Capri Mk3 1.6/2.0 Axle questions (Drum sizes)

[david656]

Hi All,

I haven't posted here in a very long time really my beloved COD (Capri of Dreams) dream came to an end when after a seemingly endless spend it just refused to work properly even though it had a rebuilt engine, strip and respray and endless new parts and then the carb seemed to give up.

It's now come out of storage after 2 years, the funny thing being with a dribble of fresh fuel, a fully charged battery, turning the engine over by hand a few times and finally priming the fuel pump up to the carb. it started on its first turn over!

I've gone through multiple jobs and an equal number of cars having had an Audi S2 Quattro, BMW E36 323i (rebuilt from the ground up) and now a BMW E34 M5 - so my car knowledge is increasingly more than it was!!!

I've fitted a fresh starter motor to the Capri which has fixed the annoying starting issue it always had however driving it round the block reminded me just how loud the grinding noise was from the rear of the car!

SO MY QUESTION

My capri started life as a 1987 1.6 Laser Capri, it is now a replica 2.0S (interior and external badges).

I think the 1.6 axle diff needs a rebuild however have pulled the halfshafts, cleaned them up and fitted a pair of new wheel bearings.

I think the diff is very low on oil as only a dribble came out the ends when the halfshafts were removed (the diff plug is seized and I just cannot get it out. Should I weld a nut on? - open to idea's

The drums are 8inch however at the scrappy round the corner from my house is an old 2.0GL (rotten to the core) and missing all sorts however it obviously has 9inch drums. Would it be worth me upgrading my drums to the bigger 9inch models (i've taken the brakes to pieces anyway to clean and refurb or replace.

Thanks for this great forum and hopefully my dream can be resumed in time for my 24th birthday in a few weeks time!

[Peter-S]

You will need to take the diff back plate off to get the oil out, the axle itself is not meant to be full of oil so removing the half shafts is only likely to produce a dribble. Obviously you don't want to take the plate off until you can free the refill plug. Have you tried a breaker bar on that?
Drum size won't make much difference so I wouldn't really worry about upgrading 8" drums for 9" unless you are getting parts for free. Most of the braking is in the front so concentrate on getting that working as well as possible.

[david656]

Thanks for the reply,

The diff plug is just stuck beyond belief, we have a plug remover with a breaker bar and one pulling one pushing into it.... it's just started tearing out and rounding off.

When I had the whole axle out I removed the cover and put some fresh oil in (guessing how much it needed) but it is so noisy it is unreal and take it up to 60 and jump off the accelerator.. you'll hear that bad boy howling better than any wolf ever could

Will the 9-inch seriously not make much difference over the 8? Women say it makes all the difference

[Peter-S]

I'm led to believe that if you know how to use it then 1" bigger gives little improvement!

[nigecapri]

Not a massive job to swap the complete axle from that scrapper.
If you can get it for a reasonable price - below a ton is probably reasonable now - and have them mark it in case it's as bad as your own & needs to go back for a refund, then get your hands on it before someone else does.
The ratios won't matter too much for a while.
You'll then be able to run your car quietly and remove the existing axle & either have it in for a service $$ $$ or hunt around for a better 1600 ratio axle.
If the 2.0 axle is o.k. you could then sell it on - minus it's brake parts for maybe more than you paid for it.

[Stewb28i]

Always thought it was only the v6's that had bigger rear brakes...always thought the 4 pots used the same setup.

Does the diff on the scrapper still have the little alloy tag on one of the rear cover bolts (they do corrode & fall off eventually). If it's there it will tell you the ratio.

3.09:1 suggests a V6 axle. 3.44:1 was the 2.0 ratio from memory - not sure what the 1.6 was (or even if it was different to the 2.0).

As has been said the rear brakes don't do a massive amount on the Capri as the car is weight biased towards the front. If you are going for the bigger setup on the back you might need to take a look at master & wheel cylinder sizes as it will alter the bias front to rear - you really don't want to be in the situation where the rears lock before the fronts as that will cause major issues on the road.

Stew.

[Peter-S]

Always thought it was only the v6's that had bigger rear brakes...always thought the 4 pots used the same setup.

Does the diff on the scrapper still have the little alloy tag on one of the rear cover bolts (they do corrode & fall off eventually). If it's there it will tell you the ratio.

3.09:1 suggests a V6 axle. 3.44:1 was the 2.0 ratio from memory - not sure what the 1.6 was (or even if it was different to the 2.0).

As has been said the rear brakes don't do a massive amount on the Capri as the car is weight biased towards the front. If you are going for the bigger setup on the back you might need to take a look at master & wheel cylinder sizes as it will alter the bias front to rear - you really don't want to be in the situation where the rears lock before the fronts as that will cause major issues on the road.

Stew.

Certainly 8" drums on the 1.6 and 9" on a 2.0 at some point, maybe not always, but I don't think they were as deep as the 2.8 9" drums.

1.6 axle is 3.77 ratio

[Laser]

careful with trying to swap drums on the 1:377 atlas 1.6 axle .
you will need the back plates and the drums , before you start just make sure that the back plate and drum line up depth wise with the existing .
I made the big mistake of trying to fitting bigger drums and what i thought were 2.0S back plates many years ago only to discover that the drums would not cover the shoes !
this resulted in leaving a gap where the shoe inner edge was exposed .. needless to say it had to be all swapped back .PDQ
always found the best solution is decent brake fluid flush and old asbestos brake pads on new front discs .
the pads bite really well and you can feel them gripping as for the back ... new shoes and adjust them up to just rub that gives you the pedal height and a more reassuring feel to the pedal .

[david656]

Thanks boys and girls for all the comments and advice.

I think I'm going to try and get the whole axle from the scrappy. It might be a bit stiff but hopefully not seized, the car dials were saying 84k on the clock 'MILEAGE GUARANTEED' sticker plastered over the front of it Apparently the car sat outside someone's house locally rotting for 10 years so i'm guessing the mileage could be correct, the dash looked like it had never been taken apart with all screws where they should be and it even had the pedal plastic cover trim still in place!

My axle has approx 150k on it and probably a lot more as the gauge gave up a long time ago.