Reward! Help me find my old race car

A nice Saturday spent in the Shop of Good Intentions. Sandblasted and primed the oil pan and a few other small pieces. Removed the old intake manifold and got ready to put in the new camshaft.

I haven't been inside of an engine in almost 20 years, so I called for reinforcements. Just like when I was racing the Capri, it's the people and the friendships, along with the cool cars, that make this stuff so much fun.

When we pulled out the old lifters, we found this:

Since we are this far into the motor, I am going to do a complete rebuild. It would be foolish at this point not to. Some of those metal pieces that are missing from that lifter could have easily scored a crank bearing or any other number of things. I'll admit that it is fun to be building a motor again, even though this is a "setback".

As with other parts of this project , since I am no longer restrained by the Improved Touring rules, I will talk to my machine shop and see what I can do to get a some more power from this motor. Possibly some work on the heads, but I was thinking about compression ratio as well. This motor has already been rebuilt once before, and I do not know how much the heads were shaved (if any) so I do not know what the compression ratio is. Since this is a race car, I'd like to get it to 11.5 to 1 or so.

Does anyone know if the machine shop, with my block, pistons, head etc. can tell me what the current compression ratio is?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks for the comments.

BTW, how cool is it that both of our sons have active build threads on this forum?

If you know the basics of the engine like bore, stroke, piston dish, HG thickness, and head cc, you can calculate CR yourself or use an online calculator.

PS since I can't tell if it's a /5 or /6, I'll just say that looks like a nice "BMW". I have a /5.

In reply to Apis_Mellifera:

That's the issue...the block was over bored and the crank slightly stroked when it was rebuilt the first time. I don't have the exact specs...

Using some v-blocks, you should be able to figure out the stroke by rotating the crank and checking throw at a rod journal surface. Overbore is easy with a bore gauge, which you'll probably want anyway, for use during the rebuild.

What cam did you go with?

In reply to pres589:

Thanks for the info. I hope to get the motor to the machine shop this week.

Not a huge selection of cams available for this engine. I got the Comp Cams High Energy 264s:

RPM Range:1200-5200 Valve Lash:
Valve Timing: 0.02 Duration: 264 Valve lift: .428. Duration @ .050" Lift: 220

You could measure bore and stroke yourself. Depending on how precise you want to be, calipers and a straight edge will probably get you close enough. If you want more precision and you could cc it. I have a large graduated cylinder and a burette in my shop for this purpose. Measure at TDC then BDC then calculate.

Interesting... Go go go!

Based on the information you gave, that should be a decent all around cam, especially in a light car. I had a Crane cam in my 2600 Capri with a bit more everything and it had a noticable idle. Still pulled great past 2000 rpm.

Their catalog said it would have a lumpy idle, which I will enjoy "because race car"!

Friday is a big day...Going to check out a shop that might paint the Capri for me, and dropping off the motor at the machine shop, Midland Engine and Machine. If you read Hot Rod magazine, this is the same shop that a friend of mine uses for his 6-second Camaro he competes with in Drag Week...just sayin'

In reply to Apis_Mellifera:

Thanks! It's an R/75/5, 1973 model.

The last time the motor was out of the Capri was 1990...

Sure is nice to work in the shop instead of a driveway!

this thread is epic

Better shot of the motor, have to love it when somthing as functional as a motor looks like art.

2nd drivers school, Rockingham, 1991

I really like my parts washer and media cabinet I will fire up the powder coating oven on Saturday.

So awesome.

So psyched to see this project going ahead again. What a gorgeous shop to do it in, too.

Look what my son did for me today: Before After

This is the second son, the one that wasn't even born yet when I built this car the first time. Awesome.

Thanks Seth!

I am pretty sure that I want to take the car all the way down to the shell, so with that in mind I continued the teardown.

I took out the steering column, the remainder of the wiring harness, dashboard, and the windshield.

This is what I'd like to do for a dashboard:

Leave the stock vynil parts and use the stock gauge panel for aftermarket gauges. Looks an works much better than the sheetmetal dash.

Been there and done that. Never again.

Hell, bring the gauge panel up to Albemarle and ill even set it up for you.

On a side note, you getting rid of the steering wheel?

Looks great! Can't wait to see this one rolling again!

In reply to Dusterbd13: My son and were just thinking the same thing about the dash-might keep the stock frame and top area and make a panel to replace the stock gauges and put my own gauges in the panel. Much easier to do that now that the windshield is out.

Yes-I'm planning to get another steering wheel. PM me if you are interested.

Before I have the car painted, I wanted to add a few bars to roll cage that were previously not allowed under IT rules. The first one, along the bottom of the dashboard.

Some grinding in order to make some more improvements,

Front bar mocked up.

I'm also going to add an "X" brace in between the rear bars and a second door bar on the passenger side. Since the Capri is a hatchback, I think the "X" bracing in the back will really help stiffen the chassis.

The paint shop is ready for the car as soon as I finish with the welding.

Nice to make some progress.

I just discovered this thread. I don't know how I overlooked it. From your first post in 2011, it's been one hell of an interesting story and a spectacular photo essay. Excellent work, Mike. Please keep it going!