I remember that tach...they printed the whole RPM number 1000 -2000- 3000 etc. lot of digits on that thing.

Love your projects and the Capri will be a nice one to watch. My first car was a '73 V6 four speed in 1974, great fun. Second car was a '70 914/6 in 1978 and I still have it.

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When I was stationed in Germany there were 4 Capris that raced around town. Flares, big tires and turbo V-6s.

Engine tuning and refresh is mostly done. Much cleaning of oily gunk, valve adjustment, rebuilt carb. Lots of oily gunk. Someone's idea of dealing with leaky cork valve cover gaskets was to just keep tightening them down until they were paper thin. Who knows how many years they'd been leaking.

I decided not to mess with the ignition yet, as I knew it worked as is, and why introduce an additional change when messing with a fresh carb.

Runs much better, idles smoothly at around 800 rpm, revs cleanly. So I'll probably pull the distributor for cleaning, service and normal tune-up stuff soon.

This means I should be able to drive it to DMV for VIN check and papers soon.

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They were very common in the '70s in Germany, even in the back woods where i grew up.

It turns out that backdating the rear bumper requires significant metal surgery to trim the impact bumper mounts and fill the holes (which are too low in the valance to be covered by the little chrome parts). I really don't want to hack up this totally rust-free shell, so I'll be refurbishing the original big bumpers instead.

Yeah that does not sound at all worth the trouble. Definitely not as easy to back date as a 914 that's for sure! It'll look great as is once it's all cleaned up.

Well, DMV trip still on hold. The car runs well with new carb and ignition tune up, until you work it hard. Under load (like steep uphill pulls in my neighborhood), it quickly stalls out. It felt to me like the float bowl ran dry. The car was equipped with a small electric fuel pump shortly before it was parked back in 2008 or so. Running that pump with the hose from the carb inlet pointing into a beaker delivered a sad trickle of fuel. I'm not sure if the pump is bad, or just not big enough—it claims to output at 2.0-3.5 psi and 28 gph. Specs I've found for V6 pumps seem to vary from 3.75 to 7.0 psi.

The original engine-driven pump was still mounted on the block. I think I'm going to revert to that style rather than another electric. So still not drivable yet. I'll spend some of the time waiting for a new pump refinishing the air cleaner.

Still waiting on the fuel pump, so I clean and refurb other stuff to pass the time.

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Fuel pump arrived a couple days ago, and works well. The car is a little fussy when cold, but runs well once warmed up. Nice, smooth idle at 600-700 rpm. Pulls cleanly, shifts well. Final prep for the trip to DMV for papers is pretty well complete. Last bit is the wipers, since rain is predicted all week. I dislike modern black plastic wiper blades on vintage cars like these, so I was happy to find a pair of period-correct silver Anco Aero wiper blades in the car when I bought it. I refinished the arms and blades in matte silver. The proper vintage-style refills won't be here for a bit yet, but if they don't arrive before I need to drive to DMV I found I can rob the blades from my '96 Tacoma—they fit just fine.

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Since the last episode:

Another milestone - the Capri is now registered and road legal. First time in almost 15 years.

The drive across town went well, up until it didn't. The engine, transmission and brakes all work well. Suspension was very soft up front, needed to get some new struts.

Got the paperwork completed, and went to start it for the drive home, and the only ignition key broke off in the ignition. Since none of the lower dash parts were in place yet, I was able to remove the steering lock from the column and quickly hot wire it to get home. Annoying, but not horrible. I got the broken key extracted, and pulled the ignition tumbler to get the key code to have a couple new keys cut.

Still pretty good feeling to have it registered...



This past month brought a nasty ice storm (almost 2 ½" accumulated on the ground), new parts, new plans, and more.

First, working under this (and other) car(s) is going to be a lot easier after the delivery of a set of QuickJacks. Not sure why I waited so long on these, but that's sometimes how I roll. Saved $500 by getting an 'open-box' set direct from QuickJack. Going to be a nice help on this and future projects.



New OE-type strut inserts from the UK are now installed, and have restored the ride and handling to a nice, original feel. I did find that the internal steering rack bushing is bad, and will replace that as soon as the part arrives. Otherwise the suspension is pretty well under control.

A small shipment from Denmark brought a left quarter window trim and a used turn signal switch. Both parts are extremely nice, and the turn signal finally cancels reliably, every time, either direction.

Still waiting for a final quote on the paint, the shop had some computer issues last week that have set him behind.

But in preparation for that, I've re-worked my schedule and plans. I was planning to drop the oil pan for new gaskets and clean the engine from years of oil leaks, but it sounds like the paint shop may want the car within a couple of weeks. So I don't think I want to pull the engine apart just yet.

