Reward! Help me find my old race car

In reply to Gary:

Thanks for the encouragement Gary. I got a couple more hours of work done on the Capri this evening. Life is good!

Mike, the latest issue of Octane magazine (issue #142, April 2015) has a good article on three Capris at a Silverstone track day: an '82 with an injected 2.9 liter Cosworth twin cam, a '78 with a three liter Essex and Weber carb, and a '72 RS2600 with an injected Weslake engine (a replica of the 1972 works LeMans car). Good article.

More progress...

In reply to Gary: Thanks! I'll give it a look.

The Capri is at the paint shop. For the first time in a long time, this is a step forward. I feel like I've passed a major milestone in the project. From this point on, every step is positive.I bought a new fuel cell, and have started building a mounting box for it. This is what I want to end up with:

This is my first welding fabrication job, so we'll see how it works out.

Yippee! I couldn't be happier. It's been four years(!) since I got the Capri back, but I'm glad I am taking the time to do things the right way, including taking it down to the shell to fix the body and having it painted inside and out.

The motor and tranny have both been rebuilt. I know I still have a long way to go, but this is huge. I'd love to have it finished it time to take it to The Mitty since Ford is the featured marque this year. I hope to do a drivers school in '16 and at least a track day or two, possibly my first vintage race.

This, I like!

That turned out niiiiice

Nice!

After many months, the Capri is finally back in the Shop of Good Intentions. The first order of business was to pull the rear axle. I am going to completely rebuild the front and rear suspension, but had to leave the suspension on the car in order to get it to and from the paint shop.

I am pretty sure I will get new leaf springs and I know I will open up the differential. It was leaking and I bet it is bone dry after sitting for so long. Everything will get cleaned and painted before going back under the car.

This is one of the bushings for rear leaf spring shackles. It is inside of the frame. I'll need to figure out how to get these out of the frame and get some new ones installed. Since this is a race car, would metal bushings be beneficial or do I need some rubber or urethane in there?

It was only an hour or so, but it sure felt good to be working on my car again. I have to make sure I'm in the shop every day, even if it is for a short period of time.

That looks really good. I have a soft spot for these cars. Eventually I'll buy one to do a restomod. In my head, a Miata rear cross member should fit nicely where the live rear axle normally goes with an Ecoboost 2.0 for power.

Please keep us posted.

Thank you everyone for the great comments. One of my reasons for posting this thread is to receive input from others on this forum. There is a lot of great experience here. Please let me know if you see me getting ready to make a mistake or if you have any suggestions.

It is so great to be able to walk out to the shop and work on the Capri again! My goal is to work on it every day, even if only for a little while.

I removed the leaf springs from the axle tonight. For now I am going to try to re-use the leaf springs, but they might be the first upgrade once I get the car track-worthy.

The U-bolts were mismatched and will be replaced. I cleaned the spring mounts and panhard rod mount in the blasting cabinet (one of my favorite tools in the shop). I will either paint these items or powder coat everything gloss black.

The rear end itself is coated in caked on grease. I know the rear differential gasket has failed but my son noticed that the front of the differential is also covered in caked on grease so we feel like the pinion seal has also failed. We will make it right either way. I have no idea how to replace a pinion seal, but I will learn how.

I'll pressure wash/ sandblast the entire rear axle before everything goes back under the car.

Awesome car, thanks for keeping this thread updated!

What's the deal with the tan FC? I love me some S4s :)

In reply to WonkoTheSane:

Thanks! The Mazda is my son's, he just got it back on the road after swapping in a 302:

302 RX7

Oh and just FYI all the rear end hardware has been powder coated!

In reply to Skervey:

Thank you!!

A bit more progress. I pressure washed the axle and it is ready o be sandblasted and painted and rebuilt.

I have also blasted and primed one set of leaf springs and ordered some plastic leaf spring liners to put in between each leaf. I really appreciate the help from other forum members when I asked in another post about refurbishing leaf springs. Even if I end up going with new mono-leafs, I have learned something else about the Capri. I also have new retainer clips and U-bolts for the springs.

I also removed the passenger side front suspension. I'll replace all of the bushings and get new struts. I'll take the opportunity to paint everything including the inside of the wheel wells black while everything is apart and I'll be removing the front crossmember to be cleaned and painted.

I wonder of there is such a thing as affordable coilovers for this car? The spring perches have previously been cut, lowered, and re-welded and the springs are from the days of IT racing.

Yet another project in the Shop of Good Intentions:

My dad's '64 F-100. We are removing the worn out Y block and putting in a modern, fuel injected V8 from a wrecked truck or car. He daily-drives it, and wants something more reliable. Might delay the Capri a bit, but that's alright.

There must be petrol in my blood.

A milestone for me...the first piece put back ONTO the Capri! I've been doing a lot of wbork sandblasting, cleaning, painting etc. It seems like the tasks I think will take ten minutes ending up taking all afternoon and in the middle of something I always have to run to the hardware store for another fastener. I'm not stressing over it though, I'm enjoying every minute. I've gotten into the good "habit" of getting into the shop everyday that I'm home at least for a few minutes.

More to come...

Great progress - keep pushing! You are at a great build stage where each little 45min to 2 hr act really shows.