jonyb4

ordered a few bits Powerspark ignition stroke timing light and Powerspark pointless electronic ignition kit the electronic ignition kit is a great piece of kit, my fathers mk1 has it on the 1.6 pinto, basicly takes away the moving trigger arm which needs regapping and wears over time, these use magnets instead car starts first time everytime and produces a better stronger spark! ** dont think this is the exsact kit but only the wires and connectors differ!

little update its all painted now, and in 5 coats of laquer too! bits are being put back on, and the bonnet now satin black some pics will get decent pics on the digital camera once its rolling out again

thats lovely

hey welcome, history sounds good

yea they're a bit square for the curvy Si imo very tidy mk4 van though!

thanks mate, means alot!

Update got each of the tappets fitted and adjusted to 0.025mm gap on the exhaust, 0.020mm on the inlet fitting the thermostat cleaned the bolts up fitted the head and gasket, the 10 bolts in place ready for torquing sequence cam cover gasket cam cover mucky old bolts... ... were given a new lease of life fitted new exhaust gaskets on... new air ratchet makes such light work of nuts and bolts and will set them all to 50lbs/ft too inlet gasket... notice the water inlet pipe between port 2 and 3? in my mind its bad design to have water flowing so close to the inlet ports, if a leak happened it could destroy con rods letting water int he chambers done for last night, got in at 1AM! these arrived today, handy quick air line couplings timed up and all together minus the air box slight snag, i dont have a clue about distributors, nor how to time them up im getting spark, but i dont know if its firing at the right time.. doesnt help that the dizzy is loose and turns by hand! can any one give advice? i know its fueling, plus ive been pouring petrol down the carb, only managed 1 hickup from it

im not sure mate do i? Edit: oooh xr look alike from FT.com

thanks cant say id like a set of doglegs on it personally! but shes quite nippy yea, certainly entertains me atleast, done a 8.5s - 60mph at ford fair last year just before i fitted the cams, and again before the cams it made 126bhp at Gotboost rolling road in south wales

cheers guys its only been welded once by myself for this mot, tiny hole the size of a 20pence piece on the rear chassis leg

could a moderator please move this thread to projects section please?! cheers!

more work done tonight on the mk3 all valves are in and springs on lapping valves like a boss, with fast ford mag! 2 new exhaust valves crowns de-coked, block mating surface cleaned was fun trying to get pistons to TDC turning the key all valves in just the followers left now, spare valves... tomorrow it should be put back on the block, just tappets a few gaskets, thermostat housing and head bolts left considering stripping the carburettor down, as they need annual maintenance its likely due, and i have new seals and gaskets for it comments welcome! more tomorrow

kind words mate cheers!

supprisingly these being the mk3.5 suffered less rust than the earlier mk3s and more RS and XRs have been scrapped than the Si or other mk3.5s like the later RS1800 and XR2i 16v

done some work on the head today, getting there now only spent and hour and half as i got plans for valentines day :hsugh: sprayed up a few things to spruce the bay up once back together!, nice satin black engine lift eyes cam cover more on point, started polishing and cleaning the ports, combustion chambers and valves up valve 1, exhaust valve 2, inlet cleaned up using emery cloth, then 320 wet and dry paper lapping in using coarse, then fine grinding paste i also spent a good effort cleaning the heads, ports and chambers using wire drill bits valve 3, exhaust other ports more will be done tomorrow! comments and advice welcome

Thanks guys

lovely list there, capri's especially nice, that laser was a great colour to have!

gorgous pair mate, specially the mk1, do you know what colour it is? my old man is having his mk1 sprayed in a colour quite near to that green and i hope you dont mind i used one of your pics to described the colour in my thread on this forum

very colourful list there, love it, only escorts though! wheres the fiestas?

