jimbo

Thanks folks! It's good to be back (as, and when time allows for posting).... A special thanks to you Vista. Andy and co are being very helpful Turns out restoring the car to its former glory is not gonna be a cheap endeavour! Especially now that I am not in the UK to do the bits that are within my capability (strip-down, cleaning, reassembly). But I am buoyed by the availability of panels on the market. I've got some planning to do over the coming weeks, and I'm sure I'm gonna be on here asking for all sorts of help and advice along the way. Thanks again!

I think my last post on here was about 4 years ago, so it feels like I should introduce myself all over again. I'm Jim - Besides the Jeep I drive out here in the UAE, the only other cars I have ever owned have been OSFs. Mk2 Escort 1300L - 1976 Mk2 Escort 1600 Ghia - 1977 Mk1 Fiesta 1.0L - 1980 Mk2 1600 Ghia - 1977 And currently a Mk1 Capri (built November '68) (I shall post pics of all in the near future) My Capri has been parked up in a barn in Devon for the last 4 years, getting ever rustier.... But with divorce finalised, debts paid and a few k saved up, it's time to turn my attention to a long overdue restoration. So here I am, first post back looking for recommendations (some things never change ?). I was going to race to get it done for 2019, what with it being 50 years old and all. But I'm not accruing funds fast enough, and doubt I'd find all the panels I need in time. So I am looking for a good bodywork place in Southern England who will take this on as a slow-burner job, in amongst their more routine / more profitable work. There's some damn fine restos on here, so I'm hoping you can help me find the right place. Cheers!

I'm really interested - PM on way

I'd love to see how he's got on with the Mk2. Which he bought from me.......

You're a good man Darran. Setting up this colossus, and getting to to where it is is no mean feat and I'm sure it was a hell of a sacrifice in terms of time and money. Many thanks for providing such a great forum (where mainly, I just ask stupid electrical questions). Hope to see you around. Jimbo

I stopped by Accuspark HQ to pick up an alternator, and the chap had a quick look at the car. The obvious thing he pointed out was that the LT wires were the wrong way around, so now it looks like this. I've tidied up the colour coding on here as well now. So that leaves me with two questions 1) The red wire that comes from the dizzy should connect to the the live feed before the ballast, that means my current powerspark set up is wired incorrectly, yes? 2) If I want to get my tacho working, it should be taking a feed from the negative pole on the coil. Currently the yellow / white goes into the loom in the engine bay. I get continuity to the Pink / White that comes out of the loom behind the dash. This agrees with the Haynes manual. A bullet connector joins it to a white wire, which then runs though a pickup / induction loop on the back of the tacho. Haynes agrees with this too. Where I get confused is..... On my car the white wire runs for a few centimetres more, before it connects to a spade terminal on the back of the instrument cluster. It looks like it's going to earth. However, the Haynes manual shows the white wire running all the way back to the ignition switch. Here it joins with another white wire that leads to the brake light switch and the heater. The brake light switch then obviously runs to the lights and then earth, the heater wire runs to the heater (the side opposite the two-speed heater switch / resistor setup. This looks like +ve feeds to my untrained eye My question is, having run through the pickup on the back of the tacho, should that wire just run to Earth?

Great! I'll give it another go on Tuesday.

Thanks chaps for the replies. Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!! I think that my original post wasn't clear - not the first time, eh Savvi? Perhaps a few more things I should have explained. The car is negative earth The car is currently working with the above wiring config, and with the Accuspark blue (ballast coil) fitted. The old coil has a very faded label, which I though said non-ballast on it. I've just run the digimeter on the old coil, which reads 1.5 Ohms suggesting that it is actually a ballast coil. However, all that would suggest that I should only expect 9v being fed to the +ve side of the dizzy, yes? There's every chance it's me being stupid. I'll recheck on Tuesday. Just to clarify, On Step 4 : Turn ignition on (nothing else switched on) That means in Position II, with ignition light on and engine not running, yes? Cheers again, Jim

What on interesting topic..... Although I've not been an active participant on the site for quite some time, it still looks pretty vibrant to me. The only thing I would bemoan is the lack of OSFs on the road. The reason? I can't help think that if they were out and about more, then not only would there be more connection / interest / involvement from the public, but the more they'd wear out / rust. And, with necessity being the mother of invention, that would likely lead to people making parts and panels...... Just an idea.......

