Dan's Crapi project.

[Danthecapriman]

…basically the temperature gauge went past the middle and started heading for the red, so I switched it off to cool.

After a bit of checking I concluded the thermostat had to be at fault, so I ordered a new one.
Once that arrived I drained the coolant and set about pulling the thermostat housing off, which was where things got interesting!
I’d noticed the coolant I’d drained out had a weird gunge floating in it. The coolant was new last year and went in clean. There’s no signs of head gasket failure either so it’s not that. Then once the thermostat housing was off the cause of the overheating problem was apparent.
The thermostat was plugged solid with gunge! No idea wtf it was but it looked like limescale or that soft limey mank that blocks up washing machines.
I’ve cleaned it all out then flushed the block and radiator out with water. Then reassembled everything without a thermostat and filled up with water only. I then ran the car for a while before draining the system again to flush out any crap that was in there. Once the water ran out clean I put a new thermostat in (went for the 83 degree type instead of the 88) and refilled with clean coolant.
This time it ran up to temperature and stayed a fraction below half on the gauge so I’m calling it fixed!
The system is now bled, the heater works and works fucking well too. It’s lovely and hot now, better than it’s ever worked so my work making the bigger mk3 heater matrix fit into the mk1 heater unit seems a good job!
Also tested the battery is charging as everything has been painted which sometimes can stop the return path being clean, but the charge was spot on.

With that done I jumped in and drove it up and down the driveway! It’s going into gears fine and starts on the button now. It also stopped stinking of fuel and now revs cleanly too so I think it was just a case of gett It going after it’d sat so long unused. It seems to run perfectly fine now anyway.

[Danthecapriman]

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Proof! The temperature gauge is sat in the middle!

I’ve got videos of it running but can’t seem to upload them on here??

[Danthecapriman]

The fuel gauge issue is, I think, the gauge itself.
I’ve tested the wires which seem ok, tried shorting the wires to earth to get the gauge to move, and tried connecting my spare sender unit and moving the float up and down by hand. Non of which has any effect on the gauge so I think something is up at that end. I’ll have to have a closer look at that.

I’ll be working on it again tomorrow but for now check this out!

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A rare as fuck dash facia that’s still got the factory radio and accessory blanking plates! I had to have it purely for the rarity value tbh, I probably won’t fit it to this car but I’m a sad fucker so I’ll keep it safe just for the sake of it!

[Danthecapriman]

I’ve still got no idea what the gunge was in the coolant either. Only things I can think of are:
A: possibly the new radiator had some oil or flux or something like that inside it’s new brass core, which has reacted with the coolant and done that. Maybe? Never heard of that before now though?
Or
B: Maybe the block and everything else has sat for so long any old gunk, crud and limescale inside it had dried out and become loose. Then when I filled up with coolant and ran it it disturbed it and washed it all into the thermostat housing where it got stuck?
Other than that, fuck knows.

Another job to do soon will be to change the oil. What’s in it now is clean, but it’s been in there some years just to prevent corrosion inside the engine so now I’m happy it’s running I’ll run it up hot then change the oil for fresh. The oil filter will be fine left I think.

[Danthecapriman]

IMG_0057 by 84DLC, on Flickr

[Danthecapriman]

Hopefully you can get the video working or at least click on it to go to Flickr and see it!?

It’s on choke there and running a bit fast but you get the idea!

[mercrocker]

Seems an eternity since I saw this as a shell over at that bodyshop.....! Great news on having her finally up and running, look forward to seeing it again.

[paulplom]

The flickr link works fine. The engine sounds spot on.

[Hooli]

That sounds sweet, I think you need to install a worn out cam to make it sound like the capris I remember....


The gunge is an odd one. I've not heard of it either. I do know mixing coolants can do that, but shouldn't be the case here.

[DodgeRover]

I'm guessing the gunge was just dried out scale from in the block that only shifted when it started to get up to temperature.
Lovely to see an update Dan, it's got to be the closest thing to a new Capri in existence, I hope you enjoy driving it for many many years after all the effort you have put in.