1979 Capri 2.0 "Ghia " - Spraying Bumpers / New TCAs

[nickwheeler]

The fix for your leaking cam cover is the later wide cover, fitted with a set of THESE Although if you have to source a secondhand cover, it ought to come with the steel 'washers' Ford used. Tap the flange straight, new rubber gasket, and you're done.

The diff cover will have a pinhole. Again, a new one(15 years ago all the used ones were just as bad) and gasket with a smear of sealant, plus the extra clamping plates Rallydesign sell is the fix. The handbrake bush is always knackered, a Superflex poly replacement is cheap and will outlast the car. There isn't much oil in the diff, so a Poundland washing up bowl will easily take care of any mess.

Edit:

It's just occurred to me that I have a brand new cover(painted Nimbus grey), with gasket and poly bush that I never fitted to my final Capri. Yours for £25 and a trip to Chatham. I'll help you fit it if you bring the Capri and some EP90

[silver63]

Did this front end mod too mine years ago.Bumper is car colour centre was cut and welded further back for reg plate and clear indicators.

[cjhillman]

Cheers for the replies everyone! I think standard would be better on reflection so I'll probably just leave it for now. I have the front bumper which I bough ages ago for £4  and i've seen a couple of rears on ebay but right now I need to save the money for doing more mechanical stuff: Ep90, Oil/filter change and rocker cover stuff plus I need to do a front wheel bearing/ re pack it on my Escort so will need a puller for that.

Yesterday I had a look at the brake booster/mixture screw as I was told that could be why its dying when i press the pedal. It didnt seem to do it a lot yesterday after it had warmed up so maybe its just that. Just a light touch from the pedal sends the revs to nothing but if you can get past that sometimes its fine. I was going to try and fit the brake pedal bushes but its so hot and I think I might have to take the seat out and lie on my back to do it and I could probably do with moving it to the road to do so I can swing the door open which brings me to this...

The rocker cover it completely F**king me off. (RANT ALREAT) I have used sealant on the gasket on the cover side as the gasket seemed slightly too big for the cover and I wanted it to stay on. Anyway... it doesnt leak at the back but its pouring out from the sides. Also next doors started talking to me while I was fitting it and i lost a bolt  so had to make it up with a 10mm and a couple of washers... This doesnt work . I only went round the block but it still coming out fast. I'll take it off again but and try and straighten out the bolt holes rather than the flat bits. Now i've glued the gasket to the cover thats probably going to get damaged when I start welting it with a hammer though. with loosing a bolt I have just bought some of the ebay hex bolts with the plates everyone uses (don't no what they're called) so hopefully if I can straighten this up It wont be a problem bolting it down. I havent the money for a new rocker cover and rubber gasket (i think they're only for the wide ones right?) right now plus I already have this one which used to be fine.

It doesnt look too bad here but its running down the whole side of the engine. I'm sure i'll get there but it means I cant use it again until the bolts turn up which is another week now and I'm just getting fed up.



I really wanted to be out and about in the summer and with covid/hardly any work I cant spend on it plus I have to look at it everyday. It probably owes me about £4.3-4.5k and I've not had a lot of use out of it... Also, i've seen a nice blue Triumph Spitfire i like so cogs are turning... Next year it'll probably have to go anyway as I'll need a normal Car again and I cant see me selling the Escort because... its works haha!! plus i always wanted one.  Anyway bit of a rant... once I get these leaks sorted i'll be laughing I'm sure Just want to drive it before winter

[cjhillman]

Thats very generous of you mate!! I actually bought one from Capri gear about 2 weeks ago but just havent got round to fitting it yet as it started playing up running wise and it didnt come with a gasket annoyingly and I ended up going round to tickover as I was passing. A shame cus I know the bush is worn on mine too!

Aug 7, 2020 8:11:18 GMT nickwheeler said:

The fix for your leaking cam cover is the later wide cover, fitted with a set of THESE Although if you have to source a secondhand cover, it ought to come with the steel 'washers' Ford used. Tap the flange straight, new rubber gasket, and you're done.

The diff cover will have a pinhole. Again, a new one(15 years ago all the used ones were just as bad) and gasket with a smear of sealant, plus the extra clamping plates Rallydesign sell is the fix. The handbrake bush is always knackered, a Superflex poly replacement is cheap and will outlast the car. There isn't much oil in the diff, so a Poundland washing up bowl will easily take care of any mess.

Edit:

It's just occurred to me that I have a brand new cover(painted Nimbus grey), with gasket and poly bush that I never fitted to my final Capri. Yours for £25 and a trip to Chatham. I'll help you fit it if you bring the Capri and some EP90

[nickwheeler]

Why are you buying standard bolts off Ebay??? There must be an industrial supplier nearby where you could have bought them for a few pence each.

[cjhillman]

Aug 11, 2020 12:20:39 GMT nickwheeler said:

Why are you buying standard bolts off Ebay??? There must be an industrial supplier nearby where you could have bought them for a few pence each.

