|
|
|
|
|
OK, I have been a lurker here for some time and I think it's time to join the board and also add my project. The car is a 1974 Capri MkII, but visually mostly "facelifted" to MkIII looks. But before we go into that, some information about myself to "frame" the project. I grew up in and around classic Fords (well, back then they were not so classic, mostly just older cars), my dad had a couple of Cortina GTs and my uncle did some racing in Anglias and a Cortina GT with Lotus engine. After I was born my dad went into more mundane daily drivers, at first a 1969 Cortina DeLuxe (1600 X-flow), we had a 1970 Cortina Auto and then a couple of Taunuses (your Cortina MkIII-V). When I got my licence I "borrowed" my mums 1982 Taunus 2.0 L VIP for a couple of months, before I bought my first own car. It was a 1972 Granada Coupé, 2.3L V6 and GXL spec. It was a wonderful car but a bit scarred by life when I got it. To be honest I wasn't too kind to it (it was a cheap car, I was a poor student) and the V6 was always a bit thirsty. But oh how I liked the car. Things would have to change though and as I was in Prague of all places I stumbled over a MkIII Capri in an alley. I knew I had to have one - actually, I had known that since 1986 when I read about the X-pack kitted turbo MkIII that late Milan Knezevic built. I went back home from Prague and basically bought the second Capri I found. It was a 1980 2.0S, red (not original colour), some issues but pretty cheap. I had to have it. It would not be a happy relationship for long though, I got the car in June and in November it was smashed to pieces by a guy who hit my left wing at 40 mph. I couldn't afford to fix the Capri but saved the wheels and the head at least. During university years I ran around in a cheap Escort MkII (oxymoron these days!) and a 1979 Taunus auto. The Escort was a right wreck, the Taunus pretty solid. As I graduated and got a job it was time for a Capri again. This was 1997, back then you still could find Capris advertised in the newspapers in Sweden, often enough that I could be a bit picky. It had to be a MkIII, it had to be a 2.0S, it should be running and it had to speak to my senses. I looked at numerous (that's how I recall it now at least, probably 4-5 cars) Capris that ticked all the boxes but the last one. While looking at one option I realized I was quite close to another car for sale. It was advertised as a project, no engine but fresh paint, nice parts. I decided to take a look and suddenly the emotions were right. I can't say if it was the Recaros, the 7x13" 4-spoke Revolutions, the nice exhaust manifold or the seller with a geniune Capri interest. But I needed to have THAT Capri. My parents were not all that impressed by played the role of supporting parents and helped me drag it home.  I will have to sort some higher resolution pictures, but let me explain what I got. A 1974 1600 XL, but fitted with MkIII 2.0S panels, interior and drive line. According to the seller, the car had been modified in the early 80's the first time, and then it had been ran with different spec Pintos, chased by the police, took a beating, built back up, raced again and so on. Some years ago he decided to fix the worst parts but ran out of money when the paintjob was done. So it was sat in a garage, looking sorry for itself, and the he just lost spirit. The good parts were the wheels, the Recaros, the fixed bodywork, nice exhaust, stiffer suspension and spare Pinto head with a fast road cam and rejetted carb. Bad parts? No engine block, some scars in the fresh paintjob from sitting in garages. The front screen was cracked, the carpet missing and since most of the car was in boxes - a bit hard to judge the rest. But hey, even back then, for 5000 SEK (roughly £ 450-500) what could you expect. My plan was a nice daily driver and I will explain how I quickly derailed from that plan... Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I picked the car up in April (technically before I graduated) and I spent the summer trying to get the car back together. Sorting through the boxes was an interesting task...  An engine was found and dragged into the garage too.  Summer went along, we sorted some small rust holes in the floor and generally gathered the missing pieces. I found a faultless MkII grille and a Richard Grant rear spoiler at a scrapyard - lucky find, I don't think I paid £ 20 for it all :-) Otherwise the car went together fairly standard, apart from white dials and the alloys from my scrapped Capri. The main target was to get the car through the MOT, I had gotten a job up north in Sweden and had a deadline when the car would have to move me and some stuff the 800 kilometres north. Me and deadlines is a bit of a delicate matter - I rarely miss them completely, most often I just hit them but sometimes I shift them a bit... I had the car "done" just in time. One foggy morning it was time to leave from my girlfriends house, and head north. On the first tank of gas I ever filled in this car!  The trip was not free from excitement but the car did good. Stopped by the police twice (first time a flying inspection thanks to a bad contact in one of the headlights, second time because I forgot to turn the lights on - mandatory in Sweden). When I arrived to my new flat the keys were missing but that's another story. Soon after settling here in Skellefteå I decided that the car was "too nice" to drive in the winter. Another very cheap MkII Escort (£ 170 for a runner I think) and the Capri could rest during the snowy period.  You can see the Escort, and the rather large 205/60-15's on the RW Machos I got for my first Capri. Winter meant time to chase some upgrades. First on the list was a 5-speed gearbox. Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
looking forward to seeing this story unfold. Can you get new parts ok in ikea-land?
