The Ford Capri Laser Page

So this is my Capri, a 1983 2.8i injection I got in 2005 for the grand price of £670 with MOT and tax.







After about 5 months the head gaskets needed doing and that was my first experience with messing about with engines. 10,000 miles later the engine was getting worse and worse (I use it as my daily driver and do alot of motorway miles). I decided an unleaded conversion was in order and decided rather than spending £300 on getting the heads modified for unleaded, I spent £200 on a Granada Cosworth with the intention of using the engine. I then moved house just so I could get a place with a garage. Once that was done it was into the garage and out with the engine:




Click to play video:





After taking the ending out I had a poke around it with a screwdriver. It wasn't long before I had alot of holes in my car and over an inch thick layer of rust, filler and fibre glass on the floor! It was now that I started to realised just how many bodged repairs my car has had in the past! Here's a selection:

Cracked weld


Wings had been off before and refitted without proper drip rails










So I started getting busy with the angle grinder but I made a fatal mistake! Now that my 2.8 had no engine, and I had scrappy my Granada Cosworth I had no car! So I bought another Capri to use as a daily driver, a 2.0 Laser for £500 which was very tidy. Problem was that it wasn't powerful enough!


Click to play video:



I started modifiying it and properly caught the pinto tuning bug. I really enjoyed working on it and spent a fair bit of time and money on it. I even did 2 Retro Ford Trackdays!



I've not got the Laser running nicely and its powerful enough to keep me happy. So I've been working away in the garage quite regularly the last 2 weeks.

I started on the lower bits of the inner wings:



No patching here. All the rust cut out and replaced with 3.0mm steel welded in flush:





And the other side:







I saw some bubbly paint, so poked at it with a screw driver and it went straight through! Looks like someone has done a repair on this before:


After a few taps all the rust, fibreglass and filler dropped out and left a large hole:


So I'm gonna be taking the wings off this week and will make a start on welding in new steel to the rusty bits.

youl find alot more than that, the headlamp bowls, a posts, inner wings, lower front sills will all prob need doing
(just going on experience), yours maybe ok

but just so you know it could be alot worse! nice job on getting the engine out though!

You;ve not ben down this way recently have ya (ipswich) apparently theres a white one with blue viper stripes round here---------------
Andy

don't poke the trust dummY! why;'d you think my car is still in one piece...kinda...Steal not my pictures else thou shalt incur my displeasure.....Haydn Barker

Bit more progress today.

Got the front stut off. The 2 ball joint sepreraters I got in halfords were no good, so had to go spend 3 quid on a new one. With a bit of help from a crow bar and jack I got it off. It made a hell of a bang when it came off, thought i'd broke it.



I'm gonna need to reweld the strut tops cos the weld has started cracking



Head lamp bowls needing some work:


Now I'm really not sure what's going on here. There is a rail and I'm not sure if it's part of the wing or if its the drip rail. I doesnt seem to be attached to the rest of the body very well, and when the wing was on there was a gap between the wing, the rail and the body. I'm very confused.





Is this bit i got my finger on part of the wing? Or is it the drip rail?


I got new drip rails on the way, so when they arrive I'll need to reassess how I'm going to attach the new fibreglass wings.

..... made a repair on that drip rail .
Matthew

my motto- if you can't see it it's not rusty....
Steal not my pictures else thou shalt incur my displeasure.....Haydn Barker

Help,

I've found even more rust! I took the bumper irons off to start modifying them to hold my new radiator. I saw some lumpy metal so started poking at it and ended up with a big hole.

I've already put a patch over the outer drivers side bit which I was wasn't able to poke through, and I'm planning to do the same on the inside. The passenger side is much worse and is now a massive hole!

My concern here is that it looks like this was quite a thick area of steel and probably quite important structurally. Will plating it up with 1mm steel on each side be good enough?

Outer Driver Side with Patch:


Inner Driver Side:


Outer Passenger Side:


Inner Passenger Side:


Thanks
-Chris

Blimey, it's one patch after another isn't it!
I had to patch that reinforcing plate on my nearside although my inner wing was still OK only the plate was going - guess I caught it just in time. Imm sounds a bit thin to me. I used something that was probably 1.5mm or maybe a tad thicker, it was just some scrap metal lying around the garage. Passed 3 MOTs since so I guess it's OK.

Nasty isnt it, they all go there.

I don't trouch anything that might fall apart in my hands....
Steal not my pictures else thou shalt incur my displeasure.....Haydn Barker

Like Haydn says!!

DONT POKE IT!!!

By the time your finished the car will be rust free...95% new steel

Good work so far!

I can't help poking at rust, its like popping bubble wrap

I made some progress tonight on the biggest of the holes. My welding is still a bit dodgey but by the time I finish my car I should be an expert. I decided to use a bit of 3mm steels as there were some quite thick bits I had to cut out.

The offending hole once cleaned up and cut to a semi regular shape:


A box of Fruit and Fibre taped over the hole:


Drawn around section from inside:






Tacked in place:


And good as new

That looks like a good strong weld !!! grind it back , clean it up , a dab of under seal ........ Good as new !!!

trust me you will be an expert by the time your done, i was the same, i had never done any real welding till i did the capri, now im pretty good.

its one of those skills that gets worse over time, so weld regulary and your standards will stay high

keep it up, its worth it!

I dread to think what horrors are lurking under my car......I think in all honesty it's not that bad it gets a coat of waxoyl each year and it's got a lovely oily undercarraige, but even so I'm never gonna poke about to check in casee the whole thing falls apart and crumbles to dust in front of me....
I'd love to be able to weld, it looks really satisfying patching up a hole like that and knowing it's sorted......I can solder extremely well, done countless SMT boards and what not, but I don't think that's gonna help me really!Steal not my pictures else thou shalt incur my displeasure.....Haydn Barker

I really do! I used to LOVE welding , or making safe`s and safe boxes as i used to do, fabricating window grilles and lots of olde iron work, then i started working on cars.... either the coil got rusty due to lack of use and started to jamb, I`d run out of gas at the minute I need it or cos I`ll be weling under the car i`d get welding spatter in my face, hair or most painful of all my fecking ear!! Thus I hate it!! But I did enjoy making my own strut brace from a rolled steel bar . But that was arc welding and who doesn`t like that?  So really... I don`t mind welding that much actually, just not under a car
hmmm
Matthew

Yo,

Did some welding on my rotten 2.8 today. This is a hole in the off side. I fixed the same problem with the near side back in the spring. Still loads to do tho. I decided to grind off the weld here to see how it would look. Looks good but took bloody ages! The repair section is made of 3mm steel which takes the place of the inner wing and strengthening plate, so should be nice and strong.

at this rate if you weld up a hole every season youll be done by 2012!

That would imply I only have 16 to 20 holes. I have loads more than that! Need to completely rebuild the strut tops, top of the inner wings front valance and more. Maybe 2040 would be a safer prediction.