1984 Capri RS Turbo Build

Mustang and Capri gas tank pin size

2011-12-29T16:14:00.003-05:00

I've noticed a lot of requests for the sizes of these pins on various boards. I cleaned mine up today and took a few pictures to help:

This picture doesn't show it well, but the pins are lined up at the 2" line:

Hope this helps someone searching for the information some day.

Junk yard trip

2011-12-29T16:11:00.005-05:00

Today I went to the junk yard (Atlanta Pick-a-part technically) to look for some parts for the Capri. Main thing I was looking for were driver's and passenger's side drip rails for a < 87. Mine are crimped from where a previous owner had put a ski rack on the car.

Unfortunately I could only find chrome ones, and only one good set and one good passenger side. I did also find several of the moldings that go at the base of the windshield where it meets the cowl, since both of my were broken.

I also found an 81 Capri only in the yard a few days. It was in very good condition and should have been saved and restored. No rust anywhere that I could find, even under the floor boards. I picked off one of the front moldings, but the other was glued and screwed on so I gave up. There were a couple of guys taking the doors off when I left.

I also got a coil and bracket and a window slider to replace the rusted one on the car now. Not bad for 2 hours of wandering around.

Back from the machine shop

2011-12-10T12:11:00.001-05:00

After 3 engines, I was finally able to find a block that could be bored out and cleaned up. Sent it to Goza Automotive in Acworth for some work.

Cleaned up block. Bored 0.030 over, new freeze plugs, crank line bored.

Pistons: 0.030 CP pistons from Bo-port by way of Stinger. Shotpeened rods, bushed little end, big end 'cleaned up'.

Crank polished:

Needs a little more clean up on the block before painting:

Since Christmas is right around the corner I'm not going to be able to assemble it for at least a month. I put it on the engine stand today and covered it with a couple of clean towels. Any advice on how to store it for a month or so?

FYI: all 3 heads had significant cracks in them, so none were rebuildable. I took the other two blocks and the three heads to a recycling place today and got $44. Whoo Hoo.

0 for 3 with the heads

2011-12-06T20:32:00.001-05:00

I picked up the block, pistons, crank etc. from Goza Auto Parts and Machine Shop today. Need to go through them when there is light and I have time, but looks like everything is there and done. Pictures soon.

They cleaned and Magnafluxed the two heads that appeared to be crack-less, but both were shown to have major cracks once cleaned up.

So 0-3 on the heads. Now to figure out where to get rid of them so I get some garage space back!

Ooohh Shiney

2011-11-17T18:13:00.001-05:00

Repairing the fuel level sender

2011-11-07T12:31:00.000-05:00

Since the Capri sat for many years, the fuel tank is destroyed and rusted from the inside. The fuel pump retainer ring won't even come off and the fuel level sender took several days of soaking and love taps with the brass pick and rubber mallet before moving.

Since the 84 is an odd-ball year, no one stocks the replacement level senders. Through searching around I found a company, S.U.R & R. (http://www.fuelsender.com/) that rebuilds the sending units for cars that you can't buy off the shelf. I sent it to them a few months ago and got it back in about a week.

Amazing the difference!

Before:

After:

Not bad for $120 plus shipping!

Third time's the charm?

2011-10-29T21:25:00.000-04:00

Today I took apart engine #3. Yes, #3. I started with two long blocks of questionable history/status. I knew there was a chance they weren't going to be okay when I bought them, but I got a good deal on them and some other 2.3T stuff.

I took apart block #1 and took it to a machine shop to see what state it was in. Turns out it is is already 0.030 over and needs to be bored 0.040 if I want to use it. Oh and 0.040 over pistons are $600 for this motor!

Took block #2 apart and took a piston to the machine shop to see how over bored it is. It is 0.060 over! Damn, for a turbo block that is unbelievable. So I didn't bother bringing the block in.

A couple of weeks ago I found an ad on Craigslist with a guy parting out a few vandalized Merkur xr4ti's. He was nearby so I went over and took a look. Turns out one has only 116k miles on it! (all the glass was broken and interior trashed so I don't feel bad about taking the motor.)

Got it home yesterday and the little guy immediately noticed it was hanging from an engine hoist. He of course wanted to raise/lower it, but being on 5 I wouldn't let him.

What I got: motor from an 88 or 89 xrt4i, stock T3 turbo, intake, PF3 computer, small vam, E6 exhaust manifold and hopefully a 100% stock bore block.

Got everything taken off/apart today in about 5 hours, with a break for lunch and the last baseball game in between. Other than a breaking a head bolt (!!@%@@%#) everything came apart pretty easily.

Next step: bring the block to the machine shop and see how usable it is. Hopefully can just be re-ringed, but I suspect we'll have to go 0.020 or 0.030 over (0.030 means we can use the old pistons!)

The little guy giving me a hand.

Thomas the Tank on the Engine Hoist (now named Cranky)

Better picture.

Oops

Brakes!

2011-09-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

After a slight change in plans yesterday (went to Dragon*Con with my daughter and had a blast) I got back to working on the Capri for the first time since July 4th weekend. It was just too damn hot and humid in Atlanta this summer, even early in the morning to get anything done.

First, I bench bled the master cylinder and installed it. Here is a finished picture of the line without the brake proportioning valve.

I then started to bleed the brakes. Man was that a pain! Every time I thought I found all the leaks, I found more. And with every leak found I could tighten the nuts even tighter, when a second before I couldn't. (Make me wonder if I missed a 'best practice' of lubing the nuts to get them tight the first time?). Lots of little drips, skinned fingers and cursing of inanimate objects, I had the brakes bled! I did use a vacuum bleeder, not sure how I would have done it without one!

I also finished setting up the rear drums so they catch with the emergency brake and the pedal! Of course without an engine to produce vacuum I won't REALLY know how good a job I did, but no leaks!

I then put the car on the ground and finished the MM Caster/Camber plates. In the air I couldn't get enough compression on the strut, so on the ground I stood on the k-member and could get them installed properly. Here is the 'all done' picture:

I need to think about 'next steps' now that the weather is getting more work in the garage friendly.

One more thing, first casualty of the project. My favorite shit-kicker t-shirt is done. Even after washing it last weekend after mowing, it still reeked, so today after sweating for 6 hours, I tossed it in the trash.

