Capri - Happy Christmas

A very Happy Christmas & a prosperous New Year to all my readers wherever in the world you might be.
Not much Capri action around here at the moment as the holiday season is in full swing. Capris are not much fun in hot weather either so my driving is, at the moment, limited to short drives around my neighbourhood.
Take care & best wishes
Ian

Capri - Radio Fix

I haven't done much to the cars lately as both are going pretty well, although there is always something that can be done. The radio in my green Deluxe as been going off & on as there as been some intermittent power supply problem. In other words, a possible loose wire somewhere.
Not wanting to remove the parcel tray & mine has a fair bit of cloth tape with it, I decided that I would try and see what was going on by removing the ash tray & the small panel to the right of it.



This wasn't much help as I could not see the wires leading to the back of the radio. So to Plan B. I decided to try to take out the radio through the front of the dash. So the front cover plate came off & guess what? On trying to find the wires, the radio fell back inside under the dash.



Using a long set of pliers, I managed to get it back & put it back in the slot. That was enough for me as I did not want to mess around with pulling everything else out, so I just put the radio front back on & screwed the ash tray & panel back in place.
I turned on the key & guess what? The radio worked just fine & hasn't stopped since. So work that out!
That's my maintenance for the week!

Capri - 2015 Capri Club Christmas Break Up

Yesterday, the Capri Club held its annual Christmas Break-Up at Harrigan's Tavern, Calypso Bay, Jacobs Well. It is a great spot to have such an event as it is right beside the water and there is plenty of room for the cars to be displayed. We only had eight capris of various models this year but 30 members & partners enjoyed the occasion. Best Capri & V6 went to Ray's beautiful RS3100, best 4 cylinder went to Matt's red Mk1 and best SA went to Greg, who had the only entry! It was even a pretty cool day by Queensland standards so it was even pleasant driving the Capris. I took my white XL & was really pleased how it went. The new tyres seem to have made quite a difference & it cruised along the motorway at 100 kph with no vibrations or wanderings. A good day was had by all.
We shared the venue with the AC Cobra Club so I have included several photos of their large gathering.


(click to enlarge)

Capri - Windscreen Scratch Removal

The windscreen on my green Deluxe has always had a reasonably noticeable windscreen wiper scratch. I have tried at times to remove it but with no success. Recently, I came across this website (Australian), that sold a variety of polishing compounds & equipment.      http://www.polish-up.com.au/

One of their products is a Glass & Perspex Polishing Kit, so I thought I might give it a go. It consists of a Cerium Oxide polishing compound, a polishing wheel & 2 polishing pads. It cost me $35 with postage. This is what it looks like.



There is a set of instruction that also comes with the package so I read it up carefully & started the process. I started by sticking masking tape on the inside of the windscreen to indicate the position of the scratch. This wasn't really very helpful & I replaced that with a black marking pen. It gave a more accurate marking of the scratch.

I mixed the cerium oxide as directed (into a milky slurry) & only needed 1 teaspoon for all that I did. The polishing pad attached easily to the drill & I used a small paint brush to apply the  slurry to the screen. I then started the polishing with the drill. The instructions emphasise the importance of not heating up the screen. So I polished for about 25 seconds at a time & then sprayed a little water on the screen. I kept doing this process for about 30 minutes. This shows the polishing bit.



After doing this for this amount of time, I decided to see if the scratch was actually disappearing. So, I cleaned the outside & inside and to my surprise, the scratch was definitely disappearing. Some more polishing & some more slurry & the mark was hardly noticeable from the outside, yet a little more obvious from the inside. A few more times were necessary & then a good cleaning & I was pretty happy! Here are the before (left - note the mark just above the steering wheel) & after (right - no mark obvious) photos.



Is it completely gone? No. Am I happy with the result? Yes. It cannot be even noticed from outside the car. With some more polishing, maybe the scratch would completely disappear but I was happy with the result, enough to say that this little kit is a good addition to you restoration toolbox.

Capri - Comments on the Blog

Thanks, Bob, from Perth for your comments. Good to hear that there are a few people out there who are Capri enthusiasts and read my ramblings.
I would welcome any feedback, corrections or additions so just click on the comments section at the bottom of the posts & I will get back to you.
I know that there are some readers in Russia, Alaska & the USA so I would love to hear from you.
Regards
Ian