i love this mate its a great example! look forward to updates from you

heres my fathers mk1 capri, was in madina green (sp) but the paint was diy and a bit soft, so pitts and damage was happening quickly over the last 2-3 years so hes been wanting a respray. but after hsi bonnet flew open at speed damaging itself, the scuttle panel and hinges it was crying out for a body shop repair. so its currently wearing no paint, stripped down by my old man and his mate whos professional painter, scuttle has been welded and filled in using a special poxy/fiberglass mix i will get older pics of his computer but this is it before the strip down but heres pics before going in for the painting it actually has a 1.6 pinto he removed from a written off mk3 he had before it, which has a kent cam in it he bought princess 2.2 4 pots for it, which are now fitted, i need to get some pics of these.. and his new bonnet workshop these pics were taken before its had been rubbed down.. its now been given its final primer coat

i must stress this is the first time working on a capri, and on an engine to this level outside of college (which was over 3 years ago) so if im being daft, rusty or simply doing something wrong please be gentle popped to halfords, got me some paste and stick, only had them as a pack so the stick we got has been retired also some feeler gauges as we dont have any suitable ones i found that out when gapping my Si spark plugs, and i dont know if the tappets on the pinto require gapping or not! so got that anyway as they were cheap as with trade! both come to £6, they were £4 each before trade also since they didnt have a thermostart, so popped into my local motor factors who are nice genuine people, told her a 86 2.0 capri and she thought for a sec and told me the QH part number, cracking lady, shes been in the business for 45 years! then had a chat about the capri and about her old Anglia's anyway come to more than the standard price at halfords but saved me traveling to neaths store, besides im happy to give the lady my business over halfords! forgot to get some emery cloth though! ill manage with brushes and coarse sand paper shall spend an hour or so taking the valves out later ---------- cheers dave! time to take the valves out! how i got on today cam follower adjusters need to be slacked off to removed the followers this is done by using a 19mm on the bottom section, loosening it to the right as normal then after its slackened off, you use a 15mm to loosen the top section, opposite lock once that is done you need to pop this clip off like so and as long as the cam lobe is not resting on the follower (downwards facing) the follower can be removed easy inlets done all done then naturally the next step is to remove the valves so spring compressor collets removed, spring and cup out, and valve dropped through due to the end the bloody compressor broke so had to weld it back up classy welds hour later all the valves are out... none are bent, all are a bit grotty but only one stem seal was leaking slightly, others were oil free the collection, all marked next i removed the cam oil spray rail note the spray jets then drilled these out to 1.5mm before left, 1.5mm right done back in place, decent pick of stripped down head, if only i had the dosh for a decent uprated cam new valve stem oil seals in place these needed alot of pressing, had to use a screw driver but in retrospect a small socket would have done better! all done for tonight, not sure much will be done tomorrow as me and the old man are going to a car show/jumble in shepton mallet tomorrow, and we found 2 brand new valves and are contemplating weather to buy the other 6 even thinks he has new followers too! this head is getting the works! hope you like

