its happened

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?



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)

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






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


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


comments and critisim welcome

sweeeeet love it

Love capri's, nice one

look forward to the project progress

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nice! i like capris!

be good too see one be brought back to glory.

you gona use the a frame to pick up the fiesta?

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Suzuki Ignis Sport - ITG Maxogen - Japspeed 4-1 - Decat - 2" custom single box Scorpion exhaust 3" tip - Magnecor leads - Air con Removed - Apex 35mm springs - OMP Strut brace - Whiteline rear arb - EBC Greenstuff front pads - MTEC grooved/drilled discs - Team Dynamics Pro rally 15X6J ET28 - Toyo tyres - Rallyflapz - Black lamps - Smoked repeaters - Sparco pedals - Stripped 40kgs rear interior
125.4BHP 126.6LBFT

cant see that happening, his mates a bit tight and doesnt do favours too often lol, scary to say but that would probably be towed via tow eye and link bar

that will be alright though. a wouldnt use a rope lol.

i hate being towed, scares the shit outta me. lol i put my hands over my eyes like you lol

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Suzuki Ignis Sport - ITG Maxogen - Japspeed 4-1 - Decat - 2" custom single box Scorpion exhaust 3" tip - Magnecor leads - Air con Removed - Apex 35mm springs - OMP Strut brace - Whiteline rear arb - EBC Greenstuff front pads - MTEC grooved/drilled discs - Team Dynamics Pro rally 15X6J ET28 - Toyo tyres - Rallyflapz - Black lamps - Smoked repeaters - Sparco pedals - Stripped 40kgs rear interior
125.4BHP 126.6LBFT

Nice, wish my dad still had his mk3 capri, them where the days.

Crack on lol

well its in the garage now, failed to start it, had a weak spark so changed the coil for another, bit better, pouring fuel down the car but still wont start


ill do that then, see if fuel comes through the pipe, kinda clueless with older engines myself, never had a carb or dizzy lol


few pics, somehow managed to get it in the garage by myself pushing it!, couldnt even do that with my Si









me and the old man will have a crack later as he knows far more about these pintos than i

You need to man up I was pushing a ford galaxy down the road yesterday trying to bump start it lol! only joking.
Good project btw. Needs to be manual though at all costs imo.

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L333SYA - Ford Cougar 2.5 V6
RR - TBC

ha fat cars!

yea been watching some type 9 boxes on ebay, one went from £0 quid starting and sold for £107!!!!


this engine is giving unwanted jip, i would love to put a etec n there, but that opens another world of jip, custom exhaust, fuel pump, bell housing apparently water rail etc etc

yeah i'd personally keep it pinto purely for 'ease'... Zetec would be tempting but all the custom parts would cost a fortune and give you a headache i'm guessing.

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L333SYA - Ford Cougar 2.5 V6
RR - TBC

EASYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

Exhaust: RWD zetec.
Bell housing: Zetec to type 9 adapter.
Fuel pump: take a pick of whatever one you want
Water rail... custom make one/get one pre-made

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Boss might be selling his type 9 box from his mex as hes replaced it with a quaife one

Keep it pinto

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Suzuki Ignis Sport - ITG Maxogen - Japspeed 4-1 - Decat - 2" custom single box Scorpion exhaust 3" tip - Magnecor leads - Air con Removed - Apex 35mm springs - OMP Strut brace - Whiteline rear arb - EBC Greenstuff front pads - MTEC grooved/drilled discs - Team Dynamics Pro rally 15X6J ET28 - Toyo tyres - Rallyflapz - Black lamps - Smoked repeaters - Sparco pedals - Stripped 40kgs rear interior
125.4BHP 126.6LBFT

let him know im interested mate! very interested!

wouldnt stick an auto for long i know that lol




me and the old man had a casual play with her tonight, come to an agreement.. a plan of action


going to get hold of a mates compression tester... pretty much square one of figuring out how fucked your headgasket is, if apauling, will have to consider things, will then remove the cam cover, check each valve and the cam, if bad = new head

if what would be acceptable to a HG failure we will then buy a headgasket set = £20 on ebay sorted fit and new bolts ofcourse

we will then see if we can get the spark better as tonight proved awful, spark from the coil wasnt brillaint and spark from the plugs wasnt very good either, even used one of them inline spark plug light things to see how strong a current is, and again compared to his 1.6 in the mk1 were weak charges

so then we will spend another £20 buying an electronic breaker thingy for the dizzy, worked a treat on the mk1 starts first time everytime and idles faaar better, so that should hopefully sort things out, refill coolant and service = sorted 2.0 pinto!



will update when we get it compression tested then!! watch 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

Good progress

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i know its not much but theres not much to do untill the test is done


theres a blister of rust on the top of the drivers wing, gave it a poke with the screw drvier, went right through

so will leave that untill i find a new wing, little point trying to repair it, it has a good old dent in the front of that wing too


wont be the easiest wing to find

Are those the valve springs? Christ. I'm not used to being able to see more than the top of a valve lol and only one cam as well.

Old skool.

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Good progress, while your waiting you should get that wing off, see whats hiding underneath that you can get your teeth into.
Im sure theres afew more holes waiting to be found.

Best to approach a project in a big way imo, get the thing stripped then rebuild, sorting problems as you go

As lou said, rip the wing off as it needs doing at some point, have a good look round everywhere else too and remove anything that will need removing at some point in the resto, then go from there

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