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Author Topic: my 91 capri so far  (Read 21049 times)

supercowmoo3

  • Jr. Member
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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #30 on: April 28, 2015, 10:52:32 PM »

It took me half a day to pull the old top off and mock up the new one and then it looked as if it was too short to reach the end of the front bar and fold over it. I came back to it later and found that letting the top warm up in a hot garage for a little bit let it relax and stretch out a bit. This allowed it to fold over the front and fit perfectly like it should. The only troubles I had after that we're trying to get the little flaps glued by where the cotter pin goes in to hold the cable on. I have a feeling I'm going to end up epoxying those with jb weld so they never come undone lol. Anyways I got this top from jcwhittney online and it's a very credible auto parts store and I'm very surprised they listed convertible tops for this. They also had brake calipers that I needed too as the pistons were rusted in place on mine. The top costs around 250 bucks so its not a bad deal either. There are canvas tops elsewhere that are suppossed to be better for around 400+.
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supercowmoo3

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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #31 on: April 28, 2015, 11:02:22 PM »

I should have my capri finally on the road this thursday if insurance goes as planned. Then it's time to get to work making it look cool with a set of rims and tires I bought for it and then maybe a little plastidipling expedition as soon as I clean up the bumpers as the clear coat and base coat in parts has fallen off in parts. I'm gunna do some wet sanding with high grits and hopefully just smooth them out and keep most of the factory paint on them. I'll take pictures of that when I'm finished:) maybe a video for youtube. I've always wanted to make car videos.
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supercowmoo3

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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #32 on: April 28, 2015, 11:05:04 PM »

Has anyone ever done an oil cooler on an n/a capri and if so where did you mount it? I figure I might as well do that while I have the bumper cover off. I did find some space on the driver side in front of the radiator that would do nicely.
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Rocketman

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    • 91 BPT AWD Capri & 1991 XR2
    • http://www.werbatfik.com
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #33 on: April 29, 2015, 12:01:59 AM »

Why exactly do you want to install an oil cooler? Oil temp isn't an issue on these. They do tend to run warm on the guage, but they're supposed to.

Food for thought, the XR2 has a stock sandwhich type oil cooler beneath the oil filter. (it uses engine coolant) It's not really necessary even on the turbo cars.

The auto transmission is the one thing that needs cooling, and it has a pretty beefy stock cooler.
If you have an XR2, a bigger charge air cooler (intercooler) really, really helps.

Work on your maintenance first!
Oil change, coolant flush, replace the rotted coolant hoses (especially the little ones)
Change out the transmission fluid for something a little better.
Bleed the brakes.
Check your cap/rotor, plug wires, and spark plugs. Stick with OE style or Platinum/Iridium in the STOCK heat range, don't go hotter, DO NOT go with the +2/+3/+4 multi-electrode junk.
Change your fuel filter. Inspect/clean/replace the pickup sock in the fuel tank.

Then start working on upgrades.
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1.8L Turbo All Wheel Drive Capri... the "GTXR2"


supercowmoo3

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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #34 on: April 29, 2015, 08:02:14 AM »

I'd like to run an oil cooler as itll up the longevity a little. I might rig up a manual transmission oil cooler using an electric pump as well. This is because I want to take this car to an autocross event and really push it so things staying cool is pretty important lol. And for when I put in a rotary, reinforce the chassis with chrome moly tubing, cut out and put in a bigger tunnel for a rwd set up and make a custom rear subframe that bolts up to my other reinforcments, I would already have all the coolers set up for it :)

I have done a lot of routine maintenance on it already but I haven't flushed the tranny oil or the coolant which I will do once I get it home for the summer. It has new oil in it but I don't know what so I will replace that too. As for cooling hoses I'll order those as they seem to be notorious for failure and no coolant is no good. I'll flush the old brake fluid as well although alot of that should be gone from when I did brake lines and calipers. It has new plug wiredisand distributor cap as the previous owner couldnt diagnose a fuel injector wire lol. Anyways I'll get new plugs and I'm not going to shy away from oem on those as im sure the ignition system is fine. I would like the special coated tips though as they seem to last longer and not foul as easily.
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supercowmoo3

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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #35 on: April 29, 2015, 08:17:42 AM »

Also I had the fuel tank out of the car because it was a rusty leaky tank and replaced it with one from down south (although that one has a couple holes as well...) and getting the fuel pump out of it was a bitch. The screws that held it into the tank were rusted in and I had to cut slots in them to fit a flat head screw driver. I managed to either get them out or break the heads off of all of them and before anything went back together I cleaned it all up and washed out the new tank with brazed up holes. In short my fuel system should be fine, I really hope it is anyways as that was a bitch of a job
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chrispoe

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    • 91 BP Capri GT
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #36 on: April 29, 2015, 09:14:07 AM »

When I upgraded my rusted out gas tank last year, I had the same issue.  The trick to removing the screws and bolts that seize from rust (like the phillips screws that hold the fuel sender assembly) is to hit the end of the screwdriver good and hard with a decent sized hammer a few times. Doing this will reforge the heads to the driver and the force of the impact will break the rusted threads free allowing the screws to  turn out fairly easy.
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Rocketman

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    • 91 BPT AWD Capri & 1991 XR2
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Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #37 on: April 29, 2015, 01:14:25 PM »

Did you do the fuel filter with everything else? It's so, so often overlooked on these cars yet so easy to get to compared to most.
F
lush the coolant! The #1 cause of destructive engine failure on these cars is overheating. Hoses pop, coolant is low, or the alternator belt breaks and people keep driving (If your BATTERY light comes on, PULL OVER AND CHECK THE BELT! do NOT continue to drive if it is broken. it drives the water pump too, and circulates coolant. Keep a spare belt or two and enough tools to change it in your trunk at all times.)