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm home with a cold now so might be able to write some more, perhaps. Capri specific parts are quite hard to get here, I buy most of the stuff from the UK. Engine parts and mechanical stuff like track rod ends etc. are pretty available but still very easy to get from the UK nowadays. Used parts are getting harder and harder and I have been quite good at accumulating "nice to have" parts, meaning the garage is full :-( As I mentioned, a 5-speed gearbox was first on the list. I found one cheap, but with bad bearings. Back then (1998) I worked at a company making truck bodies. I was allowed to use the workshop and that's what really made it possible to get to work. I started with renovating the gearbox (I had never done that before so I was pretty confident I could learn how!).  The Capri on axle stands, something that would prove to be quite a common sight :-) Anyway, I started the transformation to 5-speed, and quite quickly faced problems. The bellhousing cracked!  Upon further inspection, the gearbox turned out to be a V6 gearbox, but came with a Pinto bellhousing. This means the input shaft is too long and if someone ham-fisted tries to force it...something will break. New bellhousing sourced but I needed to shorten the input shaft. Now, when I had the gearbox in pieces it would have been easy, but I wasn't to keen on pulling it apart again. After some thought I figured the gearbox may just fit in the lathe at work - and it did. Success! 5-speed Capris were never sold in Sweden (and, in 1998, Internet was still evolving and no E-bay in sight). When I had my first Capri back in 1994, I got some parts from an English bloke in Uppsala (Stephen Flood), maybe he would be able to assist? Surely, he had a 5-speed propshaft that I bought. The crossmember was modified with spacers and off we went! During the winter I had also tried to solve the fuelling issue. Not that I had one but I planned to - the same guy who sold the gearbox had a pretty wild camshaft (Kent RL32 I think), and it would never work with the 32/36 DGAV I thought. Twin carbs were very expensive but the local scrapper had a K-jetronic system from a Saab 99 turbo laying around. That is known to support at least 160 bhp, bringing me into 2.8i territory. Of course, a Saab K-jetronic does not "fit" a Pinto in any way but I had also collected most stuff off a Pinto EFI engine. With some adapters the K-jetronic injectors could be fitted and then it was mostly a matter of pouring all the other stuff into the engine bay.  Quite an impressive mess, right? As usual, I had a deadline to work with. We were taking the Capri on a trip down south again, this was the best car we had. I got it running the day before we were supposed to leave. It had a mid-range hesitation but otherwise it was quite crisp...the throttle response from a satisfactory rich K-jet is something special. One target of the trip was the annual meeting of Capri Club Sweden, in Jönköping. We got there, but just as we entered the car park the engine spluttered and died. All members quickly offered to assist but quite a few shrugged back at the sight abovbe - explosion in a spaghetti factory :-) It turned out the condenser had died, fortunately I had a spare. I mean, these were the days when I never went anywhere without a tool kit and some spares...  We had a great time at the meet and quickly decided to join the track day at Gelleråsen, later that autumn. But now I need to introduce a friend that I will have to blame for some of all this. Back in 1997 when I was looking for my project, a guy named Roland called and offered a Capri for sale. Now, his car was way out of my league, a MkIII in mint condition, fitted with the RS kit, reupholstered interior and overall in great shape.  He was also at this meet and we decided to meet up at his house before going to the track. We finally sorted the hesitation in my car, by swapping out the fuel metering head (I had a spare). Roland was at this point working on his turbo fitment for the Capri - using a K-jetronic as well. Common interests... The track outing was great!  But then and there I decided to press on with my turbo plans. Roland was the inspiration and even found me a turbo. With the K-jet I had already coming from a turbo car, it was an easy decision. 1999 would see me in my very own turbo Capri. Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
great job, k-jet is under-rated i think, it can give a very crisp throttle. Out of interest did you need to adapt the Pinto Efi manifold much to fit the K-jet injectors?
