Capri - Bonnet Catch Adjustment

Being partially isolated due to the pandemic has meant a bit more time to do some maintenance tasks on the Capris. Next on the list was to adjust the bonnet catch on the green Deluxe. The bonnet has a rare habit of popping up when you least expect it. Thankfully, the safety catch works & prevents the bonnet from lifting right up. On a recent run over some country roads, the bonnet popped twice. I have a theory that when the body flexs a little on bends or bumps, the catch releases.
The first thing I did was measure the height of both the bump stops & the bonnet catch with the spring. I then wound back the RHS bump stop a few mm to even it up with the LHS. Next was to see if the rod was entering the bonnet catch correctly. Using some masking tape, it seemed as if this was all good.


Then to lengthen the pin/rod so it would fit more securely into the catch. That's when the difficulty started. The pin/rod would not turn even after the spring locking nut had been released. No matter how hard I tried & with different large screwdrivers, it would not budge. I guess it hadn't been moved for 50 years. OK, out with the RP7 & Inox. Much spraying at different times & still no movement. I ended up leaving it for the day & came back the next day & continued spraying & trying to undo it. Finally, with a spanner clamped onto the screw driver, I got a little movement. Working it back & forward slowly finally cracked it & then it started to undo.
The whole bonnet pin assembly looked like it hadn't been cleaned for many years so it was taken apart & cleaned up.



Then everything back on & with a few adjustments, it all looks good. Let's wait for the final comment after a bit of driving.

Capri - Oil Filer Problems

It was time for an oil change on the green Deluxe. The oil filter was also due for a change & and I did remember that last time the only filter brand that would fit was the Repco ROF-22. I contacted Repco to see if they were still available and was told that a store near me had 3 in stock so off to the store and I bought one for $17.55.
Oil drained & old filter (ROF-22) removed with no dramas. I took the new one out of the carton and it was very different - longer and with a completely different O ring set up. I then started to remember all the problems I had last time & why I just put the old one back on. Put the new on and screwed it up tight, started the car & oil spewed out on the floor from the filter. Not very happy!!


 I decided to go back to Repco to see if the other 2 filters they had in stock were the same. The lady brought one back & it was completely different, very similar to old one I had taken off, so I was very happy about that. At home, looking at the two satisfied me that they were the same so I put the second new one. Started the engine & more oil spewed out everywhere! What is going on? The photos show how similar they are.

 

This car (1970) has the 691M crossflow motor which has a different oil filter set up to the later 711M engine. the earlier car originally had a cartridge type filter but the later screw on types usually fit. A really close examination of the new filter would suggest that the inner circular metal lip is fouling on the inner ridge of the oil pump. It gives the impression that the new filer is on tight but it really has not sealed at all. What to do?
For the moment, I cleaned the old filter as best as I could, screwed it back on, started the car and no leaks at all.
I then checked my white XL (1972  & 711M engine) & it has a Motorcraft AFLE 227 filter which I picked up on eBay a while back. Time to check out all my spare parts bins. here I found an old oil pump (691M) type (I have no idea where it came from) & another new Repco ROF-22 filter. Great! I could really see why these filters were not fitting with an oil pump off the engine.
When I opened the oil filter box, it was the type that was longer & with a wide, flat O ring. On measuring the diameter, one could see that the inner metal lip was catching & not allowing the filter to seal. The lip was turned over slightly. After much dreaming, my theory was that if I could grind the  turned section of the lip off, it should slide over the ridge on the oil pump. So with a small grinding stone on my drill, I worked my way around the lip and ground until it was straight. I tried it on the pump and yes, it tightened all the way up. At last I think this will solve the problem. Here is the filter after being altered.



Now, to see if this one fits & doesn't leak. Screwed it on & it goes all the way up and the rubber seal is right on the oil pump. Tightened it up. Started the engine & thankfully, no oil leaking out. I hope I don't have to do this each time a filter is replaced but it is most that is what will happen.
So, the moral of the story is, as always with old cars - don't throw away old parts until you are sure the new one fits correctly
As far as Repco ROF-22 filters, I have had 3 on the car and they are all different so all oil filters are not necessarily the same.
(click on the photos to enlarge)

Capri - LUCH Quartz Car Dashboard Clock Round

Yes, the title says it all!
For quite some time I have been looking for a suitable classic looking clock to fill the hole in my centre console. Actually, a non functioning amp meter has been there for several years. Being a cheapskate, I refused to pay the amounts being asked for some brands but I kept seeing the LUCH clock on eBay for a very reasonable price. Apparently there is quite a story to the LUCH factory as it has along history in Soviet Russia but has modernised in Minsk, Belarus.
With a little concern I ordered the clock on eBay. It arrived all packaged in under 2 weeks for the pricely sum of $25.04 including postage & GST. Instructions were printed in English. Even a postcard of the River Minsk was included. Here are some pics.

 
So, I eventually got around to fitting it.
I took the easy way and used the connections I had removed from the cigarette lighter to power up the clock & the light for it. These are just to the LHS of the ashtray so all I had to do was remove the ash tray & the small cardboard panel to the RHS of the ash tray to give me enough access to wire it up in the central console. A dilemma I had was that I really didn't want to have the clock continuously live wired as the car is not driven very often. This may defeat the purpose of have a clock but it is my preference and will operate only when the ignition is turned on. This means a quick reset of the clock each time I drive the car but it is no big deal.
One of the wires powers the clock & the other powers the light. The earth wire I ran back to the nut that holds the ash tray in place. I also included a 10 amp fuse in power wire. Here are some pics.
 

As you can see the clock fits in really neatly with no alterations needed and is a firm fit. It is similar in colouring to the other Capri instruments. At the advice on club members, I have ensured the clock has no tracking devices that would benefit the KGB! It works well, with a very quiet movement and I think very good value.

