Mercury Capri Project Car

indyhawg

Looks like a fun project. I had an 82 Capri back in the day. It was a fun little car.

bigaudiofanatic

Well I got it!
The big thing was a big split in the intake hose after patching that and holding my foot down for it to warm up it found its idel speed and was fine!

Now correct me if I am wrong but rough cold warm ups and than running smooth after warm up means the pvc valve?




After wash


Scrubbed the top down before and after


Clayed and waxed

billbillw

Nice ride for $500. I'd get it road worthy, then sell it to some high school chick for $3000 or so.

I can hear it now...
"Oh Daddy, I just think its soooo CUTE! Please!"

kuntasensei

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

Well I got it!
The big thing was a big split in the intake hose after patching that and holding my foot down for it to warm up it found its idel speed and was fine!

Now correct me if I am wrong but rough cold warm ups and than running smooth after warm up means the pvc valve?

I was thinking EGR valve, but... you may be right. It has been a while since I've done any monkeyin' around on cars.

jflail2

Billbill hit the nail on the head. That looks to be an easy flip after seeing it cleaned up!

kawizx9r

jflail2 wrote: »

Billbill hit the nail on the head. That looks to be an easy flip after seeing it cleaned up!

+1
Not bad, for a chick car

pmlewis

Your car did clean up nicely. I have a 92 N/A automatic. It has been fairly reliable, but these cars do have there fair share of quirks. The 94's seem to be the nicest. You will definitely want to get a Merc shop manual. I have found it to be extremely helpful. Also checkout Mid County Classic Mustang for NOS, used and repro parts. http://www.midcomustang.com/.

bigaudiofanatic

Thanks and I doubt I will be selling it.

pmlewis

If you are going to use it as a daily driver you may want to look into picking up a hard top for the winter. It keeps the car much warmer and quieter. You also get dome lights and a rear defroster! Rear visibly is also improved.

bigaudiofanatic

Na, this will be for nice weather I have my civic for going back and forth to school. If I find a hard top at a good price I might take it. I will use a car cover in the winter and wipe the snow off so it does not stress the top. That being said this car sat threw our big bad snow storms last winter.

bigaudiofanatic

More pictures


The dash just needs to be scrubbed a bit more and the spots will come out.



Not much space for speakers


Rear seats not bad for leg room



Hide away top


Rear speakers


The trunk



Rear shot


Also a side note, the rear view mirror was just laying in the floor when I started. Used a repair kit and is now back on.

gelinas

looks like a fun project.
Were you able to drive it home from your friennd's house?

bigaudiofanatic

Not yet need to register it and insure it. All will happen by the end of next week.

Joe08867

Hard start smooth idle is usually EGR. If it is the PCV that is cheap. EGR a bit more expensive. It could also be the gas. How old is the fuel in it? If it is older than a year get a stabilizer or empty it out and get new.

Run it a couple of times and get new gas. It may clear out on its own.

Looks good, cleaned up well.

bigaudiofanatic

I did put 5 gallons of new premium gas in. I went and started it this morning and it started right up sputtered a big and smoothed out. I think it is the ecu relearning its positions but I will see. If it does not change I will replace both the pvc and the egr.

concealer404

Don't bother replacing the EGR. Just remove it and cap the lines going to and from it.

ESavinon

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

I did put 5 gallons of new premium gas in. I went and started it this morning and it started right up sputtered a big and smoothed out. I think it is the ecu relearning its positions but I will see. If it does not change I will replace both the pvc and the egr.

Why Premium gas? Premium gasoline should only be used on high compression engines.

You should give that engine a complete tune up. Clean the intake, and the injectors. Check the battery see if it holds a charge. Replace if necessary.
Replace all the filters and all the fluids (Engine, Tranny, Radiator, Power Steering, and Brake).
Inspect your brakes. Make sure your Brake cylinders are not frozen or rusted.
You will need to sand down the rotors and drums before you take the vehicle for a spin otherwise you're going to have to replace the brake pads.

Check your fuel pump. Put a container of gas antifreeze and do not put anymore fuel or additives until you burn off almost all the fuel left in your tank. Replace the fuel filter and the fuel pump filter (it's a small sock filter that's located inside the fuel tank).

ESavinon

concealer404 wrote: »

Don't bother replacing the EGR. Just remove it and cap the lines going to and from it.

It's there for a reason. Don't mess with the Emission system unless you know exactly what you're doing. Doing so will not allow you to pass NJ's strict Emission /Inspection.

bigaudiofanatic

ESavinon wrote: »

Why Premium gas? Premium gasoline should only be used on high compression engines.

