Capri SX

[Copey]

hey all, got advised to put up pictures in here, so i thought i would

here is the car the engine is in "The Frozen Capri" (pics from my photo shoot for Retro Ford mag)







the old engine 2.1 pinto, race tuned on bike carbs



interior


i have owned the car for 4 years, got it lookin nearly how i want it to and it went well with the 2.1 in, but just not well enough, so after a lot of thinkin i settled on a CA18DET engine, pretty reliable if treated right, good power, lots of tuning options, retro lookin and good MPG (better than the 2.1 at any rate!) and cheap to insure (important as i am 22)

the engine as i got it


first fit


goodies!!!!


engine fitted, tarted up and with the loom stripped back to whats needed (but not tidied)


(prior to this i had stripped the engine, checked the head, cleaned up as needed, replaced bearings and cam belt etc etc) also painted the block blue, which i have now realised you dont really see a lot of! hehe

this is the exhaust we made up, stainless steel, straight as possible, 1 middle box and goes under the axle





then engine loom all tidied and the IC fully plumbed in, had to fab a bit of pipe for the take off to the AAC valve

engine


the pipe


the "turbo" sticker is a call back to the Zakspeed Capri, they had this logo on the bonnet edge, i had to have something Capri under the bonnet



these are my temp gauges, mash up of Capri anfd SX gauges and a boost gauge in (i will be making a fully custom dash pod when i have decided on the look i want for it all)
they are not perfect, but will do the job for a couple of months


and a video of it runnin


the engine was warm before revving and the smoke is oil off the manifold, hopefully on some 97ron fuel rather than 95ron it will be bob on it sounds like there is a slight blow somewhere too so will have to investigate!

thank you all for reading, hope you find it interesting!

[Mark]

a CA18DET engine, pretty reliable

I take it your havent read S13 Tech much

Nice car though Love Capris

Any reason you didnt stay with Ford and stick a 16v or 24v Cossie lump in it?

[Magicmat]

looks really nice mate, well done

[Copey]

I take it your havent read S13 Tech much

Nice car though Love Capris

Any reason you didnt stay with Ford and stick a 16v or 24v Cossie lump in it?

haha, i know they have their problems, but they are a lot more reliable than a 4-pot cossie, haha

glad you like it

and i basically went for it because i like to be different, there are a fair amount of cossie capris and theres LOADS with the 24v v6

[SX_BIG]

i love you.

i wanted to do this - but with an sr.

either way

AWESOME!

[Sean-B]

Amazing work mate! Love capris and now it's got the power to match the looks!

[Copey]

hahaha, thanks SX BIG

and thanks Sean-B

[Ross S14]

I'm liking that.

[Mark]

theres LOADS with the 24v v6

lol, remember seeing my first one of those at Ford Fair in around 97/98 I want one with twin tubbys

[Pete C]

Awesome, love the clocks especially

I'd love a CA powered Capri... if only there was a way of making them handle/stop

[cleanhands]

Lovely.

You done anything to the rear end? Tested one with and without the X-frame about 18 years ago. made a massive difference.

[Copey]

had an x-frame on the back, its a great upgrade but it puts extra load on the springs which isnt ideal, i am going to be fitting tramp bars, you can mount them under the springs via the U-bolts on the axle then an adjustable bar connected to another mount welded to the chassie leg, i will also be fitting a panhard rod at some point

the rear end has had uprated single leaf springs (done away with the multileaf ones) and some bigger shocks at the moment, removed the x-frame as, dispite the bars being 10mm thick and 30mm wide (wider than the kits you can buy) i had bent 2 of them... and i needed them removed to give clearence for the exhaust

and pete, the Capri actually handles a lot better than people make out! people who have problems with them just can't drive properly, i have fiddled about with the suspension a bit on mine, i have a few mods in mind though, the rear end as above, and on the front i am thinkin of fitting adjustable TCAs, an anti-dive kit and i plan to make mounts to make the ARB a double width one, i used to have a strut brace, but wont clear the engine, so will be sortin another one of them

as for brakes, i have a pair of 4-pot calipers off a Mitsi GTO and i will be using a pair of 300mm vented drilled and grooved discs should stop it pretty well, i am lookin into rear disc conversions too, the wheels help too, i moved up from 13x6 all round to 15x9 on the back and 15x8 on the front, means i can have less sidewall so less give and the extra width gives a good amount of grip

[skinz180189]

One word, YES!!!!

[Pete C]

the Capri actually handles a lot better than people make out! people who have problems with them just can't drive properly

What are you saying about my driving?

I've had 3 Capris, all of them 2.8s, and all of them had horrendous plough on understeer and hilarious oversteer at just about any speed. I'm sure you could improve on that (all my cars were standard), but I doubt it'd compare to a modern chassis design with proper multilink rear suspension etc... like an S13, for example

[Copey]

ahhh there is your problem...2.8i...too heavy, they drag the front end so wide! with a lighter engine up front they are much better! the 2.8i and 3ltrs arent good for fast driving, the pinto ones are ace! can really chuck em about esp if you fit a few uprated bits

and no, its never gonna handle like a modern car, but, fortunatly, it doesnt look like a modern car either haha

just like to point out i don't dislike the looks of all modern cars, just most tend to blend into the crowd a bit too much )

[Django67]

Subscribing so that I can see more of this. Pure car porn, love it.

[corfublue]

lol, remember seeing my first one of those at Ford Fair in around 97/98 I want one with twin tubbys

Young fella saw my first Capri in 1968 lol what an IMPACT on the Time this car had

[ADZS13]

[samoht]

S13 is Nissan's Capri IMO So a very fitting engine swap.

[Mark]

Young fella saw my first Capri in 1968 lol what an IMPACT on the Time this car had

lol, not my first Capri first one with the granny cossie lump in

I actually worked with the guy who drove the first press car through London (to its UK launch IIRC). He said the looks he got were brilliant