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Author Topic: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod  (Read 52979 times)

greywolf27030

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #120 on: April 08, 2021, 08:10:37 AM »

Thanks, that was the assumption I had made.
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Jack Byrd

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #121 on: April 08, 2021, 10:50:14 AM »

Thanks Rocket, I was hoping you'd chime in and let me know that I was correct in my assumptions. Anyways, the block is in the trunk of the car and about to go out to the machinist. I've just put in an order for some more parts: Fuel injector seals and o-rings, an oxygen sensor, a throttle body gasket, a set of gaskets for the turbo, and some core plugs. For anyone playing alone at home, you'll need 30mm and 35mm core plugs. They come in sets of 10 on Rockauto, which is more than enough to ruin a few. There are a couple smaller core plugs on both the front of the block and the head, but they're a nightmare to remove, and so I didn't bother. I think they are around 18mm, but I didn't measure them.

So Rocket, here's a question for you specifically. You've made mention many times now of upgrading the turbo. What specific turbo would YOU put on your Capri, if money wasn't an issue.

Second question. If you had to chose between either a newer turbo, or the M-Factory LSD, which upgrade would you do first? I'm torn here. I  may be able to swing one or the other, and I'm not sure which way to go. I'm leaning more towards the LSD, though. In my opinion, that's what can turn a front wheel drive car into a real track day toy. A nicer ball-bearing turbo is tempting too, though. I don't know....
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EShepherd

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #122 on: April 11, 2021, 10:55:24 AM »

Oh, and just to add onto that question, what turbo would you use if money wasn't an issue AND you hacked off the IHI flange from the exhaust manifold and welded on whatever one you wanted. Obviously  ;)
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EShepherd

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #123 on: April 11, 2021, 04:17:57 PM »

Just a little bit of progress. I'm now stuck not just waiting for parts, but waiting for that happy day when the machinist calls me to tell me to come pick up my block and crank. On the plus side, my little box of goodies from Flyin' Miata SHOULD be here tomorrow... *crosses fingers*



Here's the block sitting in the back of my wife's Altima. I was worried about it fitting....silly me.




The thermal wrapping on the intake manifold. I'm quite glad this sits on the back of the engine, because boy oh boy is it gaudy lookin'. I hope it does something for the intake temps, because it was not easy wrapping the damn thing.


Here's the exhaust manifold after it's surgery. I took down the casting lines to try and remove any stress risers, and then cut the little bridge section out since it was already cracked there. I found the tiniest little crack coming from the bottom of the O2 bung which sucks, but not much I'm willing to try to do and rectify that. I tried to wrap this thing with the exhaust wrap, but it's not happening. Bummer.


That's all I can do with the manifolds until my gaskets and seals show up, so onto the next project. Attempting to salvage what I can from the OEM exhaust, which is in horrifyingly bad shape.


This is what is left of the downpipe. The flange with the spring bolts literally tore off of it when I was trying to unbolt it, so that's fantastic. I'm cutting off the heat shields, there is some sort of foam insulation under them that is trapping moisture and falling apart, so that's got to go. I'm going to clean this up on the wire wheel and see if there's any holes in it. I sure hope not, because the triangle-shaped flange that bolts to the turbo seems like something that will be a major pain to try and find. As long as I can get this piece to work, I'll be a happy camper. I can always V-band it to the next section of exhaust, or get a new flange and weld it on, or whatever. I'll have options. It's likely I'll use that exhaust wrap on the downpipe, provided it is in a useable shape under the 30-odd years of rust and decay.

Am I missing something, or is there not a flex joint on the factory exhaust? If there isn't, that would go a long ways towards explaining why all of our exhaust manifolds have cracks in them.....
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Rocketman

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #124 on: April 11, 2021, 07:22:35 PM »

The thermal insulation on the intake manifold makes it look like Apollo lunar lander hardware, haha. Cool.

I actually ended up driving past that engine machine shop I sent you yesterday on my way to get my first covid vaccine. None in our area so had to go on a bit of a trek.

