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[BlewitUp]

Hello all!

Glad to have found this site.  Some of you guys on here seem to really know your stuff!  Thats good.  I have been reading up on my new (used) car.  The more I drive it, the more I like it.

My story:

I live in Livonia MI.  I drive 150 miles a day round trip to work.  I also own a Jeep Wrangler, a GSXR600 and am working on a pretty far out turbo charged Ford Ranger.  Wrangle gets 15MPG and the bike gets about 35MPG if I stay out of the throttle (the bike is highly modified).  I was looking for something to drive back and forth to work that got good MPG and was more comfortable than riding a sport bike.  I set my price limit at $3000 and started looking.  All I could find was junk Neon's (Pee-On's) and beat Caviler's (Can-Of-Beer's, or Cavillac's) and Million mile Saturn’s.  I was really hoping to find a Saturn but I happened to drive by the Capri!  I loved the look of it.  I can't explain why.  I am a Muscle Mopar guy in a perfect world but this car struck me.  It reminded me of a mid-engine car without the hassle.  The rear-end styling is a work of art.  The truck was bigger than I thought, and the seats hug you like a lot of high dollar sports cars.  I have to drive this thing!  I talked to the owner.  drove it and fell in love even more.  It's not fast by any means.  In fact, it is possibly the slowest car out of the, "hole" I have ever owned, however, this thing really shines on the freeway.  Again, nothing crazy, but a nice smooth power curve taking me from 55-80 without downshifting.  I was impressed with the way it handled for being a FWD car.  Taking in to consideration the era it was built in, yes there is torque steer, and yes the brakes are a little soft, naturally there is body roll but I knew for about $200 I could cure all of that with a 3 point strut tower brace and some EBC's.  We settled on $2000 for the car.  I had a little bit of buyer's remorse for about two days.  I felt I over paid by $200-$300.  But then I remembered all the JUNK I was looking at that was in the 3000-3500 price range.

When I bought the car it needed the following:
-New soft top
-Didn't come with a Hard Top
-Radio didn't work
-Glove Box handle was broke
-Driver's interior door pull was missing
-Emergency brake cable didn't work
-Motor on driver's headlight is intermittent
-Trunk lid won't stay up

It now has a now soft top, New Pioneer radio, fixed the alarm, got half of an interior door pull, and found a Capri at the junkyard which allowed me to score both headlight motors!  I am working on the rest as I go along.

Want to see pictures?  OK!

 

 

 

 

 

These photos are prior to any work I have done.

So far I am at a running tally $2500 for the car.  $300 for the top, (I wanted a really good one since I have never replaced a rag top other than a Jeep before) and 150 for the radio, and another fifty for Junkyard parts and other Misc. pieces.


I have to run for now, but I do have some questions for you guys.

Thanks,
-Ryan

[tonlaw71]

Welcome, Ryan!! Glad you found this site. You are in good hands. You should try to find an XR2 to test drive...You will be AMAZED at the difference that little turbo makes. You will grow to love that car and all it's little quirks. I sure wish I didn't have to sell mine the other day.

Again, welcome and ask all the questions you want. We're all here to help!

[drbob]

Come to the Gathering this year.  If you need parts, Russ (roo-sport.com) is one of the bigger suppliers of parts for our cars.  If you need mechanical info, Matt (rocketman) is an excellent source of info and a brilliant young man.  Augest 13th.  Go to CapriGathering.com for info and registration

[BlewitUp]

I saw that was coming up... Looking in to it. I have to go to nashville tennessee around that time for work. Hoping to make it. I was looking at craigslist and it appears Russ is making a trip to detroit soon an trying to bring parts south him. I need a hard to before winter and he has one for sale but the price is a little out of my budget. Might need to get in contact with him for other stuff for his trip though.

Thanks for the welcome guys. Again I am short on time. Tomorrow I will ask some questions after I do a little research on this site...

[CapriTypeR]

Ryan-
Welcome to the site! You are correct: I am planning a trip to Detroit real soon. I hope to make it out there this weekend, next weekend at the latest.
The price on the hardtop ($600) is on the higher side, however this top is as close to perfect as I've ever found, and it comes with EVERY accessory you'll need. I can see what I can dig up for you, with a smaller budget in mind (or maybe we can work a partial trade for your wheels!!   ) . If I find something, I can PM you and let you know.
Feel free to post here, or give me a call 847-370-3760, or email me at CapriTypeR@Gmail.com.

Nice looking Capri you have. It looks like you were able to pick up a car that gave you a good head start. Let the modding begin!!

--Russ

[BlewitUp]

Thanks Russ!  I would really appreciate that.  The top you advertised is, indeed, in beautiful condition.  I want to apologize for my sloppy posts.  Both were done from my phone...  I hate when post are so garbled you can't even tell what the person is talking about.

The questions I have are pretty simple.

-Is there a rebuild kit for the headlight motors?
-Does anyone have a wiring diamgram for the motors?  I would like to bench test the ones I got from the junkyard.   I could just look at my Capri, but I don’t want to go through the hassle if someone has it handy.

