1981 Ford Capri 1.6GL (Updated 29/07)

*Sobs gently* I'd love another one of these. You've found a good one

Thank you very much for your comments. I am really pleased with it loads.

I took it to the local airfield to watch some light aircraft. Next thing I knew a Vulcan flew over. Totally awesome machine.

That is stunningly beautiful (or beautifully stunning) and I am very jealous indeed...!!!

Cracking!

love it red and black goes well ,thinking on doing my cortina something like this , is there any power gained from the 4 branch manifolds on the pinto ?

Thanks for all the comments.

Bit of a while since I've updated this due to all the other projects taking up time. However the Capri has been sitting nicely in the corner gathering dust. Until today, I decided it was time to wheel it out and give it a wash and polish.

You may notice it is on RS 4 spokes now as the wheels are away at the fabricators being banded. Still got good plans for it. Just need to clear some working space in the unit so that I can get on with the jobs!

The colour combination looks just like my old 2.0 ghia:

Mk2polobloke - Thank you very much sir. She photos very well in fairness to her!

Sarkie83 - That's exactly similar, can double take it and it's almost like mine! Love it.

Edwardbear - Thanks mate, it's only getting some subtle fettling. She will still look the same, just hopefully a lot cooler.

Another week, another update. Some of my parts arrived this week to complete the modifications I want to do. So today I decided to sort out the rear end suspension. First up was jacking it up and letting the rear axle hang.

First up I removed both rear Spring shackles from the car. Literally everything on the underside is plastered with underseal. It's a right pain in the . I dropped these in to a bucket of thinners to soak off.

Next up I went to remove the long front Spring eye bolts, this is the driver side, no problem here.

Then I went to do the passenger side and I was greeted with this!

Some absolute THUNDERCUNT has welded a bloody plate over the area of the access hole. Thought about it, then decided to clean the area up.

It's badly welded and in fairness needs dealing with properly. But I decided to make two overlapping holes with my 'Christmas tree' cutter and file down the difference.

This gave me good access to the nut and a decent OEM finish hole.

I then undid the U bolts and removed the old leaf springs. As you can see below for replacements I have decided to use single leaf springs from the 2.8i versions.


Next new purchase this week were these. Koni adjustable dampers front and rear. Got a bargain as I'm assuming by the boxes they're old stock. They certainly look like they've been on a shelf for some time.

But as you can see they're brand new and in perfect condition.

With the springs removed and the axle supported I decided to remove the old standard shock absorbers. The lower bolts just mount to the axle. The upper mounts are located neatly behind the back seats. Tilt the rear seats forward and you are presented with this.

Behind the little inspection grommet is the top nuts. Undo these and the shocker comes out the bottom.

Here's the shockers fitted to the car.

I've decided to go with 2" lowering blocks to lower the rear. Unfortunately the locating dowel on the leaf spring was just a bit too wide. I decided to turn the washers down for a tight fit.

Bit of a dark picture but here you can see the new single leaf Spring fitted with the 2" block and new U bolts.

Then it was just a matter of doing everything up and lowering it down on to the ground. The rear now sits like this.

The wheels are temporary just to keep up mobile but I like the height of truth be told.

Thanks for looking.

changed the cam belt when i first got mine in 20 minutes, took my day the same day 4 hours to get it off a new fiat