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Author Topic: '92 Mild Widebody Build  (Read 11725 times)

theastronaut

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'92 Mild Widebody Build
« on: October 06, 2021, 07:31:06 PM »

I'm new to the forum but have been in the Capri groups on Facebook for a few years. This is my tenth Capri and was the most solid base to build from.  It's a 100% rust free South Carolina car that had been advertised on craigslist for $1200, then sold and a few months later advertised on OfferUp for $1000.  I saved it to keep track of it and about a month later the price dropped to $550 so I sent a message and asked a few questions but we weren't able to work out a time to meet up and check it over.  About two weeks later he asked if I was still interested and had dropped the price to $450 so I loaded up the trailer and picked it up. 








It was originally white but had a really poor repaint.  The top was in bad shape, radio wiring was a mess, it had the wrong battery, the lower rad hose was a weird flexible metal hose, the windshield was busted, and it had broken it's third alternator belt (the reason the PO was selling it) but hadn't been overheated.  It started and ran well though, only had 129K, and the body was solid so I figured at worst it would be a good big nose B6d engine donor for one of my Festivas, and part the rest out. 
















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theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2021, 07:58:00 PM »

After getting it home and going over it more closely I decided to make it a daily driver so I ordered a new top, swapped on a set of Tokico struts with H&R springs from a parts car, fixed the belt and rad hose, pulled out most of the interior, and started driving it. 


'92 parts car that I bought last year. It was parked in a field for 10-12 years and is pretty rotted- even the windshield frame has rust holes across the top.  It had a bunch of cool parts like the struts/springs, clear marker lights, '94 XR2 spoiler, K&N filter, and a powdercoated valve cover.  They said they parked it when it started knocking but after getting it running it seems to just have lifter tick.  Not a bad find for $150...








My plans for the car were to pull out anything unnecessary to drop as much weight as possible.  The interior was trashed so almost all of it ended up in the dumpster.  I cleaned and painted the floor to match the dash color, removed the mess of stereo wiring, detailed the dash, console, step plates, etc, and bought/mounted a used Sparco race seat from a friend.  I had to swap in a headlight module (it was missing) and both headlight motors from a parts car to make the headlight doors work again.






The heater floor duct was routed to the back floor so I cut it off so heat would be directed to the front floor instead.






Indoor/outdoor grip tape to replace the pedal pads.




Sparco seat... I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it and order a new cover for it, or find a matching pair of seats to swap in instead. I mounted it using a set of universal side mount brackets and the sliders from the stock seats. 




New top installed.




At this point I had the rad hose fixed, new wider alternator belt on, battery swapped out for the correct size and bolted in using hold down parts from the white parts car, and a bunch of other small issues sorted out.  It looked much better slightly lowered with the new top, but still pretty ugly.  A friend of mine wanted the steel wheels for his 323 so I began looking for wheels. I got it registered and insured and started driving it back and forth to work.



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theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2021, 08:17:27 PM »

My original plans were to build more of a stance/slammed look so I bought 15x9 -15 wheels and found a good deal on 205/50 tires. 




They didn't come close to fitting, but that's what camber and cutting is for...  2nd/3rd pics are with a few degrees of camber dialed in and the fender rolled/pulled out as much as possible.








Rear before/after cutting the inner wheel well loose, using a hydraulic ram to push the quarter panel out, and rolling the lip flat. The quarter is noticeably more curvy or flared compared to the stock quarter in the last pic. 










The gap was filled in with a strip of sheetmetal using rosette welds to attach it.  I later sealed it with primer and seam sealer. 




The quarters kinked above the wheel opening from pushing them out so much so I used a hammer and dolly to reshape the low spot.






Process of sanding to find the high/low spots, then working the panel until the shape was corrected.




Finished up with a thin skim coat of filler.




Difference between the stock side and the widened side.




Went ahead and started bodywork on the rest of the car.




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theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2021, 08:26:08 PM »

Test fitting with the tires mounted. 










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greywolf27030

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2021, 08:24:35 AM »

WOW....welcome to the forum. You're going to town on that thing. I'm glad to see owners who are wanting to do things to personalize their Capri's. I'm going to have to start shopping in SC. I'm in NC and the cheapest Capri I've seen up here is a non running N/A with 188K for $500/ Where are you located in SC?
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Jack Byrd

theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2021, 05:33:46 PM »

WOW....welcome to the forum. You're going to town on that thing. I'm glad to see owners who are wanting to do things to personalize their Capri's. I'm going to have to start shopping in SC. I'm in NC and the cheapest Capri I've seen up here is a non running N/A with 188K for $500/ Where are you located in SC?

This is John Glenn in Anderson  ;D
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theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2021, 06:01:48 PM »

Before I got that deep into bodywork, I had been driving it daily which uncovered a few issues.  I had it out in a rain storm and the passenger floor filled up very quickly.  I found the leak after some poking around- the extra wiper hole for rhd cars that only had tape to seal it from the factory.  The tape was gone so it was dumping water straight into the heater box under the dash... really great design  ::)  That lead to pulling the cowl and fan motor.   I fixed it with more tape, but used 3M foil tape which should be much more durable. 












