My 1986 capri laser project

Use this forum to post threads of ongoing Capri projects and restorations.
fordperv
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My 1986 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

its about time i introduce you all to my capri project thats been sat at my mums for a few years, ive had this car since 2008 as all of you will remember this was before they became subject to omgoldfordtax, ive copied and paste from another site to get you all up to date

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I loved driving this car looking down that long bonnet

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it was my daily car up until 4 years ago when i had an unfortunate accident, a roundabout was covered in diesel, i went around and understeered and hit a railing, there was nothing i could do

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The accident crumpled the inner wing, headlamp bowl, wing, valance, bumper, it bent the steering arm, buggered the rack and arb mount, a good mate popped up and we heated the headlamp bowl and pulled it straighter with a chain and pulley on a telegraph pole, another mate whose a breaker raided his parts for replacements for me and i got it looking like a car again so i could drive it, my insurance cat c the car but i wasnt too fussed, i drove it up until the m.o.t ran out then parked it up at my mums to work on as i had no space, i started collecting as many new parts as i could for it, i even bought another to break in my neighbours drive which i cut the inner wing out of as a repair section, the only downfall is mum works nights so i cant start tin bashing in the day, so i mainly did mechanical things, she used to get no end of people door knocking to buy it, a week ago I decided to make some space and actually fire into it, so i popped up put a battery on and she fired into life, the brakess were still free, it's like it was just waiting to be saved

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I then proceeded to strip it down, Look at the twist in that headlamp bowl

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surgery begins

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I also had to do a rust repair to the inner wing and the strengthener but havnt got a picture



Bring in the replacement

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Grafted in

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You notice the wing rail is rotten but before i could replace that i had to repair a common rot spot, i replicated all 3 skins as i wanted it to be spot on

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Then it was time for the wing rail

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The rust marks you can see in the pictures on the crossmember etc are literally that, a tickle with the flap disk and its clean steel

A couple of hours to kill so decided to do a bit on this, i made 1 or 2 small holes on the a pillar behind the wing so cut the area out

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The inner structure cleaned up nice, most of the area i removed was shiney steel but there was a rust peppering

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A bit of hot metal glue

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Welds flapped back a bit and primered, i havnt flushed them properly, this will get done at the prep and paint stage

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I also let a patch in just under the scuttle but it was that small its nothing to write home about, next up the bulge at the front of the sill, i hit it a few times with a hammer and made a hole but im in no way surprised they all rot there, i am surprised at how good the regular capri rot spots are though I expected to weld much more

We're pretty much up to date with the repairs, i'll update when i can, when everything is done metalwork wise, im going to be doing an engine conversion to give it a little more go
Last edited by fordperv on Tue May 16, 2017 5:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
fordperv
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

Well it was dry today so i decided to fire into another couple of jobs on the front panel, both ends where it meets the wings were rotten

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Repair section

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Welded in
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2 patches were required lower down as well, ive got to trim the length of the repaired parts at the top as well

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Whilst I was doing this mrs fp popped out with a parcel for me, it was the sill end repair panels so i proceeded to do the passengers side to complete the repairs there

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I cleaned up and sorted the rest when i had took the picture

Repair patch i made up for the edge

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All done, i may have to cut the lower lip off a little but that can come when i fit the wing and ill grind the welds down another day

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fordperv
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

Well today's job was to remove the rest of the old slam panel sort the fitment of the wing and trial fit the panels, the wings i am using are pattern because this is not a money no object build, im simply making a tidy usable car they are old pattern not this new Shoite they are selling now, I had to hammer and dolly the back edge where it fits to the scuttle to close up the gap at the top edge of the door and the edge at the bottom by the door gap to bring it in line, as with any great magician i utilised my glamourous assistant (the mrs) to help me put the replacement bonnet on and to get the gap right to the drivers wing that hasn't been disturbed so I know it's true, then proceeded to offer the front panel up, get the gap for the wing then drill and bolt it in place, im quite chuffed with the results

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I'll have to do a little dollying around the headlamp aperture to make it as perfect as i can, im around 50 hours in on it now which I don't think is bad going
fordperv
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

I did a bit of digging in the replacement headlamp bowl and found a couple of areas around the mountig lip that needed attention so i repaired them and trialled the headlamps and grille on to make sure they all lined up, which they did :D

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Seeming as im adding power to the old girl when I do the engine swap, i thought I'd better add some strengtheners to the shell, they were roughly the right shape but required a lot of hammer and dollying to get the right profile around the strut tower and along the inner wing,

You can see the difference in shape in this comparison picture

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All done

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I'm roughly around 60 hours in now
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Arya2.0S
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by Arya2.0S »

Slick work my friend. The damage looks almost the same as the damage my 2.0 S suffered last October, though no where near the same level of mechanical damage, apart from exacerbating and already worn anti roll bar bush and strut top mount.
You are doing great work though, and great to see you saving her!
BTW, whats that tasty Sierra all about?
You mentioned you are swapping engines, what are you planning to go for next?
Looking forward to more updates.
fordperv
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

Cheers mate

The 3 door sierra is my baby, its my first love and has great sentimental value, my dad bought it for me on fathers day 2001 (i was 16) and it has a massive story around it, its been rebuilt and is currently waiting for my mate to get it in his bodyshop for paint, im building a fresh yb for it for when its painted. The cars dedicated to the loving memory of my dad who sadly passed away in March this year, he's the one who sparked my love for cars from an early age and taught me mechanics on capri cortina and Granada when I was a boy

I'm putting a C20XE (vauxhall red top) in the capri for a giggle, as standard it has a little more than 2.8i power, revs great and can take a beating, i have one sat here that owes me nothing at all, im building it for a laugh more than anything just because I can but im not doing anything thats not reversable to the car
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D366Y
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by D366Y »

Love the work you've done, I remember seeing he crash damage a while back so good to see the progress, and always great to see another one saved!

