In reply to Curmudgeon:
tl;dr, don't ever buy a carbureted car. 
In reply to Curmudgeon:
tl;dr, don't ever buy a carbureted car.
She's home!
More pics soon. Needs some body work (rust) but the engine turns freely! I hope to see if I can get her started in the next week or so. Needs a driver's seat and a lot of other things, I'm sure.
This has been such a cool experience. I have a race car again!
The tires on the car are 205/50/13. A quick check shows that there are not a lot of tire options in that size. Without wading through the SCCA/ IT and NASA regs, can you change the wheel/tire size and stay legal?
Any recommendations?
My son said this car might be eligible for the 2012 GRM Challenge? Can someone point me to the rules/regs for the event. When is it in 2012?
What a fantastic thread with an amazing payoff.
Best of luck with bringing it back to life. 
Berkeleying fantastic! You're lucky. Only story I have about my old race car is that I went back to working turns when I quit driving..and actually responded to the accident where the guy I'd sold it to wrote it off.
As to the Challenge, there's no sticky yet for 2012, but the 2011 rules are here:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/2011-challenge-rules/27834/page1/
EDIT: Count me upon the list of people who are stoked by the fact that he kept the same car number!
mightymike wrote: The tires on the car are 205/50/13. A quick check shows that there are not a lot of tire options in that size. Without wading through the SCCA/ IT and NASA regs, can you change the wheel/tire size and stay legal? Any recommendations?
I don't know about rules and changing IT wheel diameters but you can easily change tire sizing.
Kumho has the V710 in a 215/50-13, Hoosier and Hankook have tires in 225/45-13 and all are pretty darn close to the same dimensions as your current tires; stickier too, I'd wager.
They're gonna be pricey if you buy new but used tires are bound to be available sometime, somewhere.
I am certain that the man who sold me the car was just as nostalgic as I am about it. He started his racing career in the Capri and has been a very successful racer.
Still trying to decide what direction to go with the Capri. Right now I am leaning toward Auto X and track day/HPDE car. The same reasons that made me leave regional racing twenty years ago are still there (time, expenses, travel). I am trying to get in to kart racing, so maybe that will satisfy my desire for wheel-to-wheel racing. The GRM Challenge might be cool for this car. If the motor is shot I think a small block Ford with a 5 speed would really move this little car and be a blast to drive.
I am really excited about getting it running and have already found a new hatchback (this one has some rust). I can't remember the last time I saw a Capri on the road so the idea of getting mine registered is appealing and should be pretty easy.
Back home:
looks like it cleaned up pretty nice. this story inspires me. one of these days i'll make a serious effort to buy back the V8 corvair i ran in the '03 and '04 challenges.
Dang that's cool, i love the black flaking off the front bumper reminding you of your old red paint! Believe it or not the old owner of our XR4 wanted updates on our work and I did for the first couple years and then fell off. This summer he was down at AutoX in Atlanta and came over to chat, he loved that we'd saved the car, so this story hits close to home!
A quick look at the 2011 Challenge rules say that a roll cage has to be bolted in, not welded. Does this automatically exclude this car since it has a welded in cage?
Also, how to determine the FMV for a car like this?
mightymike wrote: A quick look at the 2011 Challenge rules say that a roll cage has to be bolted in, not welded. Does this automatically exclude this car since it has a welded in cage? Also, how to determine the FMV for a car like this?
That is in relation to budget. If you weld in a cage with more than 5 attachment points (I think that is the right number) you have to count it against your budget. It can still compete.
They only have to be bolt-in if you want to exclude it from the budget. Welded cages are fine if it's all considered in the budget.
Regarding FMV, unless the owner gave you an insanely unreasonable deal on it because you were the previous owner, the price you paid for it is probably close to a realistic FMV. I know we're all guilty of coercing sellers on pricing, even if we haven't owned the car before.
Ref the cage-thanks. That makes sense.
Maybe I should ask the forum what the car is worth!
A 35 yr old car, former IT racer, parked since 1996, unknown engine condition, no drivers seat, some minor rust...give me some ideas!
The first question is what you paid for it. That goes a long way towards establishing FMV.
$500...
mightymike wrote: Ref the cage-thanks. That makes sense. Maybe I should ask the forum what the car is worth! A 35 yr old car, former IT racer, parked since 1996, unknown engine condition, no drivers seat, some minor rust...give me some ideas!
It's usually a case of what you can prove. If you can find a similar car for sale for a comparable amount, I'd say that's enough documentation.
In reply to mightymike:
LOLs, before reading your post I was gonna say $500 is a reasonable FMV.
dyintorace wrote: The first question is what you paid for it. That goes a long way towards establishing FMV.
I didn't read the whole thread and may be missing something, but FMV doesn't come into play if you have an actual purchase price. If you paid $500, it's $500 on the budget. No need to establish FMV.
16vCorey wrote:dyintorace wrote: The first question is what you paid for it. That goes a long way towards establishing FMV.I didn't read the whole thread and may be missing something, but FMV doesn't come into play if you have an actual purchase price. If you paid $500, it's $500 on the budget. No need to establish FMV.
Unless the $500 was a sweetheart deal the seller would not have extended to anyone save the car's original owner. Then FMV would come into play.
That definitely looks like close to $500 worth of car.
An outdated, non-running IT car than hasn't moved in years? $500 doesn't sound out of the question to me.
If you were buying it off CL, it would certainly be in the $500 range I'd think.
But DAMN what a deal to buy it back for that!!!!!!!!!!
I haven't stopped smiling yet....
If the 2.8 V6 is toast, a friend of mine just happens to have a few small block Ford motors. He mentioned that they came out of certain years of Explorer's...something about GT40 heads? 
Yeah. A bunch, if not all, of the Explorer 5.0's had GT40"p" heads. Read about them here.
Well, the budget for getting the car on the track isn't there right now, but while the body work prep is time consuming, it is relatively inexpensive.
There are 7-8 layers of paint on this car!
I bet it will be 100 lbs lighter when I get done. I just hope gasoline is still being produced!
Me too 'cause I can't wait for the "fire up" video!
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