The exhaust downpipe bolts to the back of the engine with a bracket to alleviate stresses. There is a donut-style gasket that goes on the downpipe and fits into a socket on the cat, clamped together with the spring/bolt combo. This union allows for plenty of flex. Many cars use a similar setup today, and is arguably more reliable than a flexpipe. (I am the only one who can weld at my mechanic job, I have replaced dozens upon dozens of flex-pipes in my months there already. None of these socket type unions)

Plasma cutter + some plate = whatever exhaust flange you need, simple enough

As for a turbo I'd run - I'm not sure where the current technology is at, I'd have to look. Probably something like a GT25 ball-bearing, with a nice billet compressor wheel.
I saw a turbo that came off a newer Chevy Spark. It is physically smaller than our OEM turbo, the head ports on the engine are smaller, and yet with a tune I was told the thing is capable of just over 300hp (1.4L IIRC). That's the kind of tech floating around today, quite capable even if the numbers I was told are stretched

Back to the intake manifold - maybe some type of plastic spacer between the head and the manifold to prevent heat soak? Although it may be a bit of a moot point since coolant for the heater core is circulated through the flange between runners 3&4. And the anti-icing coolant running through the throttlebody (I have bypassed this before)
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greywolf27030

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #125 on: April 12, 2021, 07:50:57 AM »

Those are nice looking manifolds. I'm think a performance coating for the exhaust manifold and at least downpipe. These guys do a lot of work for NASCAR teams.

https://swaintech.com/race-coatings/

I also bypassed the throttle body coolant with apparently no bad effect.
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Jack Byrd

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #126 on: April 12, 2021, 12:16:10 PM »

I've also been looking into Garret ball bearing turbos. I think I'll keep that firmly in the pipe-dream category for now. Too rich for my blood, and for the money, I think I'd rather try and shoe-horn in an LS4 or something.

Ceramic (or whatever material) coating is definitely the way to go with the factory exhaust manifold. It's something I've been looking into for my build as well, but I've been unable to find someplace local enough to get it taken care of. Plus, I'm not too keen on spending money on a part that is already cracked. If I was more handy with a welder, I'd LOVE to try and make a header for myself, but I don't trust my very weak and rusty welding skills. With the layout of the engine bay, a nice simple header with some short equal length runners would be super easy to design, though. If any of you guys is good with a welder, I'll totally buy some materials and design something, if you'd like to take a whack at it. I could pay you for your efforts, too. Stainless steel or aluminized steel, whichever you'd think is easiest to work with. I've never even attempted to weld stainless, and I've only tried to TIG maybe one or two times. Definitely beyond my skill set.

I think an aftermarket exhaust header would sell fairly well, considering how few 323GT's/Capri's/etc are left on the roads.
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EShepherd

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #127 on: April 12, 2021, 05:39:41 PM »

Just a couple pictures to add on here. The downpipe actually cleaned up fairly well, and I plan to use 95% of it. The goofy weld/bead roll type deal at the end, where it went into the catalytic converter, is going to get cut off. Also, my package from Flyin' Miata showed up today. I got some sweet stickers with it, too  8) I'll hold off on posting pictures and ruining that surprise for now, as I'm still waiting on 3 more packages from Rock Auto. Onto the pictures....





So that's how the downpipe turned out so far. I'll be finishing up with that tonight, which means I've got to start planning out the rest of the exhaust. I've mocked up a quick sketch of my first idea here. Let me know if you guys see something that won't work, or if you've got a better idea on how to do it. I'm still not too sure about trying to get it over the rear axle, but if I do, I'm thinking about putting a muffler with two outputs on it for a fake dual exhaust look. I think two tailpipes sticking out from the rear bumper would make the Capri look just a little bit sportier. Sort of like a 90's era Camaro or something. Anyways, what do you think?


**Sorry this is blurry, my phone camera really sucks. You should be able to get the general idea.


Lastly, and totally unrelated, I've been brainstorming on another idea. I've had the thought of removing the fog lights from the front of the car, and building some ducting to direct air towards the front brake disks, to aid with cooling. I plan on tracking this car, and with such small wheels and brakes coupled with a fairly large mass, brake fade is a real concern of mine. Has anyone had any experience with either brake fade, or adding cooling to your brakes? Even with the Galant brake upgrade, they're still going to be relatively small. I haven't found better calipers, either, which means I'll be stuck with factory single piston calipers up front. Seems like a recipe for disaster to me.

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Rocketman

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #128 on: April 13, 2021, 12:36:12 AM »

That downpipe didn't turn out too bad. Something there to work with.
I've got an old Corksport stainless divorced downpipe on my shelf that needs to be poked. They made them for the 1.8L BPT and someone modified it (rather poorly) to fit the B6T. I'll have to get some pics of it for inspirations for y'all.

