V8 Capri Ressurection

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Stuball
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V8 Capri Ressurection

Post by Stuball »

Just couldnt stay away from the Capris!

This is a joint project between myself and my mate Dave (lushman on here although hes not been on in quite some time!) who owns the car.

Its a 1979, originally a 3.0S I believe but now has:

3.9 Rover V8
Completely loopy camshaft (from a TVR so dave tells me)
4-1 caprisport exhaust manifolds
LT77 5 speed manual box
LSD Axle

Unfortunately its been off the road for around 3 years, and hasn't run for 2 of them!. We've tried
extensively over the past few weeks to get it running but it doesn't want to know. We decided to
go for a full rebuild of the engine (compression tests weren't great), and also upgrade it to
fuel injection. Also have plans to fully polybush it, refurb all the brakes and generally give
it a damn good tidy up.

Only have an old picture at the moment, struggling to find someone to transport it to my house
so we can begin work on it!

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Had a few bits turn up already. A near complete injection system and fuel pump. Just needs
an air-flow meter and idle control valve. I've already finished work on the wiring loom, removing
a lot of "un-necessaries" :lol:

Loom as it stands now (just needs re insulating)
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Pile of bits removed from it!
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So watch this space, once we can get the cappa moved to mine then work will begin
very quickly!!!

Stu



Stuball
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Post by Stuball »

Completely forgot to put updates on here!! :oops:

This will be a rather large post hehehe

It has landed!

Took a couple of weeks to organise but got it here in the end (thanks for you offer as well finn!)

Its looking a bit sorry for itself these days, needs some substantial cosmetic bodywork doing.

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Still has most of the original interior and in quite good nick!

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This is where the main problem lies, poor compression and just will not run!

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Decided to start at the rear of the car not too much to do so wanted to
get it out of the way before moving onto the front and engine.

Plan is the following:

Refurb/Overhaul brakes
Polybush all round
Clean up and repaint axle
Fit Single Leafs
Replace bolts
Fit 2.8 Injection fuel tank (ready for conversion to EFI)
Possibly A-frame?

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So far it looks to be in pretty good shape. Around the front spring mounts
looked a little horrible but its all solid so a quick clean up and some underseal
will be good to go.

Removed the rear exhaust sections and fuel tank. Also disconnected the rear ARB from the body
and the rear shocks from the axle as well as disconnecting+draining the brakes and unbolting
the propshaft.

Quite pleased that so far it has all come apart no problem. Unfortunately I am lacking the necessary
offset spanner to remove the front spring bolts so could not go any further.

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Of course, all bolts/fittings that are removed get properly bagged and tagged this time!!!

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So with no more left to do at the back I moved onto the engine bay in the time being. Removed
a few bits including washer bottle, expansion tank, distributor and radiator/fans (may or may not replace
this with an aluminium rad from an audi like my previous v8 cappa)

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Also removed the inlet manifold, reason I did this was so that I could plonk the EFI manifold in
place and see how and where things are going to connect up whilst engine is still in the car

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As its friggin cold today only did a couple of small jobs.

Made a start on the fuel pump bracket. Need to get another piece of 2mm
aluminium sheet to make the outer part of the clamp.

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Also found a use for some old silicon hose - fuel pump insulator B)/>

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I managed to rescue said tank by pulling straight the dented filler neck
hole so started giving it some coats of paint. Once done i will spray
with fuel proof lacquer.

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All the parts to rebuild the rear end are on their way so with a bit of luck
next week can put it all back together :lol:/>

Outer part of fuel tank bracket finished, will paint and lacquer this
same as the tank

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Correct throttle bracket turned up (this allows the cable to pull to the drivers side rather than passenger)

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Box full of goodies arrived :thumbup:/>/>
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Took the rear ARB off and started fitting the new bushes, what a pain these
were to get in!!

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Fitted the other polybush to the rear ARB then cleaned and painted it up

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Along with the handbrake cable link bar thingy and the rear ARB brackets

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Finally onto the brakes, halfshafts came out easy enough so removed both brake assemblies and started
with the refurb, one down one to go :)/>

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Well now that I have sated my cameras never ending need for batteries I can put another update up :lol:/>/>

Quite a bit done over past couple of days:

Rear drums, brake assemblies, spring plates handbrake bar and ARB waiting to go back on.

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Fuel tank all painted/lacquered waiting to go back on. Fuel pump bracket complete and pump installed to tank.

