News Archive 2025
Latest News 2025
For personal reasons my Capri has remained on SORN under her weatherproof cover for most of 2025. But as the end of August approached I got the itch to driver her again and decided to prepare her for and MOT with the view to getting her back on the road again.
Although she still looks in amazing condition and started up on the third turn of the key (thanks to using a trickle charger) I did encounter a few small issues. At least the electric aerial behaved itself and is going up and down normally!
First problem was the heater blower had packed in yet again. This seems to be an ongoing problem with Capris and meant pulling the entire dashboard apart yet again to get the heater box out. This is a long and tricky job as many of you will know. It goes to say that once it was out it just needed a flick and a squirt of WD40 and it was fine again. However the resistor and terminal had pretty much rotted away so I took the decision to bypass this completely. So for the time being anyway the heater now works only on high speed no matter the position of the switch. That is all fine by me as the car is never used in the winter months any more.
With the dash all back together which involved re-building the hazard light switch that had managed to disintegrate, it was time for a pre-MOT test. To my horror coolant started pouting out of the bottom of the engine and it turned out one of the water hoses on the carburettor had perished due to age. So I managed to patch it up by cutting a couple of inches off and refit it and duly ordered a set of nice black SPAX silicone hoses for the entire car with a set of new stainless steel hose clips. These arrived from Burton Power and were fitted in a morning. All looks nice again and the new hoses should outlive the rest of the car hopefully.
With everything looking OK again she went off for an MOT - and passed without any advisories which was very nice. I now have her taxed for two months and have been driving round enjoying her once again. After a few hundred mikes on the clock she seems to run very well and everything seems nice and smooth. No strange noises coming from anywhere. It has been a joy to drive her after such a long time and I forgot just how much other motorists love seeing a Capri on the road. I always get let out of junctions as well!
Now it is time for a service and I have a work colleague’s boyfriend who has asked me if he can do it cos he loves Capris. So we will change the oil, brake fluid, plugs and filters as they are all a few years old now (still on very low mileage) and once that is done it will be time to wait for a break in the weather and give her a polish before she is put to be for the winter again. Getting close to the magic forty soon!
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