I believe the actual motors on mine are fine but I am suspecting they use plastic gears and half of the teeth are probably missing.  The one head light in question with go all the way up, and all the way down.  It just cycles once per 8-10 cycles of the passenger.

-Does the N/A motor house forged internals?

I have looked up and down on Google and cannot find a reliable answer for this.  I am leaning towards not, but sometimes I am surprised.  It would be pretty sweet if they were...

Russ,

You don't want the wheels.  They are just cheap universal ones.  They have weird lug nuts on them and I am having a hard time finding the socket that fits them… Also, I haven't had them balanced yet but by the vibration through the wheel at about 70, I am assuming one is slightly bent.  My temporary cure?  Go 80.  She smoothes right out.  As for a hard top, I’m looking in the $300 Range.  Preferably white, but beggars can’t be choosers I suppose.  I’m not afraid to take it to Macco!  I will be sending you an email regarding some interior piece pricing.

Thanks guys!

[Rocketman]

Ryan-

First off, welcome to the forum!

To answer some of your questions:

The headlight motors use an internal copper rotary switch. The common issue is the contacts become gummed up with old grease, or corroded. Cleaning the disk usually fixes any problems. You can "bench-test" motors by plugging them into your car without installing them.

The Capri motors do not used any forged parts. We do have piston oil squirters, though. The rods are a weak point around 250-300whp depending on how you treat them, but the transmission (especially the F-Type, found in your N/A) is the real weak point.

I manufacture metal replacement glovebox latches, I cast them. I have a thread under the Aftertmarket subforum. Link: http://teamcapri.com/capri-gi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000216

Your wheels probably use "tuner lugs". You can buy sets at Advance Auto / Autozone etc, you will get a new set of lugs but it includes the key. The lugs should be a round barrel with 6 keyed indentations, correct?

Hope this helps, I'll try to come back & answer anything else once I've had more coffee (or sleep, lol)

-Rocket

[itsmeisatu]

Ryan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/capri/photos/album/1067317195/pic/list
Here is a link to a picture of the headlight motor opened up. Clean the metal plate and put a little more tension on the contact fingers, a little grease and its good to go.
George

[BlewitUp]

Whoa!

Thanks guys...  I am speachless.  Ha.  I am very interested in your all-wheel-drive set up.  I unfortunatly (for the Capri) have the Ranger going on and it is still in it's infancy stage, so my goal is to get the Capri looking/running good.  I want to maximize MPG for now.  I am also trying to "preserve" it so when I have the space, and time for another project, I can still have this little car in decent shape.

Thanks again.  I will check this stuff out when I get home from work.

Take it easy,
-Ryan

[BlewitUp]

Ok. You were right about the tuner lugs.

Back to the forged internals. Were you saying that even the turbo Capri's are also not forged? Do the N/A capri's have oil squirters too?

Thanks guys.

I'm working on another set of wheels too. I may take you up on that partial trade after all! Ha ha ha.

[Rocketman]

I have a build thread here for my GTXR2, if you want to see some pictures of what I went through to convert it to AWD.

All capri motors have cast hypereutectic pistons, we don't have any forged parts. The only difference between N/A & turbo motors (speaking internally here) are camshafts & piston compression ratio.

Turbo is 7.9:1
N/A Auto is 9:1
N/A Manual is 9.4:1

All capri engines have piston oil squirters

The engines are pretty damn robust if you keep your fueling in check, the weak points are the transmissions as I said above.

[BlewitUp]

Yeah...  I saw that about the transmissions.

How does your AWD set up hold together?  I would assume that can take a little more abuse?  I think I am signing up for this conversion.  Bet it could be done making it mid engine too.  

And I said I wasn't going to get hooked.....  DAMNIT!


See how the Ranger goes.  Ford 2.3 block with a Volvo DOHC head.  Shooting for 500 hp.  If anyone is interested I can talk to you about it in the lounge.

Thanks for the info everyone.  When I get back from my trip and pay for this semester at school, I will have a little more money to work with and some time to read.  

Later,
-Ryan

[Heavensheros]

i just moved from dearborn michigan would have been cool to show you my capri and the potential of what they can be and to see yours !!! would love to see you at the capri gathering youw ill see so many different capris all modded so differently and amazingly and so many nice stock capris it will blow your mind and you will have so much fun its ridiculous. Hope you can make it to the MACG !

[Rocketman]

The AWD tranny is weaker than the FWD turbo trans. Yes, it's got traction, but it's got lots of tiny gears that dont like gobs of power or abuse so I have to take it easy on it :/ The AWD trans I am using is almost ridiculously rare anymore too.

My next capri project will be mid-engine, yes.

[BlewitUp]

Apparently the heat doesn't work.  Fan blows on high 2 settings.  That one is easy...  Resistors.  I am wondering if the heater core is plugged.  Maybe the diverter switching?  Are these cable, vacuum or electrically operated?

Thanks guys.

One last thing.  Is there anything difference between the 91 and the 93 N/A motor?  After really digging into this car, I am getting the feeling this has a different engine.  There is writing with a faint paint marker that says, "93 Capri" on the back of the intake.  Anything to be concerned about?