An update of this blog is long overdue.

Due to a number of factors over the last two years, my involvement with my Capris has diminished a little. Due to health and age, I am no longer able to climb under dashboards to fix wipers or crawl under the car to adjust brakes. I have now adopted the policy that if the car is going well, just leave it alone.

I also very reluctantly parted with my white 1972 Capri XL last year as I considered it time that someone else could enjoy it more that the time it was sitting in my garage. A very keen Capri enthusiast in Canberra bought it sight unseen, hours after it was advertised. I had owned that car for over 20 years, spent a lot of time and money on it, but being very original was highly sought after. It was quite sad watching it being loaded into the transporter. I hope the new owners continue to protect its heritage.

My Jewel Green 1970 Capri Deluxe is still going very well and I love driving it even though that seems to be less than previous years. I have participated in very few events this year which is quite different to previous times. It does really need a new battery and that will get sorted very soon.

Due to my infrequent car maintenance and participation in car events, I have had little to post on this blog. Keep on Capring and I will try to remember to write things that are of interest. 

RACQ Motorfest 2021- Brisbane

For many years the RACQ has organized Motorfest in Brisbane. Last years event was cancelled due to Covid so this year it was anticipated by many. Unfortunately due to a new venue with reduced space, unusual entry conditions and a late attempt at entry, I could not take one of my Capris. The first time for many years that I have not be able to do this. So yesterday I went to the RNA Showgrounds to check out the cars & the new/old venue. It was in the side show alley area with most classic cars under the huge marquee. The cars were parked really close together so with the large number of people it was difficult walking between them. I thought there was the same amount of undercover (in another marquee) devoted to food stalls & markets. That was a pity as it was a beautiful day outside. As usual, plenty of different vehicles with a lot of electric cars on display. And yes, 1 beautiful Capri belonging to a former club member. Only 2 other small Fords, a Cortina GT and an electric Cortina. Not even 1 Escort! The only cars I saw with the mandatory drip trays were the BMWs. Here is small sample of the cars. [Click to enlarge the pics.]

Australia Day 2021

 It is time that I wrote a bit more on this blog. There hasn't been much action for the classic car community during the last year for obvious reasons. Today was the first time I have attended an event since March 2020. The annual Australia Day breakfast & show at Ormiston was again well organised and well attended. Some 730+ cars filled both of the school ovals and there was a very diverse mixture of cars. Everything you could imagine! There were a record number of Capris (2), my white XL and a fellow club member's RS3100. Lots of Holdens, Falcons, Mustangs and small Fords. Also lots of British makes. Attached are small number of photos, mainly Fords. This has taken me ages to publish and apologies for the placement of the pics. (click on them to enlarge)

                    

Welcome to my Capri blog!

Another year & the blog started in 2013 is still functioning. I hope 2021 is better for everyone.

It is designed to help me & others interested in Ford Capris share information on events & anything of interest about the cars. Rather than revamp my previous blogs I decided to make a fresh start and just add bits & pieces about Ford Capris, in particular, the Mark 1.



These are my two Capris. I have owned the white (Winter White) 1972 1600 XL since 2000 when I paid $2300. I really liked the steering wheel and it was registered so I bought it but have since spent a considerable amount restoring it to its present condition.

I bought the 1970 Jewel Green 1600 Deluxe in 2008 on EBay for $3000 (very lucky!). Again, I have spent a fair bit of the green stuff to get it to its present condition.

Both cars are very original with matching numbers & I have kept them as original as possible. I am the second real owner of the green car & I have the original sales docket for it. I am a retired educator and live in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia so most of my posts will relate to local items but you are most welcome to add any comments or items of interest.

I hope you enjoy the posts & I will try to add more this year.

Here are some more photos of the cars at various shows in past years.

My other discontinued blogs are:

http://my70fordcapri.blogspot.com.au/

This is a rather long blog detailing the restoration of the Jewel Green Capri. There are quite a few posts so if you are interested, be sure to look at all the Older Posts.

http://redcapri.blogspot.com.au/

This blog details another restoration project that I was involved in.

