Where have i been the past 3 months while waiting on the guy to be able to sell the truck? well, ive been fashioning myself a spare car, the ever undying 1996 crown vic isnt always unkillable, and after getting kicked off my parents insurance I cant just borrow a ride from my dad if it breaks down! so i went and grabbed from my stash of cars ive acquired, a 1993 capri xr2. its a 1.6 liter turbocharged 5 speed convertable, which is a codeword for FUN. first thing on the list, brakes, rebuilt them and got them working, pads were **** but it was good enough to drive around the yard. next thing on the list, charging system, replaced the belt and tensioned to spec (this will be a recurring issue) power steering pump is siezed so i just deleted it for now, itll get a volvo electric pump in time. after the first drive i realized the tires are absolutely thrashed, they sat flat for decades, even if the tread is brand new, theyre from 2008. the gas was also absolutely junk, not rusty luckily, just old. 3/4 tank of 93 and a dose of octane booster fixed the pinging. its turbocharged, so it needs it. so i grabbed some 90s enkei wheels and some toyo all season tires. imo, they look very good on this car. theyre directional too. registered it as historical so i can run this cool old kwm-314 plate, technically not legal but i dont drive it often enough. the soft top got very (c)old very fast though. post tuneup, new shift bushings valve cover gasket spark plugs and wires, ready for a road trip a 2.5 hour drive on a car i hadnt even test driven 50 miles. for a steel hardtop that insulates and keeps the wind noise down. i made the mistake of turning the radio up while on this road trip speaker obliterated. so i swapped in some era correct aftermarkets. mid 00s correct shift knob... it was around 3 weeks into driving it where i decided "this could definitely be faster" so i started my hunt. the first thing i came across was the early 00s APEXI AVCR boost controller which byp***es the stock wastegate with a map sensor and the second is a "rocket chip" ecu. 18 psi tuned. roughly 250hp limit. cant be retuned though. all the wiring pains! wasnt too bad all things considered, its all exposed. the next quality of life upgrade i was working on before the snow set in was the subwoofer. i even have seat shakers for under the seats for extra b***! once i can move the car inside i have some suspension goodies for it. coilovers and a full set of poly bushings. for now shes nice and reliable and drivable, going to wait until after i perform the repairs on my 96 (ball joint is failing and intake coolant crossover is leaking) and drive the capri the next couple days. the goal for this build is for it to seem like i ******ed it right out of the late 90s/early 2000s with a 2005 cutoff.
remember back in 2022 when i slid my 06 crown vic off into a ravine? well, in march 2025 my parents insurance outright dropped them because of it! and better yet, they didnt call us until TWO WEEKS after they dropped us on the first. we were notified on the 17th. they never even refunded us the remaining 2 months of insurance. we went with two big companies (progressive for me and geico for them) and havent had a problem since, our rates are way cheaper too, for 3 cars i pay 88 a month. not great, not awful either.
Cool little car to zip around in. I remember when they were new, they were not cheap. But a small turbo 2 seater in the '90s could surprise IROCs and the like.
Rotten!! I had a 92 I bought for $200. Tightens the bolts in the valve body and sold it for $500. To my boss.
i traded a "the 500" steering wheel for it. not much rust, one or two trunk holes from plugged drains
well that took me a while, my main focus was to get the truck sorted enough for longer term storage safely, ie a carb on it and air cleaner, for the most part the project with the 57 will wait until winter is over as i will not drive the 57 on salty roads at all. the capri is galvanized so as long as i wash it it'll survive a couple sprints out in the snow. speaking of, once i cleared the 16 inches of snow up and finished a couple things for my dads cars (ie, my sisters new Scion and my moms Flex that shes selling, he finally let me use the garage. the shocks on the capri, despite having been replaced less than 5000 miles ago, are toast from leaks and its developed a severe front main leak in about 2000 miles. glad i got everything i did when i did so far, the parts i have to install are as follows, braided brake hoses, RXR custom fabbed Coilovers KAInjection adjustable cam gears, i need to advance the intake by 2-3 degrees, and retard the exhaust by 2-3 degrees. should increase the dynamic compression by a bit and pick up a few hp, aswell as push the power higher up in the band. AcDelco timing belt kit, front main seal and cam seals 8 gauge subwoofer wiring/cable, Alpine 500D amplifier, subwoofer box, Alpine Seat shakers, "VR4 Big brake swap" with mitsubishi galant front rotors and 1995 ****** front calipers for larger brakes that fade slower and have access to a track pad. finally got around to properly deleting the power steering and brackets, theyre entirely cast iron, they had to have been 10 lbs a piece along with the 15 lb pump! Also, notice how everything is covered in oil? yeah, thats why my timing cover was all warped and griding, hot oil spraying it, same reason the car kept eating belts. In the coming months i will be upgrading the turbo and intercooler, aswell as the piping and exhaust to 2.5" with a Magnaflow muffler. should sound a bit like this, better than how it sounds now with its broken muffler and rattly heat shields. (somehow still has the cat on it too, so it should pay for itself )
A garage is a must! The hardtop is a good thing as well. Glad you have both. Bet you could pop out the dent in the quarter panel easily.
i think i could but its double walled steel from being unibody, id need to dent the inside to push the outside out lol
Are these Capris BG ch***is based? I think I have some MX3 front control arms and r&p stashed somewhere around here
these are based on the older BF ch***is from the 80s, unfortunately the only BG part that crosses over is the serpentine belt pullies. I'll need to look into it then, ive never been much of a body guy, no time like the present to learn. still making progress... sub box will need to come back out for the coilovers but its no biggie to remove, only about 70 lbs. need to get a replacement spare as the donut is... bad, like original bad. also replaced the rear speakers finally, should sound nice once the battery is back in. got the adjustable cam gears in, 3 degrees advance on the intake, 3 degrees retard on the exhaust.
thank you for giving it a second chance, I didnt really expect it to be a popular o/t project on the HAMB, but im trying to channel the "early 2000s" tuner culture a bit in this build to the best of my abilities. in the future i do want to try to find an era correct body kit for it, they're very rare though. I grew up around both cl***ic cars and watching fast and furious, my dad wonders why I cant just "leave things stock"
this is an obd1 car all it detects really are misfires and if it has failed injectors, i got a chipped ecu and had the caps checked, that paired with an Apexi AVCR boost controller allows me to essentially up the boost on a whim.
The Jalopy Journal
