Stu's Mk3 Capri project

[Group4_Mark2]

Great Job, Glad to see you back on the forum. I hope that your little girl is feeling better.

I take it that you have the vacuum advance disconnected while doing this test?

Regards
Tom

[Stu.C]

Yeah, she's doing fine now thanks - all that hospital nonsense was a few short years ago; occupied every single waking hour at the time but now thankfully it's largely forgotten.

Vac advance was indeed disconnected and plugged up, just like it should be. Never plugged the line beforehand ... simply didn't cross my mind until I read one day that it would be destroying the vacuum in the inlet, I was only ever thinking about having it unplugged so it didn't engage the vac advance on the distributor

Idle curiosity has me wondering if there's a way to measure the curve of the vac advance, but I can't think of an easy way to test it at the moment

[Stu.C]

Among the pile of bits I've casually acquired over the years is this; a pair of Dellorto DHLA 40's complete with trumpets, K&N filters, linkage and a Hiflow manifold - all for £151 from a fella about 20 miles away. If memory serves, it was one of those auctions where the seller listed it badly, with few photos, an end time in the early hours of the morning and seemingly nobody else noticed it.



(Yep, that's also the unleaded injection head that was kindly given to me by Dave - haven't forgotten mate )

I've never had twin carbs before, I know some folk think 40s are too small, I know they're the less desirable emissions carbs, I know there's other ways of making more power, I know they drink petrol like there's a never-ending supply of decomposing dinosaurs, I know it's not just a simple case of bolting them on and away you go ... but for that money I can have a play and make my own mind up, then move them on if I need to Plus they sound good And they look cool



Supposedly serviced by "a specialist" just before I got them and supposedly set up to be "bang on" for an RS2000 ... I'll take both of those comments with a large bag of salt. Full genuine service kit acquired for a tenner. I can live with the patina if they're fundamentally sound, cause an uneducated bodger will likely do more harm than good if he tries to do too much. One thing I'm wondering about though is whether an ultrasonic clean would be worthwhile for them before I do anything else, to get rid of any old fuel deposits gumming up the works in the bits I can't get to.



Shopping list includes some new Misab plates and doughnut washer thingummys, a throttle cable, maybe one for the choke if I can't live without it, an oil breather setup, assorted bits & bobs, some Brasso and a clue. More hospital time meant I had time for another of Des Hamill's books too ...

carbbook.jpg

All in good time, anyways ...

[Toonarf]

Hi Stu

May I also congratulate your excellent thread, I too have spent a few days on and off reading a "good book" I wish my project was as interesting and readable.

Way back in the day I fitted a pair of 40 Dellortos to my Escort fitted with a standard ex Cortina 2.0 pinto and whilst not setting the world on fire it did have the bit extra poke that you crave. Good luck with it. I still have the carbs I could never bring myself to get rid, but they have not been on a car for nearly 30 years so they may well be knackered. I remember that with my vac unit connected to number one carb at tickover you could see the unit pull the advance each time the valve opened. It ran a lot better with a fair bit more advance but with the vac unit uncoupled.

Thanks again for a good read

David

[Stu.C]

Thanks David, it's incredibly gratifying to have someone use their very first post to say they enjoyed the story so far

I hope I've got a cunning plan to deal with the ignition. I guess time will tell

Any photos of the old Escort?

[Toonarf]

I have a few of it taken whilst competing on Road Rallies in the very early eighties but nothing electronic I am afraid.
My currant project is non Ford. I like your idea of not getting too complex, a lot of cars go into the garage for a 5 speed conversion and come out with a cozzy engine just to make full use of the extra speed the gearbox will provide, with the 5 speed replaced with a 6 speed to make use of the power...........

David

[alladdin]

I have a few of it taken whilst competing on Road Rallies in the very early eighties but nothing electronic I am afraid.
David

Welcome back stu , I think I need to re read now :o

David, my cheapo printer / scanner does a great job , I have also taken a digital pic of old photo, comes out well.

[tom burgess]

great to see you back stu.lets hope the enthusiasm lasts long enough to get the car back out there

[Stu.C]

Cheers guys, it's nice to be back

In other news, I've now got programmable electronic ignition and it only took an afternoon to do it. It's an Aldon Amethyst unit and you can read all about it here, rather than me just repeating that novel I just typed out However, for both context and posterity ...





