Capri - Big Brake Job 2

I asked other Capri Club members about the best place to have the front callipers reconditioned as the company that I used for many years seemed to be not as good as it once was. Several suggested Slacks Creek Brake & Clutch Service. A quick call indicated that the job could be done with prices quoted.  I took my shoe box, complete with front callipers & rear cylinders, down to them on Friday morning & they were ready Monday morning - very prompt service. Total cost was $398.20 (Recondition callipers-$120 each + pistons if required & these were needed so extra $36 each side; rear wheel cylinders 2@ $25 - cheaper that fixing the old ones). The new rear cylinders (IRS Part No P6984) were an exact replacement & fitted without difficulty.



Next bit was putting everything back together again. The front callipers went on easily complete with looking tabs. The rotors looked pretty good so they were left as is. When I went to replace the pads, I realised that there were no backing plates. I just happened to have an old spare calliper with a set so I cleaned these up & slid them on as well as connecting the brake hoses.
Then to the back which was a lot more difficult. After one incorrect attempt, I realised that the hand brake adjustment lever needs to go on first, together with the rubber boot (I wish I could have located some new ones but I have no idea where to source them). The lever needs to be held in place while the cylinder is fitted with the spring metal clips. After failing a few times, I used a thick rubber band to hold the lever in place as it fits into the top of the cylinder. The clips are not easy to slide in as the top one fouls the adjustment lever. Again, with a few sprays of WD40 & several attempts the clips mesh together.
Next the brake lines needed to be attached. I was concerned that the old line connecting bolts would not fit but after meshing the threads in carefully & tightening as much by hand they went right into the cylinder without any dramas. Then the hand brake adjustment screws needed to inserted into the bottom of the cylinders. The old ones took a considerable amount of cleaning & fitted in perfectly. As mentioned earlier, make sure the correct screw goes in the correct side. Then the brake shoes went on together with the spring clips that hold them in place. Before I adjusted the hand brake, I tried the hub to make sure everything was fitting correctly.



Next was to refill the master cylinder to check for leaks but before that could be done, there was some dirty looking residue in the master that I wanted to remove. Nothing I had was suitable or clean enough so a trip to Supercheap was in order. There I found an evil looking syringe & with that I was able to suck out all the unwanted fluid.

 

 

I filled both chambers of the master with new Dot 4 brake fluid, as recommended. As I waited for this to flow through the system, I removed the rear hubs again & adjusted the hand brake screws. I wound both out about 10 mm, tried the hand brake & it seemed good.

Next big task was to bleed the system. The first is the front RH & no fluid seemed to be coming down the pipe. I kept on pumping the brake pedal slowing & still nothing. OK, I thought I will then do the front LH side. Immediately, I noticed fluid all over the floor & fluid dripping down the calliper. A few words were said & then the connecting line was tightened properly & all was well.

Two goes at bleeding the three wheels & I was happy with the firm brake pedal. Next, all the wheels went on & the first test drive went well. Good even brakes, good pedal but the handbrake is not quite there & I will need to adjust the screws a little more.

For me, I was pleased with the result but there were a few hours that went into the job so it pays not to be in too much of a hurry for a task like this.





Capri - Big Brake Job 1

When driving to the Australia Day rally, my green Capri started doing some strange things. When pulling up at the traffic lights, I thought there were times when the brakes were grabbing but I wasn't sure. Then further down the road, the car drove as if the road was quite bumpy & then it went back to normal. As I was arriving at the rally, the smell of burning brakes started so I drove carefully & parked on the oval. A quick walk around the car revealed that the front LH wheel was extremely hot so the calliper on that wheel was the culprit.
Talking to one of our club members attending that day confirmed my diagnosis as he had exactly the same symptoms on his car. The drive home was cautious with as little brake usage as possible & a lot of down shifting. Thankfully, problems just started to occur at the last set of traffic lights before my home. So, it seemed I had a major brake job to complete.
I couldn't remember if the front callipers on this car had been previously reconditioned but checking through my records indicated that I had fitted new disc pads & rear brakes shoes. In fact, I had not done anything major to the brakes since I have had the car. The plan was to have the front callipers reconditioned & the rear cylinders if they needed it.
First job was to position the car safely on blocks & wheel stands so all the wheels could come off.
Next was to bleed the fluid from the front lines & then remove the callipers. No great dramas with this. The bleeder screws undid as usual & because there were no locking caps, the two bolts attaching the calliper were undone easily & the calliper along with the disc pads were removed. A visual inspection of the callipers indicated nothing unusual, so I presumed the internals had problems.



