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Author Topic: Kelmark XR-2 Project  (Read 47689 times)

Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #45 on: August 04, 2014, 07:12:59 PM »

Rocket, I had to sell my N/A a few years ago.  It was a good, good car and I miss it.

I just wanted to give a quick update.  The frame's finished and I've spent the last 2 months doing bodywork, body mods and paint.  I'm at the point that I'm quite confident with fiberglass work now.  (Not necessarily good at it but I know I can do it  :D)

This body was in rough condition.  There was damage to the front and back as well as a lot of stress cracks in the fiberglass.  Also, it was wavy as can be.  It must have come out of a second rate mold when it was made.  At best I'm an okay bodyman but luckily I'm a pretty good painter.  I'd say there's a real 200 hours of bodywork into this car (I work slowly  :( )
Painting in the driveway in the sun is challenging.  Between bugs, floating fluffies in the breeze and the burning sun, it's hard to lay a good coat of paint on.  This paint turned out acceptably well for the conditions. 
This is some of the stuff I did :











































I mixed my own paint from cheapo quarts I've purchased over the years :





The results of two solid months of bodywork :



I did things like modify the front turnsignals.  Here are the front turnsignals the day I bought the car:



I had four of these swap meet specials in my parts stash :



I cut up a couple of paper towel rolls and taped them up to fit the diameter of the lens :





Cover with packing tape :



Lay some fiberglass over it :



When it cures, remove the paper towel roll :





Open up the hole in the body to fit the new fiberglass tube:



Cram it in there :





Start glassing it in:







Cut the excess off:





Grind, sand and fill the low spots with fiberglass matt and resin then top with fiberglass reinforced bondo (and do that a few times):



















It's stuff like that that has sucked up my time.  I modified the mid-hatch, the rear trunk, the front turnsignals and the rear panel. 
While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I started messing with the XR-2 engine.  I changed the water pump, timing belt, tensioner pulley and the thermostat (I FOUND IT!!   ;) ).  I fired it up and started fooling around with the exhaust but that my friends is a story for another time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBVGz2WIgSc

At this point, I'm over a year into this build, have worked like a dog and spent almost $8000.   :'(
 
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greywolf27030

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    • 1991 XR2, 1992 XR2, 1993 XR2
Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #46 on: August 05, 2014, 10:54:49 AM »

You're an inspiration man.  Saving a vintage kit car is always a hassle, but you're doing the people at Karma proud.  In those days poor molds and wavy bodies were par for the course and was a major reason many were never finished.

Keep it up man, Jack Byrd
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Jack Byrd

Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #47 on: November 25, 2014, 12:18:23 PM »

Thanks Jack!  I appreciate your nice comment.   :D

This has been a ridiculous amount of work.  Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end...

'Cause I didn't want y'all to think I'd given up or disappeared, I wanted to post a quick update.
 
The finished (for now) body is back on the car, the XR2 drive train is installed and I'm squaring away the engine wiring now.
Next up will be half shaft fabrication.  I've elected to have this done professionally instead of trying to make / modify them myself.  I don't want to worry about busting an axle shaft so even though I'm confident with my welding and fabrication abilities, I'm going to pop the $$ and have custom half shafts made and hopefully, never have any issues with that part of the build.

To recap, I've mid-mounted the stock XR 2 engine and transmission.  The new axle shafts will be attached from the XR 2 trans to 1995 Mercury Cougar XR7 (same as T-Bird) rear uprights and stock rear disc brakes on custom made unequal-length upper and lower "A" arms. 

Here are some updated pix for you :

This picture was taken the day I dragged the poor old car home :



Body on the new frame :



Completed body on the new frame :




Other pix :













We're not using a cable operated clutch anymore so to switch to hydraulic, I came up with this :






(I'll get a Grade 8 bolt next time I get to the Nut and Bolt store but this one will do for now)





Completed bracket - the important stuff is 3/16" plate, all the braces are 1/8".  It'll never break or bend:




Right now, I'm organizing the hugely-trimmed-down XR 2 wiring harness and trying to make it look nice-nice.



