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1983 2.8 injection
I purchased the car on 15th Feb 1998 as a non-runner due to a blown head gasket, it also had a badly damaged o/s front wing following an accident at a roundabout when a van tried to cut across the front of the car. At £150 the car appeared to be very cheap but a tremendous amount of work was going to be necessary to get the car back on the road. The paintwork was in terrible condition, all crazed and cracked, apparently due to a very cheap re-spray some years earlier. The half leather interior was completely worn out but fortunately I knew I would be able to replace it with an interior from a 2.0 S which matched the colour of the car perfectly.
The car was towed back home and our 3 litre Capri was used to drag it up the drive where I immediately began to strip the fuel injection system, which was found to be intact but very dirty. The following weekend I removed both cylinder heads which were in surprisingly good condition despite their high mileage (thought to be around 140,000). After replacing the "non-existent" valve stem oil seals and fitting new gaskets I rebuilt the engine and, with the help of a new fuel pump, it was re-started on Monday 23rd Feb but after a couple of miles running, the cooling system kept boiling. This was finally traced to a seized water pump and a thermostat stuck in a closed position. With these problems sorted the car was now ready to run.
The exhaust was next on the list for replacement as, after sitting for three months full of coolant, the front pipes blew when the car was driven. I fitted the Capri Club performance system with 3.5" polished tail pipes which look great and sound even better.
One month later it was time for the MOT, which she duly failed because of a couple of areas of corrosion, a worn steering rack and a seized hand brake cable. I replaced the entire rear brakes and fitted a new steering rack but had my garage deal with most of the corrosion. I fitted a new front wing at this time and was able to repair the inner wing at the same time. Whilst doing some of the corrosion the garage discovered that the fuel tank was rotten. With a second hand one supplied by Martin Pawson at Capri Gear the car finally got an MOT.
The car was now mechanically right and I was finally able to enjoy driving it but was ashamed of the awful paintwork, so I began the re-spray in Jan 1999, beginning with a replacement, second hand tail gate to get some practice painting, as I had never sprayed metallic base & lacquer before. I went on to replace both doors and the bonnet and fitted a second hand front valance and a new rear lower panel section. The painting was done a panel at a time, as and when the weather allowed. I think it has come out reasonably well for a first attempt.
The engine has since been replaced with a Turbo Technics
200 bhp unit and goes like... 
