What will fit my mk3?

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CJBManchester
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Car(s): 1.6 1983 capri for sale

What will fit my mk3?

Post by CJBManchester »

So I bought a 1.6 mk3 capri recently and im planning to do some work on it.
I want to replace or re upholster the seats and will decide once i have looked at some seats.
What seats will fit inside of the cari can I just go and buy a modern race seats and get them fitted?
Also im swapping out the engine for a 2l pinto or a cosworth engine. Would a 1990s sierra engine be an easy swap or do i need alot of extra kit?
Also Id like to get a set of american muscle style wheels for it have any of you got links to good places to get those?
Thanks.
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Arya2.0S
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Re: What will fit my mk3?

Post by Arya2.0S »

No engine swap is "easy" unless you are swapping it for one of the same kind. A Cosworth engine will fit, but its a lot of work and very expensive, and you will need a different cross member as well as tons of extra wiring as the looms are completely different. Same goes for the Sierra engine if it has the EFI unit on it, dont think you'll need to swap the cross member with that one though, but either way its a huge undertaking.

As for seats i think anything out of another Capri will fit so long as you get the runners with them. Its just four bolts at the end of the day. Racing seats will probably require some extra work and modding depending on what you get, just as with the engine swap nothing is as simple as "bolt on" when you are changing things from what was designed to live in the car to something which was designed for something else thats completely different.

As for rims, again you need to know exactly what you want because theres offsets and clearances to think of. Dont want to get wheels and tyres that will foul the arches. I think you can have an offset of up to 7.5j on a Capri, but depending on what tyres you have you could run into issues, but 7j's are usually fine and you dont have to worry about the tyres rubbing.

Slot mags have that "American Muscle" look, i'm partial to some Superlights myself: Image
Not_Anumber
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Re: What will fit my mk3?

Post by Not_Anumber »

Hi CJB. That sounds like some good starting advice from Ayra. Something to bear in mind is that if kept standard or only subtly tweaked your Capri will be worth a fair bit more when you come to sell it in a few years than it is now.

If the interior is ok but just doesnt interest you then my advice would be to dry store the old seats and door cards in a loft or garage somewhere when you find something else to go in because original interiors from lower spec models are disappearing fast. Its a fact that so many low to mid spec Capris have had their interiors thrown away in favour of ones from S or Injection spec cars that they are getting harder to find. Even bog standard types of Ford steel wheels that were being thrown away a few years ago are now being saved as the more that disappear the more desirable they will become.

I can vow that probably the easiest engine swap in the world is a 2.0 Pinto in place of a 1.6. Done it several times and it doesn't upset the car's originality either.
Is a Sierra 2 litre engine a good idea; absolutely but make sure it's a Pinto. The later 2.0 Sierras had the DOHC engine which was quite a different beast that would involve more work to make it fit. There were plenty of 2.0 Pinto engined Sierras made and if you can get a Sierra Pinto which had injection on then go for it, in fact dont let the seller out of your sight. The injection system for these is really simple if you happened to have the whole donor car but anyway you can just bolt on a bog standard 32/36 Weber and inlet manifold. This version was a nice development of the Pinto as it had the strong 205 block, a better flowing cylinder head, runs nicely on unleaded and has a few bhp more than the earlier Pinto. I built one with a hotter cam for an MK Indy and it went like stink.

When you mentioned the Cosworth engine did you mean the YB, 4 pot Pinto based Cossie from the Sierra or the 24 valve 2.9 V6 lump which is a popular replacement on here for the 2.8 ?

Chris
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Peter-S
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Re: What will fit my mk3?

Post by Peter-S »

CJBManchester wrote:Also im swapping out the engine for a 2l pinto or a cosworth engine. Would a 1990s sierra engine be an easy swap or do i need alot of extra kit?
If it's a swap for a 2.0 pinto out of a Sierra then that's about as simple as it gets. Effectively a straight swap. You should really get the bigger flywheel and clutch for a 2.0 and you may need to tweak the carb a little. If you don't already have a Weber 32/36 then I should get one.
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CJBManchester
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Car(s): 1.6 1983 capri for sale

Re: What will fit my mk3?

Post by CJBManchester »

Thanks for all of the advice guys.
Im after fitting power steering to it to but as expected the power steering racks are rare.
Can i fit one from a transit van or other vehicle?
CJBManchester
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Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:46 pm
Car(s): 1.6 1983 capri for sale

Re: What will fit my mk3?

Post by CJBManchester »

i found a 1996 n reg 1.6l escort power steering rack would that do the job?
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