Hi guys, new to the forum. I'm glad to find such a place as I bought a 1991 Capri to tinker with. I owned a 1973 and 1974 Capri when I was younger and got the itch to own one more.
I bought a 1991 that done a lot of sitting. It has 90K on it and the carfax says I'm the 3rd owner with the last one owning it since 1994.
The car is in great shape to start with or so I thought I figured I'd go through the motor to make sure I knew what I had. First I bought a timing belt set because if it wasn't changed before it was well overdue. It wouldn't start.
So I tore her back down to make sure the gears were lined up right and they were. Spark was good but I went ahead and replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. I then took off the fuel filter. Nothing but brown sludge come out of it, uggh! So I dropped the tank before I knew about the access under the seat. But sure enough the tank was rusted out bad. I found one on ebay, bought a new pump, screen and fuel filter. It fired off but ran rough. It wouldn't idle but it would rev up decent. Now what?
I figured one of the injector screens might of got clogged so I took them off and made me an injector cleaner I seen on YouTube. I cleaned them out good and installed new screens and o-rings. They sprayed great. I put her back together and it still ran rough and wouldn't idle?? Now I'm really puzzled, lol. Thanks to the online manual on techcapri I started troubleshooting anything and everything.
I left out the part of revving her up to 3-4K just to hear her run. I didn't pay attention to the electric fan not coming on. The gauge wasn't but 3/4 so it wasn't really an issue so I shut her down. The top radiator gasket blew on the cheap plastic top as soon as I did. O'brother what else can happen!
I bought a new all metal radiator, cap and fan switch. That part is all fixed.
After about three more days of head scratching I said let me check my timing belt one more time. I broke her down and the gears were lined up as before. Then I noticed a half round circle wore in the timing cover. After looking more I noticed the exhaust cam gear sticking out about 1/8th inch farther then the intake cam gear.
?? So I pull the valve cover to make sure the cam was okay. It was. Okay maybe someone worked on it before I got it and the gear is loose. Sure enough it was. I started to tighten it and the gear started going crooked on me.
?
So I took the timing belt off and then took the gear off to see what was happening. With the gear partially loose it shifted about a 1/4 inch on the dowel rod. I couldn't see that before for the big washer covering it. So I fixed that and put it back together. It started up and ran like a champ. I set the timing and she purred like a kitten. Great all fixed.
Not so quick! I took her for a drive the next day and I started smelling gas. My second injector was leaking bad.
I broke her down again and the #2 injector o-ring was busted. I might of done that putting the fuel rail back on or it was the cheap gaskets I got off of ebay. I wasn't taking any more chances. I went and bought a good Felpro engine gasket set and started using them. A week later and she is still running great. It should be with all the new parts and troubleshooting.
My next project in a couple weeks is to put a new top on her. Then I want to replace the struts and flush the tranny. She'll be ready for hopefully the cosmetics then. I want to get a body kit for her. I already bought an XR2 spoiler but it needs sanded and painted. She has a great body on her. All except one door ding and the bumpers are spider cracking on me.
Here's some photo's of her.
I hope to learn a few things here and share some knowledge in exchange.