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

Have the clear cover and black top cover on the way . I was just waiting for one at a sensible price.

Anyone pulled out the fuse box to a Capri before? I unscrewed the two retaining screws and it would hardly budge. Concerned that I’m going to pull off all the connections underneath pulling hard?
I want to do this to check the connections for side lights and dash lights

Cheers for the heads up! I will attempt it again later this week. I guessed the main loom might be pretty tight under there. will have to go cautiously.

Update:

So I took the Car to the garage today so they could check it out before i plough anymore money into the car.

Asked them to go over the brakes
Check the suspension mounts (rear)
Check the leak on the gear box and diff
Check the clunking from the front

All the above not too bad they said. The car is sold with a little bit of rust here and there but nothing major at all and the brakes are good. They're going to overhaul the rear brakes on Wednesday but, it looks like my noise is coming from the diff to me it sounded like the callipers sticking on the drum but he said its the bearings. They're going to try new oil in it but said it probably wouldn't do much. He know a guy in Watford who could rebuild it and will call to get a price... i guess its going to cost loads so not really what i was hoping for . 
What do you think i'm looking at price wise? 

I'd put the feelers out for a good second hand axle, just in case.
I replaced the axle on a 2.8 inj I owned years back. It was heavy and awkward ( I had a wall to contend with at one side of the car ) but was easily doable on my own.
May be cheaper than a rebuild.

Its been a long time but if i remember correctly the fuse box has a block connector which pushes on from inside the car you have to pull off.

Diff noise is a difficult one sometimes they will go on for years when they are noisy (the one in my TR7V8 has been noisy for 20 years), generally if it is a whine it will go on for ages, many even whined from new) if it is a bearing or teeth broken it won't last long, if they have changed the oil did any debris come out with it? You could pull the back cover to inspect it as well.

I believe only the 2.8i had a LSD.

You deffo won't have or need an LSD. 1st thing to check it whether its an Atlas (Diff cover has bolts visible from under the rear) or an English axle (Bolts on from the front of the axle) Atlas axles are strong and won't cost you the earth to replace. Just check ratio - you want something like 3.74:1 ratio ideally.

An easy way to test the temp gauge is to disconnect the wire to the sender unit on the block, and ground it to body earth/battery negative, turn the ignition on and see if the gauge maxes out as it should.

If the gauge deflects enough (ideally to full-scale deflection, i.e. indicating 'hot'), then you either have a duff sender unit or the contacts to it need cleaning up.

Tested the gauge again today and it shoots right up but lightly touching/ grounding it doesnt do anything. I tested it with a volt meter and was getting about 4.9v so i'm wondering if the connection is just bad.



Thanks for the offer of this!! if it turns out to be the gauge i'll definitely take you up on this.

The garage said that the pulling to the left can only be the leaf springs as tracking/ alinement is good. tyre pressure is good and the brakes are perfect... its slightly lower on one side at the back.

To stave off the blues of impeding costs of diff bearings and leaf springs i did a little spraying. I always wanted the front to be black and a mk2 grill. spent a few days on and off re doing the white headlight surrounds and resprayed the new grill.




Had to spray the surounds of the lamps as they looked very grey compared to the new black parts.



I'm struggling to get the new grill to fit as of yet and it needs the ford badge gluing back on but, I'm away for a couple of weeks now too so thats its for a while. Failing this not working i might spray the old grill black and put that back on. I was thinking of de chroming the mk2 grill but keeping the center chrome FORD badge ... we'll see. Also need the lip for the bonnet as that was always missing.

You read my mind!! I was just about to add a couple of things to this thread.

Basically for the last couple of weeks i've been away Recording an album in Manchester, Then had my Dads 70th then went on tour for a week in the Netherlands and Finland playing with an Artist called "Yola", back to rainy England to play with B.B. and only just got back to London haha. 


Heres my Dad going out in his Spitfire on his 70th ( and my workhorse Escort)



So this is my only progress so far haha!



Cant get the best photo of it but i bought this old pool ball on a tour somewhere with the intention of making it a gear stick... looks pretty cool i think. Metal sleeve inside and on the last turn the 6 faces the right way


Now down to the Serious stuff .... The Diff and Leaf Springs

I did a little ringing around today for a quote on the diff bearings. A couple of places came back with around £200 so i'm very happy with that. One place Old Ford Autos near the M4 said i could drive the car there (which would work better for me as most places want just the Axle) i'm yet to get through to Southern Axles in Watford but hear great things about them and they're really close. any experience anyone?

The only thing i'm thinking is... The car could do with new leaf springs and i was gearing up to do this myself as i was guessing i'll have to take the axle off and take it somewhere for the Diff bearings... if i don't i'm unsure weather to get some new springs sooner and give them to the diff guys? i'm guessing they will have to take the axle off anyway and if the old springs are old they may cause problems? although this way round i'm a little gutted to not do some of the the work myself as its supposed to be my project car.
I also don't know if with brand new springs and lowering blocks will the car level up? I had Burtons Top Mounts / Lowering Springs fitted along with standard shocks in March so now i'm doing the back I want to to avoid the hot rod nose down look and i can imagine a capri with that stance would handle horribly ?? although might look cool as hell haha!

Any thoughts?

Heres a pic of it next to my girlfriends Aygo... the back on this side is a bit lower than the other. 




Also got myself down to Ace Cafe the other night for an American cruise night... getting a little inspired to make it more of a muscle car look somehow. Need some better wheels after all this sorting out for a start, they looked massive on my Escort but tiny on this Capri haha

Have a look at sgs mate, they have really good quality jacks and good after care.