More Parts! Frame and fenders

It has been way too cold to get anything done on the car lately. I know I live in Atlanta, but it has still been cold.

I did however, get a replacement frame for the rusted areas. I found a guy on Craig's List parting out an 84 Capri. The car was trashed by a dealer as part of the Cash For Clunkers waste of my tax dollars (they put it in a dumpster and crushed the back quarters and bent the car in the middle)



So I got the frame from just behind the strut towers forward, another pair of fenders (some scrapes, but not a lot of rust) and a back seat bottom that I'll have recovered when I do the seats.



I look off everything from the frame that I wasn't going to need, then I tried to find someplace to put it. As I feared it won't fit in the shed and is too wide to fit on the passenger side of the garage. So for now it is against the rear quarter covered in a drop cloth. Yes Deb can get the van into the garage still.












Looks good doesn't it? So much for the January Budget, so I'll start following up on suggestions for people to help me replace the rail (and probably the strut tower too) in February.

I really was going to work on the rear end today, but I wasn't going to grind on the rust with the doors closed and it was extremely windy, so I had to give up. Maybe next weekend?

Christmas 2009

Here are a few of the parts or tools I received as presents this Christmas. My Dad bought the Dura-Block and the Eastwood pry kit. My mom got the small screw driver set from Sears and my brother Pat bought the interior screw kit from FMR!

My Dad's comment was classic: "I saw them on your wish list and figured since all you used to buy me was tools, I'd return the favor!"

Nothing new on the Capri, kids, school and work have taken priority the past few weeks. I plan on doing some front end removal this week if the weather is nice.

Frame rail, we don't need no stinking frame rail!

Yes, that is my frame rail.

After a frustrating day last Friday, today I made a lot of progress on the car. First I was able to remove the lower control arm bolts that were seized. Heated them up for about 45 second each and they came right out with the impact.

The spring was a little more difficult because the sway bar and slapper bars are still on the control arm and rear end respectively (seized, for now ;-). I eventually removed the shocks and the rear end settled down enough that I could pull the spring out. Five minutes later, the rear end was on the ground.






I then moved to the rusted frame rail. I was able to cut through a bunch more spot welds until finally I broke out the sawzall and cut through the mounts at the radiator support. They were so rusted I wasn't able to find where the original welds were.

As you can see, there was no chance to 'patch' this rail. It is rusted through in several spots.







Here is a shot of the rail over the k member. I don't know for sure if I need to replace the whole rail or just cut out this inner piece and weld some new steel to it. Advice?









It is also obvious I need to replace part of the radiator support.






Next steps are to get the rear end cleaned up, painted and new brakes put on. Then start on so getting it rolling is probably a good next step.

Thanksgiving update

The fall was mostly taken up with torrential rains, floods, Softball and Color Guard, so I didn't get to do anything until this weekend.

Last time I worked on the car I dropped the driver's side rear lower control arm and spring to begin cleaning up that part of the car. I then had the good idea to remove the axles to make is easier to remove the brake backing plate to clean and paint it. Well, two different days, lots of different techniques (including a torch!) I gave up. I guess I'll work around the axles.

I also figured it would be easier if I dropped the rear end completely, moved it out from underneath the car and then work on the underside of the car and the rear end with much more room. Except the passenger's side lower control arm bolts won't move. Lots of PB Blaster, impact wrench, breaker bar with a 4 ft pipe. Nothing worked.

So, I gave up on the rear end of now.

Instead I removed the steering wheel and dash. Two reasons. First to make sure there was no 'rot' under the cowl (a very common problem on Fox bodies) second to get access to the Heat/AC box. I am going to change the heater core and A/C condenser before I put everything back together. Both are of questionable quality after sitting for so long, so I'd rather replace them than take the chance. I haven't replaced them yet.

Next I started removing the front brake lines since I need to rebuild the front suspension before the car can be moved. Most everything here is rusted together. I couldn't get the brake bleeders free nor remove the brake lines from the calipers. So no progress here.

I did however begin removing the rusted frame rail. I bought a spot weld cutter a couple of weeks ago and today started removing the welds. I was able to do about a dozen before I ran out of time. More tomorrow!

Sorry there are no pictures, but as you read, I haven't actually finished anything lately.

Rear Upper Control Arms!

I was able to take advantage of the long weekend and make some progress on the Capri.

First I removed the rear brake lines, up to the firewall. One was already cracked and there was no fluid left, so it wasn't as messy as it could have been. I also tried to drain the front brakes, but the bleeder screws are so rusted to the caliper that they wouldn't budge. I sprayed them a couple of times with PB Blaster so I'll try again next weekend.

