8 replies to this topic

[percybigun]

i had this back in the late 90's:




now i was expecting after all the hype that a 2.8i v6 is super fast, sadly that wasnt the case! it had a bit of oomph, was quite torquey but wasnt all that tbh.

handling wasnt much cop either, especially in the wet (and it had good/fat tyres on).

the head gaskets blew (previous owner had stupidly fitted the tiny 2.0 rad so it overheated), luckily a mate had done HG's on his granada 2.8 before so he done it for me for £40 labour lol (plus £37 for the cost of a gasket set). it took him a couple of weeks though, bit of an awkward job.

then i took it into a jag specialist who tuned it and adjusted the tappets, then it was a bloody good runner.

i spent a day cleaning off the underbody, and undersealed it all. there was no rot underneath at all (only rust was the front valance which i replaced), although it had had front turret tops replaced before i got it.

i also remember changing the fuel filter and i dont think it had ever been changed, also put a new fuel pump on and then it ran sweet as a nut.

it had a few bits missing which i sorted, so in the end it was pretty cool. then i got a job which was 50 miles away so i had to sell it and get a diesel.

i sold it, then within 6 months, the values of decent capri 2.8's sky rocketted. in hindsight i should have sold my sh1t old S3 XJ6 (which never went up in value) and kept the crapri lol!

[Nick]

Deffo becoming a collector's car these days.

[Chris_mitton]

I wished I had kept my 2.8 injection special. It was mint and low mileage. Would have been worth a lot more that I paid for it.

[rusdee]

You never know Percy it cold still be about ,mines slow noisy dosnt go round corners dosnt like going in a straight line for long i still love driving it as for seling things before the value went silly sold i my mk1 escort for just £550 this was in 97

[percybigun]

i did a vehicle enquiry on it years ago, and its last tax disk expired in 1998, which was probably 1 - 2 years after i sold it.

i was surprised because it was solid underneath, the engine was sorted, and the bodywork was in VGC. unlike most capri mk3's at the time which were badly rotten on the underbody AND outer body. mine was a Y plate, i had had fiesta's of that era and found them to be made from much better steel than later fiesta's, the same went for later mk3 capri's.

the guy who bought it off me knew his stuff and didnt seem the type to buy a car, and scrap it the first time something went wrong.

i suspect he either crashed it, or sold it on to a skint-mong who scrapped it as soon as it needed a new tyre lol.

another funny thing which happened with my capri was when it had been parked up for a few months not in use, i had to get my ex to give it a jump start in her audi 80. because it had been not in use, the throttle body was seized fully open. it was raining heavy, i got it started on the jump leads but it went to maximum revs, my wet shoe slipped off the clutch (it was in 1st gear) and it rammed the audi at full revs!

the audi sustained no damage (the bumpers on them were uber-thick) but my capri bumper was bent right back.

i later took the bumper off, it had 2 long brackets running up the inner wings which had gone into a Zed shape due to the collision. so i bashed them straight with a hammer, and hey presto the bumper was fixed and totally straight!

it came as a releif because the bumpers on it had been shotblasted and resprayed, and all other capri bumpers in the scrap yards were badly rotten and falling apart.

one thing that annoyed me with the capri was the door rub-strips were made from a different material to the wing rubstrips, so they stood out like a sore thumb (which is sort of visible in the photo)

[rusdee]

Ha ha loads of fun I got round the bump strip problem by paintin them satin black ,i think its gettin to a stage where they are worth more in bits you can pay upwords of £300 for a good set of second hand ford wings

[donteus]

any new peeps in here, or is it just you mondeo oldies spreadin it around

[percybigun]

when i had my capri, the marque had become very untrendy indeed (mainly due to most of them seen in public were one step away from the scrappy, covered in rust, different coloured panels, whale tails). also their reputation for having very poor handling/grip didnt help. even in the 90's mk2 escorts were worth decent wedge, and were a respected car.

i never thought in a million years that capri's would suddenly become sought after, respected, and worth decent money after all the barryboys had finished with them!

hopefully the same will happen with mondeo's, but they dont have rwd on their side (even though a fwd low-range mondeo on 14" steelies has much better grip/handling than a rwd capri)

[skinner]

a mate of mine has just restored his 2.8 ill get him to post some pics, its a minter