42 replies to this topic

[TempesT]

I have just seen this. I like the capri's. 

 

Best mate has one, v6 gt auto that he was restoring. Its in a sad state atm.

 

A few year back he called me up drunk and almost in tears, he had been moving houses and was reversing down the steep drive of his house with the restored shell tied to the back of the car and a mate turning the wheel to guide it into its new home. well the rope snapped and away went the old capri down the drive and into the shed hitting the bull bar of the parked 4x4 in the shed.

 

To the bloke who was guiding it in, to his credit, rode the car the all the way down the hill. Hanging of the a pillar, feet trying to pull it up he reckons there was just about smoke coming off his double pluggers.

 

look forward to seeing some updates.

[wot179]

I used to know a couple of guys with these around 1990. They both ran big block Chevs. One ran 10.1s, the other 9.90s.

 

Both street driven and legal back then.

 

The 9.90 car used to drive to the track, race in super gas against all the big dollar trailered cars with weather stations and throttle stops and all the rest of it , then drive home.

 

9.90 was a ridiculously fast street car back then for all you youngsters.

[royalplumss]

I have a 38 DGMS (Manual choke V6 capri carb) fitted to my 202. Goes really well and has a surprisingly loud induction sound for a single carb.

 

Did you guys ever muck around with enlarging/boring out the venturis on the carb? pretty common practice in the UK for historics racing and apparently can make quite a noticeable difference. I've been doing quite a bit of reading up on this and knife edging butterflys ect and would be keen to hear if you guys experimented with any of this.

 

We were a bit too young back then - and pretty much did the lumpy cam, steel timing gear, compression and bore- some strokers - but not much with carbs because it was a black art for us back then. You really have to locktite the spreader underneath the standard double barrel weber though as it has a nasty habit of coming loose and the bits find there way out the exhaust after cleaning up your pistons. Cost me an engine....

Sounds like you are on the right track though - as we went the holley/ bigger weber route when fuel was cheap. I do miss the way that thing went....

[Dave6179]

I used to know a couple of guys with these around 1990. They both ran big block Chevs. One ran 10.1s, the other 9.90s.

 

Both street driven and legal back then.

 

The 9.90 car used to drive to the track, race in super gas against all the big dollar trailered cars with weather stations and throttle stops and all the rest of it , then drive home.

 

9.90 was a ridiculously fast street car back then for all you youngsters.

Still is now! And a proper streetcar! 

Some Street Machine features don't belong in the mag,  trailer queens are nice to look at but totally impractical as a daily driver.

[red6]

We were a bit too young back then - and pretty much did the lumpy cam, steel timing gear, compression and bore- some strokers - but not much with carbs because it was a black art for us back then. You really have to locktite the spreader underneath the standard double barrel weber though as it has a nasty habit of coming loose and the bits find there way out the exhaust after cleaning up your pistons. Cost me an engine....

Sounds like you are on the right track though - as we went the holley/ bigger weber route when fuel was cheap. I do miss the way that thing went....

 

Carbs are still of black art to me! However I have plenty of time to experiment and have been doing a lot of reading on the subject, engine development for the Essex V6’s is pretty well documented online. Apparently the 38 DGAS is good for up until about 180hp (on an Essex V6) which is obviously XU-1 territory.

 

A 38dgv series is a great carb for the V6 and a 202, I run one on my 173 it is a little too big, I'm building a 32/36 DGV for it at the mo
As to size you can get a 40mm DFA carb ( no power valve) so mixtures will need to be richer all the time
BTW a 38 DGV series will flow about 380 CFM

Just for interest I owned a replica RS3100 back in 1979 , it had a 38 DGV I changed it to 500 Holley

 

I think they are definitely one of the under utilised carbs on Holden 6’s. Probably because they were not so readily available in Australia and as such they are a bit harder to come by second hand. 32/36 should be perfect for a 173, you can get conversion kits to make them synchronous rather than progressive if you are after something smaller, but still performance orientated.

 

Lovely car to by the way, a mate of mine used to have one which was a bit of a basket case. They seem to suffer from rust a bit worse than the old Holdens. From memory think that the steel was significantly thinner on the old Escorts/Capris/Cortinas. Do have a soft spot for all Fords of this vintage, when I was younger a lot of my mates were into them.

[hainzy]

Thanks for all the comments and chatter. Seems there is still a bit of interest in these old girls! I was born the same year as this car so I don't have a lot of memories of them in their heyday. Great to know that there is plenty of knowledge about these on this site, too as ill prob do a bit of brain picking when the time comes!

 

I haven't done anything to her yet, as im currently restoring my VH SL/E top 30 to original before I sell it, then ill be getting the LX on the road. So it'll be a little while before I get stuck into this capri. Im looking forward to it though!

 

My plan is to do it completely original. I have the original engine as well as the V6 that is in the car so ill prob look at getting one of them rebuilt and maybe bored out if it needs it. Im not sure yet. Id like to get as much go out of it as I can without changing too much. I haven't decided if Ill rebuild the original engine to factory specs, or do something to the non original V6 and try to get more power. Would be open to suggestions or advice. Cheers.

[Potta]

Was this car for sale on eBay a while back ??

 

Yeah Evil UC's Dad bought it lol. See previous post.

[hainzy]

I remember when you frist started this thread, it stood out to me since my dad was looking for one back then, I thought the car he bought on the weekend looked familiar 

 

Ha! Well whaddaya know? Small world. Yep I sold it on because I just dont have the time, space or extra cash to do it justice. Ive got three other cars to work on so I thought Id hand ball it to someone who will give it the attention it deserves.

 

Your Dad is a nice bloke. He spent a few days here in Ballarat and seems pretty capable when it comes to car stuff. Say gday to him for me!

 

I hope hes happy with the purchase. It doesnt need a huge amount of work but itll look great when its back on the road.

[RallyRed]

Now that''s some hard core polishing!!....well done

[Indy Orange]

Sold as direct competition to the LCGTR back in the day.

[hainzy]

Wow that looks great. Geez I wish it was still sitting in my shed!!!

[Statler]

If you are going to play around with these Pommy Capri's here's a hot tip ........... don't get the shits & slam the doors.

 

The glass is very thin & it's hard to reassemble.