Reward! Help me find my old race car

Wow, this is really cool.

Nice!

Awesome!

Goosebumpsawesome

Love this story

Awesome! I agree, this needs to make it into the magazine!

Outstanding! Best of luck with it!

To be a good story there needs to be work done on the car after you get it back. It needs to cover right up to or including the first track day.

Looking forward to the tearful reunion photos.

carguy123 wrote: To be a good story there needs to be work done on the car after you get it back. It needs to cover right up to or including the first track day.

Man, you are making it sound like its being written for Hollywood.

I said to "be a good story". There has to be a happy ending.

The deal has been finalized and I pick up the Capri tomorrow. This is what it looks like now and I can't wait to see what it will take to get it running again. At the very least an Auto X or two this summer, hoperfully a track day and maybe more soon.

Mike

She even kept the same number!

Sitting since 1996. Waiting on your call. Good freaking story.

It looks fantastic! Wow, congrats- what a cool story!

Really motivates me to figure out why my Capri won't run right. Need to get that car finished.

Brings a tear to my eyes. I just love old Capri's, I had a 71 back in the day.

Awesome ! Great deal started New year off right with this story . Thanks !

So what engine is in it? I had a '77 with the 2.3 and a 4 speed. I always wanted to put a Zetec into it, but I had title problems and got rid of it.

One more pic:

It has the 2.8L V6. I have been tearing the house apart looking for old pics and can't find many, but I found the notebook I kept when I built the car. I wish the prices for parts was the same now as it was 25 years ago when I built it!

We bored the engine forty over and the stroke stayed the same (any math wizzes out there who could calcuate the current displacement?).

Any suggestions for prepping a motor that has been idle for 16 years? Provided that it will still rotate, what should I do before I try to crank it? I know the carb will need a rebuild, and many other items, but I'd love to get a battery and hear it growl again.

Suggestions from the board?

It looks great! I always did have a soft spot for Capris.

Refiring an old motor: first thing pull the plugs, squirt a LOT of thin oil in the cyls (I like to use WD40) and let it soak. While that's going on, change the oil and replace the oil filter. Drain the cooling system, then refill with coolant. IIRC on those motors there is a weird refill procedure necessary, if that's not done it will overheat almost immediately. I think it involves removing the top radiator hose and filling the block through the upper neck.

Of course drain the old fuel and put 3-4 gallons of fresh in the tank. Replace the fuel filter. If it's at the rear, I like to use one of those cheapie plastic ones at the front to catch any detritus that will be residing in the fuel lines. IIRC that engine has a mechanical pump on the engine and a fuel filter that screws into the carb bowl.

The carb is bound to be gummed up. The needle and seat will almost certainly be stuck open, which will make the thing flood like crazy. This can be approached two ways: grab a kit, disassemble and rebuild it before trying to fire the first time. Or (and I have done this more than once), pull the feed hose off of the carb nipple (heh heh heh he said nipple) then squirt a little carb cleaner in there. If it has the fuel filter that screws into the carb, remove it and spray carb cleaner into the carburetor opening. Put the filter/hose back on, then use a small funnel to fill the float bowl with fuel through the vent opening. It won't hold much, maybe 3-4 ounces. Leave the air cleaner off.

By the time all this is done, the thin oil will have soaked into any carbon or rust in the cylinders. Leave the plugs out, turn the engine over with a ratchet/socket on the front crank bolt. It should require probably 20-30 foot pounds to turn the engine. If it stops dead or is extremely hard to turn over, investigate before going any further. If it turns okay, crank it over by hand 4 or 5 revolutions.

Clean or replace the plugs and reinstall. Make sure the battery is fully charged.

Roll the car outside, grab a fire extinguisher (I once had a Datsun catch fire when fuel leaked into the starter!) and a big screwdriver with a plastic handle. Have one guy try to start the engine, the other guy watches what's happening under the hood. If fuel starts spitting out of the top of the carb, quit trying to crank and rap on the float chamber with the plastic handle of the big screwdriver. Try to start it again, if the fuel keeps spitting out of the float vent then repeat the rapping thing. That usually takes 2-3 tries before the needle and seat will start working.

Once the engine starts running, it won't run well because the carb jets will be gunked up. Keep the engine running by working the throttle, then spray carb cleaner into the bowl vent. The idea is to mix the carb cleaner with the fuel in the float bowl, the engine's vacuum will draw the carb cleaner through the passages and jets, thus cleaning them. Do not spray it into the venturis, that doesn't really do much good, will most likely stall the engine and make it hard to start again. The engine will run like poop due to the carb cleaner, when it starts to run better spray it into the vent again. Also due to the WD40, carb cleaner etc it's going to smoke like crazy and the smoke will stink, that's why you do this outside. This will make the neighbors very happy. I have seen cobwebs, mouse nests etc come flying out of the exhaust and a guy I worked with said he once saw a SNAKE! come out of a muffler.

Of course while doing all this you need to monitor the oil pressure and engine temp, that's why you need two people!

The carburetor will have to be rebuilt no matter what, time is not kind to rubber seals and gaskets that have been soaked in fuel. But with all this you can at least get an idea of the engine's condition.

OBTW: it is not unusual for a clutch disc to rust to the flywheel or pressure plate. To fix: get two or three good size friends or one skinny guy with a truck and a chain. Put big guys behind or attach chain to the front of your car, then get in, stick the transmission in 4th, push the clutch in and then the others jerk/move the car. You should feel the clutch disc pop loose. Sometimes you have to jerk the car back and forth a bunch of times before the rust will let the disc go.

Man reunited with long lost racecar. Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? As long as the engine wasn't taken apart, I'd fill it wth fresh oil, prime it, and see if it will start. Maybe squirt a bit of oil in the cylinders and turn it over by hand a few times. Smart idea to just go ahead and replace filters, plugs, and other normal tune-up parts. Really nice car and it looks like it's still in great shape. I'm not at all jealous. O.K. maybe a little bit. Or alot.

Thanks guys! I am pretty sure I put an electric fuel pump and pressure regulator on the car way back when.

I will try these procedures and see what happens! Not be a complete idiot, but standing in front looking at the engine, does it rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise or does it matter when I try to rotate it by hand?

Stay tuned!

Clockwise. Unless you are wearing a digital watch. OBTW: if it doesn't want to turn by hand, take the belts off and try it again. I once saw an engine replaced because of a seized alternator. You read that right.

Thanks. I'm a little rusty on the wrenching, but hopefully not that rusty!

Wow! Awesome you found it!

Hope to see some track pics sometime in the next year!