The Ford Capri Laser Page

Andrew 2.8i wrote:Hi,
Brilliant dashboard repair, even the texturing looks spot on.
Keep up the amazing work!

Andrew.

Thanks m8! I waited about 10mins after the primer went on and hit it with a small foam roller





Not bad for a first attempt.

I'm making a new fascia for it too.. will have pics soon.

Black brushed aluminum..
Ready for holes to be cut for all the gauges.
12 in total... Won't be much fascia left.!

Glad to hear of another Capri being restored in Canada! I'm presently restoring a Mk1 Capri in Nova Scotia! Your cars coming together very nicely, keep up the good work and keep us updated.

Hey there!
So what ya working on?
If your having trouble finding bits n pieces which is likely, Martin at caprigear in the UK is the chap to speak with. He has sent me many parts.

I have a 74 mk1, originally a 2.8 v6 auto from California. It's not far from completion now with a new coat of Olympic blue paint and a 2.0 pinto (possibly a crossflow due to insurance and my age) with an XR4TI's type 9 gear box ready to go in. I'm not having too much trouble for parts, I take what I can off of my dads mk1 Escort project. I received the Capri not long after immigrating here so we filled his Escort full of parts when we shipped it across to avoid the trouble of trying to source everything here. However, I greatly appreciate the info.

As a recent expat I'm very much enjoying this thread.

Iwan22 wrote:As a recent expat I'm very much enjoying this thread.

Thanks!

Small update then..

Made some engine mounts, came up with this idea of interlocking links that are incased in 80a shore polyurethane.



.


.





Also got rid of the Chinese turbo and picked up a holset. It was quite long in stock form with its internal wastegate so I cut its arse off and welded a v band on.








Done final weld on the exhaust too. Who knows when this will actually see smoke!


.

Hi,
That engine is a work of art!

I imagine that you've spent a lot of time researching it, what are your feelings about the poly engine mounts (excellent work, by the way) being a little harsh for road use?

Andrew.

Thanks, I'm trying to hit serious power but also look good in the process!
I couldn't find anything for engine mounts that I was happy with. The stock ones certainly wouldn't last. If I didn't have drive line angles set up with stock mounts I'd go for those thread spool type mounts and fabricate the engine brackets from scratch.
These will certainly be harsh but theses no metal touching metal so it's as isolated as I can make it in such a short space to work in.
We'll see how it goes!

Craigorypeck wrote:I'm trying to hit serious power

Sounds good!
Do you have a target you're aiming for?

Andrew.

As close to 500bhp as possible! So about 125...

This whole painting malarkey is very frustrating.. I've sanded off more paint than actually got on the panels.
Perseverance is key here.

Nice work

And that Chinese Turbo, please that thing is a giant silver turd. Where the hell did you buy that from! Much better having something from a reputable supplier. the difference will be extreme between those turbos.

I bought it for 50 canadian dollars on local buy and sell.. i actually made money on it... the Holset will do the job way better.

It was an emusa brand turbo... The Honda kids run them hard and het good results. If it lasts a year good enough.. just buy another for pennies and away you go. They can be rebuilt with garret internals.

Photobucket you prick.

Speedhut and glowshift gauges in the brushed black aluminum fascia




Some painting done

Craigorypeck wrote:Photobucket you prick.

Couldn't have said it better myself, ruined my build thread
On a lighter note your car is coming on a treat, great to see it all coming together, it's going to be a great car when finished.

Nice to see what looks like the spare bedroom being used as a car parts store........
This has always been a build thread to keep an eye on, and the finished car is going to be something really special.

Andrew.

Cheers lads. Tried to paint the front of the car and the engine bay over the weekend. All my work so far has been horizontal so the vertical stuff was a balls!
Runs all over the show.
Sanded back tonight and another go tomorrow.

The mother I law landed over so I had to get the painted panels into the basement.... no nice soft furnishing down there to protect the paintwork!

Engine bay painted






This is how the bottom side will look.



All the running gear is black so should provide a cool contrast against the grey.

I also stumbled upon some info about electric power steering.
Most of the units that are supplied or DIY'd require some sort of 3rd party ebay control unit along side the corsa unit, and these can have centering issues I hear.
Some guy has found units that when powered up go into failsafe mode when they don't "see" the host vehicles ECU. They run a consistent level of assist which is pretty good for a conversion as it's kinda in the middle.. so not too much or little.
I got the full unit from a Nissan versa with its remote mount controller for 40 bucks.
I'm really considering using it. 3 wires and it's good to go. Might mount it in the engine bay up against the firewall. On a LHD car there's room over there.

Looking good and nice and shiny