Capri - Rear Engine/Gearbox Mount Replacement

Just recently when starting and backing my green Deluxe out of the garage, a strange vibration developed. I had not noticed this before and as I backed out of my driveway, it seemed to be worse. So, back into the garage. My initial thought was that it was something to do with the exhaust system so I checked all that out and couldn't see anything that was broken, loose or knocking the body.
The vibration only seem to occur when starting or just idling and was around the central console and gear stick. I also checked out the drive shaft and everything seemed to be in order. A bit more pulling around and I thought that the gearbox mount had a bit of movement. Next move was to remove the cross member at the rear of the gear box and undo the rubber mount. It comes off pretty easily, just undo the one central bolt that goes into the gear box first and then the 4 bolts holding the cross member to the body. I placed a jack under the gear box to retain it in the correct position. Once this was off it was obvious what the problem was. The rubber section of the mount was completely stuffed. The rubber was jelly like and had separated from the metal section of the support. The photo shows what it was really like, compared to the new one.

After determining I needed a new rear mount, my next concern was where was I going to get a replacement part from. After a short time on Dr. Google, I found that several places had the part available. It seems that this mount is used on quite a few small Fords eg. Escorts & Cortinas. I ordered one for $39 from Supa Spares in Melbourne a day before they went into lockdown. Expecting to wait weeks, it was surprising that is arrived within the week from a Sydney warehouse. Whilst not an original part, it fitted exactly.
The cross member goes back on fairly easily as long as you fit the centre bolt first.

As I had the car jacked up, I decided to try to solve a very slight leak from the bottom gear box plug. It was just a very, very slight drip but annoying. This meant draining the gearbox oil. But first to undo both plugs which proved to be very difficult. Eventually after using a bit of heat, they cracked and came out without too much pain. I wrapped a few turns of plumber's tape around the bottom plug hoping to help the seal. Refilling the gear box is always a bit of a pain but I saw these plastic bags of oil (Nulon) which I thought would make it much easier. I did until the very last bit when the plastic spout disconnected and oil spilled all over the place. Thankfully, it wasn't much.

Did the new rear mount solve the vibration? Yes, thank goodness. I don't know why I didn't replace it several years ago and I can only say it must have seemed OK. But after seeing what state it was in, I am surprised that the rubber didn't separate earlier.
(Click the photos to enlarge)

Capri - Distributor & Ignition Coil Issues

I had troubles again with my white XL. It would run OK at my house & then as soon as it went up a slight incline in my street, it would miss & carry on, sounding as if it was running on 2 cylinders. I went over the usual things - plugs, leads, timing, mixture. The timing was way out & any small adjustment would still not get it right. My neighbour & mechanical wizard suggested that I remove the Accuspark Electronic distributor & replace it with the original Lucas type.
The problem was the original distributor was damaged when I reconditioned the engine several years ago. Luckily, I had a spare one that someone had given me so my friend took both home and rebuilt me one good one, complete with new points. After inserting this one, there was still a problem as the car would not run properly & the timing was still out.



I checked a number of things again, including all the vacuum hoses. There didn't seem to be any problems with these and I also went over the inlet manifold bolts. The other possibility was the ignition coil which I tended to dismiss as it was fairly new. Going back over my records, I found it was 13 years old.

Looking through my spare parts boxes, I found an old Bosch GT 40R coil. With the one in my green 1600 Deluxe, that made three similar coils so I decided to do some tests. On the Primary Circuit tests, all 3 were very similar and, as measured on the multimeter, had the required resistance parameters ie. .4 to 2 ohms.

On the Secondary Circuit, 2 were similar having the accepted range of 6,000 to 10,000 ohms where as the one I had in the white car had a much higher resistance of nearly 16,000 ohms. So, that would certainly not be helping. Because of this result, I installed the older Bosch coil to see if that helped.

It took a bit of fiddling, in fact several attempts, to get the distributor in the right slot so as to align with the No 1 cylinder distributor cap plug. When I finally found the place, the engine fired up well, sounded pretty good, idled easily and I just had to move the distributor a fraction to get the timing where it should be. So far so good. Then with a bit of adjustment of the idle mixture screw, I had a good steady reading on the vacuum gauge.

How would it go on the road? No troubles! It starts first go so my retro step of refitting the conventional distributor seems to have been a success. I may invest in a new coil. Both Bosch (GT40R) & Fuelmiser (C80R) make the correct coils that are suitable for these old Fords with the resistor wiring.