Russ had a twin-exit exhaust on his Super-Roo, I'm not sure if his pictures are still online though. I don't believe there is any room under the trunk for the muffler, you will have to run the muffler in the OE location and split after the rear axle. That's the style of setup that Russ had, he had a local exhaust shop fab that for him.
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EShepherd

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #129 on: April 13, 2021, 07:49:52 AM »

That downpipe didn't turn out too bad. Something there to work with.
I've got an old Corksport stainless divorced downpipe on my shelf that needs to be poked. They made them for the 1.8L BPT and someone modified it (rather poorly) to fit the B6T. I'll have to get some pics of it for inspirations for y'all.

Russ had a twin-exit exhaust on his Super-Roo, I'm not sure if his pictures are still online though. I don't believe there is any room under the trunk for the muffler, you will have to run the muffler in the OE location and split after the rear axle. That's the style of setup that Russ had, he had a local exhaust shop fab that for him.

I was worried I might run into that problem. I'm going to pick the car up today and measure some stuff under there to see what I've got to work with.
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greywolf27030

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #130 on: April 13, 2021, 07:53:55 AM »

Yeah, that pipe over the axle ends up looking like a piece of spaghetti. Didn't someone on here once offer turbo headers?
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Jack Byrd

EShepherd

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #131 on: April 13, 2021, 08:18:45 AM »

Yeah, that pipe over the axle ends up looking like a piece of spaghetti. Didn't someone on here once offer turbo headers?

I've got the old exhaust in pieces next to my toolbox. Unfortunately, I cut it right after the muffler, which is already into the first angle of that crazy bend, so I can't easily replicate it. Every time I look at that piping, it just makes me want to dump the exhaust out behind the passenger door. Even that is problematic though, because the car has little ground clearance to begin with. If I shove a 2" pipe under there, there won't be any left.

Maybe I'll just have it turn down before the axle? Or point it in the direction of the side of the car, but not run it all the way there. I don't know. Why is nothing easy on these cars?  :'(
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EShepherd

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #132 on: April 13, 2021, 03:58:32 PM »

Okay, so I've finished up with the downpipe. That exhaust wrap is a major pain in the butt to work with. Pro-tip: wear gloves. Learn from my mistakes. I'm still itchy, and it's been several hours now since I finished with it. Also, apparently I was estimating wrong on the size of the factory exhaust piping. It's just about 2" outside diameter; I think it measures at something like 1.975" OD at the end of the downpipe.





So throughout this whole thread, I think there are only three pictures of the actual car. Have some close-ups. I hate living in the rust belt. I've got some body work in my future, made extra exciting by the fact that I've literally never done any body work before. Luckily, everything under the car (for the most part) is not this severely rusted out. I'll be asking for advice once I get to this step, provided I don't chicken out and take it to a body shop. It's really just the driver's side rear fender that's extremely bad. The rest of it I could live with, even though it is an eye sore.





Seeing as I'm still waiting on parts, and it being a beautiful day out, I moved onto the next bit of this project. I want to restore the suspension components, and replace whatever is absolutely knackered. I decided to start with the....I guess we'll call this part the subframe? It isn't like any subframe I've ever seen before, but it seems to be doing the job of one on this car. Anyways, the thing is absolutely disgusting. Look how much dried oil and crap I literally scooped out of the damn thing with a shop rag. DISGUSTING. So the plan for this, and the rest of the suspension, is to attack it with an angle grinder with a wire brush attachment, in order to knock off all the rust. Then, I'm going to spray it all with undercoating. I still have several cans of it knocking around my toolbox somewhere, from when I gave the truck it's rust-ectomy last fall.





So the engine mounts that attach to the subframe seem to be in relatively decent shape. Does anyone know where I could buy replacements, if I choose to go that route? Rock auto doesn't have a listing for them, unless I'm missing it. Ideally, I want polyurethane mounts. If nobody makes them, I might attempt to make some myself. The trans mount doesn't seem like it'd be easy, though.
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greywolf27030

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #133 on: April 13, 2021, 05:29:58 PM »

That rust is crazy. I must be the luckiest guy around. I got a car off Long Island and a car from western PA and neither have any rust.  You can fill your existing mounts to repair or create firmer mounts. There is a thread on here about it. My 91 has an almost 2.25 downpipe and CAT. It gets bigger right below the flange. The 92 is 2" all the way. I thought that was kinda strange.

Jack
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Jack Byrd

Rocketman

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Re: '91 Capri XR-2 Resto-Mod
« Reply #134 on: April 13, 2021, 11:52:23 PM »

Ooooooooooof. I've got a shell for you. Come get it
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