Sunday 30 August 2015
Capri - Jimboomba Car Show 2015
I intended to drive my XL to the Jimboomba Car Show & Swap Meet but as I written in the previous blog, tyre trouble got the better of me & I drove down in a more modern Subaru. It is organised by the Early Ford V8 Club so consequently, quite a few early Fords. There were quite a few swap sites but, as usual, nothing for Capris. Here are some photos, mainly old Fords.
Capri - Radiator Cap & Tyre Troubles
Not much doing, Capri wise, over the last few weeks until this weekend. I have been having troubles, after long runs with my green Deluxe, with it losing water or having water sprayed over the engine bay. After a lot of looking, I am sure it is the radiator cap. I replaced this before the All Ford day but a similar thing happened after I parked the car at home. So, a new cap with 15 psi instead of 13 psi. Haven't tested this over a long run so we will see. Some club members suggest that there is a difference in the recovery type caps & the old style caps and that the former have a lower pressure rating allowing the water to flow out. I need a bit of a run to test the latest one I have on.
Yesterday, I took both my cars for a short run and arranged them so I could drive the XL to the Jimboomba Car Show. About 30 mins later we heard a very loud noise like an air cylinder exploding. Thinking it was next door or someone working in the street, I didn't do much more about it for a while. Later I went down under the house & noticed that the rear RH tyre of the XL was flat as a pancake. That was what the loud noise was! On checking the tyre, the valve stem had ruptured & split with a long gash. Have a look at the photo. Not good! I am just glad it did not happen on the road. I have been worried for some time about these tyres so this is a bit of a lesson. To make matters worse, the spare tyre I put on so I could move the cars around in the garage also went flat! So, the moral is - don't be so tight & replace the old tyres!
Yesterday, I took both my cars for a short run and arranged them so I could drive the XL to the Jimboomba Car Show. About 30 mins later we heard a very loud noise like an air cylinder exploding. Thinking it was next door or someone working in the street, I didn't do much more about it for a while. Later I went down under the house & noticed that the rear RH tyre of the XL was flat as a pancake. That was what the loud noise was! On checking the tyre, the valve stem had ruptured & split with a long gash. Have a look at the photo. Not good! I am just glad it did not happen on the road. I have been worried for some time about these tyres so this is a bit of a lesson. To make matters worse, the spare tyre I put on so I could move the cars around in the garage also went flat! So, the moral is - don't be so tight & replace the old tyres!
Monday 10 August 2015
Capri - Tail Light Troubles
I haven't had much to blog about lately as I haven't done much to the Capris but as with all classic cars there is usually something to fix or improve.
When I was driving to the All Ford day several weeks ago, I discovered several electrical problems. The RH tail light was not working, the instrument backing light was not working and the wipers were not working.
Putting it off for a few weeks as I don't really like climbing under the dash, I got to it last week. Firstly, the tail light should have been easy as it often means the clips have come off the bulb holder behind the cover or the holder is not earthing properly. Not so, as both of these were firm & in place. The strange thing was that the RH brake light & indicator were working OK. A quick test with my test light indicated no current was reaching the RH tail light wiring in the boot area.
This also means the number plate light & the reversing lights were not working as their circuit is linked with the RH tail light. Strange! The Capri had two circuits, one for RH & one for the LH. After a lot of reading the wiring diagrams & looking around in the boot area, I could not find any reason why the RH circuit was not working. The wiring diagram indicates that there is a connector under the dash where the rear RH circuit links in.
Again, being very reluctant to remove the parcel tray again, I unscrewed the small cover to the right of the ash tray & this revealed a few things to help me.
The switches for the lights & the wipers have become loose & separated so fixing them solved two of my problems. But where was the red wire with the orange tracer? After being an acrobat for too long, I could not find where the connector was, well not without removing the parcel tray & I was not in the mood to do that.
So I cheated! I ran a wire from the LH tail light connector to the RH light, wired in another wire linking it to the reversing light circuit & guess what - everything worked! They are all linked with the same fuses so I hope my temporary fix works until I next have to remove everything to find out where circuit is broken.
Always these things are a lot of fun! Here are some pics of my fix.
Oh, I did wrap insulation tape around all the connectors. Also the diagram is from the Parts Manual & indicates where the wiring groups go. It is different from the wiring diagram.
When I was driving to the All Ford day several weeks ago, I discovered several electrical problems. The RH tail light was not working, the instrument backing light was not working and the wipers were not working.
Putting it off for a few weeks as I don't really like climbing under the dash, I got to it last week. Firstly, the tail light should have been easy as it often means the clips have come off the bulb holder behind the cover or the holder is not earthing properly. Not so, as both of these were firm & in place. The strange thing was that the RH brake light & indicator were working OK. A quick test with my test light indicated no current was reaching the RH tail light wiring in the boot area.
This also means the number plate light & the reversing lights were not working as their circuit is linked with the RH tail light. Strange! The Capri had two circuits, one for RH & one for the LH. After a lot of reading the wiring diagrams & looking around in the boot area, I could not find any reason why the RH circuit was not working. The wiring diagram indicates that there is a connector under the dash where the rear RH circuit links in.
Again, being very reluctant to remove the parcel tray again, I unscrewed the small cover to the right of the ash tray & this revealed a few things to help me.
The switches for the lights & the wipers have become loose & separated so fixing them solved two of my problems. But where was the red wire with the orange tracer? After being an acrobat for too long, I could not find where the connector was, well not without removing the parcel tray & I was not in the mood to do that.
So I cheated! I ran a wire from the LH tail light connector to the RH light, wired in another wire linking it to the reversing light circuit & guess what - everything worked! They are all linked with the same fuses so I hope my temporary fix works until I next have to remove everything to find out where circuit is broken.
Always these things are a lot of fun! Here are some pics of my fix.
Oh, I did wrap insulation tape around all the connectors. Also the diagram is from the Parts Manual & indicates where the wiring groups go. It is different from the wiring diagram.
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