Ford Capri 3.0 S: £15K competition update
A busy Christmas for Matt's Capri, with plenty planned for 2014 too
John took a little longer to source his perfect Integrale so we've just the one update from him so far. It's a stunning Lancia though, so well worth reading. We will hopefully have more from him soon with his plans for 2014.
Thanks again to Adrian Flux for sponsoring the competition.
Matt writes: This month's update is brought to you by the word 'Serendipity'.
Infotainment, 1980s style
Instead of doing the sensible thing and asking him to pick them up for me, I decided I'd drive up and collect them myself.
A plan was hatched for the Saturday before Christmas. Southend to South Mimms to drop off some Land Rover hood sticks to pay for my fuel, drive to Ramsey, collect new parts, see Toby, Annabel and young George, drive home Sunday via Saffron Walden in time to catch my relatives who were visiting. That was the plan, anyway - I loaded up the surprisingly spacious Capri and got on the road early, just in time for it all to go out the window.
Burning the midnight oil...
How wrong we were.
Arriving at South Mimms in the pouring rain, it was clear something was properly wrong this time. It stopped in a fashion, but plainly didn't have a lot left to give.
I had a few options. One: turn around and drive home. Two: call the RAC and wait for hours, or three: make it to Toby's fully kitted-out workshop in Cambridgeshire, which was about the same distance as option one. I checked everything over and found no apparent leaks or anything out of the ordinary. I had faith in Tony and did what any 20-year-old would do.
Forester support vehicle came in handy!
Turns out the master cylinder had lost the will to live. For anyone thinking of having their MC fail while half way up the country on a tight schedule, don't do it late on a Saturday - finding a replacement is impossible.
We called everywhere local and tried in vain to resurrect the original, but it was just too far gone. Looking it over, it was safe to assume I'd actually been running the car with almost no rear brakes since it came to me in April, as the rear piston was sucking in nothing but air. It'd only truly shown itself now that the front seal had started to break up.
Luckily, I'd been doing a lot of research into the brakes recently so had a vague idea of an upgrade we could carry out, both being Land Rover-minded. According to many people on the Internet, an early 110 master cylinder fits a Capri servo perfectly and even increases braking performance. All it needs is a couple of fittings and a T-piece to fit.
And to work!
Up early, the freshly cleaned Forester was fired up and we headed out on a three-hour round-trip, via Wilco's in Wisbech on the return leg (who very kindly stayed open for us, cheers guys!). We got back just in time to get a call saying there was another one in Chatteris, five miles from where we started. Great.
Nevertheless, more tea was made, pipes were bent and flared, fittings were fitted, seals were cut down and finally the brakes were bled up. After a brief fire-scare when some fluid burnt off the manifold and a rather Professionals-inspired entrance back into the close, it was time to load up my haul and get back to Essex in time to demolish a Chinese with my family, chased all the way by some of the most sinister looking clouds I've ever seen. Being able to confidently stop at junctions for the first time since buying the car was absolutely fantastic.
A cameo for Bernard the Land Rover
Being my typically indecisive self, there's still a mental battle between a Cosworth 24V, RV8, Ford 302, or even a rebuilt and tuned Essex if I become a billionaire. Never anything wrong with keeping your options open.
One thing that is certain, however, is that the Essex is now begging for time out after returning a new personal worst of 18mpg over 200 miles. In spite of that, I still can't help but shake the smile it gives me.
That wee tale reminds me of two years (when I was aged 19-21) running a MGB Roadster, the main difference being you clearly know what you are doing and I had, and still have, absolutely no practical mechanical sense whatsover!
Looking forward to future reviews
I had a brake-related moment in a Capri once in about 2005. I'd borrowed a colleagues 1.6 Laser while my own car was off the road for a few days. It was quite tidy thing but not without it's problems.
In order to be able to borrow it I'd had to source and have fitted a new master cylinder ( paid for by my colleague but I did the running around getting it sorted).
With new master cylinder duly fitted, I came up the A46 dual carriageway into Coventry and when I came to brake at a set of lights, the pedal went to the floor...
. A yank of the handbrake thankfully saw the Capri coming to rest at a stange angle, a few inches from the car in front.It turned out that the pressures generated by the new master cylinder were a bit much for some of the braking components which probably hadn't seen such load for many a year. Unknown to me, one of the rear brakes had locked on, causing a big build up of heat, boiling the brake fluid. Something to bear in mind now that you have a new one on!
It's doing a sterling job of stopping now, and i've also fitted some new calipers to help out a little more - one for next time.
Speaking of the LS1, saw this on Retro Rides the other day which is *quite* impressive; http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/162226/1982...
Thanks for the comments on the writing by the way, really appreciate that! Glad you're enjoying them. I've resolved to make sure the spaces between them shorter this year. Not easy when the car's 100 miles away from where i'm typing this, but we'll work it out!
I always wanted to put a 24v BOA Cossie V6 in my 2.8 Capri but never got round to it... one day I WILL have another Capri (I’ve had 3) and I’ll get the conversion done.
Brakes: the stoppers on my 2.8 were really bad (nothing wrong with the system: they were just not up to the job) so I fitted a pair of 4 pot Wilwood Dynalite billet callipers with decent pads and braided hoses. They transformed the car and gave me a lot more confidence for spirited driving.
This was back in 2004 ish and the kit came to £600 IIRC, so not the cheapest upgrade out there but worth every single penny... and a LOT cheaper than a pair of wings, a bonnet and a radiator!
It's got new M16s with Mintex M1144s and some vented/drilled/grooved discs on now with braided hoses, combined with the new master it's surprisingly good - will still be looking to upgrade to four pots sometime in the future though, just for that little bit extra.
Next job is new TCA and steering ball joints, try and get the mystery shake out of the steering so it can finally get driven properly when turning right!
Lots of folk are now going down the 24v route in old fords. Consiquently parts are easily available and engines are still pretty cheap as are matching boxes and bellhousings. Just be a bit different and ditch the BOA electronics, two sets of triumph speed triple throttle bodies and an Emerald, Omex or DTA ECU should make it a proper screamer. I'm sure Bogg brothers will already have a pattern made up for the inlet manifold.
It should be an awesome little beast whichever route you take though, just get those brakes sorted.
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