You want an oil cooler for reliability but you were talking about nitrous to blow the engine up in another post. Im really confused here

These engines are not a dime a dozen like they were 10 years ago. You've got a relatively rare car. They're dropping in large numbers every year. Treat it nicely
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1.8L Turbo All Wheel Drive Capri... the "GTXR2"


supercowmoo3

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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #38 on: April 29, 2015, 07:38:28 PM »

thats exactly why i want to keep it running well as the current engine is hard to find parts for and i dont want to destroy it just yet. I might keep it for another project or just toss it when i do my swap so im trying to make it reliable for now at least. when i have everything for a swap ill do some experimenting with the toughness of this engine and transaxle and if it withstands then it wont get junked but it most likely will be put in an old beetle
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Rocketman

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    • 91 BPT AWD Capri & 1991 XR2
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Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #39 on: April 29, 2015, 10:30:14 PM »

Here ya go man, would solve a lot of your wants real quick and real cheap

http://teamcapri.com/forum/index.php/topic,3355.0.html
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1.8L Turbo All Wheel Drive Capri... the "GTXR2"


supercowmoo3

  • Jr. Member
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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #40 on: April 29, 2015, 10:49:15 PM »

i would but money is kind of tight right now and tied up in project cars. im trying to sell my 98 jetta right now as i dont need it anymore and then i can buy some stuff for my capri. Ive been thinking id make up some chrome moly strut tower braces front and rear to improve the body flex issues with these cars. Ive got my 84 rabbit tied up in my grandfathers barn right now waiting on an exhaust system so that comes first lol. Should go pretty quick when school lets out in a couple weeks. College takes a lot of time away lol.
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supercowmoo3

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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #41 on: April 30, 2015, 10:36:51 PM »

I just drove the capri home from its resting place today and I gotta say I really like it. Its not very fast but it's small and fun to drive. What I don't like though is injector number one not firing all the time. Also it smoked a bit when I first started driving and cleared up after about 3 miles so probaby just some oil in the exhaust manifold or something from sitting. It's running good now but the check engine light is on and staying on now after its misfiring fit because of the injector. I'm thinking it's the wiring as when I first got it she was running like shit and misfiring on number one and after playing with the wires for injector one it ran fine. Now I have a question, where is the obd whatever it is socket on these cars if there even is a diagnostic hook up location. If not how do you reset the codes and turn the check engine light off so I can know when I've fixed things
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supercowmoo3

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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #42 on: July 17, 2015, 10:27:15 PM »

So, I'm looking for ideas and things that you can do to these cars. I was thinking some sort of autocross car, maybe AWD with subaru parts, and reinforcing everything. I can build custom suspension and toughen up the mounting points by tying them into a custom tube frame roll cage id like to make for it. The thing is i want the convertible top to still function properly so ill need to measure it's travel radius and see what i can get away with. I'd like to be able to build it as i go and not have the car sitting around for years and putting everything together at once. First I'm thinking of building a roll bar that's tied into the rear suspension mounting points. Then perhaps gas tank relocation to make room for three inch exhaust and custom rear suspension possibly leading to an awd drivetran. Not sure if a bigger tunnel is necessary but ill check out rockets build thread on that. if anyone has done some major reinforcing of these little thin sheet built cars id be happy to hear about it.
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supercowmoo3

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  • Posts: 68
    • 1991 mercury capri n/a, 1984 vw rabbit diesel
Re: my 91 capri so far
« Reply #43 on: October 07, 2015, 04:42:55 PM »

So I've been thinking. Has anyone tried building a mid engined capri? Ive got ideas for building one but I'd like to have a reference or just see what others have done. I'm thinking maybe using an early 2000's vw engine and drivetran, possibly a diesel tdi. I could get 150 horse out of that quite easily and 200+ ft lbs of torque. I have parts available for volkswagens as I've owned quite a few and so has my grandfather.

Anyways, a mercury capri with everything torn out of it and a fresh built tdi or some vw or honda gasoline engine and fwd drive tran in the back. Relocate fuel tank to the front (if that's legal that is. Custom reinforcement and roll cage (I'm talking full custom frame building off of the stock chassis.)  Custom roof to fit full cage. And weighing close to stock or less than stock 2000-2400 lbs. The rear suspension and subframe along with chassis reinforcement will take the longest out of everything else. Well then again if I'm building a harness for this then that would probably be the longest but I don't really plan on that.

Thoughts opinions questions comments? I'm really curious and pretty interested in doing something like this.
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