As Arya said, great quality as well

Keep it up!
A wise man once said... "you can never have too many capris - buy another" :beer:
It's me, I'm the wise man.
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Fordoholic Nick
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by Fordoholic Nick »

Yep, as already been said great work fella ! Its really coming along a treat and to a very high standard of work too. Thanks for posting the pics. Cant wait to see more updates. Wont be long before you will be staring down that bonnet again :)
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fordperv
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

Cheers folks 8-)

Well it stayed dry for a while yesterday so I saw my chance to remove the drivers wing, I was quite surprised with what was under there, yes there are a couple of areas to address but no where near how bad it couldve been, I popped a bit of primer on some bare areas id made inspecting after id removed it,


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It rained shortly after the picture so its wait for a dry day now
Caprifan Rob
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by Caprifan Rob »

All credit to you for, firstly, having the skills to do all the bodywork repairs & secondly, to be doing them outside around the weather. :applaud:
It's great that you've got history with the car which must really help your enthusiasm to press on. Great story with the Sierra too, looks good & I guess that's something you'd never sell, I know I couldn't.
Best of luck with both of them :cheers:
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Arya2.0S
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by Arya2.0S »

Why dont you get one of those cheap pop up gazebos then you dont have to worry so much about the weather?
fordperv
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

Funny enough the mrs was onabout a gazebo to keep the rain off my head :guitar:
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Arya2.0S
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by Arya2.0S »

fordperv wrote:Funny enough the mrs was onabout a gazebo to keep the rain off my head :guitar:
Its what i would do and you can get a cheap one and then work to your hearts content! Car will be back on the road in no time then! Waiting for this countries' weather to be good, we'd never get anything done! lol.
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Will01
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Re: My 1986 capri laser project

Post by Will01 »

Lots of work but defo worth it in the end
Plans have changed to just make a good fun Track Car :)
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pbar
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Re: My 1985 capri laser project

Post by pbar »

Caprifan Rob wrote:All credit to you for, firstly, having the skills to do all the bodywork repairs & secondly, to be doing them outside around the weather. :applaud:
Yes, I second what Rob says there, seeing work done like this and outside, shows real dedication and willpower. I love seeing threads like this, working outside with tools scattered around, brilliant. Really hope you are able to keep going until it's done.
fordperv
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Re: My 1986 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

Cheers for the kind words folks

Today's job was to repair the inner wing and under the scuttle, again this side i had to replicate the 3 separate skins, this is what I cut out

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After I welded that up i proceeded to cut the wing rail off, unfortunately whilst i was doing it i got a bugger of a spark shoot through my goggles and lodge itself in my right eye so a trip to a&e was required to remove it, when I got back i popped back out and welded the replacement rail on and added the inner wing to strut strengthener as per the other side

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I'll grind the welds back another day, the only part i ground back was behind where the strengtheners is mounted so it sits nice.
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pbar
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Re: My 1986 capri laser project

Post by pbar »

fordperv wrote:
After I welded that up i proceeded to cut the wing rail off, unfortunately whilst i was doing it i got a bugger of a spark shoot through my goggles and lodge itself in my right eye so a trip to a&e was required to remove it
Goodness me, glad it wasn't too serious! You must have a good A&E department to get it sorted and have time to go back and finish off, you can be sat in ours for several hours.

I got something in my eye once, one evening, and I was sat in A&E for that long, into the early hours of the morning and still hadn't been seen, so just went home as I had to get up for work.
fordperv
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Re: My 1986 capri laser project

Post by fordperv »

Our a&e is great for foreign objects in the eye, ive always been dealt with very quickly (within 1 hr 30) so im thankful for that
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Arya2.0S
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Re: My 1986 capri laser project

Post by Arya2.0S »

Pretty badass of you to get injured like that then just go back to work! I would have taken the rest of the day off lol.

I was in A&E because of immense stomach pains, waited for hours until i was seen and turned out i needed my appendix out, and not a moment too soon either as the surgeon later told me it was about to rupture!

Could have happened there and then while waiting in A&E all bloody day, still they took good care of me afterwards and it didn't bankrupt me for the rest of my life like a procedure like that would in the US so cant complain too much. Shame May and co want to dismantle the whole NHS and privatise it.
If that happens we'll have to pay £1000's just for a visit to A&E like they do in 'Murika.
andyd
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Re: My 1986 capri laser project

Post by andyd »

Interesting thread....Post some Sierra pics when it's done :D

:goodluck:

Andy
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