Capri - Poor Idling

My white XL Capri has not been running very smoothly of late, especially idling roughly.
I did the usual things like checking all the leads and connections but no difference. With the engine running, I started pulling off the ignition leads & to my surprise when I removed the lead to No 1 cylinder, it made no difference. When the other cylinder leads were removed, you could really notice the difference. So, it was No 1 cylinder that was the problem.
First fix was to replace the ignition leads & the spark plugs. The leads had not been replaced in a long while so I thought replacing both of these items would fix the problem.



So with the new ones in place, I started the engine & no real difference. Pulling the lead from No 1 cylinder when idling & again it made no difference. So, what was the problem? I had read that air leaks around the inlet manifold may be an issue but after checking all the hoses & connections, again there was no difference.
Then looking around again with a torch, I noticed that the inlet manifold gasket was split right on the end near the No 1 cylinder inlet port. It was like a tear in the gasket. So was this the problem? The only way to find out was to replace the gasket. The photos show the damaged gasket as the split went right through the edge of the gasket. Look at the right hand lower section of the gasket. On removal of the manifold, it seem as if the gasket was also covering part of the inlet port.

 

Removing the inlet manifold is a real pain!!! The two bolts underneath require a narrow socket to remove them. What made mine really difficult was that last time I had the manifold off I had to replace the centre bottom bolt with a different size head (the other 4 are all 1/2 inch). After spending ages to work this out, it soon came out with the correct size socket.
Luckily I had a spare ACL gasket so on it went. Again, tightening the bolts underneath is not all that easy. So, after reconnecting everything, refilling the radiator as when the manifold came off, a bit of fluid was lost around the water jacket.
OK, now time to turn the key. Yes, much smoother & running really well and idling much better.I did not realise that such a split would allow so much air to enter the system and cause it to run roughly.
End of story so make sure you check for air leaks if your car is sounding a bit sick.
(Click on the photos to enlarge)

Capri - Missing engine number

On & off for weeks I have been trying to find the engine number on my white Capri XL which has the 1600 GT engine. So, just to be clear, the car is a 4 cylinder with a Ford Kent crossflow engine with the 711 block. I have owned the car for 20 years, have had the engine out several times and never really bothered about checking the engine number. I was always under the impression that it was the original engine but, unless I found the engine number, could not verify this.
I was convinced, after reading Dr Google, that the number was on a flat spot on top of the engine block between number 1 & 2 exhaust outlets. When I initially could not find it here, I removed the extractors & gasket so I could get a better look but still, no numbers. I even researched metal etching and made up a special mix that would reveal worn or ground away numbers. Again, no numbers. Here are some pics of where I originally looked.

 

The engine block has 2 or 3 other flat spots around it so I started cleaning them off with sand paper and one, right at the rear of the engine revealed the number 44. Some research stated that this was an engine code but not an engine number. Not what I was really after!

Some more looking on Dr Google said it was between the water pump & the thermostat but I still could not find it. It was getting to the stage that I was convinced the motor had been replaced at some stage in the 30 years prior to my ownership and I may have to do something that I didn't want to do and that was to stamp the numbers again.

At a recent car show I asked the owner of a Cortina GT with a similar engine where he thought the engine number was. He was quite experienced with these engines and showed me where his was, on the other side of the engine, just above the oil pump. I was a little confused as the numbers he showed me were cast into the block, as most engines have to distinguish the type of engine eg, 711M. Anyway, I had not looked very hard in that spot as my car has so many hoses, plus the distributor and wires, that it is a very difficult place to work in. So, on returning home, with my brightest torch, I started looking again. My engine had no such numbers as he had shown me on his Cortina! OK, foiled again!

So again I started looking very carefully around the back of the block & then around the front near the water pump and I thought I could see the letter A, which is the last letter of my number. It was at the front of the engine block, in a relatively difficult place to see, but a start. I then got a screw driver & started to scrape away the paint & guess what? Some numbers started to appear & they were checking out what I though they should be. After more cleaning with sand paper & a wire brush, all the letters & numbers started to be revealed, indicating what I had hoped for - that they matched the compliance plate. A smart phone camera is a great help in these tight spots as the flash can really highlight the small numbers that you are looking for.

Some of you who are experienced with this engine will have known this all along, but nowhere in my research did it say to look in this spot - centre front, top of engine block.
Finding this number confirmed my belief that I had an original car with matching numbers as you can see in the photos all the numbers are the same, including the body number found on the driver's side suspension turret.

Capri - Redlands Australia Day Rally 2020

Once again this year, the Bayside Vehicle Restorers Club staged an Australia Day Rally. This has become quite a popular way of celebrating this special day as 560+ vehicles turned up and were spread across the two ovals at Ormiston State School. I am sometimes reluctant to attend because of the heat but this year with some cloud cover and bayside breezes it was pretty comfortable, even with the Capri's air conditioning not fully functioning! It is always a well organised event and this year was no exception. Breakfast is free for a $5 raffle ticket (17 prizes) with proceeds going to Sailability, a local charity. If you are inclined, there are 4 mapped runs around the Bayside that you can join, all ending at the Redlands Sporting Club for lunch. A number of car clubs make this their first event for the year.
There are many & varied cars on display but a couple of Fords were interesting. Firstly, there was another Capri that I had not seen before parked with the All British Ford Club. It was a cream/beige colour with a black vinyl top (facelift model?). I was trying to find the owner as I think it may be the person who has recently joined our club. The other car was a Corsair sedan with a V4GT engine. Again, I wanted to have a good look but the owner was not about.



Here is a small selection of other vehicles on display.

 

Click on pics to enlarge.