Next was to work on the rear suspension again. I bought replacement bolts for the upper and lower control arms from UPR . Of course I didn't notice that there were different size bolts for the upper and lower until AFTER I had put the passenger side back on. However by this time I had figured out how to place the jack under the pumpkin part of the rear end (instead of the cover) and the bolts came out and back in really easily.

Passenger Side:



Drivers Side put back together:



Passenger side put back together:



I cleaned up the driver's side upper control arm and also painted it the gray 'hammer' color. While I had the upper half apart, I also cleaned up the top of the rear end and both axle tubes to the lower control arm mounting points.

My wife found it funny that I was filthy so she took this picture. I had a mask and full eye protection, so no worries about having breathed in all that crap.



To end the weekend I removed the lower control arm on the driver's side to start cleaning that up. That was a pain in the ass. Thank goodness for air tools, but I still couldn't get the axle side bolt out. It wasn't rusted, it was binding on the rear end. After about 30 minutes I finally got it out, but cut my hand on the pumpkin when it finally came free.

Next steps are to continue working on the driver's lower control arms, cleaning up the rust and painting it and the springs.

Hammer (paint) time!

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the car this month. Too many things for the kids and Deb.

Last weekend I had a couple of hours to work on the car and remove the passenger upper control arm. Thank god for air tools. 25 year old bolts don't want to come off!

The reason I took it off was to get access to the torque box to de-rust it and paint it. There was a little bit of surface rust which came off easily. I put the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator on the whole box and let it dry.

This weekend I had a whole 2 hour to work on the car. So I painted the torque box with 'hammer' paint from Rustoleum and painted the control arm as well. No pictures yet, but I will take them when I put that side back together.

If you've never used this paint before, be warned. At first it looks like the paint is 'lifting' and running off, like you didn't prep the metal correctly. Don't panic like I did ;-) But after a few minutes it starts the show the 'hammer' texture.

The other hour I had today was used cleaning out more of the undercoating from the car. I got a lot from the body seams out, but didn't touch the wheel wells. I need to research how to remove that much surface area.

One new item about the garage setup. With the kids back in school, I've lost Deb's side of the garage as temporary storage. So I'm doing a full clean up each time I do any work and put away everything so she can get the van in the garage.

Next weekend I'll put the passenger control arm back on, take the driver's side off and do the painting all over again.

Slow and steady ...

New doors and Techie details on the car

I bought two new doors for the car this weekend. They are from a 86 Mustang with the 'aero' moldings instead of the black and pinstripe. Luckily I can change the moldings. The doors are from a power lock/window car, but I'll convert them to manual to match the original.

Why new doors? Well, for $50 they have no rust. The current doors are shot, typical of a New York car. Plus the labor to clean up the surface rust will be way more than $50.

I haven't done much else on the car. Many commitments with the kids taking priority. They started school today, so maybe I'll get some time this weekend.

I thought I'd posted this before, but here is the 'decoding' of the buck tag and VIN:

VIN
1ME = Mercury, USA
B = manual seatbelts, no airbag(s)
P = passenger car
79 = Capri three-door sedan (hatchback)
W = turbocharged 2.3L engine
5 = VIN check digit
E = 1984 model year
F = Dearborn Assembly (DAP)
606840 = 6,840th 1984 Capri assigned a VIN at DAP

Body/Buck Tag
CAPRI = model line
606840 = last six of VIN
61D = Capri three-door sedan (hatchback)
W = turbocharged 2.3L engine
0463
9W = Dark Charcoal Metallic exterior
RS
DF
ST
AC = air conditioning
06
HB = rear defrost
S = cruise control
TRS = Turbo RS
MBW = T5 transmission
04 = hood scoop
-A = Charcoal interior
EI = electronic fuel-injection
NLR

Vehicle Certification Label
EXT. COLORS - 9W = Dark Charcoal Metallic
DSO - 84 = "Home Office Reserve" district sales office
BODY - 61D = Capri three-door sedan (hatchback)
INT. TRIM - PA = cloth high-back bucket Functional Sport Seats (P), Charcoal (A)
A/C - 1 = tape stripe color
R - check again for radio code
S - [blank] = no sunroof or T-roof
AX - R = 3.45:1 axle ratio w/ Traction-Lok differential
TR - 2 = T5 transmission
0000 - check again for front and rear coil spring codes