Fun, games, questions, failures, criticism and experience will follow ... for now, I need a cuppa

[Graham]

wow, great stuff

[Dave]

Good to see you are still around Stu.
Hope all is well with you and yours

[Toonarf]

That looks fun, I am on with a megasquirt project. its a hell of a buzz when they start on electronics and then you have the power to alter things.
I was over the moon when I cranked for the first time and it ran...........

David

[raymondmarble]

Christ on a bike, as they say! I finally got through it. What a read Stu! Great job on the Capri, and I hope your wee girl is tip top again also.

[Stu.C]

Thanks for keeping up folks... I know you know how much it means

We're all doing tickety-boo, aside from growing old, but there ain't much we can do about that Main problem at the moment is enthusiasm to get on with stuff exceeds available time, like a lot of folk I guess. There's been a succession of parcels arriving at work as I spend some of my pocket money, which is always a good sign there's an update coming sometime soon

[merp0]

Is all this enthusiasm leading to the Capri hitting the road in the summer Stu?

[Stu.C]

So long as we have a flexible definition of "summer"

[Norwegian Caprinut]

Have been reading the whole thread for a couple pf nights..

Awesome thread
I like to see thread like this, learning bits as you go, and in the end produce a nice car


I may put up a tread about my Capri as well


from Norway

[Stu.C]

Thanks Caprinut Please do put up a thread about your car - looks an interesting one.

Spent the evening with a glass or two of red and some screwdrivers, following the instructions in the book and stripping down the carbs, one by one. They've gone off to a local chap for an ultrasonic bath to get rid of the gummed-up petrol in the insides and ensure that when they go on the car, all the delicate little holes are the right size, rather than full of crud, smaller than they're meant to be and inconsistent. No assumptions that the jets are right for my car, but at least they'll be a (theoretically) known state.





Couldn't readily get the fulcrum pins out to release the float arms in either carb - and didn't want to force/bodge it - so have asked the chap to sort it. Similarly, the accelerator pump well covers were welded on by their gaskets so I'll let the ultrasonic bubbles do their magic and dislodge them. Other than that it was remarkably straightforward, apart from spending half an hour on the floor looking for a tiny spring that I thought had fallen off the table, only to discover it had wrapped itself up with another one and was still on the table

The carbs came with a linkage and it wasn't till I'd taken it all apart that I realised at some point someone had cut down the mounting plate for the twin throttle cables and re-purposed one side of it on the other carb as a mounting point for the choke cable. Received wisdom seems to be that I ought not actually need a choke mechanism if the carbs are set up properly, so I guess I'll weld it back how it was.

[Stu.C]

Turned out nice



Picked up the carbs today and I'm more than happy with the job done by Ian at CRC Restorations. I chatted it over with him beforehand and the brief was to get them functionally cleaned, rather than focus on them being cosmetically clean - after all, they're only going to get dirty when I use the car, so I don't personally see the need to spend extra to get them back to showroom condition.







They went through a combination of ultrasonic cleaning and vapour blasting, primarily to remove gummed-up or caked-on fuel deposits, silt and general crap. This also freed the accelerator pump bowl cover, which was welded on by its gasket on both carbs - good job too, as apparently there was a load of shit in there, just waiting to bugger things up at some point. Either someone hadn't been running a fuel filter, or they had and never checked it. All of the jets and bores were cleaned, hosed down with Wurth 2040, blown through with air, checked and cleaned again if needed.

Ian also spent some time freeing up the air bleed screws, which are used to balance the airflow. By the time Dellorto were making these emissions carbs, they were balanced at the factory and sealed with either a wax filling or a cover. At some point in time, someone's had a go at adjusting them - you could tell from the damaged screw heads. So, they were maybe balanced, maybe not, but unless the screws were sorted there'd be no way to adjust it if they weren't already bang on. They were apparently a bit of a bugger to get out, but it was done without any damage and well worth an extra hour's labour.

Manifold just got a turn in the vapour blast booth





Next step will be to work out which seal or washer in the service kit goes where, as I take my time and put everything back together.

[Stu.C]

Rhetorical question of the day;

How much longer than you expect it ought to does it take to change an exhaust?


Tune in tomorrow for the rhetorical answer...

[Stu.C]

So it turns out we're going to need Plan B.

As nice as my Prodrive stainless exhaust is, the Capri's a very different shape to the Impreza and no amount of twisting, turning and contorting would get the back box tucked up in the rear ... or over the rear axle for that matter.



When you compare it to the one I just took off the car, it's pretty clear they're two ever so slightly different shapes. Who'da thunk it, eh?



Pity, as it made a nice noise and would likely outlive anything else on the car.

