1979 Ford Capri 3.0 S - Knock Knock

agree, was trying to post earlier, i got a retro tape player from ebay...

*not fresh off the enterprise.

apparently i cant edit posts on my phone. Is a simple fascia without a laser show really too much to ask from a modern unit? Who knows...

TRUDAT! It's surprisingly quiet in there when cruising anyway, so it's not gonna need too much in the way of volume to be audible.
Now it's time for some more exciting electrical troubleshooting! Old Ford with curse word electrics? Never!

So, Sunday night I noticed the o/s side light's main beam was bust, as was the indicator. Much of this has happened today;



Poked about, everything seemed fine, swapped a few bulbs around and the main beam was fixed. Exact same issue with the indicator, two new bulbs needed. You would have thought that'd be the end of it, but now the n/s sidelight won't come on, and the tail light's out as well. The indicators work on that side, as do the brake lights, the centre full beams work fine too. I've checked earths, fiddled with fuses, cleaned contacts and still, nothing.

Strangely, the non-working radio and similarly non-working 80's-tastic airhorn arrangement are now in fine working order;



Took the rear lens off, no blown bulbs or anything in there...



But still, no lights.



Anyone have any ideas? I'm doing a whole lot of head-scratching because everything is in places which should necessitate it working right.

Planned a nice long drive for the weekend, but that's gonna be hampered somewhat if I'm limited to daylight hours

This has infuriated me, what were good bulbs at the beginning of the day are now f'd. Just checked everything over with two known good bulbs and it turns out both bulbs had gone in the nearside side light which was working fine this morning.
Also, I checked the headlight relay this morning and everything seemed fine. Checked it again and it had blown two fuses. I think some wires might have touched amidst my anger as the day went on, but either way I'm gonna keep a close eye on it and see if there's anything untoward contributing the the wiring woes.
The tail light problem turned out to be fuse-related too, I think it's the 4th one down being the left-hand side of the car. It decided not to play ball anymore so a cheeky swap around and all was good again.

Really is bizarre, I think it just wanted to give me the run around today.

Trip to Halfords in the morning and all will be good in the world again! Did enjoy sitting and listening to a mixtape I got at our gig on record store day at long last, got the passenger side speaker wired up right and the 6x9s plugged in - sounds ace in there. Will make our trip down to Bournemouth this weekend very pleasant!

Have just stocked up on fuses and bulbs, should keep me going for a little while! Cheers for the advice, seems like it's something i'll inevitably have to learn to live with

Today was a success;



Hopefully, that\ll be the end of it for a while. I'm still yet to get the heater, rear heated screen, washers, or rear wiper working but they'll come. For now though, i have fully working lights, indicators, hazards, horn, radio and a handbrake that's GR9 4 SKIDZ BREV. All of which are vast improvements over what it was two days a go!

Never really had any experience with electrics beyond stuff you can trace easily, so i'm quite happy things are starting to look up. It's not as scary as i thought!

Cheers, dude

So last night was fun. Parked the car up just outside of town to meet some friends, then headed up to london with them. When I got back, no dash lights or rear numberplate light (I think these are all on the same circuit) and the red light above the ignition (assuming this is the ignition warning light?). Will it ever end?!

Speaking of warning lights, does anyone know what they all are? I'm guessing one's oil pressure, one's a charge light and the one I've got on is an ignition warning, amirite? There doesn't seem to be anything anywhere that just straight up tells you this is this etc, would be nice!

EDIT: answered my own question with a bit more research - the light that's staying on is the charge light. Oh dear.

Aaaaaah, that could explain why nothing to do with the boot except the number plate light works, had no idea about that! I've cleaned up everything else, crimped a few slightly loose connections and it's been working pretty well since, no more blown fuses and all the lights etc have been doing their job nicely. Only things it doesn't have now is a rear wiper/ heated rear screen/ heater, but I'm guessing the heater itself is seized as per every other Capri in the world...

Drove it down to Bournemouth on Sunday with my girlfriend, effectively just to have lunch with her mate and have a nice long drive. 200 mile round trip with a fair bit of 'round town, lots of traffic one-way and a general cruising speed of 77mph, 26mpg all in which wasn't as awful as I thought it would be! I reckon it'd return 30 if I drove it right, it just eggs you on to give it some beans ALL the time which is really annoying...

Good day of enjoying power steering;



Funky faces;



And chillin' on sandy beaches;



Thanks, car

Cheers buddy! I agree, always seemed like i'd go the same way, just got very lucky to have something like this to play with so soon. That journey would've been nothing in something modern!

X-Pack will come eventually, i've got the bodywork together more or less, with the wings and turbo tail all sorted. I've just got to get hold of the suspension so it all looks right and then i'll consider sending it on for the work. Just been on the phone tot he guy who i think will end up doing it who's quoted me just shy of one million dollars so i've got a considerable amount of saving up to do first.

Anyone got any good, cheap spray shops in mind? I can probably just about cover all the rest with a summer's work but that's gonna be the killer for now!

Now that is a lovely looking S! They certainly have character!