The time has come for me to finally give in to the inevitable and set about a big resto of the Capri. It's a job and a half, and I'm looking for the right guys to do the Job. I already Max App on my list, but I'm looking to speak to a few others to learn about their approach. What recommendations can you guys give for someone who's capable of tackling a bid metalwork and paint job. The areas I'm looking at (because I visit them regularly and I want someone closish to SPL in Banbury) are London (in around M25) / Bristol / Evesham / Herts Bucks. Your help, as always, is much appreciated...... Cheers, Jim

So I went out to fit my new Accuspark dizzy today (I've already fitted the blue coil, leads & plugs.), but I've got myself in a right pickle. I'm hoping that you can help me make sense of it. The Capri is a proper mongrel - Mk3 running gear in a Mk1, with the electrics chopped (from I think what was originally a Mk1 loom) to suit. It's a Bosch dizzy that has had a Powerspark unit fitted for the last couple of years. It currently looks like this. Given that I've got a brand new multi meter, I thought I better check the voltage at the coil to check that it is ballasted. I followed Accuspark's instrcutions Testing for a ballast resistor or wire If there is no ballast resistor visible you may have a ballast wire inside the loom. To test for it proceed as follows: 1. Check voltage of battery with volt meter and make a note 2. Remove the wires from the negative side of the coil (negative earth cars) 3. Connect a temporary wire from the negative terminal of the coil to earth 4. Turn ignition on (nothing else switched on) 5. Now check the voltage on the coil, put red probe on + side of coil and the - probe to earth 6. If the reading is less than 80% of battery voltage there is probably a resistor in the system. If it is more than 80% you probably have a standard system 7. Remove the temporary wire and reconnect wires. If your reading is less than 80% you should use a ballast coil, or our AccuSpark Blue If you reading is more than 80% you should use a non-ballast coil, or our AccuSpark Red But I was unable to get any voltage reading at Stage 5. Then I tried the method on this Youtube Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWxJmbm5V3s This gave me a reading of 12v, which suggests that my ignition is set up without ballast. What's thrown me is that, prior to changing the coil over to the Accuspark blue a couple of weeks ago, the car ran fine for years on a coil marked "non-ballast". I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this...... Is there anything wrong with the way I tested this? Given the above info, does this seem like a non-ballast system to you too? Is there anything else I can check to be sure either way? Your help is much appreciated Cheers, Jim

They are tight! I had to slides the boots and manipulate the ends a little with pliers to get them to click into position,

Thanks for all the pointers chaps In the end I went with Accuspark. In fact I've treated myself to whop ignition pack from them. Replacing my dizzy tomorrow

Hi folks. Any recommendations for good ignition leads that don't cost the earth. From what I can see, the makes I'm used to (champion, Bosch) aren't available for cars of our age (unless you can tell me otherwise) and I'm not a fan of cheapo makes that my local factors stocks. Thanks in advance.

I'm no fan of FB - I left over a year ago..... Nothing new there. The Data Protection Act (1998) makes provision for Data Controllers to disclose personal data to authorities for the prevention and detection of crime. However, investigating authorities have to apply each time stating the nature of the crime being investigated, being very specific about what they are after and also being able to demonstrate why not disclosing the data would significantly harm their investigation. What's more worrying is the US Patriot Act, which compels any organisation with a headquarters or datacentre in US territory to grant unrestricted access to the data they hold. Land of the free eh?

Thanks for the feedback chaps. In any case, it looks out of place in the Mk1 capper

Hi folks, When I got my Capri, it had this steering wheel fitted. I assume it's an aftermarket wheel, but does anyone know what it is? Cheers, Jim

You're right there Savvi. I normally pride myself on being pretty damned good on constructing sentences and using grammar. And by my standards, the above question was very poor. Guess I let my standards slip with the hundred-and-one things going around my head this morning. Thanks again Vista. I got the circuit working perfectly. Sadly the fan sucks rather than blows (it says it blows on the packaging). Early morning trip to Burtons to sort that out. With the traffic around here, that sucks and blows all at the same time

Scott. You are my hero!!!

Has anyone got an answer for this? I've got the day off work to get the job done. (Pushy I know )

Just wiring in an electric fan and realised there is a gap in my knowledge. Every other relay I have worked with has a load of some sort on manual switch side of the circuit (e.g. rear window demister and full-beam lights both have dashboard / switch lights telling me that they're on). Do I need to include a "load" of some kind in the manual switch circuit? My intuition tells me that if I don't, I'm just creating a short circuit when the switch is on? Any help gratefully received. Cheers, Jim

Hi Scott. Cheers for the help. That's done it....... A man with my techhie background should have thought to try that. [Note to Self] Do not go near a computer until I have had at least one cup of coffee

Hi folks, Is there any way of searching through old posts (over 3 years ago)? I've got some useful history, guiding me on long-overdue repairs out there in teh ether..... Apologies if this is posted somewhere. I have had a look before posting, but couldn't see anything.......

I'm looking forward to teh difference a bit of Colin's TLC will make to the Capri, when he gets his hands on it in a couple of weeks

Good man! 59 other views of this post, and only one donation.....