Quick update

2011-09-02T16:40:00.001-04:00

Dropped the block, crank, rods and pistons to be checked out. Hope this weekend to get the brakes finally finished.

Dash shell work

2011-07-01T20:00:00.000-04:00

After all the work to cleanup and paint the metal frame that one will ever see again, it was time to put it all back together. Well, not everything. The HVAC piping needs to be cleaned and the foam insulation replaced, but the metal and the wires are back.

(Why work in the garage where it is 90+ degrees when the house is air conditioned and the computer with the 'before' pictures are in the house?

Not a lot to see here. (If you want to see what individual parts of the wiring look like behind the plastic, go here)

Dash hull rust

2011-06-12T16:00:00.000-04:00

Not a lot of progress this weekend, I spent Saturday running around with the kids so I only had a few hours today.

First, the correct brake line from Classic Tube still hasn’t arrived. I was told it was shipping last Friday, but no shipping information yet. I called them on Friday and of course no one picked up since it was a few minutes after 5. So no brakes.

Instead, I took a crack at the dash hull, since the wiring is the next big thing to do on the car. The hull itself is in really good shape, but the metal frame inside is covered in rust (like the rest of the car was!) After several hours I was able to get it extracted from the wiring.

Here is how bad the rust was:

I then sanded the parts and painted them with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. The humidity here made it hard to brush on, but I got just about everything covered.

I also bought a gallon of Evapo-Rust and started cleaning all the original fasteners. I took really close pictures of all my notes with each fastener, then put them into a half-gallon plastic bucket for a couple of hours. Came out great for the about half of the fasteners and brackets. The extra-rusted ones are going to sit over night. I’ll get some after pictures for next time. Unfortunately I don’t have a bucket big enough to put the dash frame.

Assuming the brake line arrives this week putting the brakes together is the next thing, then the heater box and dash.

Unproductive weekend

2011-05-30T21:33:00.001-04:00

Sorry, no pictures this time. Unfortunately nothing to show.

I had a big plans for this weekend: install all the brakes. New lines, master cylinder, brake booster everything. I ended up installing the brake booster.

First off, the lines I ordered from Late Model Restoration, which are drop shipped from Classic Tube, had the wrong 'long' brake line. The line from the engine compartment to the rear end was not correct. I think they sent me an 87-93 one, since it is a lot longer and has a different connection on the end. Found this out as I was marking where the existing mounting brackets are on the new lines. It was 5 pm eastern by the time I tried to call them, but everyone was gone for the long weekend!

Next, I went to install the front brake lines and found that the driver's side chassis didn't have the hardline to softline bracket. This is the part that attaches the lines to the frame so they don't hit the tires.

Next I went to install the rear end again. Last time it took me about 30 minutes to do. This time, 3 hours. Including it falling off the jack and needing Deb and Meg to help me get it back on. Before anyone comments about safety, the car is on jack stands on all four corners and have a stack of old tires under the passenger side frame near the front of the car and a tire under the drivers side. So if the CAR had come off the jack stands it would have landed on them.

What happened is the rear end rotated off the jack so the rear end cover was on the floor. No where near where I was trying to position the jack. But loud enough that Deb came out to see if I was okay. (Actually pretty nice that she heard something and came to check on me.) I couldn't lift it myself on to the jack, so Deb and I rotated and lifted the rear end while Meg positioned the jack.

After fighting with the upper control arms, I finally got them installed. The driver's side spring went in pretty easily, but I needed Meg to push down on the passenger's side while I tried to get it it. That took about 10 minutes!

I also did a bunch of minor rust-related cleanup on some brackets. I swear every fastener and bracket on this car is rusted!

The brake booster took 5 seconds to install and 20 minutes to get the top most nut on. But I remember that from taking the old one out, so no frustration.

I did end the weekend on a good note. I bought four '10 hole' rims, a double hump transmission cross member, a starter and a couple of interior parts I need from Jason who did the frame/front end work.

He also gave me an idea for how to deal with the missing brake bracket. I'm going to research it a little more, but I may do what the guys with coil-overs do, since they have to remove the bracket. More on this next week.

(Did I mention that I also finished my spring-break project? Painted the trim on all the upstairs windows, removed the windows from the front of the house, repaired, primered, painted and reinstalled them. I had trouble getting my arms above my shoulders Sunday night from everything I was doing!)

Busy Spring!

2011-05-22T18:58:00.000-04:00

Long time between updates

This Spring was really busy with kid events, company events, Mother's Day and some less than nice weather. So didn't get a lot done on the car between April and now.

First, I installed the Maximum Motorsports Bumpsteer kit

Installed a re-manufactured 2003 Cobra steering rack

Finally the Maximum Motorsports solid steering shaft to allow me to use the 2003 Cobra rack with the stock steering wheel

The front suspension is now pretty much done.

Next I cleaned up the undercarriage, seam sealed the panels between the floor and door jams and finally painted the entire undercarriage!

Next up: brake lines have been ordered (shipped last Friday!), I need to order the replacement master cylinder and booster (replacing with stock if I can find them) then plumb the entire brake system.

Capri and Mustang fuel necks are the same

2011-05-22T18:55:00.000-04:00

A few people suggested that the fuel neck for the Capri was one of the few differences (besides the obvious body panels) between the Fox Chassis Mustangs and Capris. Since mine was totally rusted out on the inside I found one online (eBay I think) and compared it to the old one. No differences.

Repairing the heater box

2011-04-10T20:55:00.000-04:00

Another part that has proven fun to replace/repair has been the heater box that some critter lived in at some point in the past. (see this blog for what/when)

You'd think this would be an easy part to find, given how many of these cars were made. Except that every junk yard I called said they had them, but I'd need to come down and take the dash out to see if it was cracked or not. Since it takes several hours to get the dash apart before even knowing if I had a good one, that wasn't an option.

Someone suggested having the crack 'plastic welded'. I'd never heard of this, but it is basically what the name suggests: using molten plastic instead of steel to weld something together.

Jeff @ Mo's Speed Shop did it for me. Not the prettiest thing ever, but it will work. If I want I can sand it down to be flat, but since it will be hidden behind the dash I won't bother.