Related to that, I think the engine cleaning and resealing is going to go a bit farther than I had originally planned. The farther I dig into this car, the more it looks like (with no way to confirm) that the 76k on the odometer might be original and correct. I'm reasonably comfortable that it hasn't rolled over yet. Which means that I'm fairly sure the original and notorious fiber timing gear has probably not been replaced. So the oil pan drop will be expanded to include pulling the timing cover, and most likely the replacement of the gears. Will probably replace the water pump as well, as long as I have it off anyway.

So today, in preparation for the upcoming repaint, I removed the entire heater-A/C box from the car. This is a rather major project on the '74 factory A/C cars. But it had to be done as the entire system (including the cowl plenum) is stuffed full of leaves, pine needles and other related junk that must be cleaned from the cowl before it can be painted. Will begin cleaning out all the crud tomorrow.

Really enjoy seeing your process Arne. You pick interesting cars and thoroughly sort them out. Somebody is going to get a great car.

The Capri goes in for paint a week from Monday. Final trim and glass removal is in progress.

Disassembly complete. No surprises, no rust in the window channels. On track for the painter next week.

Interesting side note, these German Fords are similar to the 914 in one way—the front fenders are welded in place, not easily removable.

Arne...your projects are almost more interesting than the 914 projects here.
Sorry 914World.

Keep posting brother...

That thing looks very straight. The paint is going to transform it.

It IS very straight. Not a single door ding on either side, thanks to the much maligned dealer-installed side moldings.

Nice! a silver turd

Those side moldings had a natural place to ride on the Capri styling line, unlike the 914 where with the slab side they just look tacked on.

This brings back memories of my 1st new car; a ‘72 Capri 2600 V-6.

Good luck with the project arne

On its way to the painter this morning.

Had a chat with the paint shop owner yesterday, now that they have had some time to touch the car and look for things they missed on the original estimate. And while I always expect these jobs to cost more than they first say, in this case the estimate was pretty good—largely because the car is solid.

It will require a lot of surface prep, due to the desert sunburned paint, but we knew that going in. No real surprises there. But the bumpers are a bit worse than we thought, and will require extra attention. Still far less expensive than sourcing and converting to chrome, though.

Estimating 3-4 weeks in the shop.

Visited the car in the shop last week. Progress is being made. No new surprises since the last visit. The first of the 2 badly weather-checked rubber-like bumpers has been prepped, and looks good, ready for paint.

Fresh out of the booth...

That’s gonna be a shoe piece.

The market for the V-6s seems pretty robust. Very shiny.

A client of mine has this for sale right now. For those who enjoy a different build this one is special:

https://www.2shores.com/en/cars/offers/1973...2600/333/detail

Yeah, he's posted a lot of pics on the North American Capri FB group, which is probably not the right market place for that car, most of the people there are after cheaper projects. And I'm certain that car will not go cheaply.

I should be able to bring mine home early next week.

First pic in natural daylight. At home in the garage now, reassembly in progress.

Wow that turned out great. Is that the original color or did you add some blue to it? Either way it looks awesome.

In theory, it's the original color. 1974 Mercury paint code 3, listed as either Stardust Silver or Stardust Blue, depending on what paint book you look in. Description was a light silver-blue.

In the real world with today's paints, it is more blue than I expected, based on the door jambs and such. But it's possible that all the paint on the car has faded over time, as I've seen period photos of this color that look more like what I have now.

As you said, it does look good, and appropriate for a car of this vintage.

Paint looks very flat. Assuming you’re doing all the wet sanding and polishing on this project? Looks great.

Nah, I pay people to do that work. Not fun for me at all. And these projects are all about the fun.

I’d have a hard time letting that one go.

It is a really great example. I doubt I'll ever see one as dry and solid ever again. But I don't keep these projects when complete. I have to sell them to make way for the next one.

Those are so hard to find in decent shape.

Back on the ground again, with almost all of the exterior trim installed. Installed the new steering rack internal bushing yesterday. Starting on one of my less favored jobs now—new headliner.

Grew up with a V6 Vega. Small car, decent power = fun.

Looking very good!

you won't find another one like that. As long as that plastic timing gear thing is addressed it should be very reliable and a lot of fun to drive. Plus it's a manual which is awesome.

The car looks fantastic now you have a blue turd

I had a 1971 Road/race Capri and was just a ton of fun.

Enjoy the process.

And yeah, I’d be interested when time comes to sell it @arne

I'll add you to my contact list, @Tdskip

New headliner install has been postponed due to mis-boxed product. Vendor is handling the issue well, but there is still going to be some delay before the correct item arrives.

In the meanwhile, I've started fitting the new carpet instead.

Side glass and trim is all in place now. Still waiting on more parts.

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New headliner snugged into place and glued from the B pillars forward. Will begin final stretch and fit on the rear half tomorrow.

My brother bought a Capri, V-6, 5 speed, brand new. It was a cool car.

Must have been a 4 speed. Ford didn't offer 5 speeds in North American Capris.

ace looking car

but i sure am glad aussie capris never copped the collision bumpers.

but its looking good regardless. .