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I machined some adapters for the injectors and made a bracket to hold them in, it was quite easy. I also used the Saab throttle body, it is a bit bigger.
K-jetronic is good when it works but my experience is that the mechanical parts do wear, and that causes all sorts of problems. Today I try to stay clear from it :-) We will get to that...
Gustaf
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Right, Roland had sorted me a turbo, the same type he used, a Mitsubishi TD04-16T from a Volvo 850 T5.  Quite small, but modern and quick spooling. And it was cheap! I found an intercooler from a Saab 9000 but it was "too big".  It wouldn't fit without cutting the radiator support and I did not want to do that, for some reason. Instead I got a much smaller Saab 900 unit, the rare, early, cast alloy one. It fit perfect and is barely visible.   The control pressure regulator should really be somewhere else but there it went. The installation was not very much prettier than before.  But it ran! Sort of.  Since I needed an inspection to get the car legal I also needed better brakes, so I sourced some Volvo 240 4-pot calipers and Capri 2.8i discs. Almost a bolt-on procedure...   I had some issues before I got the brakes to work but with a Volvo master cylinder and Granada proportional valve it did work out prettty good. The car passed inspection and I had a road legal turbo Capri, in the summer of 1999. Confident as ever in my engineering I took the 1150 km drive to Strömstad, for celebrating the 30 years of the Ford Capri. Did it work? Yes! I can't remember any large failures so despite a weekend of rain, I call it a success. I met up with Roland too and this time his Capri was also running the turbo, so we had two mean black turbo Capris. And still, I have no photos of our cars from that trip! There were issues though. I built the turbo setup on the bog standard engine I got in 1997, that was removed from a scrap Capri with un-known mileage and history. And I had detonation - mind you, I was running standard compression ratios and the K-jetronic was setup for the Saab. For the millenium I started to plan some improvements. I wanted to build an engine with alower compression ratio, and I had started to read up on the Saab APC - automatic performance control, a boost control system with a knock sensor. Those two ideas would mean I had my work cut out for the winter. Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To sort the compression ratio issue my plan was to use a low compression engine from a Transit, Taunus or Granada auto. With 8.2:1 it's a rather nice ratio for boost and the auto engines are usually quite un-stressed. But when I needed one, they were nowhere. I started looking at buying complete cars (even had the thought of getting a running car, and swapping in my current engine and just sell the donor off). Eventually a scrapper not too far away made me a good offer. He had a low mileage Granada auto engine that he had sold the head from, and he had a 205 EFI engine from a burnt out Sierra. This package would combine to the kind of spec I was after - 8.2:1, EFI head and the 205 block with an oil return port. Success!   The engine was built up with new bearings, the low CR pistons, fresh paint and I also added a stud for the Saab APC knock sensor. I built a new turbo manifold too and straightened up some other issues.   I wanted to add to the track racer stance so I built something resembling a front splitter.  The styling wasn't too bad but honestly, it wasn't secure enough to be able to provide any kind of downforce. I'm not sure how it managed to stay on during the track meet that year? A local dragracing team, Hunchback Racing (http://www.hunchbackracing.se/) with their immaculate Volvo PV (all in carbon fibre) had a sponsor meet and great during the autumn and I went there to get inspiration from another mean black machine. We played in different leagues, and still do, but man, that car made some impression...  Now, the APC system could not make detonation go away, I fiddled lots with it and managed to get it to work a bit better. But still I had some detonation issues. And what was worse, the car never ran right in the mid range. So for 2001 I decided something had to be done. Out with the K-jetronic, and time to read up on Fords EEC-IV instead. Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Now around the millenium the information available on the Internet really took off, meaning that I could read up a bit on the EEC-IV. What got me interested was the ability to mess a bit with both the fuelling and the ignition maps, still crude solutions but better than what I could do with the K-jetronic. The EEC-IV has a plug for "octane adjustment" that can retard the ignition in three steps as the plug pins are earthed. I had tried to fiddle with the advance curve using different modified vacuum capsules on the dizzy but it never really worked. For fuelling, I planned to add extra injectors but also try using larger injectors with the EEC-IV. Extra injectors is great in the sense that you can have the standard ECU provide standard fuelling off boost. With the K-jetronic the car always was a bit hard to start and midrange was a pain.  