Pictures, Before:

After:

Installing Maximum Motorsports Caliper Sleeves

2011-04-10T20:43:00.000-04:00

One thing I kept coming across when researching the upgrade to the brakes for the Capri was to get a pair of Maximum Motorsports caliper sleeves instead of relying on the rubber stock ones when I went for the 87+ brakes.

http://www.maximummotorsports.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49_136_138&products_id=666

So over a couple of weekends I installed them. Why a couple of weekends? Well, this 27 year old car is proving to be a little fickle at times ...

FIRST THING TO CHECK. Make sure that the caliper bolts you have fit into the sleeves! Aftermarket bolts from Dorman you get at O'Reilly's or Autozone DON'T FIT the sleeves! Better to know this before you destroy the rubber isolators!

First step of installation is pretty easy, remove the calipers. Granted mine are brand new and I don't have brake lines yet. That being said, you don't need to remove the brake lines to do this, just make sure you don't leave them hanging by the hose if you take a break.

Next pull out the old rubber isolators with a pair of needle nose pliers.

Then test fit each hole in each caliper to see if the sleeves slide in easily. Don't try to force them, you are looking for holes that are slightly larger than the sleeves, which means some extra work. I found one of mine was too large, so I asked MM's tech support line what to do and they told me use Loctite Sleeve Sealer #640 to attach the sleeve to the caliper. Note that I was unable to find this at any local hardware or auto parts store and had to order it online via Amazon.com.

If you have to do this, do the other sleeve on the caliper first using the instructions below before using the Loctite, since it take a day to setup before you can install.

For the sleeves that don't slide right in (which is good), use a simple c-clamp to push them into the caliper. Don't try hammering or using a punch, there isn't enough room. Plus using the c-clamp you don't have to remove the brake line.

Next issue was that the c-clamp bottoms out on itself since the sleeves slide about 1/16 of an inch past the back of the caliper. See pictures below.

The trick here to use a 1/4" bolt with washers and a 3/8" socket flipped over to form a cavity for the sleeve to be pulled in. Two or three turns on the nuts and the sleeve was fully seated.

Install the caliper, add some anti-seize to the sleeve, Loctite blue to the threads on the caliper bolt and install.

Horn Cover!

2011-03-30T20:22:00.000-04:00

Quick update. Was able to get the ball joint cover installed and the driver's side suspension put back together.

I also installed some Maximum Motorsports solid Caliper sleeves to hold the brake pad against the rotor.

Lots planned for next week. Kids are on Spring Break so I'm taking the week off to do things with them (and work on the car!) Hopefully the MM bumpsteer kit and hybrid steering shaft will arrive. I'll order the 2003 Mustang Cobra rack tomorrow and it should be here on Saturday too!

One thing that's been bothering me about the car is that the 'cat' head on the horn cover is long gone. I looked around a lot last year for one and no one was selling them. Well, I found one on eBay for $5. Plus $5.20 shipping!

Here it is:

New ball joints

2011-03-06T17:12:00.003-05:00

I've encountered a minor setback in the Capri reconstruction. Turns out that the lower control arms I got off eBay are 94+ not 79-93. So they are slightly longer and have different ball joints.

That would have been fine if I was going with 94+ spindles and a 5 lug upgrade, but that really isn't the budget right now. The longer lengths is still a good thing, but the wrong ball joints are an issue.

As you can see from this picture, the 87+ spindle I bought doesn't fit on the ball joint correctly, so I had to replace them.

Even after buying 2 $60+ ball joints, I'm still better off than buying new Ford Racing arms by $150.

I'll not go into the details of changing the ball joints, this site has a great write up on what to do.

I will add a picture of the ball joint removal tool setup when doing the removal. Strange I couldn't find any pictures anywhere of this part.

And make sure you get a ball joint/tie rod end removal tool. This is a set of pickle forks to help the spindle come off the ball joint. It is impossible to do this job without them.

While I had it apart I installed my new Maximum Motorsports Caster/Camber plates that my Dad got me for Christmas. At first I was confused that I couldn't get the strut into the plate, but then realized that without an engine there wasn't enough weight to compress the spring enough! Even with a jack under the spring I can barely get the nut on. I'll take care of that when she's back on the ground and I can sit on the k-member.

Of course, everything didn't go correct. I managed to split the brand new grease/dust boot on the drivers side.

And it turns out that no one stocks replacements. Either buy another ball joint or go after market. After searching for awhile I found that Maximum Motorsports sells them. Of course their site is like a candy store, you can't get just one thing. So rather than paying for shipping on a $3 part, I had to get a few other things that I need to complete the front suspension and brakes. So much for the March budget.

More pictures next weekend when I finish the suspension.

2011-02-19T16:44:00.002-05:00

Quick update.

She rolls so easily now that I pushed her outside and gave her a good bath. My wife was rather amused watching me. Between all the media from the body being blasted, the glass from the broken 1/4 window and just stuff from the welding and body work it needed a lot of cleanup.

I also removed the 'foam' from the roof around the rusted area, sanded down the rust and put the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator on it. Also found some more rust under the cross brace where the light attached and did the same there.

Did find more rust after cleaning it good. Little stuff so no big holes to fix.

Rolled her back in the garage and called it an afternoon. Not bad for 2 hours of work.

Back home!

2011-02-06T17:19:00.003-05:00

First, my wife has a strange sense of humor. When I came back from Church this was in the yard:

(My daughter calls my 06 Mustang GT 'Lightning McQueen' from Cars, so the Capri is Sally.)

I left it there for when Jason and BJ brought the car over.

Here she is on the trailer.

It was a heck of a lot easier to roll off than on! Of course no glass, no hatch, no doors and working front suspension

In the garage:

I also picked up a T-5, a bell housing, clutch, pressure plate a 2.3T short block (separate head and block) and a full long block (minus the exhaust manifold and turbo).

The short block needs to be looked over, but the motor had new pistons, looks like ARP rod bolts. The pistons show some wear on the side skirts. Apparently the wrong rings were put it and it burned a lot of oil so it was pulled. The long block came out of a running xr4ti. (Pictures of the long block next weekend. It's a little heavy so I didn't get it today.)

Here is what the underside of the roof looked like when BJ cut it out. And at first all I thought was it needed a few pin holes welded shut. Wow.

Finished roof:

One area on the fender that will need a lot more attention. There are some ruts from the rust but otherwise both are pretty smooth. The whole car in general has a lot of ruts on it.