You should give that engine a complete tune up. Clean the intake, and the injectors. Check the battery see if it holds a charge. Replace if necessary.
Replace all the filters and all the fluids (Engine, Tranny, Radiator, Power Steering, and Brake).
Inspect your brakes. Make sure your Brake cylinders are not frozen or rusted.
You will need to sand down the rotors and drums before you take the vehicle for a spin otherwise you're going to have to replace the brake pads.

Check your fuel pump. Put a container of gas antifreeze and do not put anymore fuel or additives until you burn off almost all the fuel left in your tank. Replace the fuel filter and the fuel pump filter (it's a small sock filter that's located inside the fuel tank).

I guess you did not see the pictures. I installed a bran new battery the old one was sitting for 5 years i was dead as a door nail. Drained as much old fuel out as I could put new high tes fuel in to help clean out everything, also the bottle of injection cleaner was added which was also in the pictures. A I said later I did test and the fuel flow was fine and clear. Brakes are fine but will flush the fluid out and put new in. Fluids are being replaced. Not trying to be rude just there is a lot of info I already put in the description of things and the pictures.

ESavinon

The only difference between regular gas and premium is the octane rating. All fuels have the same amount of detergents. The fuel system should be cleaned professionally.
Inspect the brake cylinders carefully. You don't want brake failure at highway speeds.

My previous post was meant as a general guide for a vehicle that has been unused for a while.

bigaudiofanatic

The higher octane burns cleaner and plus it was to help whatever stale gas that was left in the tank. Brakes will be upgraded later but I see nothing wrong with them now, I will clean them up and install new fluid and bleed the lines next week. I have only been working on the car for 2 days I know I still have a lot to do but I am going to drive it and work on things as well. Thanks for the info though.

ESavinon

Higher octane burns cooler not cleaner.

Octane rating
For more details on this topic, see octane rating.
Internal combustion engines are designed to burn gasoline in a controlled process called deflagration. But in some cases, gasoline can also combust abnormally by detonation, which wastes energy and can damage the engine. One way to reduce detonation is to increase the octane content of the gasoline, which is expressed by its octane rating.
Octane rating is measured relative to a mixture of 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (an isomer of octane) and n-heptane. There are different conventions for expressing octane ratings so a fuel may have several different octane ratings based on the measure used.
The octane rating became important as the military sought higher output for aircraft engines in the late 1930s and the 1940s, with higher rating indicating higher compression ratio.

concealer404

Ehhh... you could look at is as a "safeguard" against detonation if the car has some major carbon build up. But i agree otherwise, not worth running premium in there.

That said, get a timing light on the thing, too. I always run premium on my cars when i buy them until i've had a chance to do a complete tune up, just to have a little more "wiggle room." I don't know if it's really doing anything, but it makes me feel better.


As for EGR, forgot you were in NJ, my bad.

bigaudiofanatic

I run it in my bike in my car and we ran it in our 96 honda that lated for 298k miles. I do not run it all the time like he might be thinking but it was just something that made me feel better to run right now.

audiobliss

Wow, 298k miles of premium gas. I hate to think of how much wasted money that represents!

What're your next plans for the Capri? This is really making me want some kind of a project!

John in MA

Oh man. My family's neighbor had one of these for years. My father and I both thought it was about the most unpleasant little car either of us had been in. It's like they took a Miata and removed the power, handling, quality, and comfort.

You can probably get a manual Miata for about what this would cost after all the drivetrain swaps.

kawizx9r

^+1

Had a Miata MX-5 myself, and if John is right about the power/handling/comfort/quality then IDK what to say about the Capri.

However, there's nothing like the satisfaction of doing something yourself...ain't that right bigaudio?

bigaudiofanatic

It is not like we filled it wil high tes every time but once in a while my dad would get it.

My plans are to do a engine swap next year but this year I am going to clean it up and in the winter I am going to remove EVERYTHING and send the body for paint. My girl friends grandfather knows someone with a paint and body shop and I can get any color I want for around 500. Than while it is getting that done I am going to be in search for a new engine like a mazda 323 or even a mita engine.

kawizx9r

Heard of Monster Miata's?

Wonder if the same can be had for the Capri, don't know how much room you've got to work with there...hmmm

bigaudiofanatic

kawizx9r wrote: »

^+1

Had a Miata MX-5 myself, and if John is right about the power/handling/comfort/quality then IDK what to say about the Capri.

However, there's nothing like the satisfaction of doing something yourself...ain't that right bigaudio?

Yep you got that right. Also forgot to say that I will be helping in the paint booth as well.