Sunday, July 19, 2015

License Plate

No, it is a Capri.

Hood pins!

Radiator, electric fan and overflow bottle

Next big project was the radiator, hoses, fan and catch can.
 
I used the SVE radiator and catch can, and a Flex-a-lite 175 fan. I looked hard at doing the HHR fan, the Contour fan and bunch of others, but realized this is one area where going cheap was not a good idea. I really don't want this to overheat. I have other ways of blowing a headgasket that don't include warping the head :)
 
The radiator went in easily enough. The lower brackets and rubber fit fine, but the upper brackets never fit and held the radiator tight. I only had the original brackets, which had support for mounting the original electric fan, so I suspect the extra space for the fan frame wasn't considered when SVE built them.
 
Instead a used a UPR 'small' frame bracket. 
 
The SVE catch can was easy enough to mount. The Flex-a-lite fan came with a bracket to mount the 87+ overflow bottle. The holes were wrong for the SVE unit, but I drilled new holes. Only complaint, the holes in the bracket for the overflow are a 1/16 or so too close to the 90 on the bracket so I had to file them open a little bit.
 


 
 



 

 

I used a 5/16" hose from the radiator to the smaller inlet on the catch can (documentation didn't define which, found others online with the same problem.

Overall, looks pretty good.


 



Longer than stock starter solenoid for the Capri

With all the upgrades I've made to the Capri, I quickly found that the stock starter solenoid wasn't long enough to handle all the wires on the battery side. Hunting around I found a Motorcraft one that is much longer than the stock one.


Side by side.