One Retard, a broken Capri, and a Wife... and a V8?
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:38 pm
So whilst living in a third floor flat with no garage or parking.... we have decided to embark on the most epic restoration project on the most broken 1.6 Laser Ford Capri ever dragged out of a barn.
My wife, Mim (22), has agreed to helping with this project... probably just to keep an eye on the finances as I do like to spend more than I have! With about as much experience with cars and engines as a two year old child, she can just about fill up her car with petrol - as long as there is an adult to supervise!
I restored a Classic Mini about 3 years ago before we got married but other than that, my knowledge comes directly from a Haynes manual - so I am a bit nervous as this Capri really does need to be stripped to a shell and then rebuilt entirely!
So you may be wondering why on a V8 forum? Well against all advice from friends and relatives, I have decided to purchase a Ford 302 5.0 V8 to upgrade the existing 2.0 Sierra that came with the car. This forum will log all progress that we make on a weekly/bi-weekly basis and any advice will be warmly welcomed! Any questions that we have I hope can also be answered here!
Jon and Mim
Me
I might slate her in this forum but she is fine
The Captain
Week 1
After twisting my dad's arm I have managed to wangle a space in his barn to store our Ford Capri, junk and all. However, when it arrived on a tow-truck, the space in the barn was not ready so The Captain (the name we have given our Capri) had to live outside for a month or two.
After battling spiders as big as our hands and rubbish to the ceiling, we finally cleared out The Captain's new home. Assuming that it would only take me half an hour or so to pull the Capri from my parent's drive to the barn 50 meters away, I took a day off with my wife.
2 hours later and up to our ankles in muddy water we were still wrestling The Captain.
A good lesson for us to learn is that a 1.6 Audi A1 can't tow a Capri. Turns out the brakes have seized on and the wheels are entirely flat. Thankfully the Glish-machine (daddy) was on hand with a BMW X5 which yanked the Capri along just fine.
Our next problem was maneuvering The Captain as the X5 couldn't pull the Capri into the barn as there was not enough space to bring the X5 back out afterwards. So it was going to be a push job between the three of us.
Out came the broken compressor to try to get enough air onto the tyres whilst we pushed. Anyone who has seen my previous Mini restoration project thread ( Link here ) will remember this cheeky character!
With three pumped tyres and onenot holding air, we inched our way forwards, me at the rear with Glish-machine and Mim at the front end steering with one hand and pushing with the other. As comical as it sounds and probably looks in your head right now, we were about to witness a catastrophic argument, trouser gussets ripping under force and more than one coronary attack (although not necessarily in that order!)
Moving around an inch at a time for the first half hour, soon an inch became a foot and a foot became a meter as slowly the brakes become unseized-ish... Until Mim in her excitement forgot to steer and we crashed.
Pretending not to wish to strangle someone, we had to heartbreakingly push the Capri back 2 meters to try to compensate for the turning circle.
Finally The Captain was home.
My wife, Mim (22), has agreed to helping with this project... probably just to keep an eye on the finances as I do like to spend more than I have! With about as much experience with cars and engines as a two year old child, she can just about fill up her car with petrol - as long as there is an adult to supervise!
I restored a Classic Mini about 3 years ago before we got married but other than that, my knowledge comes directly from a Haynes manual - so I am a bit nervous as this Capri really does need to be stripped to a shell and then rebuilt entirely!
So you may be wondering why on a V8 forum? Well against all advice from friends and relatives, I have decided to purchase a Ford 302 5.0 V8 to upgrade the existing 2.0 Sierra that came with the car. This forum will log all progress that we make on a weekly/bi-weekly basis and any advice will be warmly welcomed! Any questions that we have I hope can also be answered here!
Jon and Mim
Me
I might slate her in this forum but she is fine
The Captain
Week 1
After twisting my dad's arm I have managed to wangle a space in his barn to store our Ford Capri, junk and all. However, when it arrived on a tow-truck, the space in the barn was not ready so The Captain (the name we have given our Capri) had to live outside for a month or two.
After battling spiders as big as our hands and rubbish to the ceiling, we finally cleared out The Captain's new home. Assuming that it would only take me half an hour or so to pull the Capri from my parent's drive to the barn 50 meters away, I took a day off with my wife.
2 hours later and up to our ankles in muddy water we were still wrestling The Captain.
A good lesson for us to learn is that a 1.6 Audi A1 can't tow a Capri. Turns out the brakes have seized on and the wheels are entirely flat. Thankfully the Glish-machine (daddy) was on hand with a BMW X5 which yanked the Capri along just fine.
Our next problem was maneuvering The Captain as the X5 couldn't pull the Capri into the barn as there was not enough space to bring the X5 back out afterwards. So it was going to be a push job between the three of us.
Out came the broken compressor to try to get enough air onto the tyres whilst we pushed. Anyone who has seen my previous Mini restoration project thread ( Link here ) will remember this cheeky character!
With three pumped tyres and onenot holding air, we inched our way forwards, me at the rear with Glish-machine and Mim at the front end steering with one hand and pushing with the other. As comical as it sounds and probably looks in your head right now, we were about to witness a catastrophic argument, trouser gussets ripping under force and more than one coronary attack (although not necessarily in that order!)
Moving around an inch at a time for the first half hour, soon an inch became a foot and a foot became a meter as slowly the brakes become unseized-ish... Until Mim in her excitement forgot to steer and we crashed.
Pretending not to wish to strangle someone, we had to heartbreakingly push the Capri back 2 meters to try to compensate for the turning circle.
Finally The Captain was home.