The EEC-IV made for an installation that was at least partly more tidy.  The first turn of the key was exciting...but no success. I quickly found out I had used cheap relays for the EEC-IV, and they would release as the voltage dropped when the starter ran. Good quality relays fitted, and it worked a lot better. Now the car would start easily and idle nicely. I also decided to upgrade the brakes a bit - with the Capri 2.8i discs, the brake pads overhung the disc by a couple of mm's. BMW E30 discs were modified to fit.  I also fitted a bike computer as a speedo, I was tired of the standard speedo being completely off.   Now I had a car that was infitely more driveable but I kept having some detonation issues, I added more extra injectors and I reset the timing again and again. By the end of 2001 I had it working pretty good. So good, that I actually can't remember any big plans for the winter... Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Great story. Love it  . |
| |
|
|
|
|
TS
Part of things
Posts: 558
|
|
|
|
What is that in the background? It looks like one of those bicycles with a motor wheel. Nice. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Any idea on what sort of power you could get out of that setup?
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Love how you are complementing the retro ride with retro film photography on your build. Total period dedication!
|
| |
|
|
bobman
Part of things
Posts: 109 
|
|
|
|
|
I want to know how it is currently, Cool setup, Trough afew sensors abit of wiring and a ecu from a evo7 in there and you have a cheep map able setup, A friend is in the early stages of doing it on a E30 318 with a garret from a fiat coupe stuck on it, nice project More pics/info
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks for the nice words! Yes the motor wheel is a "Cyclemaster", I found it when we cleared out my grandfathers house when he passed away around 1992/93. He was a retro man worthy of a book or something, the kind of man you hardly find anymore. I also have his rifle that he made when he was around 10-11 years old. He lived in the forests in northern Sweden and if you wanted something, you made it. He wanted a rifle so his father helped him make a rifle. Drilled the barrel! My grandfather also cast his own bearings for the tractors he rebuilt and when he was 80 years old he fell off a roof when he was swapping the tin sheets. He was mostly annoyed because now he could not be sure that it would be fixed properly... Performance, I looked through some old records and I did some G-tech runs in 2000, they said around 150 bhp at the wheels, 1/4-mile around 16.3 seconds and 0-60 at just over 8 seconds. When I checked my old data I see that during 2001 I fitted the turbo tail, and I got my EGT probe, exhaust gas temperature. I also see that it was 2001 that I got the chance to dyno the car. A friend had access to an old school with a dyno so we decided to give it a shot. It was extremely interesting and somewhat revealing!  This is taken from the notes I made back then: I hoped to see about 130-150 bhp, since the G-tech accuracy is a bit doubtful. Imagine the look on my face when the dyno printout showed 168 bhp at the wheels! Torque was 254 Nm. According to the dyno losses calculations, I have about 187 bhp at the flywheel. Compared to the standard figures of 105 bhp (catalytic version) and about 150 Nm, it's pretty good on only 0,6 bar...The dip in the power curve is partly from a leaking wastegate, I had an area where the engine would just "hover" around 0 bar before picking up. When I fixed that the clutch started slipping. And then the fuel pumps started seizing, so I decided to rebuild the fuel system. Earlier I had used a normal electric carb pump to suck fuel (acting as a lift pump) from the tank, and feed it into a small catch tank that fed the high pressure pump. I now suspected that the lift pump was not delivering enough fuel, starving the high pressure pump. I choose to use a Volvo in-tank pump as a lift pump instead. The pump is small but the Capri tank sender hole is also small! But if would just fit.  