1983 Ford Capri 2.8 Injection – Restoration Complete

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Today’s the day we hand the keys of our 1983 Ford Capri back to the customer ready for many many years of amazing drives and no doubt hundreds of lovely comments.

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Rebuilding the Capri heater matrix

As always, a huge thank you to the guys at Sheldrake & Wells in Ipswich for doing another amazing job for us rebuilding the heater matrix of our 1983 Ford Capri.

Fitting up the new Capri brakes

The new brakes have arrived today for the Capri so we are one step closer to having her back on the road looking gorgeous.

Now in to the final stage of our Ford Capri Restoration

With the detailer booked in well in advance for 14th June we were expecting to have our car complete and ready to go but unfortunately we are close but not yet complete.

Paul Johnson Valeting nevertheless came in and as always made an amazing job to give our Capri a much needed clean and polish.

We are just waiting on a few parts to arrive so we can get her finished and back on the road.

1983 Ford Capri restoration almost complete

We are nearing completion of our 1983 Ford Capri restoration. It’s been a while since she’s been outside so with the sun shining brightly over our workshops we thought it would be a great opportunity to get her out.

As much as the wheels were in fantastic condition already, the guys down at Wheelworx in Bury St Edmunds have done an incredible job refurbishing them. They really help set the car off.

We have cleaned up and refitted the original interior back in as the seats were in great condition as is. The plastics have been refurbished and the parcel shelf was broken so needed a repair before it could be refitted.

We just have the new decals to be fitted.

Refurbishing our Ford Capri wheels

As always, a huge thank you to Trevor and the guys down at Wheelworx for their speedy turn around on our Ford Capri Wheels.

The wheels were in great condition as they were but with a full restoration well underway and the car looking as good as new the wheels needed to be freshened up.

Cleaning out ready for the interior install

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With the interior ready for refit Asa has cleaned out the internal area to give it a freshen up and spring clean.

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Under-sealing our 1983 Ford Capri

We have replicated as best we can the original look of the underside of our 1983 Ford Capri, do how it would have been in the 80s.

Now the exterior has been fully re-sprayed we have turned our attention to the underside to ensure it is as good underneath as it is on top.

1983 Ford Capri 2.8 Injection – Body Prep for Paint

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We are now at the final stages of the paint preparation for our 1983 Ford Capri.

It was a huge task welding up the affected areas but now the work has been completed it has made the preparation far easier.

Next time we see the car she’ll be looking fantastic with her new gleaming exterior.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”18259,18260,18261,18262,18263,18264,18265,18266,18267,18268,18269,18270,18271,18272″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Ford Capri off to paint

The big task of welding up and repairing our 1983 Ford Capri is now complete and today we deliver her to the paint shop to be prepared for re-paint.

Fitting up the Capri’s new sills

Now the majority of the ‘cutting out’ has been done Asa has securely fitted up the inner sill on the near side of our 1983 Ford Capri.

Here we have the offside sills now removed.

The outer sills have now spot welded.

Replacing the Capri sills

The Near-side inner and outer sill has now been completely removed from the vehicle ready for it to be replaced with new. The body panels are now in stock with us so Asa will be busy piecing the car back together soon. Hopefully we are almost passed the cutting out stage.

The car continues to hold it’s strength during this process using bespoke strengthening bars that we have fixed into position prior to the works going ahead.

The new sills are being temporarily fitted up to ensure that they fit neatly into position, this is a very important exercise to do as you do not want to fully commit without being confident that the panels fit where you need them to.

Painting the rear axle springs

The petrol tank and rear axle springs have been removed ready to be refurbished.

Once cleaned up and treated to a new black respray here we have the rear axle springs.

Removing the rotten metalwork

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Asa has spent the past few days removing the dead areas of bodywork, this way he is able to reveal the extent of the work that he will be required to carry out.

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Let the Capri Restoration Commence

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Work is now underway on our 1983 Ford Capri 2.8 Injection.

There has been a lot of ‘to-ing-and-fro-ing’ on this project with decisions on whether we are restoring her back to originality or customising the restoration.

It has now been decided that she’ll return to her original state which is very exciting but before we get too carried away with the finer details of the build, first we need to repair a substantial amount of bodywork corrosion that has developed over the years.

It has taken us a little under a week to fully strip the car back but we are almost at the stage where we can address the bodywork issues.

The car arrived with us with interior still in fantastic condition so we have carefully removed the entire set up inside as we intend to re-use all of the components.

The doors, sunroof etc have all been removed as has all removable trims. Removing the entire exterior is a must with this car as we need to address all bodywork imperfections now rather than hiding them away. Cutting corners always comes back to bite you, never cut corners!

All parts that require welding have now been revealed.

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Restoration of our 1983 Ford Capri

Arrived in with us today, a new restoration project for the guys at Bridge Classic Cars.

Here we have a 1983 Ford Capri 2.8 Injection.

As with a lot of classics we see, she comes with a fantastic story. Released as one the press demonstrators before being purchased by the BBC themselves back in the early 80’s. Her owner now wants a full restoration to be carried out on the car before getting her back out on the Suffolk roads for next year’s show season.