Another reason I love my wife. Friday night at dinner I asked her to pick up 4 or 5 new, big bath towels when she was out shopping with our 13 y/o. Without missing a beat she said 'for the Capri I'm assuming?'. Of course I told her I was going to offer to trade her for some of the more beaten up towels we use. Her response "sure you were".

Everything is now nicely tucked back into the garage, waiting for some warm weather, and time!

Roof rust

2011-01-31T20:04:00.002-05:00

The guys cut out more rust from the roof and were finally able to find good metal. Of course the patch panel didn't sit flat, so they are looking for another one.

Pictures of how much they had to cut out

Picture of the small holes that led to this mess!

The car is on the ground with the full front suspension and subframe connectors installed!

Color in the Engine Compartment!

2011-01-21T17:10:00.002-05:00

I got a chance to stop by Jason's today and see the progress on the Capri.

Passenger side outer:

Passenger side inner:

head on:

Drivers side fender now:

drivers side fender before:

Much better view of the color on the cowl:

The suspension goes on this weekend/early next week then the subframe connectors are welded in and the roof repaired.

Getting closer!

(Of course I cleaned out the garage two weeks ago during the ice storm to get the Mustang in, just in time for the Capri to come back!)

New Frame is being fitted!

2010-12-03T15:56:00.002-05:00

I got over to see the Capri today. Jason has the front end mocked up and found some more rust, necessitating a replacement of the strut tower. See how bad the rust inside the tower was!

They also cut out the rust on the roof and floor.

Hopefully paint next weekend for the engine bay and repairs for roof!

Quick update - primered body

2010-11-11T13:27:00.001-05:00

A couple of pictures from Jason.

No longer a rusty shell!

2010-10-20T20:37:00.003-04:00

Well, she's not a rusted shell any more. She's a sandblasted shell!

All the rust is gone and only a few minor issues were found. The first thing Jason did was to remove the front suspension and all the rusted and damaged parts of the nose. Then he hauled to be media blasted to remove all the rust.

Fortunately only a few minor things were found that we didn't know about.

First, here is what it looked like when it left my house.

Now here is how it looks on Jason's trailer.

The rusted rail before.

The rail after.

The roof after

There are a few small rust holes uncovered, but nothing to prevent me from moving forward.

There are a ton more pictures in my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chriscurtin/sets/72157625207546638/

Start of Phase 2

2010-08-27T20:37:00.003-04:00

Today was the start of phase 2.

Jason, who is going to replace the frame rail and some other body work picked up the car tonight. She rolls a lot better now than 15 months ago with the seized front brakes and rear drums!

Deb commented that I'd be able to pull the Mustang into the garage now, then she saw the pile of parts that I had in the Capri.

I do need to reorganize the parts so things like the door panels and glass are in a safer spot. All I need is a basketball or softball to hit one!

It will be several weeks before anything happens on the car. Jason is going to take a look at the rust in the roof, then have all the rust removed. Except the doors, since I'm replacing them with the white set you can see elsewhere in this blog.

End of Phase 1

2010-07-24T13:48:00.002-04:00

Well, today is a milestone. I've done all I can do until I get the frame rail replaced and the roof and fender rust removed.

From 4/29/2009 to 7/24/2010 I have put 112 hours and 30 minutes into the car. Looking at it today you can't see much of that effort, but there is plenty completed.

Today I put the chrome differential cover on filled it with gear oil. Then I removed all the jack stands and put it back on the ground for the first time since last fall. Wow it looks smaller than I'm used to.

Budget-wise across the 15 months on average I spent less than I allotted each month. Of course some months I didn't do anything, others I blew it way out.

So today I've decided that 'Phase 1' is over.

What's next? In the next two to four weeks the fabricator will take the car, have the engine bay, k-member, roof and fenders media blasted to remove all the rust and remaining paint. Then he'll install the replacement frame rail, repair the radiator support, replace the passenger's side apron and check everything for proper frame specifications.

If everything is in spec, he'll paint the engine bay, k-member, cowl and outer aprons the factory body color. If not, I need to find some money to get it to a frame shop to be straightened, then do all of the above.

The roof and fenders will be primed, a set of subframe connectors will be installed and all the little rust holes will be filled.

The final unknown in phase 2 is how bad the rust in the roof is. He is going to cut out the area around the hole and see what is involved in repairing it. Worst case I need a new roof skin, which is pretty expensive to install. I'm hoping it is just that area and that he'll be able to patch it.

The k-member will also be painted the body color and I will order a set of Ford Racing lower control arms to replace the 26+ year old pieces. The Eibach lowering springs will be installed. Depending on how the other unknowns go, I may also install the new 87+ spindles, rotors and brakes plus the KYB struts. That will be one of the last things to decide.

Once all this is done in the early fall, she'll sit in the garage until next spring when I have money again ;-)

Removing the windows

2010-07-18T14:18:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I started taking apart the doors I bought last fall as replacements for the original ones. The original ones have bad rust on the bottom and the passenger's door has a couple of rust-through spots on the skin. Instead of spending money to have these repaired, then prepared and painted, I am going with the "new" ones.

First thing I did was to remove the interior door covering and mirrors from the "new" doors. Since the doors were electric window/door lock I also had to remove the electric hardware. It wasn't that hard, except drilling out one or two of the rivets holding the equipment in. I choose to do this because the stock doors are manual windows and the wiring harness isn't in the dash. Rather than having a large project to find a harness, wire it in, check it etc. I want to convert the new doors to manual. Plus the stock door skins are in great shape, so I didn't want to find replacements.

Since the stock windows are factory tinted, I need to remove the windows in the new door, which aren't. I asked around on several websites for Fox Chassis cars and didn't find much information about how to do this without drilling out the rivets in the window.

So, here is what I did.

First step. Get a pair of good thick work gloves. While none of this is really hard or requires a lot of strength there are tons of sharp edges to cut you hands on.

Next, remove the channel that holds the front of the window in the door. In this picture these are the two nuts top and bottom you see.Once unbolted, it easily comes out of the door.

Next remove the pole that is what the window glides up and down on. There are two nuts here, one at the top and the other at the bottom of the door, which you can't see.

