[Bradstevo]

yeah, had got a job as soon as I turned 16 so have been saving up for that, and all the other extra costs I'm sure ill bump into! pretty sure everyone will agree with me here though that it is definitely worth it if you can drive a car like a Capri!

Pretty unproductive day today, terrible weather meant car had to stay in garage so couldn't get gear box out and start work on the underside.

Took half the wiring out bonnet today, noticed wrapping on most of it was pretty crusty so re-wrapped all that





Try to tackle the other half tomorrow.

Spent most of my time, trying to clean these damn bottles!



as you can see the one on the right come up nicely. however cant for life of me get the other one anywhere near clean!

tried Bleach and water in it overnight, been through dish washer twice and had numerous cleaning agents in it. so stubborn! please post if you have any other methods i could try!

Next worked on the metal fuse box, started like this



Managed to get it out like this




Very happy with how this came out looks a lot better in the engine bay now.

I have started cleaning on the engine now,



As you can see a lot of surface rust, was part way through cleaning here as you can see it has some degreaser on it!

will post some pics tomorrow of it finished and should be getting a lick of paint soon

been contacting some mobile welders in my area hoping to get one to come by this week to get welding done. then can start the painting!

Sorry such a small update blame the weather and my damn quiet alarm! Haha

[wardtimothy]

Brilliant, so glad that your taking the time to get the car ready for when your 17, so much cooler than a saxo, punto, nova gte or whatever the young kids are driving today. Good luck with your insurance quote (it will be worth it).

[Bradstevo]

yeah, had got a job as soon as I turned 16 so have been saving up for that, and all the other extra costs I'm sure ill bump into! pretty sure everyone will agree with me here though that it is definitely worth it if you can drive a car like a Capri!

Pretty unproductive day today, terrible weather meant car had to stay in garage so couldn't get gear box out and start work on the underside.

Took half the wiring out bonnet today, noticed wrapping on most of it was pretty crusty so re-wrapped all that





Try to tackle the other half tomorrow.

Spent most of my time, trying to clean these damn bottles!



as you can see the one on the right come up nicely. however cant for life of me get the other one anywhere near clean!

tried Bleach and water in it overnight, been through dish washer twice and had numerous cleaning agents in it. so stubborn! please post if you have any other methods i could try!

Next worked on the metal fuse box, started like this



Managed to get it out like this




Very happy with how this came out looks a lot better in the engine bay now.

I have started cleaning on the engine now,



As you can see a lot of surface rust, was part way through cleaning here as you can see it has some degreaser on it!

will post some pics tomorrow of it finished and should be getting a lick of paint soon

been contacting some mobile welders in my area hoping to get one to come by this week to get welding done. then can start the painting!

Sorry such a small update blame the weather and my damn quiet alarm! Haha

[Janet]

Nice to see you are doing a thorough job with the rust, cut it out and it cant come back. If you are thinking of removing the wings take your time, drill out the spot welds and ease the wing away from where its been for the last 30 years.
You will get a very clear view of the condition of the A posts and inner wings by doing that, may not see what you want to see, but at least you will have definate proof of the condition of a major structural area of your Capri.
As you say you cant weld, so cost will have to come into it if you are paying somebody else. Finn.

[Bradstevo]

Yeah unfortunatly, but its definitely worth it in the long run seeign it as an investment Was going to post on here how to remove those pesky wings, ill get that done soon, probably Wednesday as I'll have more time. Had the wheels of and had a look under the arches and at A posts briefly. must say didn't like what I saw but ill probably look at tackling that this weekend when i ahve sorted a welder..

thanks for advice mate, first resto I have ever done so all the advice I can get helps!

[Ruaraidh]

Hi mate! First off, welcome along to capripower!! This is a great site with a whole bunch of amazingly clever people that have helped me out a lot in the past!

second, nice to see another young capri owner! I too bought my capri at 16 and spent a year getting it ready for passing my test. am now almost 18 and loving my car more and more every day! It may look like a lot of work at times but trust me it is sooooo worth it when your cruising with your arm out the window getting jealous looks from all the boy racer corsa's and saxo's because your... in A CAPRI!

On the rust side of things mate, i would definately get yourself some new wings. You wont have to worry about it again for a looooooooong time then! As for the engine, have you considered stripping it down and giving it a freshen up? The 1.6 is the first engine i ever rebuilt and have just finished doing mine for a second time after making some additions! It's really simple and gives you a great feeling knowing you built it from scratch!

Good work on the water and washer bottles, i couldnt get my water tank bottle to clean up anywhere near as good as that.. if you want cleaner maybe look for a new old stock item or a replacement?

Also i would recommend you get yourself a capri manual, mine has proved invaluable over the last two years!

[Laser]

Hey welcome aboard looks great for a project ... pm sent !

[Laser]

once you have the wings off post the pictures and ask trev .. steads about panels cause he may work out cheaper than asking a welder to fabricate panels
the idea being post up the grott and all .. trev sees it makes up repair panels , welder just has to attach/ weld in .. just an idea ..

[Bradstevo]

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I cant wait for it when I can drive past everyone's stupid Corsas! haha Definitely going to be looking into stripping down the engine etc, just looking to buy an engine stand because its currently on the floor making things difficult. I'll have a go at getting the wings off tomorrow night and post up some pictures of what I find. yeah that sounds like a really good idea laser, after I post up the pics if you could tells me what you think then that would be great! oh and pm replied to,

thanks for comments and help its really appreciated

[clicon357]

My experience on removing the wings is not to use a chisel where they meet the A-post but to drill out the few welds that are there. I made up a long tool adapter & ground a flat on my spot weld drill. Find the spot welds and put a nice big centre punch mark in the centre - as you are drilling on an angle the drill will wander if you don't have the centre pop mark. Only my opinion but seems to leave the A post more intact with less ripping at the weld points. First photo shows the paint stripped off with the welds exposed and marked, 2nd photo the drilling, 3rd with the wing off. Cheers.

