1979 3.0s Restoring a restoration!

[Linky]

Newbie on here and not sure if this is really the right section for this.... so please keep me right gents.

I owned two 3.0 ltr capri's late 80's- early 90's FSS633V light blue 3.0 ghia and KOY14V a signal orange 3.0s. For the last 10 years Ive been hovering over the buy it now button on a few cars but always found a reason not to do it!.

So I bought a lovely example 3.0s in white of Malcom Harris (Malcomrs2000) on here. I work overseas and too this date have never set eyes on the car but from the description that Malcom gave originally when I phoned him a few weeks back, and my friends correspondence after an inspection, I knew that the right car had found me!!.

The car was restored around 2007 I believe by Jim Davidson, who did an outstanding job and bought by Malcolm some time later. The car was originally Stratos silver and was painted white by Jim

Even though the car is in very good condition after the restoration so many years ago I wanted an A1+ example and a Signal Orange car was always at my heart. I also wanted a car that would last for another 10 years + without much needing done to it.......if that possible.

The car was driven to the island by my friend David Flower and is now the capable hands on ALi Macleod. Ali has built many an old ford and his attention to detail and ethusiasm is second to none. Ive never actually seen it in the flesh!!

So the car as I bought it Just before Xmas:



Some imperfections in the LH rear arch:


Slight cracking in some sikoflex:


Slight cracking in underseal:















Im sure most would say the car is in fairly good shape for a 1979 Ford!
So I decided to get Ali to strip it and see exaclty what it was like. My friend Ali and his Dad run a body shop on the Isle of Lewis and after stripping and examing the shell they say its exceptional..... Happy days, a good base for building on.

As of Today:

The engine is being sent to Paul Finch. Paul has built a couple of race engines for my other projects and his skills and attention to detail are outstanding.... More on Pauls work later I hope



Inner wings are very good:




Slight signs of surface rust:












Apart from very slight areas of surface rust and the odd rusty fastener the car, as you can see, is in amazing condition. Every thing will be stripped out and full shell respray.

More to come as I get updates

Hope you guys like
Col

[MattMe]

Nice. I'm quite jealous of this. The car was already in extremely good condition.

Are you planning on keeping it as a show car, or just a dry weather motor?

I have to agree that signal orange is the best colour for a Capri.

[andyd]

Will be interested to see this restored to Orange

Andy

[Fox]

Wow man nice

Makes me sort of jealous knowing that i need a paint job and work done to my laser... Btw what car did that interior come out of? I'm looking for one for my laser...

Cheers,
Fox (Jack)

[Linky]

Nice. I'm quite jealous of this. The car was already in extremely good condition.

Are you planning on keeping it as a show car, or just a dry weather motor?

I have to agree that signal orange is the best colour for a Capri.

Not sure of usage really, I work overseas so don't get back to uk much. I've never been to a show but my other cars are about go rather than show so not sure that's my scene. I'm excited about driving it just not sure when that will happen. I just know I want it well protected and want it to last. Engine is going to Paul finch who's built my race car engines for a "slight" tweek but want the car looking as standard as possible

[Linky]

Wow man nice

Makes me sort of jealous knowing that i need a paint job and work done to my laser... Btw what car did that interior come out of? I'm looking for one for my laser...

Cheers,
Fox (Jack)

The interior is original 3.0s or at least that's what was in my 3.0s many moons ago.
I'm not a reliable source of info on them but I'm sure someone else would be able to tell

[Linky]

Hopefully Malcolm will be able to add more depth to the cars history. I've asked the original restorer for any old pictures also so hopefully we can piece the cars original history back

[ESSEXV6ESSEX]

Nice one mate, look forward to seeing your progress and very good choice sir.

[malcolmrs2000]

Colin....I have more photos from various events during my ownership...I will either email them to you in batches or put them on dvd, although I think I sent you most so you may have duplicates. Will try and do it over the coming weeks.

I will follow the restoration with interest...cheers Malcolm

[Andrew 2.8i]

Hi,
I can tell that you are a man who has an eye for detail. The restoration is going to be superb.

Andrew.

[malcolmrs2000]

The interior is original 3.0S and in exceptional condition. On my Xpack which I will finish soon!!!....I spent a lot of money to get a matching interior...

[Bertie]

Looking forward to following your progress, it's obviously got the potential to be outstanding once finished. Interested to see what's found/done engine wise once it's taken apart...

Cheers, Des

[Linky]

Well Ali Macleod has been busy man last night!!. He's got the car totally stripped and now and on the frames to enable proper access.

Apart from being a little dirty in places the continued inspection is looking very good indeed.



Again some of the seams showing slight signs but caught in time...







Very slight surface rust



Ali says the car has had the LH arch replaced and the workmanship is excellent. The RH arch however he seems to think was just repaired and whilst the repair is good is starting to show signs of need attention.