heres a thread for the mk3 im planning to buy off my old man once its repaired and in a good state sorry if this all seems fast tracked but its just a catch up and C&P from another forum of whats happened in the past 2 weeks of ownership -------- its happened :halo: ive been looking for one of these for almost a year, the higher premiums and the fact they're shooting in price has kept me from finding one after i announced to the old man im planning on buying a small project Si he decides to tell me hes secretly been looking and even bidding on mk3 capri's even while his 7 year project/show car mk1 capri is as we speak being stripped of its old paint and awaiting a new coat of green, and a repaired bulk head greedy? :hsugh: well 3 days ago he told me hes just won a 1986 laser and after planning to go get it from Preston, Lancashire, bit of a drive we set off today with his mate in his escort GTi estate thanks to its towbar (who has the red cossie lookalike P100) 489 mile journey we left at 6am, got home at just gone 4pm using an A frame to tow the car is a breeze, you can safely tow a car alone and it will steer for you anyway we got there, seen the guys new capri that replaced the one were buying, was a bit naughties styled even had a 3 door whale fin on the boot, thankfully the laser were were buying was far less "interesting" ill say :hsugh: A frame connected up C reg '85 2.0 automatic laser, completely standard with an alarm/immobiliser of some make tax till end of march, mot end by then too, cant remember when exactly known issues before winning the auction: tatty body work, bubbles and a ding in the wing, paint a bit flat low compression in one or more cylinders and stalls after 15mins of idling, believed to be head gasket upon inspection we found: tear in drivers seat slightly past it parcel shelf i found a possible bulge in 1 tyre? remote for alarm battery had died so couldnt start the car, and the box had to be disconnected as the guy couldnt shut the alarm up due to the dead remote battery then died after us trying apart from these which i will be rectifing myself as the old man is occupied with his mk1, bit stupid buying this atm considering then :doh: anyway considering ive been dieing to get my hands on a mk3 for all this time im more than happy to do the work, diamond white is quite easy to blend in when spraying too using a rotary so im going to tackle the rust myself with confedance after what i learned from doing the Si in the case the engine is kaput, we have 3 paths A if unserviceable, replace the pinto with another 2.0 B replace the pinto and auto box with a I4 8v our friend has lieing around mated to a type 9 gearbox C replace the pinto and auto box with a 2.0 Zetec mated to a type 9 gearbox (obviously along with the pedal box, funded by selling the rare auto box) this was going to be a buy cheap fix up sell on job, but ive convinced him to use it, im hoping after myself doing the work i can get a deal out of him when im ready to own it myself sorry for the long post battery is on charge, will get a battery for the remote tomorrow, and ill begin trouble shooting, starting with a compression test, but signs of water spillage from the expansion tank do suggest a blown gasket so expect some good updates regarding this small update spent and hour with the old man on it today got the manifolds off ready to take the head off, got hold of a compression tester but it was only given with one plug and its far too small in thread, so will have to get the right one off his mate ill ask at the garage i just began working for see if they have one to lend ---------- some pictures to share cant wait to spray the grill and light surrounds black, hate them being white, needs contrast manifolds off such a breeze to work on, i love the pinto engines already only 1 exhaust stud give me trouble, and a clever design where the water enters the head through a galley in the inlet (between port 2 & 3) bit bad for keeping temps down but efficient design timing and cam are marked up ready to retiming, will order a upper gasket set and head bolts wednesday, but would like to get the test done first just incase its the rings that are buggered, but im positive its the head gasket if its the rings we will need to decide to repair or replace the engine --------- well the parts arrived today pleasantly early, good old ebay gasket set (turned out not to be Payden) 10x torq head stretch bolts once down the garage i slipped the timing belt off (with thanks to the hanyes manual as i didn't have a clue where the tensioner was) its clear to see the tensioner but not how to slacken it, haynes revealed you undo the 2 bolts behind the belt and it swings 10 bolts slackened later... hard to tell if the gasket failed looking at it, some parts i can see seepage where its not in others, eg the water ways have spils under the gasket where other water ways dont cleaned the head after that, wire brushing, moving the cam and valves, removed the spark plugs, wiping away debris and oil/water the last owner (or before him) was a right cheap numpty, silicone sealer gasket was uses on the thermostat housing, no gasket present (white, can be seen in the upside down head pic above) each 8 valves are in good condition, rockers seem fine, and so do the cam lobes the 4th spark plug was a swine, embedded with determination! mallet better deep 21mm socket from a m ate were needed to get it out as it was rounding also the inlet gasket was removed, was pretty caked on so took a bit of time and cleaning but its looking good now! used the air compressor to clear all the debris and water from the head, and later the pistons next i removed the thermostat housing, was pretty grotty, these are aluminium and have a habit of eroding away and they develop holes, i wonder if any one makes alloy/stainless replacements for these?... anyway stripped it down and cleaned all the silicone off, the thermostat was looking ok, not 100% if it works, used pboiling water to test it but nothing, maybe pintos operated above boiling point? the O-ring was fooked, maybe he bodged it as the 'stat had failed? (note the slice in the ring) cleared the water from the crowns as we dont want that... see here the bodged O-ring, 'stat has the new ring fitted from the gasket set and also the new housing gasket painted the housing as black corroded white is not a good look set come with new valve stem seals, old man reminds me he's got an old home made spring compressor somewhere, so i plan to do the seals and lap the valves back in, will have to pop to get some paste, think Halfords sell them? and ill get some emery cloth too so will have myself a reconditioned head more to come tomorrow