[Bradstevo]

Well woke up with a banging headache today so been in bed most of day. However the Capri was calling so done some work, also really appreciate the advice from everyone and the detailed pictures from Clicon! however started looking at removing the wings today and think they have been welded on in more places than one so ill post a few pics showing and then if you could shed soon light on it again ill get doing them soon as possible.

First off started cleaning out a few of bolts and washers etc from engine bay, most of these were completely rusted and averagely happy with how they came out!
Before



After



Also went I found an oddly shaped brush which was perfect for my bottles haha,



Next started some real work.
dropped the fuel tank,



then prepared it with angle grinder, and power file
halfway through:



Then thick coat of Kurust and Silver Hammerite!



Also did the braces





Again Hammerite and Kurust,

------

Going for silver tank and black braces.

Then got a proper look at condition of rear axle....





So that is going to be a lovely job of cleaning up

Leaf springs:






Is it worth stripping these down and painting? or is it best just to get some new ones? they are quite alot worse than the pictures show..

And now the Front wings, got lots of advice last night for these and had a proper look today, noticed more welding than usual? look like there going to be hard to get off!
Heres some pics:







Sorry for crappy camera work, Yeah I may just be beinG completely stupid with those front wings so just give me the heads up! haha

any advice and feedback would be great!

Turned out to be quite a big post in the ending considering been feeling like death all day!

thanks for all feedback from last time, and special thanks to laser for sorting me with manual which will be a great help and should speed things up a little bit

brad

[Laser]

looking at those wings think again about localized repairs and welding in new steel rather than ripping them off the latest batch of patern wings are awful

[Bradstevo]

Right, no pictures today. as hit a bit of a brick wall! thought id just update with what i have done though,

Removed prop shaft
Finished painting tank and straps
More bolt cleaning

Got all this done in about two hours then set about removing rear axle and had to spend about 30 mins removing each bolt as the rust was so bad! but taking my time paid off as broke no bolts and rear axle is now resting on leaf springs ready to be removed when my brother gets home tomorrow.
tomorrow should have a good update, Gearbox out, Prop shaft + Axle Painted (thinking silver). then going to start the prep and painting on bottom of the car (thinking black) which is going to be a hideous job considering almost no room to work under there however needs to be done!

[grey crayford]

Looks like you're really making good progress mate.
Agree with Francis(Laser) about the state of the latest pattern wings, a mate of mine got a replacement o/s one about two weeks ago, really bad copy-doesn't line up with anything!!

[Laser]

blimey your not hanging about ! and you got the axle off with not snapping a U bolt ... go to the front of the class and collect a sweety!
those leafs will clean up and close up the clips and you will be ok with them .. suggest leaving them on the bolts are a pain to get to
The rear spring shackels will break up unless your really lucky strangely not the nuts snapping off but the hole bolt will pull out of the link

[2.8jonny]

Just to back up other peoples opinions, DON'T remove the wings if local repairs are possible. Patern wings dont fit, genuine ones cost more than they could ever be worth and what you have doesn't appear to be that bad. To gain access to the A post and sill end you can cut part of the lower wing away but don't cut away at the return, (the part where it meets the door) as this will give you yer reference when you come tp put the section back in.

Great work so far and amazing speed of progress, oh to be free of commitments!

Realy enjoying reading your post, keep up the good work.

Jon

[Bradstevo]

Right, today mainly been finishing off jobs, I have found out tomorrow that I have a free day completely from commitments so I will be looking myself in the garage! So hopefully tomorrow ill be blasting the rear underside with angle grinder and the rust in the footwells!

Made all the pics smaller today so its easier to read, tell me what you guys prefer, may not be able to see enough detail with them being this size!

Been mainly doing prep work and painting on parts today

Prop shaft



Covered in Kurust and to be Hammerited tomorrow morning as well as the rear axle!



Again with the rear axle, brother was home today so had some help lifting it off the leaf springs and got the illigitimate out!

Before







partially Prepped




Also did few other bits, e.g Brake drums etc



Next set to work on the bitumen sound proofing, With some handy tips from Francis about not going nuts with the hammer and getting a rhythm going I managed to get it done fairly quickly although still a bit more to do tomorrow
Before



During



After



Found this odd piece that would not come up and that orange smear coming out, filler I'm thinking? no sign on the underside of any damage though so will try see what I can do with it tomorrow.



Now heres a few pictures of what i hope to do tomorrow,






(Rear Valance)

Which i know is going to be a great jumped cramped under my tiny jacks! haha, also going to take angle grinder to the rust patches in floor wells, didnt want to do it tonight as had the drying axle etc in there.

Also whats the general opinion on leaf springs then, posted a few pics yesterday i think ^^^^, is it keeping them on and doing best i can or gettign them off and giving them a proper going over. worth it?

thanks For all the feedback its great hearing what people think of my work, its even greater hearing all the tips and advice im getting as think i would most definitely be lost right about now without it!

hopefully ill have a good big update tomorrow and feel like ive accomplished something! haha

thanks again guys

Brad

[Laser]

Bigger pictures Brad these are a bit small so get a decent look at !
but you have come a long long way in a short space of time

[brookiwayne]

i there matey good work so far well impressed.all the best wayne

[007]

Hi Brad enjoy reeding your stuff, good work so far. I am in the middle of doing up my 3. litre mk3 capri and am fitting an x-pack kit. I have removed my front wings (origional) and they are in excellent condition would you be interested in buying them?
P.S hope you are going to renew that metal brake pipe on the rear axle!
Regards
Rog