Disaster after disaster

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MiddleJoe77
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 4:53 pm
Car(s): Ford Capri laser 1600 (first car and daily)

Disaster after disaster

Post by MiddleJoe77 »

Okay, I'm new to this group and I have hardly any experience with Capri's I'll admit, but I swear my new and beautiful mk3 just dislikes me. When I got her, all that was wrong with her was wiring, imbalanced carb, and a sticking wiper motor. But so far, in try to take out the dash I've found a horrendous mess of wires, a majority of which was shoddily connected and barely insulated, several of the screws holding in the dash has stripped themselves, the alarm decided to just start going of for no reason (okay, not to do with her originally but part of her now) and the bonnet catch and cable not popping the bonnet without going in from the front and pulling on the cable and pushing the release lever. :banghead: I've now got more of her parts in sitting in the cabin to go back on than I've had hot cups of tea, not to mention the number of screws/bolts/washers/random tiny bits there are sitting in the centre console. I know they are old girls and can strop from time to time, but all this seems ridiculous. Oh, and she has a slow leak in one of her tyres. :doh: feel like everything I fix is replaced by something else slightly harder to fix and eventually goes wrong again. :banghead:
Joe
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Arya2.0S
Posts: 1249
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:23 pm
Car(s): ford capri 2.0 s

Re: Disaster after disaster

Post by Arya2.0S »

Dude i know how you feel. I think all of us can relate to this, at least those of us who choose to take on and look after these old bitches ourselves rather than just paying someone to do all the work for us like some lucky, rich car collector who sends their cars off to some high paid mechanic every month for a check up.

But unfortunately thats all part of the "fun" i suppose. Its once you get everything sorted and working properly, nothing beats that sense of satisfaction you get seeing everything work, especially once you start driving them and seeing people look and point in admiration, be it casual bystanders or other drivers or car enthusiasts.

Thats what its about at the end of the day, so try not to let it get you down, and thats coming from someone who has literally had nervous breakdowns because of his Capri more than a couple of times only in the last few months (see the more recent posts in this thread to see why viewtopic.php?f=16&t=44995).

Have you got some pictures of your project? Dont forget this forum is a sea of great knowledge and full of friendly dudes always willing to help out if you ever get stuck. Dont be afraid to ask!

Wish you lived closer i'd offer to come by and help out. When i can casually work on a Capri and i dont have to worry about getting it to work or else im stuffed (like i do when something major goes wrong on mine as its my only car and without it im stuffed) i love working on them.
MiddleJoe77
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 4:53 pm
Car(s): Ford Capri laser 1600 (first car and daily)

Re: Disaster after disaster

Post by MiddleJoe77 »

Cheers man. I'm slowly working through all of them. I just guess because I can't drive her yet I'm getting antsy about the whole deal... I have been using the knowledge in the forum a whole bunch, like being able to take the grill off to get the to latch easily to release the bonnet. Turns out the cables stretched loads. :doh:
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Arya2.0S
Posts: 1249
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:23 pm
Car(s): ford capri 2.0 s

Re: Disaster after disaster

Post by Arya2.0S »

MiddleJoe77 wrote:Cheers man. I'm slowly working through all of them. I just guess because I can't drive her yet I'm getting antsy about the whole deal... I have been using the knowledge in the forum a whole bunch, like being able to take the grill off to get the to latch easily to release the bonnet. Turns out the cables stretched loads. :doh:
Well at least you know how to fix one problem now ;-)
Paul G
Posts: 1857
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2015 5:21 pm
Car(s): MK 3 3.0S needing restoration, 2.0S, 1.6 Laser (nearly ready), Skoda Octavia VRS, VW Polo 1.4CL
Location: High Wycombe

Re: Disaster after disaster

Post by Paul G »

MiddleJoe77 wrote:Cheers man. I'm slowly working through all of them. I just guess because I can't drive her yet I'm getting antsy about the whole deal... I have been using the knowledge in the forum a whole bunch, like being able to take the grill off to get the to latch easily to release the bonnet. Turns out the cables stretched loads. :doh:
Old cars can be fun, apart from age you also have to contend with other people's modifications (ie. bodges) and their cock ups and short cuts when they did things to the vehicle. On my Laser I had to remove fibreglass A posts in order to mend the bloody thing properly!

Re your bonnet opening problem I suggest you put some grease around the latch and on the catch (big thing with large spring) up on the inside of the bonnet. Second thing you need to do is to slightly raise the bonnet buffers on the slam panel by the triangle light access panels. Be very careful doing this as they almost certainly will have rusted in. I suggest pulling off the rubber caps then heating each one with a small blowtorch before loosning the locknut and trying to unscrew them a bit. Do not force them as they WILL snap off if you're not careful. They should be adjusted so that they are just applying slight upward pressure on the bonnet without actually holding it up. Also make sure the rubber buffers that go along the inside drip rails of the wings are present and correct. The bonnet cable can be tightened up by loosening the cable clamp and pulling it slighty backwards but again watch out for snapping bolts! If the cable is badly stretched it's best policy to fit a new one.

With the old immobiliser/alarm I would suggest you follow each wire coming out of its control box along the loom and carefully disconnect it, throw it over the nearest hedge and make sure all the insulation on the Ford wires is intact or bind it with loom tape. The immobiliser/alarm could be replaced with a new good quality one if you wished but old ones are more trouble than a van load of monkeys.

The clips that the dash screws go into should be easy to replace, try screwfix, ebay or one of the Capri specialists like Capri Gear or Nial DIamond to name just two.

Finally the slow puncture. Alloy wheels have a tendancy for the lacquer to peel allowing corrosion to set in on the inside of the rim where the tyre is seated. This part is called the bead of the tyre. When the corrosion starts air can leak out causing tyres to slowly go down. You could test it yourself by laying the wheel/tyre on a flat level surface and pouring a bit of water with washing up liquid in it around the bead area. Any leaks will show up as bubbles. Cure - 1. bodge - a tin of tyre weld in the tyre - 2 - take tyre to tyre shop, get them to remove the wheel, sand down the cruddy areas and refit tyre with black gooey bead sealant (a rubber based sealant) around the bead.
MiddleJoe77
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 4:53 pm
Car(s): Ford Capri laser 1600 (first car and daily)

Re: Disaster after disaster

Post by MiddleJoe77 »

Cheers Paul, I'd already put grease on the latch out of simple new car upkeep steps, but would never have thought about checking the rubbers, will have to to that this morning.
With killing the alarm, problem with that is a previous owner has put in a mess of his own loom and would take an age to fix so will have to be a weekend job...
First things first though, that slow leak in gonna look into this morning, chuck some air in and do the bubble test, annoyingly enough, my spare pepperpot has a tyre with a massive tear in it so that's useless. :doh: Think I have an extra extra in the boot as well.... Good think I didn't drive it for a 2 hour drive down motorways on the way home when I bought her. Oh wait. :lol:
Joe
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