Enter stage right a Sportex system with a 2" tail pipe for less than 140 quid delivered. Given that by the time it reached me from the factory it was already scratched to buggery, I gave it a couple of coats of Halfords Very High Temperature Paint. It's mild steel, so it's never going to last like stainless would, but it's priced accordingly as a consumable item, so maybe a seven quid investment in some paint will help it last an extra couple of years.



I've already got a 4 branch manifold that I picked up ages ago, so as it was a sunny day I hoiked it off the car, gave it a once over with the wire brush and then a couple of coats of paint that dried in no time in the morning sun.



I asked the interwebs beforehand and the received wisdom was to either use automotive VHT or barbecue paint for this. Of course, they also said there was only a fifty/fifty chance it wouldn't blister and flake off the first time it saw anything warmer than a toasted teacake. Time will tell I guess.

The fitting was largely uneventful, but a complete bastard all the same - mainly as the car's only on axle stands, so it's tricky to get the leverage and room to twist stuff that one occasionally needs. The only major problem I've had is getting the joint from the centre to the back box all the way in. There's probably about an inch or less still to go for it to be fully seated, but it just didn't want to go in. As long as it's not blowing I'll leave it for the moment and let a garage have a go whenever it's next up on some ramps.



The tail pipe's at a rather jaunty angle too now I look at in the photo - seemed alright when I was looking at the car. Could just be the alignment of everything needs a little tweaking, it just seems like it's a two person (or one octopus) operation.



When all's said and done though, it's on the car, there don't seem to be any problems with it and my little girl rushed out the house when I fired it up to tell me "it's super actual shiny and really grumbly"

[Group4_Mark2]

Getting the thumbs up from your little girl makes it all worthwhile. Great to see that she is interested in your projects. I have trouble getting mine off the couch long enough to have any opinion on my projects

Regards

[freddy686868]

them sportex aren't the best fit as we fitted one to the mrs cappa and it still hits the axle but with a fair bit of fecking about it will be fine

http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthre...=197950&page=4

[Stu.C]

Getting the thumbs up from your little girl makes it all worthwhile. Great to see that she is interested in your projects.

All on her own, she's come up with the idea of taking the car to the local steam fair in the summer. Which then lead to her being able to tell all her friends about it. Which then escalated to being in it while we drive around the display arena and waving to them. But she kept me in my place by telling me "of course, you'll have to wash it first"

them sportex aren't the best fit as we fitted one to the mrs cappa and it still hits the axle but with a fair bit of fecking about it will be fine

Yours is tucked up way better than mine and I'm suspecting I've got the centre hanger on the opposite way Looks like I need to find a little fecking around time

[Stu.C]

Spent over a week trying to find the genuine Dellorto service kit that I'd bought a few years ago and put away somewhere safe so I didn't lose it... Finally got a chance to rebuild the carbs, so spent the evening at the kitchen table following the instructions in Des Hamill's book. My auntie tells me it was a scene reminiscent of my uncles sat round the kitchen table at my grandma's some forty years ago, likely doing the same thing.

The kit includes all the gaskets, o-rings, springs, filters, diaphragms and needle valves you need, so it's really just a case of working your way round and ticking things off the list. The floats were really badly misaligned and I doubt it was a result of manhandling by the chappie that did the cleaning, so I guess they'd been a ways out for whoever ran them before. Bend, measure, bend, measure, bend the other way, measure, repeat ...





The float droop on both sets was originally somewhere around 40mm, compared to the intended 25mm, so that would undoubtedly have had a big affect on something. I can't think what that big affect would be right now, but it would have been big. You don't need me to tell you that. Oh, you do? Well, err, it's not that it would overfill the bowl, so it must be that it would let it get too empty, so maybe you'd end up with starvation issues if fuel couldn't be picked up correctly. You may be able to tell I'm rambling and guessing now

The main issue that I found was with one of the idle emulsion tubes & jet - in this photo it's the lower one. I can't even tell what it is (as the numbers have been worn off) but I do know that it's not a 7850.1/60 combination like the three others Note the lack of a hole below the thread. Only a tenner or so at Eurocarbs for a replacement, but it's annoying - doubly so if they later get replaced when set up properly. Doesn't say much for the "specialist" who serviced 'em for the fella I bought them off either, I guess.



The only other issue I found was a load of unplugged holes on one carb that are plugged and fitted with a take-off on the other. It looks like they really ought to be plugged, so as not to destroy the vacuum in that choke. Opinions?



