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The InevitableOther jobs that were required during this year were as follows: rear shock absorbers replaced (easy job), front wheel bearings replaced (total nightmare), replace washer bottle motor (expensive), replace radiator (easy and cheap), clean and restore front brake calipers (long winded but wow what a difference), fitted stainless steel braided brake hoses (less to worry about), replace electric aerial (expensive) and new clutch fitted (too much like hard work for me – got a garage to do it). It seems like a lot of work when I write it all down. I think some of the problems I’ve had this year have been down to storing the car whilst away in the States. I must write about some of these jobs in my Service guide because I learned a lot from these experiences. The rear shock absorbers were simple to fit but I dropped one of my nuts (sounds painful) down the back of a piece of trim that must be the worst part of the Capri to access. In the end I had to dismantle most of the back end of the car including removing the rear seat belt before I could get my hands on the little bugger. There isn’t a lot of access to the top fitting so it takes ages to tighten using small movements of a spanner. The big job of the year was the clutch which started to slip quite badly. Not surprising as the car had done 105K on the original Ford clutch. I found that pulling away from junctions, the engine would rev up - but the car was going nowhere ! I decided to let a local garage do the job. As they obviously had to remove the gearbox during the operation, I asked if they could clean it out and replace the fluid. The mechanic told me that the gearbox was very sludgy and horrible. Again not surprising when you think that the fluid is probably the original factory stuff. As Ford didn't seem to worry about putting drain plugs on the gearbox, I didn't worry about changing the fluid. By the way, did you know that it is recommended that the Capri gearbox has automatic transmission fluid (ATF) in it ? The clutch was replaced without further problems and the total cost including the gearbox flush was approx £120 including VAT (clutch kit cost £56). I didn't think that was too bad. Hopefully it will be another 100K plus before I have to worry about it again! One of the front wheel bearings had been whining for some time so I decided that it looked reasonably simple to change them (mind you the Haynes manual can make things look deceptively simple). To access the bearings, you have to remove the wheel hub. To remove the wheel hub you have to remove the brake caliper. To remove the break caliper, you have to disconnect the brake hose that means the brakes will need bleeding. The bearings themselves simply fall out of the hub; the fun starts when you try to remove the two shims that the bearings fit in. These have to be fitted as matching pairs and they are a nightmare to get out and almost as bad to replace. At least I learned from my mistakes which meant that the second wheel only took half a day instead of the two days it took to do the first side! Please visit my ‘Jobs I wish I’d left up to the Garage’ page for the gruesome details. |
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