heres a brief look at my daily pride and joy my mk3 not quite old enough to qualify for old skool yet but im on here with good intentions so figured it wont hurt to show what im passionate about anyway pics of how she first come to me back in june 2010, paid £545 for her and she was a standard 1.6 16v zetec with only a K&N 57i kit and stainless cat-back exhaust, with 93k on the clock, full ford service history and all optional extras except electric mirrors here she is, in Petrol blue has a file full of documents, including past mot's, reciets and servicing full ford service history upto 07/89k and this is her current state, ill not bore you with the full spec list as id have a number of lines... but heres a brief of the best bits: P 1.8 Si, 130bhp, kent ph1 cams, 4 branch, RS1800 engine bits, gmax suspension, RS turbo body parts, RS recaro seats, stainless exhaust, green cotton, RS2000 front brakes, polybushed, leather, full electrics and premium sound optional kit includes: dual airbags, front heated screen, electric windows, central locking, Dead locks, ford standard alarm, power steering, anti lock brakes, big option rear drums, boot release, rear standard speakers. I have added electric heated mirrors myself since buying it

hey guys, im new here started reading up on here about 2 weeks ago after just collecting a white mk3 capri from Preston... im from port talbot in south wales, im turning 22 in march been around fords my entire life so natually when i turned 17 and passed my test i went hunting for one, come back with a 1.1 mk3 fiesta from my uncle, had that a month and upgraded to a 1.6 Si loved it but unfortunately inexperiance and bald rear tyres seen the car loose it round a wet bend overlooking a mountaint drop, car was wrote off. so then got myself a red mk4 fiesta, had that almost 2 years, modified it so much it become unbearable for a daily driver, it ended up having a 1.8 silvertop zetec in it, very involving conversion carried out by myself which im still proud of. had a few others here and there but in a sentence ive owned 7 fiestas and 2 escorts in my short time so after having enough of the scraps of lows, and the overly loud custom exhaust i seen my current car another mk3 fiesta Si for sale locally at a dealer, deposit was made before walking away after viewing it and it was mmine before the end of the week a almost 2 years on (in june) i still have it, its now got that 1.8 from the mk4 in it, various mods but nothing overboard! still very much usable and enjoyable daily. anyway more on capri's, my old man has had so many in my life i simply couldnt do anything else but love them, many mk3s but 7 years ago he stumbled on a mk1 was two tone front end was yellow at a slant and rest was a green, and a stupid bonnet vent, offset on the bonnet was on death row in a scrappy (yard owners own car) my father bought it and restored it over the 4 years, top to bottom, it was painted (poorly at home) in madina green, he is running it on rostyle wheels and recently fitted mk5 RS2000 recaro seats to it thanks to my welding a mount for the runners this mk1 is currently in primer after 2 weeks prep work waiting on a paint job, similar colour to a member off here i noticed i hope that member doesnt mind me using this pic of his car he even plans to do the bonnet black and have a recess black line flow to the rear window curves i will make a small thread for it! on to the mk3... its a 2.0 laser my old man bought about 2 weeks ago, an automatic, and blown headgasket, was difficult to tow back we had to disconnect the prop currently rebuilding the head myself, anyway sorry for the long boring post for you guys but thats me in a nutshell!