Capri - Restoration (2) White 1972 1600 XL [21]
After the
weekend break I was keen to get in and finish all the little bits and
hopefully, have the motor running. Well, today, turned out to be NOT A GOOD
DAY! In fact, I nearly got the axe out again. I was ready to do not very nice
things to the Capri. I was attempting to put together all the hoses that link
up the heater & the automatic choke on the Weber carbie. It is a plumber’s
nightmare! I also thought that I should check if the new distributor with the
side leads would clear all the hoses. It fits well if it is turned towards the
front. I was then attempting to tighten the alloy Y junction that inserts into
the inlet manifold & connects the heater hose & the choke hose, when,
guess what? It snapped, leaving a small section of thread in the manifold. This
was great news!! Just what one needs to happen? There is nothing worse than a
hard to get part breaking (I had been concerned about this junction as it
fairly fragile). Fortunately there was a fair bit of thread left on the
junction & I thought I could re-use it. The next bit was getting the broken
piece out of the manifold. I decided to take the carbie off again to get better
access. Fortunately, with a bit of tapping on a screwdriver in an anti-
clockwise direction, I managed to remove pieces of the thread & then the
whole section, which wasn’t very much, came out. The thread looked a bit
stuffed. The thread on the junction itself was broken unevenly so I tried to
clean it & file it even but it did not want to screw back in. No matter
what I tried I could not get it to screw in. Another plan of attack was needed.
I ventured down to see my neighbour, KH, to see if he had any suitable brass
fittings. I came back with several bits, including one with a tapered thread,
which screwed in without any trouble. Anything else I tried would not take up
with the thread. That was one alternative but for the moment, I needed to do
something else as it was starting to annoy me.
[The pic on the left shows the corroded Y junction. The pic on the right shows the bottom inlet where the thread broke].
The next job was also one of the worst things to do. The handle under the dash
that opens the bonnet has been broken ever since I bought the car so as I had
the instrument panel out, it was a good time to fix it. Any job under the dash
of a Capri is not good for a middle aged bugger. It requires one to lie across
the seat upside down & try & remove two little clips that have been on
for 40 years. I final got them off & found the original handle was much
more substantial than the one I was about to replace it with. It seemed to do
the job so I hope it works for a while. Putting the little clips back on was
another lesson in patience, especially when you are upside down, deaf &
your glasses keep falling off. Finally they were back on & that was enough
for the day.
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