As nasty as that looks, it all works great.  All I have to do is organize and secure the whole works, connect my ground wires and new battery cable then splice into the original XR2 wiring that attaches to the steering column.  I'm using a GM tilt steering column so I'll connect the appropriate wires from the Capri wiring loom and we should be good to go (as far as starting and running the engine in the car).

More later.    Stay warm Capri brothers!


Dave
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greywolf27030

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #48 on: November 25, 2014, 01:32:46 PM »

Cool, where are you located?

Jack
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Jack Byrd

Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #49 on: November 28, 2014, 12:14:50 AM »

Just outside Deeeeetroit.   8)
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greywolf27030

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #50 on: November 28, 2014, 09:46:09 AM »

Gosh, I hate it for you.  I hate winter.  Thinking about moving further south.

Jack
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Jack Byrd

Rocketman

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #51 on: November 28, 2014, 10:21:50 PM »

Im digging the progress. The body looks amazing. Can't wait to see it under power. Soon right? ;)

Winter is upon us here in PA. Not digging that part. I despise winter.
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1.8L Turbo All Wheel Drive Capri... the "GTXR2"


Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #52 on: December 10, 2014, 04:37:41 PM »

Thanks guys!

I will definitely update you as soon as I'm able to safely drive the car.  I'll be posting tonight in the XR2 section regarding some half shaft questions.  If somebody here can help me figure out what I need to do, I can get my half shafts done properly and we'll be close to driving!

Thanks again,

Dave
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StreetDoc

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    • 1991 Mercury Capri XR2
Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #53 on: August 31, 2015, 05:44:22 AM »

Wow. Just found this thread and am loving it. I wish I had those skills.
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1991 Mercury Capri XR2
2000 Suzuki Bandit GSF600S

Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #54 on: May 19, 2016, 11:57:22 AM »

We're nearing road-worthiness.  I thought you guys might like to see this picture of my XR-2's engine in its new home.

I'm not happy with the intercooler's piping but I need to make this work as quickly as possible and don't have the time to screw around with too much custom fab work.  At some point, I'd like to have a larger, custom intercooler made and then the piping will be properly routed.  For now, this seems to work okay.

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Rocketman

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #55 on: May 23, 2016, 11:36:01 PM »

Awesome! Glad to see you're still working on it.

You can always mess with the intercooler later. Get her movin' ! hah.
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1.8L Turbo All Wheel Drive Capri... the "GTXR2"


Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #56 on: June 17, 2016, 11:49:30 PM »




Good news - my Karma is now legal and absolutely fantastic to drive.  It's super tight and firm and the power from the XR2 engine is a perfect match for it.

You can feel the car's lightness and you can feel how stiff and strong the chassis is.   

The shifter snicks and clicks into gear like a piece of Swiss machinery.  It begs to be shifted and downshifting with a punch of the throttle brings on a spectacular 'whoosh' from the turbo then a crackly, snarly rattle from the exhaust that sounds like angry hornets in a can. 
I can't believe how rattle free this car is!  It doesn't squeak or shimmy or creak or anything, and with the exception of needing a proper alignment, it feels completely refined.  It is absolutely rock solid.


I'll post more pictures (and hopefully some video) in the days to come but for now, here are a few interior shots.














And the aluminum underbelly pans along with the stainless cooling tubes:



More later!

Dave
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greywolf27030

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #57 on: June 18, 2016, 08:30:44 AM »

Simply awesome.....Jack
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Jack Byrd

DarkAngel

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #58 on: June 18, 2016, 10:21:11 AM »

Congrats Dave on a truly awesome project... kudos
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Current Project XR2 SE

To Do
(VJ 11/14), helical LSD, 5th gear cog, 2.5 exhaust
stiffer springs, heated seats, electronic booster
tracker gps, respray

Surfnut

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Re: Kelmark XR-2 Project
« Reply #59 on: August 27, 2016, 10:30:26 AM »

Thank you for the nice comments, I appreciate them very much.  :)

Here's the link to a video of the car running and driving. 
This is probably the only car in the world with a stock XR2 drive train running the rear wheels.
I hope you like it!

https://youtu.be/WGOxg5Po8sY

Thanks,

Dave

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