This is a photo taken from the filler hole. The pump is strapped to the old sender and it has actually worked great since then! Being in Sweden, where no 2.8i Capris were sold, the "easy" option of getting a 2.8i tank and pump was not so easy... I said I didn't remember any big plans for the winter of 2001-2002 but today I recall why. I swapped jobs in August 2001 (lost access to the workshop) and then in April 2002 we moved into a new house. Of course that slowed progress somewhat but the new house had a nice, roomy (back then) 2-car garage. I had plans for 2002 to swap out the EEC-IV but I didn't find the time. The EEC-IV worked fine in many respects but I used the lambda equipped version (only sold in Sweden and Switzerland I think), and it is self learning. It sensed the car was rich and adjusted the map accordingly - so the tune always changed. The first half of the 2002 season saw me on a timed dragstip for the first time. I ran 14.966s @ 145 km/h, not too bad but it was also apparent that I would run out of power at the top end. And the gearing was not too good, keeping it in third across the line meant I hit the EEC-IV rev limiter at 6400 rpm - shifting to fourth meant I lost boost. During 2002 I also made some cosmetical changes. A "Profile" front bumper and a standard rear bumper was put on. I think it was the first time in 20 years this car had a rear bumper! This picture is probably from the drag race:  The year of 2002 also had another ace up its sleeve. I met a new friend called Tomas adn it would turn out to change things a bit. Tomas approached me with his Sierra XR4x4 that he had put a turbocharger on. It didn't really run though and I helped him a bit. Then the bonnet opened during a test run and smashed the windscreen and roof. Tomas literally put the car under a tree and was quite upset. I saw a chance though - why not use the XR4x4 V6 in a Capri? We found a 1974 MkI, US import, locally. The car had been laid up for some time and was basically solid, but the paint was flaking and some rust had to be sorted. Tomas father ran a Tractor dealership, that used to sell Ford tractors. A good workshop, some NOS parts in the bins and so the Capri was rather quickly turned into something blue...  We had the engine up and running late 2002 and for the season of 2003, we had a really great feeling. Two turbo Capris to conquer the world! Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With the new Capri team, I spent some time getting the MkI ready. But to be honest Tomas did a lot of the work, I mainly supervised and helped with electrics. Tomas is manically scared of wiring, when we got to know each other the side cutter was the most used tool for electrics... You saw the 2.8 installed earlier but here it is assembled.  And, going in:  The US 2.8 Capri had low compression pistons, we knicked those, but the rare heads with 3 exhaust ports were left behind. The intake manifold spacing does not match the euro heads and we wanted to use the 2.8 EFI. BTW, Tomas was at this point 20 years old, and still rebuilt the engine, fixed the rust and resprayed the car. Pretty good. The access to the Tractor workshop meant I finally could build myself a new exhaust manifold.  This one had something that at least looked like a proper collector. I could tell a difference straight away but the theory was better at least. Tomas car was built using a Holset HX35W turbo, the standard 2.8 EFI, a Sierra Cosworth rwd intercooler and some extra injectors. This worked pretty good but one day when I was on vacation, Tomas called and asked if I knew about a better gearbox. The US 2.8 was fitted with the external linkage type F gearbox, and during some enthusiastic testing it split in two... I quickly ordered him to find a couple of type 5 4-speeds from 2.8i Granada MkIIs instead. With that done we teamed up for the local dragrace.   Actually there were three Capris running this event - another friend, Roger, raced his US spec MkII, with a slightly warmed over n/a 2.8. I'm not sure where I have the time slips but I do remember Tomas at first had some issues with the throttle not opening fully. My car ran OK but Tomas had issues with axle tramp off the line. I tried to coach him, telling him that when my car did that, it was because I kept the revs too low and the tires would not spin enough. After mocking him about that he threw the helmet at me and said "You drive the piece of cr*ap then if it is so easy!" I decided to rally keep the revs up (better to spin and smoke than to bog down?) but I was greated with a great "ping-bang-whoa". I twisted the propshaft into a corkscrew! Sorry Tomas. Lucky I had more props. For the last race of the season we were aiming for new records. I decided to increase the boost and Tomas had been fettling away, he also found some great large tires in the skip at the tractor place, they came from some Chevy van but at least on the street they wouldn't hop. And we welded the spider gears in the rear axle. They broke loose so instead he sort of built his own "mini spool". With the boost turned up to 0,8 bar I had pretty good hopes - the car felt strong. But a few runs down the strip later it started drinking water and I suspected a blown head gasket. Still, the last run was 14.918s and 146 km/h - a very slight improvement. On three cylinders... Tomas car was another story. 