I wanted the plates that came with the bolts that are designed to apply even pressure to the rocker cover or I would have just bought some from Midnight Motors or somewhere .

[cjhillman]

Hoping to get back to the Capri this weekend. I've been away in this for a week...



I loved it. We went from London - St Ives (stopping in Exmouth there and back). All was well until St Ives and it started to struggle with the hills. At one point it kept cutting out and my misses had to stand on the break pedal while I let go of the handbrake (which was pretty curse word) to give it all it had . Got it back to Devon and turns out the condenser on the distributor was on the way out. I was fuming that this thing wasnt on electronic ignition AND you would rent a Van out like this without a spare set of anything... Luckily the RAC guy had a set for us... what are the chances!! My heart sank when i lifted the dizzy cap and saw a set of points.




Also I've been helping my Dad fit a full width radiator to his 79' Spitfire for his Birthday. (another thread on that)



and tomorrow I'm picking up a spare set of Points for my Escort.... can you guess why!?  I do have a spare set but they're old ones. Also i found some pretty horrible rot coming on both inner wings. Going to get a quote hopefully tomorrow from the body work guys up here but with the Covid situation I'm struggling to think what to sell to save the escort... it might be big and white   







Hoping to get back on Friday and if I find the time re fit the rocker cover which i straightened out on a metal plate in my Dads garage. I think with the new cover plates/bolts I should be in with a chance.

Id like to try and get the Capri down the Pistonheads end of the month Car show down in Surry but, driving it round the M25 might be a bit much if its trying to cut out due to the break servo thing. There is also the Chelsea Car meet the same day so i might try that if not and do the first in the Escort.
If i had the time id work on it Saturday but, I've been thrown a bone and have a days work so its on the back burner again.

[cjhillman]

Well gave the cover a good wacking on some straight steel the other day. cleaned up the gasket and cover then added these bits.


Kicked it up for a couple on mins and it didnt seem to leak anywhere. Will try again Sunday morning, thinking of taking it to Pistonheads meet.

[cjhillman]

Well I missed both meets haha! wrong day and couldn’t find evidence of the other being on. Got the Capri off the drive today and took it to Sainsbury’s and to get some petrol(not from Sainsbury’s). Definitely needs a tune up as it’s drinking fuel like mad and it’s still leaking oil I think, really need to clean it off properly but it looks fresh in places.
The brake pedal/cutting out thing seems to have died down when it’s warmed up more But the idle is way off .
I’ve left it out on the road and going into town for a beer now... might mess more tomorrow. Some guy offered me for it when I was getting it started , I said 4500 and it’s yours!

Fingers crossed I can take it to something in September maybe, I was nice cutting around Middlesex in it today. This week I’m going to do more car stuff as I need to clean up some rust on the Escort for winter , going to try and do the pedal bushes at least .

[cjhillman]

Got these brake Pedal bushes in today... what a difference!!!! I only took it round the block but it felt like a normal Car. Can't believe a few mm of travel could make such a difference.

To do it I guessed it would be easier to take the drivers seat out and lay on my back. only takes 10 mins to get this out and was worth it.
I noticed while I was under there the clutch return spring has popped off. I think I can re fit this by taking the lower dash off and it didnt seem to affect the Car so I didnt address this at the time, also because I couldn't see where It went until someone on Capri World mentioned it later.









It was a bit of a nightmare to start again over these last couple of days so, I think i might get this over to somewhere that can tune it up for me. I'm trying to think of the most cost effective way to do this though. I don't think that Carb is great still so, don't want to spend money on a tuner just to be told that but, maybe they wont say that. Gonna mull it over.

I filled it up yesterday and it seems to be using a fair bit of fuel already only been a few streets so, hence the tuner idea. I'm also worried i'm going to destroy the engine keep doing short trips and if its over fuelling .

Will try take it out again tomorrow. Still trying to figure out if the rocker cover is leaking. Can't believe such a simple thing is making such a mess. I've tried to clean it off with gunk on the road but its going to take a few test drives.

New list will be:

- Indicators (people can't see those front ones)
- Tune up
- Diff cover/Ep90
- Sell old Capri parts to fund tune up (if anyone wants a mk2 Grill )

[cjhillman]

Went out today for a bit of a blast around Middlesex to test the brake bushes. I cant describe how these have transformed the Car!!! Its now a really really nice car to drive!! With replacing all the suspension and steering rack too (last year) Its feeling a really tight Car and now nice to drive. Had to slam on a few times and its wasnt a problem. Odd because the nothing has changed to the brakes since I did all the work them earlier but that £5 pedal bush makes it sold and feel safe.   very happy! 