Remove the exterior due wipes. (First remove the mirrors). Gently pry up on the metal piece at the bottom of where the mirror used to be. There are no screws or nuts for this. This is one place where I had one glove on and gently pulled up with the other hand. Once it starts to pull up, it comes out pretty quickly.

Next remove the upper exterior channel. Behind the dew wipe where the mirror was, is a small screw. Remove it and again gently pull the metal, this time towards where the dew wipe used to be. If you are lucky the weatherstripping will come with it. For one of my doors the weatherstripping shattered into a million pieces. Finally reach inside the door and remove any remaining weatherstripping.

Now for part that I can't help with. Since I removed the electric mechanisms, the regulator, which is what raises and lowers the window was already removed. I can't tell you how to remove it from the bottom of the window. Maybe someone else here can?

Here is what the regulator and window assembly looks like in the door:

Now push the window against the front of the door and out of the way. Pull the top of the window glide up until it won't go any more (pushing the bolt out of the backside of the door. Now gently twist it, so the bolt is parallel to the window. Gently pull the two sheet metal parts of the door apart, less than 1/4" and pull the glide out.

Here is what the gap looks like:

Now the window can be raised. It isn't easy to get it out of the window, since going straight up, like rolling it up, hits the door frame and it won't fit. I rotated the window about 90 degrees and took it out "back" or "left" side first, the assembly at the bottom easily cleared the slight increase in the gap between the two sheet metal parts.

With the door apart I can have it worked on (small dents) and repainted. Once that's done I can reassemble it.

I have a while before I need to rebuild the window, but everything you need is available from Fox Restoration at www.foxresto.com

Door panels and help from the little guy

2010-07-02T20:13:00.002-04:00

Today I removed the door panels, mirrors and drip moldings. I was going to remove the undercoating from the wheel wells, but tomorrow is Deb's birthday and her friends are taking her out tonight, so I was only able to get an hour of work today.

I did get some help from my son when I was trying to remove the brakes lines from the proportioning valve.

More pictures on the family blog.

Airbox and 87+ spindles

2010-06-12T20:03:00.003-04:00

I was able to spend a few hours on the car today.

First surprise was that something had lived in the cowl for a while, but I don't think it was a rodent. While I didn't TRY to smell what was in there, it wasn't that noticeable as I took it apart. Once I did see something, I stopped and put on gloves and a mask just in case.

You can see the threads from probably the carpet or the original seats. The blower wheel was pretty disgusting and after cleaning it for a few minutes it was still bad, so I'm going to need to replace it.

I also found a break in the air box between the blower and the evaporator, so that will need to be replaced too.

Oh well, sitting in someone's yard for 5 years I'm surprised more wasn't in there!

I took a part the 87+ spindles, rotors and dust shields and started cleaning them up. Here is what I've got so far. I ground off the rust and hammered the dust shields back to original shape. Last task for today was to paint both with the Eastwood Rust encapsulator.

Tomorrow I will primer them and maybe paint them by the end of the day.

After cleaning up I took the family to a car show in Dallas GA. it was really hot, but there were a lot of cool, old cars. A number of Mustangs. In fact I think there were more 60's Mustangs than Camaros!

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 Engine bay and dash

2010-05-31T17:54:00.003-04:00

This weekend was a good in terms of the tear down. I removed everything from the engine bay, including the wiring harnesses. I also dropped the dash, heater box and cleaned up all the tools and parts I had laying around.

For the most part the tear down is done. Well, I'm sure I can do more in dash area, but the big stuff is out and ready to be refurbished.

Engine bay

Driver's side dash

Passenger's side dash

I found a little bit more surface rust once I removed the heater box, but nothing that will require welding.

I also cleaned up the 87+ spindles and brakes I bought. Just enough to get all the brake dust, dirt etc. off. Next weekend I'll take them apart and primer/paint the spindles and dust shields.

I also finally finished the rear brakes. What a pain the drum brake adjuster was to install!

Hopefully I'll have a plan for replacing the frame rail in the next week or two!

Spring 2010 sports are done!

2010-05-18T10:49:00.002-04:00

So I get to work on the car again.

Courtney had a very good/busy softball season so most of my time this spring was on that.

I bought some 87+ spindles and big brakes other than that not much new.

Kids get out of school this Friday so I should have more time to work on the car.

New Rear Suspension!

2010-04-09T18:29:00.002-04:00

I haven’t updated the build details in a couple of months because I hadn’t done anything until the last two weekends. Lots of non-car things to do all winter limited what time I had.

Today I installed the rear end after cleaning up and painting it. I also cleaned up and painted the lower control arms.

Here are all the new parts.

The springs are 4-cylinder springs from Eibach via UPR. The shocks and struts are KYB via 50Resto. The brackets are lower spring replacement pieces from UPR that allow me to use 87+ shocks on the 7.5” rear end.

Centering the rear end was pretty easy. My 12 y/o daughter helped me a few times move the jack stands around, but otherwise it was a one person job. (Thanks to the guys at Mo’s Speed Shop for advice on how to do the rear end.)

The springs went in easily with new rubber isolators.

Here are shots from the side.

Here are shots from the rear.

Here is a shot of the bracket on the driver’s side. I had to grind out the slot on the rear end a fraction of an inch to get the bolts to fit. Unfortunately UPR didn’t include any directions, so I didn’t know how much to torque them down. I’ve sent them an email to see what the directions should be. They also sent the wrong nylon nuts for the upper bolt, sending coarse instead of fine. For now I have a nut on there, but have asked for replacements so I get the right grade bolts.

If you’re really sharp you’ll notice two things: First the pumpkin is ugly as hell and needs to be painted. Second that most of the control arm bolts aren’t torque down. The pumpkin cover will be replaced with a chrome one and I will paint the remaining axle tubes then. I’ll torque the bolts when I find my torque wrench again. It must be in a box in the back of the car, since it isn’t where I usually leave it.

So much for the April budget

2010-04-05T20:38:00.001-04:00

On April 1st, before 12 noon eastern, I had already blown the April budget.

Pictures in a few days when the second set of boxes arrive ...

I have been working on the car the last couple of weekends, but pictures of rust I sanded off isn't that interesting. Pictures this weekend of things actually put back together!

More Parts! Frame and fenders

2010-01-23T14:45:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-25T13:51:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-11-29T15:38:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-27T17:36:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-09-07T14:05:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-08-23T21:12:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-10T13:46:00.002-04:00

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

Seat pictures, strange fenders?

