1979 Capri 2.0 "Ghia " - Spraying Bumpers / New TCAs

"Then its onto the rear main oil seal... thinking about letting a garage do that along with a gearbox flush if possible."

...and a new clutch while it's apart ??

This week I decided I was going to try and make the Capri more presentable. This is stage one... bumpers and top of door trims. Still need to sort out the front of the bonnet and bonnet lip which looks to have melted (bought it that way) so need re shaping.

First things first... Remove the front bumper. This isnt perfectly straight and is a bit pitted from rust on the top. Being thick metal its still good though. I decided to get the grinder on it with the paint remover disk. Treated it with a bit of primer and then went off to buy some satin black paint from Halfrauds







The rear bumper is in better condition rust wise so just needed keying up but annoyingly its had a smack or the car it was off reversed into something this means the brackets are a bit off. I do have a brand new bumper but I couldnt get the overrider bolts to the brackets off... for now this is going back on. Plus when I tried to straighen it up the brackets didnt line up with the car so needs more work than I want to do right now.


As for these I pondered how to paint them, asked about on the Capri facebook group and had a few ansewers. I went to buy something called Mipa bumper spray but ended up with the paint companies own brand which has done a great job.



Heres a sneek preview..





While waiting for these things to dry I started messing with this VHS camcorder that I left outside in my tool shed. It semi works and I'm still trying to find one that works well so I can interject some 80s footage into my Videos, always seems to be the batteries... we never had one when I was a kid so just wanted a play. Anyone have one that works and wants rid... just let me know.




The last thing for the bumpers was spraying up a couple of coach bolts. Luckily I found a bag of them at the local tool station which made life easier and cheaper. Quick spray of black and we were on. Before They just had bolts holding the bumper on.




While I was at it I did the trim on the top of the doors. These look really tired and the first thing you see when you open the door. I'd love to do the tops of the doors and rear windows but that will take some masking yet.






Last night I quickly put it all back together  within 30 mins of it all drying and headed to a local "posh" car meet. This was my aim for getting all this done as 2 weeks ago we went in the Escort (which nobody cared about) so I thought lets go in the capri and use it as an aim to make it look a bit nicer. The response was overwhelming. Probably not to do with these jobs and more the car but a lot of people love the Capri. I enjoyed driving with the sunroof open, Live aid on the stereo (don't ask why) and the dog even enjoyed it.

The meet was so packed I couldnt get on the car park at first. Forget to take any picks of the Capri with other cars so this was just before I left.








Not the only ratty Ford there.


It might not seem like much as the wings etc are pretty grotty still but its a step in the right direction I think. The wings are a bit of a lost cause but I'll probably take the headlight surrounds out and do all that next. The patchets on the bonnet lip are rust killer on a few scabs.



As you can see compared to the rear door surrounds these looks nicer.

Hey CJ!

Nice to see you are still cracking on with your Capri. I have been away from RR for a while but came back after watching Billy Bragg in Gloria in Cologne last Wednesday and remembered that you are the pedal steel guy! (Amazing show by the way)
Will come back regularly for the updates!

Rob

Oh right! Well you did a mega job of covering up the fact you were ill!

Yeah I sold the Escort a couple of years back and now have a 1986 Nissan Cherry. I often get accuaccused of having no taste!

Having another little push/spend on the Capri at the moment. The rattling clutch fork has always done my head in. For some reason its always missed the yellow top hat bush (now fitted) to stop the cable from moving and the rubber boot for the clutch fork hole.

These have always been quite expensive for a bit of rubber but I noticed this one, new for £20. anything cheaper seems to have had a hard life.




After fitting it and setting the clutch cable again it looked like this.



Fired it up and took it for a spin, have to say the clutch is a lot quieter so its doing the job. Still the odd bit of rattle at lower revs but so much nicer than it was.

Next week I'm dropping it at a garage my folks use for a couple of little jobs. It needs the gearbox tail shaft oil seal doing again and I just don't want to crawl under there to do it again. Also to get the engine a quick once over to see if its running right and to get the valves clearances done.