The windshield was terrible- cracked plus badly scratched and pitted.  Driving at night was rough. 




The water pump gave up after about 400 miles, so I tore it apart and redid the w/p, timing belt, cam/crank seals, and refinished the valve cover.










With the mechanical work out of the way, I spent more time finishing the rough bodywork to prep it for high build primer.   I welded up the holes for the emblems, antennae, passenger side door lock, third brake light, and spoiler.  The white primer is SPI Epoxy to seal the metal and bodywork.  I bought enough to use it to seal up the areas that had bare metal or filler, and to mix with reducer and use a sealer coat after the 2k high build was sanded. 










With everything roughed in I sanded the whole car with 180 to prep for 2k high build primer from Southern Polyurethanes Inc. 

 








Starting to block the panels out with 220/400 grit via wetsanding. I used dry guide coat to make sure all of the 220 grit scratches were sanded out. 












I later on pulled the top cover and trunk lid so I could clean and prep the jambs for paint. 






Cleaned out, painted, and hung new lights in the stall it had been stored in.






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EShepherd

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2021, 05:43:27 AM »

Dude, this is AMAZING!

Once mines running, can I pay you to do my bodywork? I don't have this kind of talent.
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greywolf27030

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2021, 08:34:53 AM »

WOW....welcome to the forum. You're going to town on that thing. I'm glad to see owners who are wanting to do things to personalize their Capri's. I'm going to have to start shopping in SC. I'm in NC and the cheapest Capri I've seen up here is a non running N/A with 188K for $500/ Where are you located in SC?

This is John Glenn in Anderson  ;D

hahahahaha
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Jack Byrd

theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2021, 12:15:11 AM »

Dude, this is AMAZING!

Once mines running, can I pay you to do my bodywork? I don't have this kind of talent.

Thanks!  Nah, this is one of my last body/paint jobs.  I mainly wanted to paint it to gain experience with the sealer and clear I used before I use it on customer work at our resto shop. 
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greywolf27030

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2021, 08:53:08 AM »

Nice paint booth.
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Jack Byrd

theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2021, 01:14:32 PM »

Nice paint booth.

It's just a prep stall, not really a booth. There's a bigger stall with filters in/out that we use as a booth but it's being used as storage for now. 

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theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2021, 01:16:45 PM »

Once every square inch was blocked with 220 and 400 I washed it down with a red scuff pad and dawn dish detergent to make sure it was super clean, along with cleaning the stall really well.  I masked it then shot sealer and base one day, then let it dry overnight and nibbed any trash before spraying the last coat of base and three coats of clear.  I used Southern Polyurethanes Inc. Euro Clear mixed 4:1:2 and their Pure White base.  It was back in the summer when I shot the paint so I worked early in the mornings so the clear wouldn't set up as fast.  I bought the paint last winter thinking it would still be cooler when I painted it; I really needed slow activator so the clear would have time to flow out better than it did. 














After a couple days I began reassembly. All of the black plastic was prepped and shot with SEM Trim Black to restore a consistent finish on all of the peices.  The tail lights were buffed.  I pulled a crack-free windshield from a parts car and spent 5-6 hours polishing out all of the wiper scratches.  I picked out the best windshield trim and outer door glass weatherstripping from my four parts cars then refinished them. 






















Started wetsanding and buffing the paint to remove the orange peel and trash.






I use a sharpie marker to mark each imperfection and also the edges and body lines so I can easily monitor how much clear I'm sanding off so I only take the minimum amount off to level the paint.  Pretty much zero risk of sanding through the clear this way.  I started with 1000 grit, then 1500, 2000, and 2500 before buffing with a wool pad then polishing with a foam pad and swirl remover.








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EShepherd

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #13 on: October 10, 2021, 06:09:49 PM »

Wow man, this is some seriously impressive work. I really can't wait to see the final result. Those headlights are cool lookin', too.

What do you plan on doing with the rubber molding stuff that goes along the sides of the car? Mine is falling off and nasty looking....I bet you've got some neat way to restore it that I'd love to steal :P
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theastronaut

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Re: '92 Mild Widebody Build
« Reply #14 on: October 10, 2021, 09:57:55 PM »

Wow man, this is some seriously impressive work. I really can't wait to see the final result. Those headlights are cool lookin', too.

What do you plan on doing with the rubber molding stuff that goes along the sides of the car? Mine is falling off and nasty looking....I bet you've got some neat way to restore it that I'd love to steal :P

Thanks!  The headlights are the only LED's I could find that have a usable beam pattern and a low beam cut off so they don't blind oncoming traffic without costing $500+.   One of the reasons I wanted to build a Capri was the sealed beams- lots of options for seeing better at night.  I drive 15 miles every night, 10 of those are rural and deer are everywhere. 

I'm leaving the trim off, the bumpers will be all white to match.  SEM dye works really well for restoring the side trim and they have a lot of grays to choose from.  They also have red for the insert. 


Low beam (needs to be adjusted lower).   Notice that the pic was taken through the windshield- no hazy scratches! 




High beam.

« Last Edit: October 10, 2021, 10:00:00 PM by theastronaut »
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