Then to the rear brakes. Again, I bleed the system completely before removing the rear shoes. Then the fun began! Externally, the rear cylinders looked in good nick with no leaks but a closer look behind the rubber boots indicated the brakes lines had not been touched for many years. Undoing the brake lines became a major issue. I am very conscious of breaking these bolts or stripping the bolt head to the extent that a spanner won't fit. The first attempt at undoing the three lines, 2 on the RH & one on the LH, resulted in failure & frustration. The 7/16 spanners I had were not very long so I couldn't get much leverage on these very tight nuts. Frequent squirts of WD40 didn't give immediate assistance.
I even bought a new 7/16 spanner with a long handle but again, no success. In fact the lower nut on the RH side was starting to suffer. After several further attempts on each side, no success. This in a way made me more determined to remove the cylinders as it was obvious they had not had any attention in a very long time.
Enough for the day & time to consult my resident retired mechanic, Kev. Two suggestions - trying tapping around the cylinder with a punch & hammer & secondly, try with a big shifter.
Next day, tap, tap, tap, & squirt, squirt, squirt! I did think very briefly about heating but as the fuel tank was just above the rear brake, I wasn't really wanting an explosion under my house! It was very difficult to land a good hit but I did give some firm taps around the base of the nut. At last, I had some success with the top nut on the RH but the lower nut was proving a problem because the nut was becoming damaged. Then we tried a medium wrench & at last success.
The same technique was used on the LH side & it also became loose.
Next came off the rear brake shoes but the rear cylinders were a bit difficult because of the two steel spring clips holding them in place. The top one gets so far & then is caught on the hand brake mechanism. Again, some squirts of WD40 helped in finally getting them off.



It is really important to label these as the adjusters for the hand brake have different threads - RH thread for R side; LH thread for L side.
I kept all the bits that relate to each side together which makes re-assembly easier.
Next thing at this stage was to give everything (not the callipers) a good clean, using degreaser, scrapers, wire brushes & compressed air. I also gave them a quick coat of black engine enamel to compete the process. It also gave me a chance to spray some fish oil around all the crevices & holes under the car.
Next instalment is about the new parts & assembly.
(Click on the photos to enlarge)

Australia Day 2017

It is about time I published something on this blog & so my first post for the New Year of 2017 is on Australia Day.
For the last few years I have attended the Australia Day rally held at Ormiston. one of the bayside suburbs to the east of Brisbane. It is always a well organised event with a free BBQ breakfast, raffles & 4 rally runs that conclude at the same venue for lunch.
There are always a huge variety of vehicles in attendance including commercial vehicles & this year the count was over 500. The cars come in all shapes & sizes from all the countries of the world & from very new to very old. The photos are just a random selection of all the different makes.
My Capri was the only one this year & I nearly didn't get there due to some brake issues that occurred just close to the venue. My trip home was carefully planned so as to use the brakes as little as possible (the left front disc was binding up) & I arrived home without any dramas. I always find driving the car at this time of the year results in one arriving sweating profusely even though the day was not exceptionally hot. Maybe I just really miss my air-conditioned comfort.
Here are some photos (Click to enlarge):

Ford Capri - Fitting Gauges (2)

The next to discuss is the voltmeter. Originally I had an ammeter to fit but after researching the best way to fit it, I decided against fitting it due to safety concerns. Many classic cars owners expressed concern about the risk of fire as the ammeter is wired in series to live wires under the dash. If there is a problem with the wires or the gauge, then it could get a little exciting. Instead I went for the safer voltmeter which is wired in parallel to a switched wire. In other words, a wire that is only live after the ignition has been turned on. Installing the gauge on the bracket is easy but finding a suitable wiring point under the dash is the key. I consulted the wiring diagram in the manual & then, using my lighted circuit tester found several wires under the dash near the ash tray. One is permanently live & may have been connected to the clock, if fitted. I then located a double connector where the radio was wired into one & the other side was free. Again, testing this plug with the ignition turned on indicated this would be suitable. Here are some photos.