12.789s @ 177 km/h was pretty impressive back in 2003. We had hoped for mid 13s so we were really happy with that. My head gasket was indeed a sorry sight:   But I was not too sorry. This was a bog standard Pinto head gasket, both cars were built on a strict budget and this was really my first failure. I saw as inspiration. I wanted to try out the "hot cam" I bought earlier so I bodged my engine back together (a used YB head gasket) and put in the RL22 camshaft. With standard valves, standard EFI and a smallish turbo this is a mismatch so bad it is almost criminal. Low load was a pig, above 4000 rpm it started to work and at 5800 it sung like Pavarotti. But at 6400 the rev limiter stopped the fun. Still, I raced a 600 bhp Volvo T5 and was a bumper behind at the 1/8 mile... With these things in mind we started to make some plans for 2004. It was apparent that we no longer could run bodged standard EFI systems. Megasquirt&EDIS was released and we got two kits. Tomas was not happy with the HX35 - the wastegated exhaust housing meant it spooled slowly and it was hard to regulate boost. Instead he wanted to try a twin turbo setup, and a hotter camshaft. I wanted to fit a new intercooler, the MS&EDIS of course, and that was about it. Oh, and I found a NOS RS 4-spoke steering wheel at the local Ford dealership!  In August of 2003 I also got married, not that it directly has anything to do with the Capri :-) Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So my own plans for 2004 were pretty restricted. New engine management, new intercooler. As usual it sort of got out of hand a bit and I ended up porting the head a bit more. I actually got it up and running on the MS&EDIS pretty early in the season.  Engine bay a little bit de-cluttered...   The setup here was pretty simple, a 36-1 trigger wheel on the crank, the dizzy was left to drive the oil pump (and the tacho!) and then I had some 465 cc/min injectors. I started with the standard 2,5 bar fuel pressure regulator but soon updated to a 3 bar regulator instead. Right away the car was better to drive with the mapped management. I fiddled a lot with the mapping and the Saab APC system but I kept boost around the 0,7 bar mark. The 1/4-mile times crept down a little but still not too fast, 14.6 or so ISTR. I also took the car to a racetrack (with turns) for the first time in a couple of years. The lack of a LSD was very apparent... Now, Tomas Capri, that's where we spent most of the time. An old friend had bought a glassfibre front end for his Capri (snatched it under our noses) but he offered to make a mould and make a copy of that, and the rear wing extensions too. It was all a replica of the 1974 DTM Capris. Exactly what we wanted to make room for more rubber and twin turbos. Space framing the front end seemed like a very good idea. After many nights we had done this to the poor Capri:  Then we added this:  More late nights and we had something resembling a runner...   Let me tell you, "spaceframing" does give loads of room. It just makes it easier to access the cramped space... Tomas cas was actually the first we started up on MS&EDIS. We were quite nervous because we had gotten the famous old cam grinder Nisse Hedlund to make us a special 2.8 turbo cam. This was after the (at the time) leading turbo company in Sweden had told us that it was useless working with the Ford V6's. Anyway, the new cam had to be run in so things had to work pretty much straight away. We loaded a map from a RV8 and as soon as we had fixed the engine earth strap (we always forget that) it burst into life! The only real downside was that when the earth strap was missing the engine earthed through the braided lines to the oil cooler - so we had a leak. But the engine had to run for 20 minutes... Lucky the tractor shop had bulk supplies of oil! Bonding the rear arches was a pain and the grp front was too short. Strange. We made molds of the original car and extended it but kept on wondering how come... It was a couple of years later when I found a picture of a car raced in the 70's in Sweden I got the picture. The front end was very similar to ours - but on a MkI Cortina! Now we were in a hurry - the front had to go on so looks came second. Or third. Or...  