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[oz-fire]

To bring you all in to the picture, I live down-under in the Land of Oz, and own a right hand drive ’94 Xr2 turbo. For self punishment, I recently bought myself a base model, left hand drive Mercury Capri that Ford donated to a technical college, back in the nineties .To say the least the students were not kind to the car. The original speedo shows only 5,400 miles, it has an Australian VIN  (Sept 1992), the car appears to be a hybrid between your ’93 & 94 version, a kind of a '94 prototype, having some subtle differences to the centre console and rear tail lights.Twin airbags are fitted; however I suspect they are not active?
       
With the help of Russ from RooSports I’ve bought a few parts and plan, over a few years to restore it, bearing in mind, I’m unable to road resister the car until it is 30 year old, as it is left hand drive 

The old instrument cluster was damaged , so I’ve fitted a replacement (RooSports), my problem is the fuel gauge is indicating way over the “F” mark, am I looking at a replacement fuel sender, I understand it a combined unit with the fuel pump. Also the volt meter is showing top of the gauge
the temperature, oil; speedo and tacho all work fine:  The old instrument cluster was doing something similar
One other fault, on the instrument cluster, the brake warning light is constantly on ?

I may call on your advice to help tame this beast

Regards
Bill Sheehan

[blueamber]

So you have purchased a car that you cannot legally drive on the road for another 10 years?  You are insane Bill, therefore I will keep talking with you!!!

Is the gas tank clean on the inside?  Any old car, not run regularly, can get rust in the tank without the constant cleansing of filling and emptying the tank regularly.  If its a mess, then you could consider replacing the tank and pump/sender with a local junk yard one.  Aussie and US types should be the same.

If its clean, I would check the sender and fuel gauge.  With the sender removed from the tank, check its output with a volt-meter..  If you move the sender float up and down and its output varies in voltage, check the gauge with a variable voltage source, either an adjustable power supply or a potentiometer connected to the car's 12 volt system.  Expect a slow response by the gauge to changes in inputs to it.

Also if its clean, the sender float may simply be stuck.  Move it up and down by hand, and it may start working.

There have been numerous discussions in this group and the yahoo capri group about brake light diagnosis, and about checking the alternator for too high voltage.

I would like to have a right hand drive Capri to restore.  Working with old Capris here is just working on old, almost worthless cars.  The retail market is not good here.  The only standouts are the 94 xr2s ( but they just stand out in your mind, they look mostly the same as any other Capri).  But a right hand drive would be truly unique.  I wonder what US laws say about registering a right hand drive car, age wise?

Good luck, send pictures when you can, and hang onto that old instrument cluster... you should consider keeping that odometer reading with the car...Chris

[Sceeter]

What do you mean our cars are worthless?!! We own two  because their fun, good looking not to make money on them. [91 xr2, 93na modified. John 

[oz-fire]

Chris,

I know where the fuel pump / sender is , however is it safe to remove if the tank has petrol in it. do I need to drain the tank ?

PS : Russ from RooSport supplied a replacement instrument cluster showing the original milage

[tonlaw71]

Bill,


You do not need to drain the tank to remove the fuel pump since it comes out the top. However, don't do like I did and try to replace it with a full tank of petrol!! It makes quite a mess! 

[blueamber]

Interesting that Russ can turn an odometer to any mileage he wants...hmm... I'm not sure he wanted the world to know that!!!

Draining the tank isn't necessary before you pull the pump.  Just use common sense like no smoking, and avoid generating sparks into the tank.  I respect gas, I received third degree burns on my right leg as a child from having gas thrown on me and lit.  Luckily I have no phobias, except that I think electric cars are the way to go, and I own an electric lawn mower.  No phobias, just a lifelong attitude adjustment!!

When I pull a fuel pump, I always have some non-metallic cover to immediately put over the hole.  This keeps stuff from falling in, and keeps the fumes in the tank where they belong.

The 10 or so screws holding the sender/pump in are a little soft, and can be damaged easily.  I use my best phillips, or go buy a brand-name new one, so the bite is good and they don't strip.

The hoses attached to the pump can be hard to pull off.  I loosen their grip on the pump with vice grip pliers, rotating the hoses on the pump pipes.  That rubber is tough, but I use my most worn pliers so as not to bite into the rubber and damage it...Chris

[Rocketman]

Changing the odometer is quite easy, I'd rather have one that matches if it needs replacement rather than some random mileage. No way of getting around the mileage on the title, so no use rolling it back

Bill, you are quite the dedicated Capri owner. Are the LHD quite unique down there like the RHD's up here?

[oz-fire]

Thanks ' for all the feed back on the fuel pump,

I've only ever seem one other left hand drive Capri and that was a wrecking yard many years ago, the guy who had this one was going to sell it for spare parts. Being a '94 ,with twin air bags I thought it would be interesting to restore it and show it at Ford Days with my R/H drive version, a sort of
"Yin and Yang" display.

When time permits, I'll list the differences I found between the two , there's quite a few . We had fun trying to get the car started, found out you need to depress the clutch when starting, how odd ? 

Cheers Bill Sheehan     

[Rocketman]

I've never had a vehicle that you could start without depressing the clutch? Even odder yet, is that on Oz thing?

[blueamber]

Young whipper-snappers!!!  I owned a 67 VW Van, drove it all over the US in the early 70's.  Out west somewhere the clutch cable broke. I drove the van to a repair shop rather easily.  Stopped at a traffic light, with the engine off, and put it in first gear.  Green light, and I cranked the engine.  The van was geared so low that it would get going with starter propulsion power and the engine would eventually start.  I shifted through the gears without the clutch by matching engine rpms to the gear.  At the next stop light I'd shift out of gear and turn off the engine and do it all over again.

I'm betting the Capri could do the same thing with its really low first gear, with the clutch pedal switch defeated, although the gear knashing when hunting for the right rpm and shifting would drive me nuts in a hurry...Chris

[Rocketman]

Hah! You can indeed use the starter to move the Capri. You can tape the clutch switch closed and won't have to touch the pedal.

I use this method to move around those stubborn capris that won't run for me for whatever reason but still need moved around.

Some of the super high horsepower Miata guys prefer this, with their stiff clutches they prefer not to load the thrust bearings before oil pressure is applied. Flyin'Miata sold a clip to go over the clutch switch