2009-07-19T21:08:00.003-04:00

Not a lot of progress on the Capri shell lately, but I finally found some seats for the Capri. The 84 seats are impossible to find for some reason, but I've seen (and bid) on a number of 85-86 seats. Most were expensive plus shipping, so I was looking locally first before committing to an auction. Found these on Craig's List. Local in pretty good shape.

Drivers seat isn't that bad.

The big difference between these and the 84s are the piping in 84 was blue and 85+ was red. Yes I can get seat foam and replacement upholstery, but at least now I'll have something to sit in!

The second Craig's List find was a pair of excellent condition fenders for a Capri. I paid $100 for them and I figure I'd spend way more than that repairing the surface rusted ones I have now.

However, these are strange. The guys said they came off a Mustang that someone had put them on, but if you look closely there is no cutout in the left front part for the turn signal. If they are original's put on another car that area would be cut out. Weird.

New:

Original:

Both in same picture:

From Behind. Silver:

Original:

Cleaned up the floor!

2009-07-04T13:11:00.003-04:00

I finished a major task on the Capri today.I have removed all the rust from the floorboards and most of the undercarriage (except the driver's rear seat which I need professional help with).

First are the before pictures:

Passenger side front

Passenger side rear.

Driver's side front from below:

Driver's side upper torque box

Passenger's side upper torque box

I did a lot of sanding, grinding and generally making a mess over the last couple of weekends. Today I sealed everything up that I worked on with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. Pretty good stuff by the look and coverage. Not as messy as I expected, but I did have to wear a mask to keep the fumes out. I went and bought one specifically for solvents from Home Depot.

After:

Driver's floorboard:

Passenger's Front. Yes really that is the same panel after hitting every inch with a grinder or sandpaper!

Driver's side torque box. Note, the goal here wasn't to cover everything, just the areas I had sanded or where there was visible rust. Since the control arms are still on the car, I couldn't get all of it. I'll finish that up when I drop the rear to replace all the bushings.

Passenger's side torque box.

There are a few more pictures on the Flickr site if you're interested.

Next steps are a little hard to know right now. I am going to have a professional look at the front frame and decide what is next. I keep hearing it is repairable, I just don't know how much or what I can be doing in parallel while waiting to get it done. Hopefully I'll have someone look at it next weekend.

Rust, July 2nd

2009-07-02T19:08:00.002-04:00

Note to self (or anyone doing this themselves): clean the underside of the car before you start grinding on the rust. I swear the mess was because of all the dust, dirt and oil, not just the rust.

Since this is a long holiday weekend, my company let everyone go at 3 pm to start the weekend early. I immediately went to Home Depot and bought more wire wheels and sandpaper to work on the Capri.

First step was to jack the front of the car up and get it on the jack stands. I then took all the wheels except the passengers front (still won't budge!) to give me more room.

I then spent the next 3 hours sanding, grinding, using scotch brite pads on the undercarriage. I removed the fuel lines since they were in the way. I only found one more hole, in the passenger's foot area, about the size of a dime. That's the fourth 'dime size' hole I've found so far. I need to figure out what to do with these. I know cutting out the rust and welding in new steel is best, but for an area that small I wonder if there aren't other ways.

There are still a few areas that I can't get to because of the rear suspension, so I'll work around them tomorrow and deal with them when I drop the suspension and remove the rear end.

Task for tomorrow: degrease and clean the whole undercarriage then put the rust converter on the bad spots, finally putting the rust encapsulator.

More rust cleanup

2009-07-01T19:34:00.002-04:00

I didn't get anything done last weekend. My brother Pat came into town Saturday morning so I was pretty much out the whole time.

Monday night I took the gas tank into the woods behind the house and flushed the interior with water (all the gas was removed before this!) to get rid of any remaining fumes. I also took off the second fuel pump and fuel filter, including a really badly rusted bracket.

Tonight I started grinding the surface rust off the undercarriage of the car. I was able to get to a lot of the rust, except a few places where the rear end prevented me from getting the drill up there. Mostly around the upper torque boxes.

I decided not to drop the rear end yet, since I'd really rather have some help for that than risk something going wrong. So, for the rest of the week I'll be removing rust from all the floor pans and the rest of the torque boxes, probably with sandpaper.

After that I'll paint some rust converter on the 'bad' areas and cover everything else with the Rust Encapsulator from Eastwood.

Dropping the Gas Tank

2009-06-24T19:43:00.002-04:00

Last weekend I spent a lot of time grinding on the floorboards again, I removed all the rust, then sealed it with a rust encapsulation spray from Permatex.

I found one more rust hole that I'll need to patch where the floor panel reaches the back seat. Fortunately the floors themselves didn't have any additional deep rust areas.

Next major step is to cleanup the undercarriage, 'derust' that and then seal it. The first step was to remove the gas tank. If you've not tried to remove the gas tank on a fox body mustang or Capri, it is surprisingly easy.

The rear is already up in the air, with jack stands under the axle, so it was pretty obvious what I needed to do.

First step was to spray the heck out of the two bolts holding the straps to the frame with PB Blaster. These are above the back of the tank. I then used a breaker bar to loosen both enough that I was comfortable I could reach them from the side of the tank with a regular ratchet instead of being underneath so I can put the jack under there.

I then put the jack with a 2x6 under the tank and also put a pair of jack stands on the outside edge just in case. After remove the bolts I lowered the tank slowly about 6" and disconnected the fuel lines and level sensor. Unfortunately I couldn't get the quick release fitting on the pressure side off, so I had to cut it. Luckily this is a short piece of hose to the other fuel pump so it won't be too expensive to replace.

(Even after I got the tank on the ground I couldn't get the fitting off. Yes I have the right tool, it was just so encased in crap it wouldn't move.)

I then 'wiggled' the tank to the left to remove the filler neck from the tank. Looking at the filler neck I'm going to have to clean up or replace that since it is full of rust too.

I then stuck a tennis ball in the opening and put it outside. Tomorrow I'll drain the rest of the 5+ year old gas and figure out what to do with it.

Last step was to use a small magnetic pick up tool to remove the pins in the straps and take them out.

I crawled underneath and looked around. So far no really bad looking rust.

Next step: drop the rear suspension. That is going to take some work!