The first test was very exciting. We had also fitted a Mustang II 8" rear axle, with a real LSD, and a panhard rod. Would it drive at all? It did. The only big fault was a large "clunk" every time we braked. It sounded like the engine was loose - but it turned out to be a relay banging against the firewall! We did have problems though as soon as we started running the car hard. It would overheat, spew out some water, and then continue as nothing had happened. We tried lots of things. We though we had it figured. I trailered the car 10 hours to the largest event in Sweden (Tomas was working that weekend), only to blow the headgaskets in the first run. In desperation we spoke to everyone we knew. At last we found someone who had been driving a Fox Mustang (of all things) with a 2.8 (of all engines) in rallycross (of all sports!). He had the exact same problem - but had found a solution. The 2.8 has the thermostat in the lower hose. By moving it to the top hose, all problems disappeared. We did the same - and it worked for us. My theory is that when the thermal load increases, the thermostat in the lower hose reacts too slow. With that fixed other issues were next. Grip was non-existent. We tried rallycross slicks but that was just a marginal improvement - still we managed to win a "unofficial" race on them. But in the end a sponsor got us a set of real dragracing tyres, MT ET Streets. Then the axle tramp started again. I suggested traction bars, Tomas said they were for rednecks with american cars. I said they work. He refused. I said we basically are rednecks and if you win, who cares? He gave in the night before the last race... We made some traction bars out of scrap metal and raided the tractor workshop for door stoppers to use as rubber bushes :-) And work they did! Tomas times were: 12.54 178km/h 8.31 149 km/h 201m 2.02 60f 12.33 180km/h 7.96 150 km/h 201m 1.91 60f 12.08 183km/h 7.74 150 km/h 201m 1.77 60f 11.94 183km/h 7.62 149 km/h 201m 1.71 60f The 11s run was what we secretly had hoped for. This was with a boost of around 0,8-0,9 bar.  I will always love the rear end of this car. Purposeful.  The front was more "something we didn't have time to finish". BTW, see the bulge on top of the dash? That's a shiftlight made from a tractor rear light. I yelled at Tomas for constantly over revving in first...until I tried the car myself. Literally, as soon as the tires would grip in first, it was time for second gear... The 2004 season was over, and Tomas wanted more for 2005. We turned our heads towards E85 fuel (the "new thing" in Sweden then) and 2.9 litres. For my own part, I got a baby daughter in September and that really should have dampened my plans a lot. But that thought of a LSD was lurking... I just had to do something about that. Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The follow-up of this is way overdue but let's see if I can fill in some more gaps. The XR4x4 that donated the engine block for Tomas Capri was still outside his fathers tractor workshop. That got me thinking - it had an LSD rear end, and Tomas would gladly swap that for my work on his car. Free LSD, how hard can it be to fit a Sierra rear axle to a Capri? I took the parts home and started to measure it up. Not impossible, I deemed... So I started to cut holes.  Then, I tried to fill them with something to bolt the Sierra beam to.   I wanted to make sure I could get the car low enough, that meant more fabrication that really necessary. The mounting points are something like 15-20 mm above the Capri standard floor line. But I reasoned it is always easier to space the beam downwards if necessary. Clearance check:  With Sierra wheels it would just clear the arches. This was April or May but still lots of fabrication to do before the car would run. I had set a deadline for the local dragrace, in mid-July, and I got the car running just a couple of days before. But it did run. The LSD was a bonus but I had issues with wheel hop. And the wheels I used were Tomas old front wheels, running narrow tyres. I decided to try my Capri wheels again and see if the arches would roll enough to give clearance.   They wouldn't. Or, maybe they could have, if the arches wouldn't have been made of filler  Time for plan B, MkII Escort forest arches. No, they don't "fit"...but...   Not too far away so I decided they would be part of the plan for 2006. I also decided to do something about the LSD. Gearboxman services and overhauls the Sierra viscous LSD and offered to tighten it up a bit. But before I sent it off, I couldn't resist opening it up to see what's in there. Goo is in there.  While I was "diff-less" I popped some nice yellow bushes into the beam too.  In June 2006 the car was up and running again, now with a wider bum.  