The rather complex looking wiring section shows the voltmeter wired in via the green positive wire & the black earth wire. This section then plugs into the connector under the dash as per the left photo.
Wiring in the lights then proved another challenge as three gauges had the red wires but only one, the voltmeter had a negative. Also, the Capri lights can be turned on without the ignition so again finding the best place was interesting. The earthing of the lights & the voltmeter could go to the same good earth point. This is how the panel looked when attached with all the wires exposed.



Now to add another variable was the tachometer. The first problem was were to place it. The obvious place was some where to the right of the dash pod but there are no real places to firmly attach it without drilling holes. I then tried some double sided tape but the gauge fell off after about 20 minutes. Next was some stronger Velcro tape. That seemed much more promising so I then went ahead with the wiring. The tachometer has 4 wires: red for power, green to the negative side of the coil, black for an earth & white for lights. I joined the power in wire to the same junction as for the voltmeter & radio, the green went through the firewall to the coil, the earth was also joined with the same wires from the other gauges & bolted to the dash frame, the light wire went with the other lights to a junction under the dash that linked to the car lights which are quite independent of the ignition. Here are some pics.

Unfortunately, the Velcro tape wasn't strong enough & the tachometer fell on the floor after a short road test. For the moment I have just attached it on the RHS parcel tray area until I find a better solution. I have also tried to make the other gauges look a bit better with some tape and a thin board insert underneath. A bit more to do until I am really finished.
With the first turn of the ignition, I was quite apprehensive & was hoping that no sparks & smoke would appear but after double checking all the wiring, the car started & all the gauges were operating as one would expect.
Was it all worth it? Maybe, so we shall see.

Ford Capri - Fitting Gauges (1)

Several years ago I bought a collection of gauges to fit to my green Capri. Being a Deluxe model, it only has a temperature & fuel gauge as standard equipment whereas my white XL has the full complement of gauges (tachometer, fuel, temp, oil pressure & voltage). I have started this project several times but each time I gave it away as being too difficult. The main problem was how to fit the gauges without damaging the original sections of the dash and, secondly, not making them too obvious. The additional gauges I wanted to fit were a tachometer, vacuum gauge, oil pressure gauge & an ammeter. I have always liked vacuum gauges but unfortunately I could not obtain a genuine Smiths old school type in reasonable condition & at a reasonable price. I did find a suitable alternative.
After a bit of thought & experimentation, I put together a small metal bracket that would sit under the dash & bolt onto the brackets under the dash. This was attached to a 3 gauge mounting bracket. Here is what it looks like.



Let me discuss connecting each gauge with the easiest first, the vacuum gauge. The mounting bracket for this gauge was a different style to the others & did not fit so I had to improvise with some Selley's metal putty. In the picture, you can see it moulded around the gauge (the one on the left) as it is pressed into the bracket. Then it was very easy to attach the plastic tube to the gauge. The tube was then run through the firewall to the brake booster which had a spare outlet. This was a very similar size to the tubing so, with a little plastic adapter, it fitted really easily. Here are a few photos.



Next was the oil pressure gauge in the middle of the three. This required the small plastic hose to be fitted tightly to the back of the gauge & the hose run through the firewall to the oil pressure location on the RH side of the engine block. As I wanted to keep the oil pressure light, I had to source a suitable brass fitting so as to attach the light module as well as the tube from the gauge. After a visit to my local Autobarn, one was located very quickly & matched the engine thread (I think about 3/8) & it all screwed together quite easily. Here are some photos. I will explain all the wiring later.