As i had trouble again starting it the other day and the whole brake pedal making it cut out thing I thought I'd look at the Mixture/ Idle Speed on the Carb. I re watched a tuning video and went back to my mixture screw. I did start cold and realised from fully in, the screw was about 1 turn out. The video recommended 2 turns in the winter so I did that. Fired up lovely, pressed the brakes, didnt cut out   . Went for a drive to warm it up and it did start trying to cut out coming up to lights/roundabouts etc. This didnt make a difference if you pressed the brakes or not. I got to the Car park i was heading too. I messed with the mixture a bit more and noticed the idle screw wasnt touching the accelerator bracket. It was nice after this.
Did a couple of videos/photos and set back off. Got the old girl home and she cooled down, started up again and it was cutting out when pressing the brakes (have a video of this here). I'm sure its not far off and maybe how its set now I just need to let it warm up a little. Still thinking a pro tune up would be good but also, maybe so would a new Carb or.. manual choke. 

Anyway Nice time razzing around in it. Enjoy some pics and a little vid!

[peteh1969]

Looks very Minder.

[cjhillman]

Sept 4, 2020 9:36:57 GMT peteh1969 said:

Looks very Minder.

I'm very happy about this haha.

[cjhillman]

After last weeks cutting out and some advice from other Capri users on a Capri page I went out and bought a few service items. They thought it could be electrical so I got myself a new Dizzy Cap and Rotor arm. The arm is all corroded when I got home so will head back tomorrow if I have time for a replacement. Cleaned up the old one though and put it all back (HT leads were replaced last year).
Fitted the Cap and re did the rocker cover again with some loctite black matter. It shouldnt be leaking oil now and if it doesnt work... I'm going to have a time getting it off Having said that its really really low on oil so, I got a 5L can and filter to go with the service. Again, tomorrow if I have time.
Also, bought some 20w bulbs to fit the indicator holders... people can see me turning now!!!

All very happy but I just wanted to run a noise past everyone here. I'm wondering if its an air leaking kind of noise but it sounds a bit more to me. The car does seem to stumble a little at idle with this but... I'm wondering if its low on oil, an air leak, something catching that I can't see. I'm going to do a compression test again when I can as i'm hoping its nothing to do with you know what a few pages back... tappets all seemed fine when I checked them.

I'd like to say its more on the Carb side but... its really hard to say. You can hear it on the plug side loud enough.

[cjhillman]

Still not found any time to work on the Capri which I didnt expect but i've been doing a little research into why my Carb is plumbed weirdly. Its always confused me as to why the return doesn't come from the same place as the fuel "in" pipe. apparently someone has piped the return up to an air vent. I guess from other Capri guys, it must have been overflowing and because of that someone did this. Thinking of buying some new fuel hose and re piping this (the old return looks like water hose too me)

Maybe this is my running problem. I guess if fuel comes out then somethings is up with the float. I'm suprised this vent seems just open normally and right above the inlet manifold... isnt this a fire hazard? 


lame quick video of my normal speed indicators... very happy with this!! the fast ticking reflected the anxiety this Car used to give me... not anymore though. I think its really coming together now. 


This weekend I need to revisit Midnight Motors in Watford to replace the rotor arm that was rusted.
Oil change
Try re plumbing the carb return.
New stick on number plate needs to go on

... Go do some driving, I hope

[fiestaholic]

i think this may help

[cjhillman]

Sept 10, 2020 23:15:28 GMT fiestaholic said:

i think this may help

This is exactly what’s I needed!!! Thank you!!

[nickwheeler]

fit the fuel return correctly, and block off the vent. Well worth a few pence spent on hose. If nothing else, this will help the car start after standing for a few days.

If the carb was overflowing, fixing the problem would have been the smart thing to do. It's only half a dozen screws to lift the top and sort a sticking or damaged float/valve.

[cjhillman]

Sept 11, 2020 8:13:22 GMT nickwheeler said:

fit the fuel return correctly, and block off the vent. Well worth a few pence spent on hose. If nothing else, this will help the car start after standing for a few days.

If the carb was overflowing, fixing the problem would have been the smart thing to do. It's only half a dozen screws to lift the top and sort a sticking or damaged float/valve.

To be honest I didnt know overflowing Carbs was a thing. When I rebuilt it I just put it back how it was so i'm wondering if the float is set wrong. If thats the case I need to figure out how to set that. I know its only a few screws so I might have a look as the fuel should have drained off.
Any idea how to plug up the vent properly ? I know the pipe thats in there is just pushed in.

[nickwheeler]

Sept 11, 2020 15:32:49 GMT cjhillman said:

Sept 11, 2020 8:13:22 GMT nickwheeler said:

To be honest I didn't know overflowing Carbs was a thing. When I rebuilt it I just put it back how it was so i'm wondering if the float is set wrong. If thats the case I need to figure out how to set that. I know its only a few screws so I might have a look as the fuel should have drained off.
Any idea how to plug up the vent properly ? I know the pipe thats in there is just pushed in.

Cap the vent the same way your fuel return is.
any Haynes manual that covers Pinto engines will tell you how to setup the float. Do ensure that it does still float!
I've never found any need to adjust a DGAV beyond how it came from Ford, they're very robust reliable carbs unless someone has been messing with them