So I could at least end the evening with a sense of accomplishment, I quickly put the finished carbs onto the manifold with the new Misab plates and doughnut washers. Nothing's tightened up yet, but at least it was nice to look at



Now if only grandma was still here to offer me a ridiculously hot mug of tea and a slice of cake ...

[Graham]

Oh, you do? Well, err, it's not that it would overfill the bowl, so it must be that it would let it get too empty, so maybe you'd end up with starvation issues if fuel couldn't be picked up correctly. You may be able to tell I'm rambling and guessing now

makes for good reading though

[Stu.C]

All on her own, [my daughter's] come up with the idea of taking the car to the local steam fair in the summer. Which then lead to her being able to tell all her friends about it. Which then escalated to being in it while we drive around the display arena and waving to them. But she kept me in my place by telling me "of course, you'll have to wash it first"

So it turns out I'm now working to a deadline. Our entry form has gone in for the Heskin Steam Rally at the end of May. Sounds like there's plenty of time, but the weeks are zipping by at light speed at the moment.

Best get my skates on then. Oh no, I can't... I'm away in Edinburgh with work

[andy-v]

good luck fella
hope all goes well.

[Graham]

The only other issue I found was a load of unplugged holes on one carb that are plugged and fitted with a take-off on the other. It looks like they really ought to be plugged, so as not to destroy the vacuum in that choke. Opinions?

correct you cant leave them open

[rampant racing]

i clean old carbs like yours in a glass bead blaster. 10 minutes and they look like new. then a nice bath to get any residue off . gives a nice uniform finish. smooth to the touch but doesn't remove lettering or any thing like that. very gentle on aluminum.

[Stu.C]

Of all the hoses on the car, the fuel line in the engine bay is probably the one I'd least like to be leaking right now...

[Stu.C]

Turns out I owe the members of the Petrol Hose Manufacturer's Association of Great Britain an apology... it wasn't the hose that was leaking but the Filter King regulator I got all the way back on page one. It was dripping unseen onto the overbraided hose which then got soaked. At least needlessly going to the motor factors to get some new hose gave me a walk in the fresh air



The glass bowl on the filter is made out of some special kind of flexible glass, which I guess anyone who's not in marketing might call "plastic" Either way it seems to have gone a bit out of shape. I've nipped it back up as tight as I dare and it seems okay for the minute, but I'll keep an eye on it. Might drop a line to the importers, as a quick Google suggests mine's not the only one to suddenly spring a leak.

[Ali_b]

Good project mate, comeing along nicely!

[exboyracer]

From one lost soul to another, welcome back Stu

I might have a glass bowl for a filter king somewhere... you are right, at some point they changed them for plastic, probably for safety reasons, but they do distort.

[Stu.C]

Nice to see you back too mate

Thanks for the offer. I've coincidentally just got off the phone to Glencoe, (who are the UK importers for FSE, Sytec, Facet & Malpassi), and they're kindly putting a new glass bowl in the post to me FOC.

[Norwegian Caprinut]

Any more news?

[Stu.C]

There was a distinct lack of glass bowls falling through the letter box, so I chased them up and they fessed up they forgot to send it. On its way now I'm told.

Bypassed the Filter King as I didn't think an MOT tester would appreciate the fuel dripping on him, gave it a good all round check, bit of a wash and booked it in for a test. It's had no road miles in six years and it's even still on the same tank of fuel, so it was mainly a case of "it is what it is" and I'll deal with whatever comes up when I get the chance.

Went out first thing this morning and an hour later it had a certificate with advisories on a tiny exhaust blow and the solid brake lines wanting a rub down and greasing.

Intentionally took it to a local place that deals with a few classics, so we could have a chat and a poke about, rather than be left sat in some sanitised waiting room. Main thing of note is the CO2 reading of 0.48% against an allowable 4.5%

Opinions? Running lean? Stale fuel with very little RON left? A combination? Something else? Probably more to the point, what should I do about it...

[exboyracer]

Put a fresh tank of petrol in it, and worry about it later

[Graham]

Main thing of note is the CO2 reading of 0.48% against an allowable 4.5%

that will be CO not CO2. the CO2 reading should be roughly the same as the O2 content of the exhaust but for your purposes its irrelevant

if it idles ok then your 0.48% is fine, lets not forget on the mot they are only measuring the idle mixture, it has no bearing on whats going on when you drive the car

[Stu.C]

Excellent guys, thanks Any solution that involves me doing bugger all is fine with me... in fact I've just ticked it off the list