until I managed to get a 2nd car & stick the Capri on a classic car policy.
Some pictures of how it was looking back around 2007ish -
It looked like that until about 6:30pm October 2009 when some silly woman decided to ignore the road markings and park in the outside lane of a busy 2 lane NSL road, yes I should have spotted her sooner but I was took by surprise by the Golf in front suddenly cutting left in front of the HGV I was overtaking and it being replaced by a stationary Hyundai Getz, I had nowhere to go other than jam the brakes on and hope for the best, unfortunately I ran out of road just before making contact, this left the front end looking like this-
The car sat on the drive collecting bird poo for nearly 2 years following this as i'd just moved in with my girlfriend therefore had no money and the DIY build of my dads nearly triple width garage was nowhere near done, infact there was still no roof on it so DIY repairs were out of the question.
The garage was far enough completed late last summer to finally get a car into, so work could begin.
Progress is slow as until I started this i'd not even done an oil or brakepad change myself, i always asked my dad to do it, so stripping a car down, cutting out any rot, welding in new metal, repainting it and then rebuilding it is going to take me some time, plus funds are a bit tight. Just to make things a little more interesting I decided that the engine is coming out and being replaced with a 77k Mile 2.9 Cosworth V6 before the car goes back on the road.
Pics to follow of what horrors were unearthed under the shiny exterior to follow.........
Shame to see its had a smack - but its only a tap
An ex-mate managed to bend my first Capri in quite spectacular fashion by putting it through the side of a building and nearly killing me in the process
Front grille change is good as are the exhausts but proper Pepperpots are the Only wheels for that car and it needs the stripe-kit putting back on;)
Good luck with the resto and keep the pics coming
An ex-mate managed to bend my first Capri in quite spectacular fashion by putting it through the side of a building and nearly killing me in the process
Front grille change is good as are the exhausts but proper Pepperpots are the Only wheels for that car and it needs the stripe-kit putting back on;)
Good luck with the resto and keep the pics coming
caprirob said:
Front grille change is good as are the exhausts but proper Pepperpots are the Only wheels for that car and it needs the stripe-kit putting back on;)
I can understand people saying it needs the original wheels and decals, but I prefer the no decal look, there is also the fact that when it next legally sees the road it will no longer be a 2.8 injection but a 2.9 24V Cosworth. I'm not planning on keeping those alloys either, i'll be going for something more 70's style but still 15", more choice of tyres available in 15" sizes. Oh, the car isn't staying metallic blue either, it's a proving impossible for anyone to get a colour match for it and due to the fact that i'm doing the paint myself it's going to be non-metallic.Anyway, as a result of the above pictured bump the drivers side wing, front panel, headlight backing plate, bonnet & front bumper are to be replaced. Whilst the passenger side wing does have some very slight corrosion, for a 29 year old Capri wing it's still in amazing condition and is therefore being saved. I've sourced a rot free used non-pattern bonnet for all of £50 and again a wing which isn't totally rot free but looks easily repairable, again nice and cheap at £50. I also sourced a new original stock ford front panel still with the henlys ford dealership stickers on it, this unfortunately was far from cheap, but it's minty fresh! And also a new original headlight backing plate, again far from cheap but all shiny and new!
I've took some pictures of the rot that was found upon stripping the front end down -
Which was promptly all cut out -
More!
Chopped out-
Passenger side lower A-Panel
And floor same side!
Drivers side headlight bowl-
All gone!
Drivers side wing mounting rail after much poking and removal of one of the strengthening plates-
After some angle grinder action-
The rear end was even better, I found loveley botched rear wheal arch repairs, the car actually has 4 rear wheel arches! Pics to follow!
I paid to have the car resprayed about 6.5 years ago, it was paris blue and that colour is also supposed to have been paris blue which it clearly isn't. However I liked how it came out at the time so accepted it. Getting the colour wrong wasn't the only screw up they made as I also had both rear wheel arches & rear lower quarter panels replaced as there were signs of corrosion, I still have some of the original paperwork from the business which states they were to "replace the rear arches", this clearly was not done.
This is how the drivers side arch appeared to be starting to corrode again-
Upon further investigation it appears someone really liked their filler!
Seems they had to re-profile the rear quarter to hide the fact they welded the new arch over the original! Why even do that? Surely it must have took forever to re-profile the whole rear quarter panel, why not just butt weld the new arch in?
Same story with the rear lower quarter, the original panel looks like it's been taken back to bare metal then the new panel welded straight over it, it wasn't even primered!
I've left the rear quarter looking like this for now anyway-
This is how the drivers side arch appeared to be starting to corrode again-
Upon further investigation it appears someone really liked their filler!
Seems they had to re-profile the rear quarter to hide the fact they welded the new arch over the original! Why even do that? Surely it must have took forever to re-profile the whole rear quarter panel, why not just butt weld the new arch in?
Same story with the rear lower quarter, the original panel looks like it's been taken back to bare metal then the new panel welded straight over it, it wasn't even primered!
I've left the rear quarter looking like this for now anyway-
I just re-discovered this thread after googling some Capri images & clicking on a picture of my car that popped up, I completely forgot that I started a thread on here regarding this so I apologise for the 2 year old bump, This is taking time due to budget & time restrictions.
Current state of the project is pretty much all of the welding is finished but instead of my original plan of paying to have the welding done I took the plunge & bought some welding equipment & taught myself.
The car is currently sat on axle stands in a garage at my home address as opposed to my dads with the engine bay fully painted in a nice shade of Ford Radiant Red, the front suspension all looks brand new painted in Mercedes Iridium silver with reconditioned Bilstiens, new uprated springs & polybushed. The rear end will be following suit along with an axle location kit. I'm currently in the middle of going over the car zinc plating all of the nuts, bolts & washers before re-assembling the front end and hopefully getting the new engine fitted in the coming weeks.
Current plans are for a complete brake system replacement with an uprated master Cylinder and either a 280 or 300mm front disc & caliper upgrade and hopefully a rear disc conversion, swapping the rear axle for a shorter ratio 2.0 Capri item to aid in better acceleration too.
Rather than try & update this old thread I shall post a link to a thread I managed to keep up to date in another forum, if anyone has an interest in this thing then current progress can be viewed at - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=...
Current state of the project is pretty much all of the welding is finished but instead of my original plan of paying to have the welding done I took the plunge & bought some welding equipment & taught myself.
The car is currently sat on axle stands in a garage at my home address as opposed to my dads with the engine bay fully painted in a nice shade of Ford Radiant Red, the front suspension all looks brand new painted in Mercedes Iridium silver with reconditioned Bilstiens, new uprated springs & polybushed. The rear end will be following suit along with an axle location kit. I'm currently in the middle of going over the car zinc plating all of the nuts, bolts & washers before re-assembling the front end and hopefully getting the new engine fitted in the coming weeks.
Current plans are for a complete brake system replacement with an uprated master Cylinder and either a 280 or 300mm front disc & caliper upgrade and hopefully a rear disc conversion, swapping the rear axle for a shorter ratio 2.0 Capri item to aid in better acceleration too.
Rather than try & update this old thread I shall post a link to a thread I managed to keep up to date in another forum, if anyone has an interest in this thing then current progress can be viewed at - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=...
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