Tuesday 20th May 2014

Ford Capri 3.0 S: £15K Competition Update

With an MOT looming, the rust on Matt's Capri needed urgent (and quite major!) attention

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Both our Flux winners' cars are now officially out of hibernation and their ownership experiences continue to blossom.

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.

 

 

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A rot-free Ford is often the subject of automotive jokes, but this month I got to know how this is based upon good, solid fact.

Perhaps the rust wasn't that minor!

Quite some time ago, I stuck the jack under to do my usual week's tinkering, trying my hardest to find something I could fiddle with to give purpose to my idle hands. They're not right unless they're oily. After loosening and tightening my wheel bearings to what was probably the exact torque they were when I started, I pulled the jack out and out with it came several flakes of crusty brown steel.

Owing to my background, I did what any self-respecting Land Rover owner would do and fetched my special massive chassis-stabby screwdriver. This turned out to be quite a mistake when the subsequent mess left me with a car that'd tick all the boxes for Barney Rubble.

I decided the car was low enough for it not to be visible, that footwells weren't that structural and it could definitely wait 'til the MoT came round. A little prep and some paint would hold it off for a few more months.

Dave gets to work on some rusty footwells

Safely put to the back of my mind, I forgot it was a problem until the two-week MOT countdown came round. By this time it had become quite a big problem.

Frantic calls, Google searches and forum posts later left me looking forward to fabricating some new footwells. Nowhere seemed to stock them unless I wanted an entire new floorpan or a second-hand bulkhead, neither of which were remotely viable.

Luckily for me, I managed to call in a favour from dear friend, welder, and all-round diamond geezer David Buckoke. A few weeks later I dragged myself out of bed at 5am and found myself in a South London Gaddafi with Dave, having a good ol' natter about what to do with this jam jar over a fry-up; it was in a right two and eight (Dave talks in riddles).

Having just spent a couple of years welding up his MGB, I could fully understand if he'd told me to Vincent Van Gogh, but it only took us the space of a few Rosie Lee's and much early Riley-ogling (the family's main four-wheeled passion) to get started. With the holes tidied, new sections cut to shape and the carpets held out of harm's way by some wood (nothing flammable here, officer) Dave was in the footwell, upside down, welder in hand ready to get down to business.

Looming large but the Capri passed!

I spent the next hour or so playing with the dog, chatting to Dave's sister Helen about the rebuild of her Elf and keeping an eagle eye for flames (the underseal only caught fire five times, not bad going). I'm adamant that I'll learn to weld one day soon, but probably on something that's less important, or that doesn't need to look quite so smart.

A couple of hours and several more teas later, with the carpets back down and the fresh metal sprayed to tide it over until I can blast and reseal the whole underside, we were ready to head back to our respective girlfriends. Gemma, I hope your decking got sorted and I'm sorry for making him play cars instead. I really appreciate your help though mate.

After some tarting-up and a front spring swap (225lb now, perfect!), I took a trip to see my mustachioed uncle Trevor at his fantastically old-school garage, TJK Repairs in Purfleet, to put Tony through our first MoT together. Thanks to Dave's stirling work, the sheet came back with just one advisory for slight play in the front wheel bearings, something I was quite expecting given the recent hub change. It even excelled it's emissions; apparently the car's allowed 4.50 per cent CO and it returned just 0.13 per cent. Take that, Greenpeace.

The front springs are now ideal (finally!)

Clearly Tony was also pretty stoked on his fresh ticket as he put in a new personal best of 30mpg. It turns out that 60mph is optimum cruising speed for the four-speed, and quite a pleasant way to waft across the country.

The rest of my Easter holiday saw plenty of action, including a cracking drive to Saffron Walden to see a wonderful man by the name of Julian Shoolheifer. Luckily nothing got in the way this time, and I finally got to finish my visiting schedule from the brake failure episode over Christmas (and dribble over his supercharged 1949 Land Rover a bit).

The drive home from Julian's served to show me just how dangerous the West German 'Securon' tyres are though, thanks to a sharp corner, a surprise flat-out R32 Golf in the middle of the road and some heavy braking. I've not been inches from a big accident before, let alone found myself in the grass verge because my front wheels have locked up, but that combined with some heavy rain on the way home assured me I didn't want to drive the car again until there's some real rubber connecting me to the road.

One year in and Matt's a happy chap

While decent rubber may be the obvious next buy, Tony's budget has temporarily been suspended. Why? Well, a few months back a white X-Pack Capri built by a bloke I knew surfaced again. Nothing's for certain yet, but I am very, very excited for what the future might hold...

I'm also a few days away from my first year with the car, which is pretty unbelievable. Huge thanks to everyone who's followed and enjoyed my progress with the car; your comments mean a lot. Here's to the next one!

 

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Previous updates:
Matt explains why it had to be a Capri and how he found his dream car
The Capri project starts in earnest
Matt reports in after a summer of fun in his Capri
Burning the midnight oil
Capri goes well; stopping it is more of an issue

[EggsBenedict]

Looks very smart. Good job patching it up. Don't hang about before getting the rustproofing guys on it - too nice a car to let go. Those wheels and the springs make it look very mean.

[ode]

Great report - I love to read about fettling going on.

PH - what are the chances of an article on the splendidly-named Julian Shoolheifer, and his supercharged Land Rover? I can't be the only one to be interested in finding out more on this.... am I?

[James1972]

Spot the car nut- the car that nearly killed me was a 'Golf R32' normal people would barely notice it was a blue or black VW let alone which exact model...

[gforceg]

Yeah, I wonder if the other guy went past going "oh cool, look at that Capri!".

[chris_speed]

Very entertaining read, ta Enjoy your motor through the summer months

[dc2rr07]

I must be getting old but Safety Glasses please when Grinding, had one of these in the mid eighties and must admit it was a great car to drive.
The one you have found has lasted well good buy.

[skoze]

Do you mean to say that shutting your eyes isn't acceptable...?

I'll see if I can chat Julian up for an article, the car in question is a 1949 80" with a 2.0 series one engine and an Eaton M45, all done by him and looking utterly perfect. If you've ever been to Goodwood in recent years, it's the one with the Shorrock sign writing. Very cool car.