Passenger side floor pan cleanup

2009-06-14T17:08:00.002-04:00

This morning I started on the passenger side floor pan. From the 'before' picture is looks really bad and I was worried how much rusted through all the way. I crawled underneath and found only one spot where the rust had gone through.

Hitting the back seat part with the wire brush, sandpaper, wire wheel and angle grinder I removed a lot of the rust and figured out how big the rusted through area really is. It is about 3" long by 1/2" thick. (top right of the picture) I haven't hit it from below yet, so it might grow (sorry, no 'during pictures, it is nowhere near done.)

After about 40 minutes on my knees I had to take a break and work on something else. I first removed the sun visors, then took the front bumper, radiator and A/C condenser off. Both the Radiator and condenser show signs of damage, so I'll probably need to replace them as well.

The frame holding the Marcal lights has a serious bend in it, but it the lights are straight in the frame. I think this can be hammered out based on what I've seen others do.

I also cleaned up the rust on the drivers frame rail and got a good look at how bad it is. I'm still committed to fixing this car ;-)

What is the car supposed to look like?

2009-06-07T17:11:00.001-04:00

I've been asked a lot about what color I'm going to paint it. If I want to keep it original, it will look like this:

(I probably will) Looks cool doesn't it?

Rear seat rust cleanup

2009-06-07T17:06:00.002-04:00

I didn't get a lot done this weekend. Kind of busy Saturday throwing a surprise 40th birthday part for my wife. It was almost a month before her birthday so she had no idea it was coming.

I was able to start on the rear seat area. The drivers side had some odd rust. It looks like the torque box is to the right of the hole, but the metal doesn't seem to be welded there? One more strange thing to clean up.

Here is what the passenger's side looks like all cleaned up.

Next week, I start on the passengers floor board. Uggh:

First victory against the rust!

2009-05-30T17:06:00.002-04:00

Today I finally started working on the rust in the interior of the car. I started at the back in the hatch area and I'm working my way forward.

Note that I didn't cleanup all the rust. I need to drop the fuel tank and snake those wires back through the floor before finishing. I was worried about hitting the wires with the grinder, so I'll come back to this.

I also bought a replacement center console off a guy on corral.net. $135 shipped wasn't cheap, but it is the correct replacement part that the previous owner cut in half.

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

2009-05-26T09:57:00.002-04:00

Well, I've started on the body work.

Actually I first finished removing the sound deadener. I ended up using a '6 in 1' painting tool which is thicker than a regular paint putty knife. Only a few pieces didn't want to come up easily, but after an hour or so all the black sound deadener was gone.

I bought an angle grinder, sanding/stripping disks, etching primer and some sand paper. Figured I'd start in the hatch area and the spare tire well.

An hour into it, I was really confused and frustrated. So I took a break ;-)

Turns out trying to grind on the irregular and curved surfaces is a pain in the butt. So I got out some sandpaper and eventually used naval jelly on some areas I couldn't get into. Naval Jelly is some interesting stuff. Put it on and a few minutes to an hour later the rust was gone. Clean it off, sand the area and you can primer it.

Of course the instructions said to put it on for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, nothing changed. So I left it on for 20 minutes. Some rust removal. 30 minutes and it cleaned up pretty well. Except I only did an area about 6" by 6". So this isn't going to scale well if I can't do more than a few square inches every 30 minutes.

After about 4 hours of working, I had cleaned the spare tire well, sanded it down and shot it with the primer. Not a lot of progress for a lot of hours, but I know what I'm doing now ;-)

Most of the rest of the weekend was taken by family events, projects and my 17th Wedding Anniversary (She wanted to see Star Trek, so who am I to argue?).

I did spent a few hours Monday morning organizing the shed where I'm keeping all the parts. All the big stuff is now in the shed and I can get to the lawnmower again. Plus no more parts on 'her' side of the garage.

First new parts!

2009-05-16T20:50:00.002-04:00

So what if they are the supports for the hatch, I put the first new parts on her today!

I had lots of family obligations today so I only got about an hour and a half of work on the car. First task was to replace the rear hatch struts. Then I removed the interior panels, back seat and took a good inventory of how things look.

I found another rust-through area under the driver's side back seat. This one is a good size so when I clean it up I'll have a good sized hole.

I also crawled underneath and looked around. Not a lot wrong under there. Looks like they bent the transmission support removing the old one, but not too bad.

Weather and family permitting, I am going to start rust-removal tomorrow!

Mother's day weekend - no time to work on the car!

2009-05-09T17:33:00.001-04:00

We had a really busy Saturday playing softball, so I didn't get to work on the Capri at all.

Tomorrow is Mother's day so I don't think Deb will like it if I'm in the garage all the time!

I did get a wiring harness for the car and the rear hatch lift supports so I don't need a piece of pipe to hold the hatch up! I'll install the supports next weekend.

Next weekend I want to finish taking the interior apart and maybe grind the rust out of the hatch "trunk" area. So the body work begins!

Pictures of the 1980 Capri

2009-05-02T21:58:00.003-04:00

I found some pictures of the 1980.

This is August 1986 before I went to college

This is August 1988 before I went back to school. Note the door pin stripe and missing molding. The stock doors had rusted completely. I hadn't gotten the paint fixed. Actually I never got it fixed!

I know there are more of just the car, I just need to find them.

Removing the front clip

2009-05-02T16:53:00.002-04:00

It poured last night so the fields were too wet for the last softball games. So, I started taking the front end off the Capri.

Boy what a pain in ass. Deb commented that I hadn't been that filthy as long as she's known me (which isn't true, when the put the motor in the 1980 Capri I was filthy)

It took a couple of hours to get the first fender well unscrewed. Drivers side first. After 25 years this car was really rusty.

After a couple more hours of unscrewing, breaking the heads off bolts and generally making a mess, I got the nose and both fenders off. I only got frustrated a couple of times, so I stopped and took a break. Nice thing about not having to get it together to drive it to work Monday!

I found that the passenger front rim is rusted to the rotor. Banged on it for a few minutes before giving up. One more thing to deal with ;-)

Unfortunately, I found proof of what I've been suspecting since I brought her home: The car was in a front collision at some point. First clue was the engine bay looks like it was pained black, not the blue/gray color of the body. Second as I started unbolting things I found different sized bolts on each side in the same spots.