Capri -Misfiring Fixed

For several months, my green Deluxe has been misfiring on a cold start. It seemed as if the engine was running on 3 cylinders for a brief time maybe 5 - 20 seconds & then it would just run as it should. Rarely did it start without  some misfire. Nothing visibly seemed to be astray & I had checked the choke was OK & all the leads were firmly attached.
At last, time for some action & I was hoping it was nothing major. First step was to pull out the plugs. Undid No 1 plug, closest to the front, & there was all this discolouring & gunk on the metal body of the plug. Very interesting! Next plug out & similar discolouring but not quite as much. Plugs 3 & 4 were as per normal. The tips of the plugs were all very similar & with a normal type colouring.
With a torch, I looked very carefully in the spark plug wells of No 1 & 2 cylinder & they also had a bit of rubbish. To me ,it looked like fried radiator coolant. If the top radiator hose was leaking, coolant could run down a passage in the head into the plug wells. Very interesting! The hose looked very normal but I had experienced some spraying of coolant after a couple of long runs and assumed it was the radiator cap. So, off came the top radiator hose.
On first inspection, it looked fine. I then took it out in the sunlight & after probing & pushing discovered a very small split on the underside of the hose, very close to the clamp. I then formulated this theory that each time the car was garaged after a run, the build up radiator pressure caused the hose to discharge a small amount of coolant into the No 1 spark plug well.



So, let's put in a new set of plugs (NGK-BP6ES; $20) & a new radiator hose (Gates 05-0108; $16).

After several starts, no misfiring & it runs properly from start up. It is yet to go on a long run but I am confident the split hose was the problem.

Capris for Sale

Which one would you buy?
These Capris have been advertised on EBay over recent weeks & represent a variety of models in various conditions. The comments are mine & I appreciate that others may have a different opinion.

 

This 72 V6 is said to be in very original condition & even comes with a sun roof. The body looks good but the engine bay suggests that the car has not been running for some time. I would think it would still need a bit of time & cash to get it into top condition. It has been advertised for several weeks with a starting bid of $25,000 & has attracted no bids.

This 71 V8 (4.9litre) looks to be really nicely finished but is one for the rev heads & drag racers. Not really for me! $39,990.

This 73 V6 (2.6 litre) US model looks very original & tidy & has been advertised at a Buy Now price of $14,000 for some time. Maybe not a bad buy if you want a LH drive classic.

A Capri with a difference! This ute conversion would be a real head turner. It appears to be running a V8 but there are no photos of the engine or interior. It is registered in Tasmania with an asking price of $39,000.

From the photos this looked a really nice car. A 69 1600 Deluxe manual with white interior. Everything was original & it really looked well cared for. It attracted a lot of bids, was turned in twice with the second auction reaching $12,101. It was again relisted but disappeared after a couple of days. Perhaps the seller realised he should accept the money which seemed a fair price for this car.

This barn find 70 V6 was first listed at $9000, then re-listed & attracted 5 bids being passed in at $8,300. It was relisted again but disappeared off EBay after a day. It was finished in primer, with sun roof, and all parts included. The LH side engine bay had some strange sections & the compliance plate date was stamped 1207. Its location on the coast north of Perth may have restricted the number of bidders.

This 1970 XL was listed at $6,000 & received no bids & has not re-appeared on EBay. It was located in Bundaberg, looked OK, in going order with all parts. It has had various mods including Celica seats. The body looked OK but it did need some work. I was surprised it did not attract some bids.

This V6 manual in Melbourne was listed for $9000 but disappeared after a few days. It had been stored for 12 years in going order with spare parts. There were only 3 photos so it was hard to really see what had to be done. Also the year model was not shown. Maybe snapped up by a Capri fan.

This 1970 XL manual with light saddle interior sold reasonably quickly for $8,500. It had no rust, recently been repainted and had all the parts including some new bits. Some interior finishing needed to be done. It looked like it could make a really nice car & maybe the price was as expected.

This 71 Deluxe 5 speed manual was fitted with a Weber carbie & extractors. It is fully registered but the brakes need some work. The black interior was all there but the bucket seats were not original. The paint is in OK condition but there are some rust bubbles on the front RH quarter panel. It is located in Clontarf & the owner was asking $8000 via a private sale.

Capri - Jacaranda Festival Car Show 2015

This event has been staged for several years and I have attended for the last three years. However, this year’s event was different & much has changed. In previous years the event was widely promoted by the Goodna RSL Club and there was substantial cash prize money on offer. This year the event seems to have come under the control of the Jacaranda Festival & there was little promotion. In fact, I received no emails, no brochures and only realised the event was on last week by doing a web search.  Another big difference was that it was held in a car park whereas in previous years it was on the large oval. The number of cars was really down on previous years and the lack of promotion & prize money were obvious reasons.

There were about 7 Capris lined up. Two white ones from the Club, Ray’s white V6 & my white XL. 5 convertible SA models from a group of enthusiasts (with their own Facebook page) were also displayed. The car park was full with the usual variety of classic, weird & wonderful.  A few highly modified darg cars also turned out. A collection of VW rat rods were way out there. The attached photos show just a few of the cars.

(click on photos to enlarge)