Ford Capri 3.0 S: £15K Competition Update
Anybody got a spare Essex V6 knocking about? Matt might be needing one
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 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
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...
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'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
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.
Thanks: Toyo Tyres
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
MoT reveals some rust ... quite a lot of rust
s knicking the headlight covers, that's what winds me up at those shows. No matter what car club, there are always some tossersThe garage that changed my cambelt didn't tighten up the pulley bolt tight enough, the result was a slow but gradual wearing down of the key until one day (in the car park of a company I had an interview!) the key sheared off without me realising. One friendly bumpstart later and the engine in my UR was toast. All valves severely bent, head cracked in three places - it was as they say "Kaput"
But hold out faith, if I can source the parts (mainly from germany) to get an old Audi engine rebuilt I'm sure you'll have a replacement engine for your capri in no time.
Luckily there have been a few developments and people offering me all manner of parts, from 3.1 blocks and pistons to hot cams and big valve heads It'd be rude not to while i'm in there, right?
All gonna come down to the cash flow, but we'll see when it can hit the road again. Either way, gutted is an understatement.
I don't think you should have any head damage from the timing gears letting go, Essex ran chambered pistons, you biggest problem is going to be how much damage has occurred to the bottom end if any pieces of the timing gear go sucked up.
I was always told to oncentrate on the breathing side, DGAS carb, decent tubular manifold and decent heads & cam combination and you'll have a strong Essex that will still give you bags of torque which is the Essex strong point (remember it was originally designed as a oil burner so has a very strong bottom end).
If your pockets are deep and you can find one an old Swaymar inlet manifold and Holly 300 carb is another alternative as the DGAS tops out at around 175/180bhp limit.
I don't think you should have any head damage from the timing gears letting go, Essex ran chambered pistons, you biggest problem is going to be how much damage has occurred to the bottom end if any pieces of the timing gear go sucked up.
I was always told to oncentrate on the breathing side, DGAS carb, decent tubular manifold and decent heads & cam combination and you'll have a strong Essex that will still give you bags of torque which is the Essex strong point (remember it was originally designed as a oil burner so has a very strong bottom end).
If your pockets are deep and you can find one an old Swaymar inlet manifold and Holly 300 carb is another alternative as the DGAS tops out at around 175/180bhp limit.
http://ccscotland.fr.yuku.com/topic/8122/Swaymar-M...
I don't think you should have any head damage from the timing gears letting go, Essex ran chambered pistons, you biggest problem is going to be how much damage has occurred to the bottom end if any pieces of the timing gear go sucked up.
I was always told to oncentrate on the breathing side, DGAS carb, decent tubular manifold and decent heads & cam combination and you'll have a strong Essex that will still give you bags of torque which is the Essex strong point (remember it was originally designed as a oil burner so has a very strong bottom end).
If your pockets are deep and you can find one an old Swaymar inlet manifold and Holly 300 carb is another alternative as the DGAS tops out at around 175/180bhp limit.
Sorry to tell you that becoming a grown-up with time and money is also far easier said than done. I hope the original can be resurrected.
With that engine bay, you can get pretty much anything in.
YB, lexus V8, 24 valve Cosworth Grandada, Volvo T5 ?
Agree and Essex is a lump of an old boat anchor, but it will take plenty of abuse
http://www.retrocaricons.com/article/Ford_Capri_Pe...
Or
Rebuild your current engine (so you have the original lump) with steel gears and mild tune - don't go nuts, the Essex isn't worth the effort, and the car will retain more of it's value standard.
With that engine bay, you can get pretty much anything in.
YB, lexus V8, 24 valve Cosworth Grandada, Volvo T5 ?
Agree and Essex is a lump of an old boat anchor, but it will take plenty of abuse
A quick way to check is to take out the fuel pump and look end on at the timing gear. Quick visual check will confirm either way, and just a simple matter of bolting back up the fuel pump.
Realistically I'd love to see 170/180bhp out of the anchor, which shouldn't be too difficult with any luck. I am tempted by swaps at this stage, but on my budget (or lack of) I'm not sure how worthwhile that'd be at this stage.
I'm unsure right now on what to do block/ pistons wise. If mine have come away unscathed, do I re-build as is or do I pick up a 3.1 from one of my sources?
There's no replacement for displacement, but is it gonna be worth the hassle swapping everything over from mine when it was good up 'til 24 hours a go?
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