It looks like it took a hit on the drivers side, since that fender doesn't have the same mounting points for the front spoiler as the passengers. There is also visible damage underneath.

Worse is the rust under the battery tray. See below. One of Courtney's friends is sleeping over tonight and her Dad is a body/paint man. He looked at the rust and said I'd need to cut it out and replace the whole part. Luckily we can get replacement parts for the parts in trouble.

Pictures below.

Headliner removal

2009-05-01T20:13:00.003-04:00

Today I only had a few minutes to work on the car so I removed the headliner.

It was falling and smelled pretty bad (notice a theme here? the inside of this car stinks).

I had my first problem with the car: each of the sun visors had a rusted bolt that wouldn't come off. After spraying WD-40 and trying a couple of things I had to give up. I had no problem getting the rest of the trim off.

I first pulled the vinyl down completely. That made a nice mess. I then looked at the cardboard liner and it had a bunch of stains on it. I poked it with a screwdriver and it started flaking. So, the cardboard was shot.

I cut around the sun visors and pulled the rest down. The insulation between the roof and the cardboard was rotted and falling apart. So I pulled it down as well and thew it away. For now I am going to keep the headliner and backing board so when I get the replacement I can cut to match.

The roof has some glue on it and I think some surface rust, but I need to get back in the car when there is better light. It might just be glue.

I also need to find out if there are aftermarket sun visors and how the screws are into the body. I may have to cut them out and use a vise grip to get the screws out.

Total time: 1 hour

April 26th 2009 - removed carpet

2009-04-26T15:56:00.000-04:00

Today I started cleaning her up. The carpet smelled like a wet cat (and the cat piss to go with it!) and had lots of white fur and a few feathers. At some point a cat made this car home.

Once I took a lot of pictures, I removed everything I could that I needed to and removed the carpet. I found some surface rust on the passengers side and almost nothing on the drivers! The carpet was still wet(?) so we took a few more pictures outside on the driveway and stuffed it into a garbage bag.

I also sorted through all the parts the previous owner had taken off and found everthing I was looking for. One critical part, the center console is screwed up. Whomever took it out used a sawzall on it. See the picture.

Meghan helped me take the hood off and I found a nice place for it in the shed. Here again only minor surface rust.

I then vacummed the whole car, including what looked like birds nest in the cowl.

Next step: Headliner. Need to find directions how to get it out. It didn't look obvious so I didn't try today.

Time today and so far: 4 hours

Engine bay:

rust on roof above hatch:

rust under the battery:

rust under the sway bar mount/battery:

build sheet. Damn it!

passenger floor pan

console cut in half:

excellent condition dash:

pile of parts:

And so it begins!

2009-04-25T21:44:00.000-04:00

Today, I bought an 1984 Mercury Capri Turbo RS as a project car. As you can see from the pictures, it is pretty rough. Surprisingly, the body is in really good shape. The rust is almost all surface rust which I will remove over time.

What I know of the car:

3 previous owners
guy I bought it from hauled it from upstate NY to Atlanta in 2004
it had the EFI Turbo 2.3L, but it was removed before the last owner got the car
the hood is not original, the original was stolen before the last owner could pick up the car
no seats. The back seat had a snake in it, which wrecked the foam and upholstery

From what I've found on the Internet this would be 1 of 1321 cars. Really. It is pretty rare!

Next steps

remove the tow hitch from the car. Yes, it has a tow hitch for some reason
remove the carpet. The car has sat outside for the last 5 years and smells like it. So far no sign of other critters
clean up as much as I can so it is easier to work on the car

This is going to take a LONG time to get drivable again, so check back regularly to see what I've been up to.

Welcome to my new Blog!

2009-04-23T21:36:00.000-04:00

Back in June of 1985 I was looking for my first car. I was 16, with $3000 (I think) from mowing lawns and shoveling snow and I wanted my own car.

At the time my brother and most of the people we knew were into Camaros. I watched John spend years looking for the Camaro he wanted and all the problems finding something good. I expected I too was going to get a Camaro. Thank god I didn't. I can't stand mullets ;-)

Actually, my mom came home one day and told me that she saw a nice white car that I should go see. I of course knew about Mustangs and Pintos (don't ask about that one!) but hadn't seen a Capri before. It was a white 1980 with red pin stripes and a red interior.

My friend Louie went with me to look at it and did an inspection. No major problems with the car, so my Dad haggled the owner down. (It was his daughter's car and he'd just bought her something new.)

I'm pretty sure I got the car on July 1st or 2nd since I didn't know how to drive a stick shift and John had to drive it home. I put the car in the driveway and immediately washed and compounded it out. I still didn't know how to drive it ;-)

The next day Deb's mom picked me up and we went to NYC for the fireworks around the Statue. I remember showing it to Deb and her not being very impressed. We'd only been dating maybe 2 months at that point.

John taught me how to drive a stick a few days later. I remember leaving the parking lot of Danbury High School with the tires spinning because the car started to roll backwards!

Deb used to call the house (years before cellphone people!) and my mom would always tell her I was working or cleaning the car.

The car was pretty solid for the next 4 years, there were a few minor issues that I fixed myself or had help with. The fall of 1987 I guy I knew who had built a 2.3 Ford circle track engine and put it into his Mustang II was looking to sell the engine. I bought it for $100, put a new cam in it and let it sit in my parent's garage for a year.

Finally in the summer of 1988 I look the old engine out and put the new one it. Mostly by myself, except getting the transmission and engine together. 'No Booze No Bob' helped me with that. amazing when you know what you are doing. He figure out the issue in 2 minutes after I spent hours on it.

Damn the car was now quick. Not fast like John's 350 Camaro, but enough to make it fun to drive. I doubt I had 175 HP, but it was fun to drive. Compared to 2006 Mustang GT I have now it was really slow, but for the time it was fun.

So why am I telling this story? Well, in 1990 I moved to Georgia and sold the Capri to my uncle. He then sold it to a neighbor and last I heard it was completely rusted out.

About 5 years ago I got the itch to start another project, and recently started looking for a new Capri.

With any luck on Saturday I am going to buy an 1984 Capri RS Turbo. If I do I'll post up pictures and start to figure out how to make it drivable.

I expect to post semi-regularly as I build the car, so check back often