Still loads of wheel hop though. Tried messing with the rear damper settings, other springs, and it got a little bit better. The uprated LSD was a nice improvement at least. For the next race I redesigned the boost control system, the Saab APC system was ditched and a new wastegate actuator fitted. The boost was set to 1,2 bar and spool was very quick. But the first round gave no boost at all? I had made a mistake fitting the actuator so it loosened off. Tightened it back up for round two and then I had severe over boost and hit the boost cut hard. Still improved the trap speed by 10 km/h (165 km/h, just over 100 mph). On the right track! Third run with reset boost. Felt great in the water but started running on 3 cylinders on second gear :-( A quick compression test with my thumb showed no compression at all on cylinder no 1. Game over, just try to find a trailer and take it back home. I pulled the engine:  Then whipped the head off to find...a broken follower?!  It does have a slight flaw where the arrow points...not sure if that's what made it snap or not. No other faults were seen so I was a bit annoyed that I pulled the engine. Could I just have swapped in another lifter and continued the race? Well, I decided to get a new set of lifters and put it all back together. The engine ran, but smoked and the compression was still down on cylinder 1. Well, it was worth a try... To cheer myself up a built a chrome strut brace.  But I knew I had to pull the engine again and probably be greeted by a cracked piston. So 2006 was over... Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nice to see you here too Gustaf. Cheers from Finland |
| |
Ford Capri Mk3 -79 2.9EFI turbo, summer ride
Ford Sierra 4x4 STW aka "GABy", winter ride
Kawasaki ZX14
Project 2.9 EFI engine for the Sierra 4x4.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi Hessu :-) OK, formally 2006 was not really over. I still had time to work on the car. October saw the engine out again.  I removed the pistons. Sure thing, if someone wonders what 1,5 bar of boost does to a cast Pinto piston, this is usally the answer:  A cracked ring land. Now, I was not too disappointed. The block was built basically from scrap parts and this was the perfect excuse to try something else. From the short test drives with decent boost (above 1 bar) I knew I wanted that kind of power. So enter some YB pistons and rods! Now, the Pinto and YB are very similar but some differences are there. For example, the YB has oil squirters under the pistons, the Pinto has holes in the rods that squirt. You can modify the YB rods to squirt (!!!) but I felt like keeping things a bit standard - meaning it would be easier to replace things if need be (no need to modify the parts to go in). So I got me the oil squirters from a rwd YB, and ordered a new YB oil pump. No problem there, but the oil pump was sent less lif - the lid that has the fittings for the squirter. The very respectable seller (well known company) stated that "all" YB pumps were sold like that. I managed to sort a good second hand lid, finally. Oh, one important thing. The YB pickup tube does not work with a Capri oil sump. It needs a Sierra sump to clear...glad I checked! Still on a budget, I needed second hand YB pistons too.  But not THAT second hand... No shadow over the seller, it was agreed that I should check if the pistons were suitable. Another set was sourced and the bottom end could go back together. But the urge for power (boost addiction) wanted more. A new turbo perhaps?   Yes, the mighty Holset HX35, twin scroll and with potential for lots of power! Of course a new manifold was needed.    Getting there! This is kind of fun, but time consuming and messy...  External wastegate with pulse split practically all the way to the valve.  Just fits!   The finished article, in June 2007. 6 months to build the engine and exhaust? Well...  Before starting it up, I used an old dizzy with the drive gear removed, to get some oil pressure.  It runs! Almost forgot, I also swapped in a new one-piece propshaft, rewired the engine management and swapped to a smaller alternator. I'm sure I did something else I can't rembember...it was 7 years ago! Time flies... By the beginning of July I was mapping it on the road with a big grin :-) 1.2 bar was all we could get with the injectors at hand. But that meant it was quite quick. The first race was coming up and I swapped in some softer rear springs. A slow start but 13.993 s and 169 km/h was still an improvement. Second run - still a bogged start but 13.587 and 177 km/h, the third one was a bit better, 13.287 and 178.92 km/h. 180 km/h trap speed felt in reach! With all the bogging I decided to try the street wheels instead of the M/T Drag Radials, and that made the wheel hop come back in all it's glory. A marginal improvement though, 12.237s. To beat the 180 km/h barrier I advanced the timing 3 degrees from 5000 rpm and upwards. Still a bogged down start but trap speed went up to 180,54 km/h! Result. Now I decided to try a not-so-nice start. 5500 rpm and dumped clutch - now it boosted from the start line but that burst of Pinto power killed the clutch...slip-slip-slip. But still the best et of the weekend, 13.173s. Time to ponder a bit. Gustaf |
| |
|
|
|
|
. 
