The dream to end all dreams..

Our plan, which is fast becoming a reality is to replace the 1.6lr Pinto engine with a 5.0lr Mustang engine. Reinforce the Capri to withstand the extra power and maybe, just maybe supercharge it. 

Join us for the ride?

This is the beginning of the blog but not really the beginning of the car's life with us, we bought it in 2008, MOT'd and running. The previous owner told us he'd recently rebuilt the engine, actually he'd rebuilt the bottom of the engine and the inevitable happened and we needed a new head gasket. Twice. Since 2008 all that's been done to the car is a new set of tyres, leaf springs from a 2.8lr Capri in the rear, a new fuel pump and of course the head rebuilds. He's not run that much because of the head issues, all this time we've been planning and in the meantime got married, got orders and moved to Florida. Which is where it gets good. We brought the car with us, shipped him over then collected him from New Orleans and drove him home with a stuck front brake. An hour and a half by the side of the road in the arse end of no where beating the brake with a tyre iron to try and get it unstuck followed by 200 miles of no braking fun. Not our finest hour. 

But we made it, all the way. Being in the States the Capri is kind of rare, Mustangs however are not and it didn't take long for us to find a suitable donor car.

This is it, a 1988 Mustang GT 5.0. Nice huh? The guts from this will be going into the Capri. My other half will be filling in the technical stuff, I'm learning as we go. The Capri is my dream car, growing up in the 1980's right on the A30 in the UK the Capri made an impression and many years later this project is my dream come true. I want to keep the look as it is, redoing things but leaving the aesthetic as it was meant to be. That way the arsehole driving the Audi is going to get a shock when we whoop him at the lights lol!

Side by side.

We have both cars, we have the dream, next step: get dirty! Gone is the gorgeous manicure and cute outfits and in are the old USAF BDU's and old gig tshirts. Bring me my ratchet! 

Day 1:

We rip into the front end, off comes the bonnet, the front bumper and wings. The body kit is original apparently and is what makes the car a GT, a ton of aftermarket work has been done over the years to this car so we're pulling out broken under car lighting and marveling at the strut bar that seems purely aesthetic. If anyone can explain the cardboard and wood pieces inside the bumper please enlighten us!! 

This is what we have after our first days graft:

Day 2: 

We get the doors off, all this is being done while trying to save as much as possible as we're splitting the car with the guy we bought it from, he needs body we need engine, it's a good deal. This of course means not just cutting the wiring. Amazingly with power hooked up to the battery terminals we're able to get the electric windows down and eventually get the doors off, the boot and the rear body kit. Leaving us with this..

It's jacked up in the front, at a point where it doesn't become a huge see saw and is ready for the interior to be ripped out and the engine to be pulled. That I believe is scheduled for Thursday...