So he chipped away the filler work and thinks is was just bonded and not welded which has allowed some degradation to start. His expert opinion is that its solid both inned and outer and does not deem a full arch replacement. However some reapirs in this area will be required. This seems (so Far) to be the only area of concern on the whole shell.





Whilst the car is very good I think it was the right choice to go the whole hog after finding the potential issues that would have caused problems in the future years. He plans to blast all of the weaping seams, treat them and primer. The whole floor pan of the car will prepared and have a coat of Upol raptor. ALi's rebuild a stunning Mk2 Rs2000 many years ago with this treatment and there is no signs of any degradation. I did think about getting it bare metal stripped and painted underneath but whilst it looks stunning it's a) not original and b) not usable!
I'm confident that Ali's excellent attention to detail and enthusiam for this wonderfull car will presever its beauty for years to come.

What you guys think?

Col

[andyd]

I think you have done the right thing uncovering any little Nasty's now rather than later.
Nothing worse than doing a job twice, and your body guy really seems to know what he is doing and getting on with it quickly....

ATB

Andy

PS I will want it when it's done

[Linky]

Thanks Andy, agreed I think it was the right time to do this. I want the car to be as perfect as is possible and Im (The wife) not planning on doing this again!!

My other project is still probably 400 man hours away from completion and Im never at home!

Yes Ali is definately the right man for the job and does not mess about! .... You should see his Mk2 RS2000

I'm hoping to get back to the UK end of March so Ive asked him nicely (probably too many times....Sorry Ali!!) if he can have it ready for my return.

[Linky]

Looking forward to following your progress, it's obviously got the potential to be outstanding once finished. Interested to see what's found/done engine wise once it's taken apart...

Cheers, Des

The engine is apparently running well but with little history id rather not take any chances. With that in mind Paul Finch of Finch motorsport will strip and rebuild it. What we find will determine which direction to go with it. Pauls built a couple of race engines for me in the past and his work is really outstanding. The eg33 engine his dos for me recently is a work of art!!

[Caprifan Rob]

I'm well impressed with the work you're doing on this car as it looked great before you started. It's faired pretty well as it was done 9 years ago, you haven't found much wrong. I liked it as it was so its going to look fantastic in its new shade with rebuilt engine to boot. Good luck Col, looking forward to progress pictures.
All the best,
Rob

[Linky]

Thanks Rob,

It's faired very well which is a testament to Jim who did the rebuild. I've sent Jim an email so hoping he will be able to supply some pictures of his original work. I'm trying to build a full folder on the car and its voyage since 1979

[3 Litre Power]

Love a 3.0S

[Linky]

Update time:

Rather than just putting up pictures I thought I would try and give a little background to the people involved in the rebuild of the car as both of them are rather remarkable people from different era's

The engine was removed from the car and sent to Paul Finch of Finch Motorsport. Paul has a long history with engine and racing:

It started in the seventies with Paul building & driving his Mini Cooper in local night rallies, with the odd autocross thrown in. Night rallies gave way to single venue stage rallies with his now V6 3100 Mk 1 Capri, built by himself with good top ten results. This opened a few doors & Paul began building cars for other people,this was in his spare time as he held a full time job at Ilmor Engineering as an engine builder, on the Indy V8 & the then new F1 V10. This did take up a lot of long hours for a few years, so the rally cars took a backstage.

The years at Ilmor proved a very steep learning curve, with the ongoing engine development, including the pneumatic valve, variable intake trumpets & camshaft timing.

The long days & weekends were rewarded in 1997 with David Coulthard winning the first race for Mercedes-Ilmor with the V10 which Ian Sharpe and Paul built.

He enjoyed many race winning engine builds over the 97-98 season with McLaren Mercedes to win the championship. Finally parting with Mercedes H.P.E in June 2009 with the ever increasing cost cutting in F1, & less engine requirements.

Paul has a loyal band of custom for engines & car builds during my 19 years in F1 employment

Pauls Capri V6:





Paul has also developed my race car engine, A flat 6 3.3 L Subaru engine which will be fitted with 2 x GT30 billet turbo's producing 1000+ bhp (TBC)!! There was a huge amount of custom work and development as this was originally N/A






Engine is now in but alot of hours left on this project and being away its not progressing for now:


So onto the V6 essex from the Capri:

Paul has strated the strip down and found a number of issues. Bores, pistons, rods and crank still to be measure up but hoping all will be ok.

Cyl No2 had very high leakage - Broken rings found

Pauls says the mains are STD shells which is good with some wear on No2 and No4 journals

The block has been sleeved at some point also.


The other main issue was the cooling jkt's are very badly corroded like it was run on neat water?


Standard leaded heads which will have seats fitted and cleaned up:


Pauls previous work, as can be seen on my Flat 6 is excellent, so im expecting his usual work of art when its completed.

Probably going down the route of some head and port work and a sensible cam. I was going to go the whole hog but this is not a race car im building!

More to come as Paul gets back to me.