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Put the first fittings onto the nylon fuel lines (similar stuff to what ford use on the 2.8) Had to heat the
pipe to push it onto the barbed fittings and for extra security, again as what ford did, put some fuel hose
around the nylon and secured with e-clips (these clamp MUCH tighter than worm drive clips!)

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Rear axle finally removed awaiting new diff cover gasket and a repaint.

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Some reassembly!! Fitted the passenger single leaf spring with new polybushes all round. Drivers side
is waiting to go on.

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Attacked the engine bay today in preparation for engine removal. Brake servo, clutch master,
alternator, starter and manifolds removed, and have disconnected the PAS lines.

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Centre console and gearstick removed. (and while i was in the car removed all the lower dash trim and ripped
out all the bodged and half-melted wiring!!!)

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This is the clutch master cylinder, found it to be off of a toyota mr2? Either way
its completely siezed solid but I have something in the works in the clutch department
so watch this space ;)/>

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Then the big job, engine removal!! Actually got dave to do some work for once :childish:/>

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The engine is one of the last things to actually do. The next step is to tidy up the engine bay and refurb
the front brakes and suspension.

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Got the gearbox off and unfortunately found a cooked clutch and a very overheated flywheel (lots of cracking!) so
both will need to be replaced :unsure:/>

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More work by dave!!! Decided to strip the heads off the engine just to see whats going on. The bores
are indeed very smooth/shiny/glazed which would account for the low compression and very heavy breathing.

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All pistons and crank removed, bores arent in bad shape, quick glaze break/hone and should
be good to go with a new set of rings. Made sure to bag everything up coated in oil to prevent
rust!

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And now for the "Oh Dear" part.

Found that one of the camshaft bearings has shifted and one of the lifters had it for lunch!!!!

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Not sure of the reason this has moved but will just have to be replaced.

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Despite that fact that its freezing outside, went and made a start
on reassembling the engine.

First of all fitted nice new set of camshaft bearings and installed a new rear cam core plug (cheers to ChrisJC for lending me the tooling for the bearings)

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Next was new mains bearings in the block, coated in assembly lube and crank dropped in

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Main caps on and all torqued up. Crank turns smoothly with no tight spots :thumbup1:/>

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Im currently waiting for a piston ring compressor, but gapped and fitted new rings to passenger side
pistons along with new rod bearings. Some of the ring gaps were 1-2thou over the maximum allowed but
thats to be expected as there is a bit of wear in the bores but nothing to worry about.

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Stu

(hopefully ill keep this up to date now to save anymore mammoth posts!

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ChrisJC
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Post by ChrisJC »

First of all fitted nice new set of camshaft bearings and installed a new rear cam core plug (cheers to ChrisJC for lending me the tooling for the bearings)
No problem. Glad it's all going to plan so far.....

Chris.
--
Series IIA 4.6 V8
R/R P38 4.6 V8
R/R L405 4.4 SDV8

stevieturbo
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Post by stevieturbo »

Have you just crimped the rubber hose over the top of the nylon, or is there something inside the nylon to prevent crushing ?
9.85 @ 144.75mph
202mph standing mile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgWRCDtiTQ0

Stuball
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Post by Stuball »

Nylon hose was warmed and and pushed onto barbed connectors, then rubber hose and clamped over the top.

Stu

stevieturbo
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Post by stevieturbo »

good stuff, should be safe.
9.85 @ 144.75mph
202mph standing mile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgWRCDtiTQ0

kiwicar
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Post by kiwicar »

Hi Stu
just a quick observation, you seem to have the right colour paint on the engine, just the wrong brand of engine! :D
Best regards
Mike
poppet valves rule!

stevieturbo
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Post by stevieturbo »

Brand doesnt matter as long as it's a V8 :D
9.85 @ 144.75mph
202mph standing mile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgWRCDtiTQ0

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ChrisJC
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Post by ChrisJC »

kiwicar wrote:Hi Stu
just a quick observation, you seem to have the right colour paint on the engine, just the wrong brand of engine! :D
Best regards
Mike
He probably doesn't want the front of his Capri weighed down with 1/2ton of Iron!!

Chris.
--
Series IIA 4.6 V8
R/R P38 4.6 V8
R/R L405 4.4 SDV8

Stuball
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Post by Stuball »

I'm not getting roped into this debate :lol:

Stu

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