Capri - Ring Gear Replacement 2

I finished my previous blog by saying that I was concerned that I had ordered the wrong size ring gear replacement. Very prompt service from Mike at Yesterford in Melbourne had the part arrive on Monday. I partially undid it and my suspicions were nearly confirmed. To really compare the old & the new, I decided to remove the broken ring gear from the flywheel. The first method I tried involved heating the ring gear with a propane torch that I had. After a few minutes & a few hits, nothing seemed to be moving so an alternative method was necessary. I didn't want to hack saw the gear as I wanted to keep it intact if possible.
However, with the flywheel held in the vice, the hacksaw came out. After very close examination of the ring gear, I also found a very small crack in it so that is where I commenced the cutting. That only took a few minutes as you cannot saw down too far otherwise you start chopping into the flywheel. A few hard hits with a cold chisel & the ring gear cracked open.
Putting the replacement ring gear on top of the old one provided me with very clear evidence that it was the wrong size with the larger diameter being too big. In fact when tried on the flywheel, it fell off. So back to Mike in Melbourne & could he send the smaller size. He was very accommodating of my mistake, so I have returned the other one & I have had to pick up the postage costs. It should arrive tomorrow.


In terms of the starter motor, I think I have had a win here also. Looking through the Gumtree ads, I saw that a retired auto electrician from the Gold Coast was selling off all his old stock. I rang him & he did have one reconditioned Escort/Capri 3 bolt starter motor left & wanted $50 for it. Today I drove down there (about 40 mins away) & picked it up, together with some odd bits & pieces that he did not want. The Bendix drive looks a lot better than the one I had in the car. So I was pleased about that.

 

So far so good & it looks like I have all the parts necessary to put the car back together. It somewhat surprises me that if you research the websites or belong to a club, you can still locate parts fairly easily for these 45 year old cars.

Capri - Ring Gear Replacement

As I wrote in my last post, the green Capri has been getting harder to start because of the broken ring gear. (Read the previous post of the 18/8/2014 about how I first discovered this.) Anyway, this was the motivation I needed to do this major repair job and because I had nothing on the home front agenda, there were no excuses. I rang Yesterford in Melbourne to see if a replacement ring gear was available. Yes, it was for $125 +$18 postage so that meant on with the job. I think I have also located a spare starter motor but that is next on the agenda.
To do this job, I decided to pull the complete engine out & take off the flywheel complete with ring gear this way. Others may do it differently, but I would not be able to do it by removing the gearbox & doing this under the car. So that meant, the engine crane had to come out of retirement. Once everything was in the correct place - car & crane, the dismantling started.

1. First off with the bonnet & my neighbour helped me with this. We have done this a few times now.
2. Then the radiator & hoses came out.
3. Working on the left side, the earthing wire, temp gauge wire, alternator wires, starter motor & exhaust pipe came off.
4. Then on the other side, the coil wires, heater hoses, vacuum hose, carbie cables & possibly something else I have forgotten.
5. Then I loosened the 8 bolts attaching the engine to the bell housing & removed the engine mount bolts

Here are some photos so far.


Next little problem was where was I going to attach the crane. I had not previously lifted the complete engine out like this. A quick trip to Bunnings located two steel brackets that would give height & strength to the lifting points. I screwed one in with the earthing bolt on the front LHS of the block & the other to the rear inlet manifold bolt on the RHS.
Then to support the gearbox with my little seat on wheels together with a few decent wood blocks. Another check & I think everything that should have been disconnected was & out of the way. I raised the crane but things did not separate so that was  enough for one day.
Next morning back to the task & after lifting the gearbox a bit more & raising the crane a bit more & with a bit of levering, the sections separated & I moved the crane back taking the engine right out.
Next the clutch came off without any dramas but removing the flywheel involved jamming a wrecking bar to enable me to undo the rather tight bolts. At last it was out & the missing teeth are shown in the photos. Also, the starter motor shows the piece of metal missing which was located at the rear of the bell housing.
I did this engine up in 2012 & it was good to see no leaks. I will do a complete tighten of everything & a bolt holding the alternator is missing.
There are two different ring gears suitable for this engine (254 or 257 mm id). After carefully measuring, I ordered the 257 mm but later in the day & after having a good look at the flywheel, I am sure I have ordered the incorrect one. When it comes next week we will see. Very prompt service from Mike at Yesterford.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the engine bay & the engine. Here are some photos of everything so far.

Capri - Front Strut

It has been a busy week on the Capris. I started the week disassembling a front strut that I had located with a view to replacing the front left strut on my white Capri. I am not sure that the spare one I have is any better, but it was time to have a good look at it. I had given it a superficial clean up so then it was out with the spring compressors so the cartridge could be examined.
As you see in the photos, I managed, using a good Stillson wrench with a lot of WD40, to unscrew the lug holding the cartridge. This all came apart but it doesn't appear to be in very good condition or have been used for some time.



I was then about to commence getting the strut off the car when I couldn't start my green Capri to move it out of the way. The starter motor with the broken ring gear has been getting more & more difficult & every second time I have to move the car to get the starter to mesh.
So I decided that I would have a look at the starter motor again & I am glad I did. Not only did I have the broken tooth on the ring gear but a decent sized piece of metal had broken off the front of the starter motor where the spindle goes into the front casing.
That was it! This needed to be fixed so the strut is on hold and in the next post, I will describe how the motor came out to replace the ring gear.

Capri - no Mondeo

I haven't posted anything for several weeks as I have been travelling in the Land of the Long White Cloud, or across the ditch in beautiful New Zealand. Our hire car was a nice sliver Ford Mondeo and I was most impressed. We drove 2553 klms around the South Island in all kinds of weather. The car was comfortable, smooth, economical and good to drive once I became accustomed to the controls being on the wrong side. They seem quite popular around this part of NZ.
Here is a picture of the car at Lake Tekapo and again the next morning covered in ice.



I know there is a strong following of Capris in NZ but I didn't spy any. In fact, I didn't see any really different vehicles except this one parked out side the Kiwi Birdlife Park in Queenstown.



A great place to visit with good roads, not much traffic and beautiful scenery.