Capri Perana gets a tarting up!

[Glen]

Well I finally found the time to get a bit of work done on the Capri.

First job was to swap the Mk3 2.8i axle, that I was using to move the car around on while I was painting the origional axle, with the origional axle. The reason being, I now need to see what the car looks like with the new 15" Wolfrace wheels fitted that are replacing the 13" Compomotives but the MK3 axle is 2" wider.
I am going to need to refit the engine and gearbox, seats, doors and bonnet to get the car back as close to it's normal weight as possible so it sits at the right height.
I'm not sure if the wheels will rub on the slightly widened rear arches yet, the fronts are way too wide as can be seen in the pics so I need to have some arches on there but the wheels are also tilted out at the top due to no engine etc.. I'm hoping to get the engine etc fitted in the next few days so here's a few pics I took today.
In the one pic you can see one of my spare wheels that I have already polished up, they are going to look good polished and the rears painted black. I have new center caps already, I just need to get longer studs and the correct wheel nuts for the Wolfrace's which have a collar.

Cheers

love the WHEELS Paul beautiful, should that be the case you can machine 5mm of the offset to suit the Capri easy as that man,

[paulusvrotius1]

Thos rears will touch!

My car has far less offset on its WAW 15s and they touch on bumps.

Hi John
I had a look at some pics of the Banana and I can see what you are saying, my wheels are quite a bit wider and even though the arches are rolled out they are going to touch. I have a few plans in my head as how I'm going to tackle it. I am also taking Chris' advice and going for coil overs on the back along with the single leaf springs. I bought a used set from a 2.8i just to see how they feel. They look a bit tatty but are in good working condition.

Hiya Paul,

You posted a pic of a gorgeous green Capri on page 8 in IbanezRg's 'V8 Ford Capri Project' thread.
Would you consider doing similar arches, or maybe a tad less radical on your car ?

Will you be putting the engine etc back in yourself or will Boss be helping ?
Or will you and Boss be watching Rugby while Mary does it ?

Laterz,

Hi Nick,
No, I won't be going that radical on the arches. They look nice on the green car but I think there's only one car that has the right arches on it, when it comes to big arches, and that's A2. Whoever designed those got it spot on.
I won't know what I need untill the car is at the right height but I will want to lower it a bit more also. It's going to take a bit os sitting and looking at it before any decisions are made, I have a lot of arched capri pics to look at too.
The Boss and Mary are both working at the moment so I'll do the engine myself from underneath.

Looking good. I dont think the wheels are massively too wide and any touching on the wheel arches could be mitigated by going for a Group 2 i.e racing hard suspension but thats also a compromise in some cases. I like those wheels.

Hi Jacques,
As mentioned above I am planning on a stiffer backend and will be going for adjustable coilovers on the front. I's not my daily driver so I can put up with a bit of a harder ride (I hope ).

Cheers[quote="Glen love the WHEELS Paul beautiful, should that be the case you can machine 5mm of the offset to suit the Capri easy as that man,[/quote]

Hi Glen
There's alsways that option but I am going for a wider look.

[ZA Perana]

Adjustables at the front are a good idea, we fitted them about 8 years ago and the ride is most likely as hard as the A2 race car. We used 600 pound springs though.

[gordini]

Well I finally found the time to get a bit of work done on the Capri.

First job was to swap the Mk3 2.8i axle, that I was using to move the car around on while I was painting the origional axle, with the origional axle. The reason being, I now need to see what the car looks like with the new 15" Wolfrace wheels fitted that are replacing the 13" Compomotives but the MK3 axle is 2" wider.
I am going to need to refit the engine and gearbox, seats, doors and bonnet to get the car back as close to it's normal weight as possible so it sits at the right height.
I'm not sure if the wheels will rub on the slightly widened rear arches yet, the fronts are way too wide as can be seen in the pics so I need to have some arches on there but the wheels are also tilted out at the top due to no engine etc.. I'm hoping to get the engine etc fitted in the next few days so here's a few pics I took today.
In the one pic you can see one of my spare wheels that I have already polished up, they are going to look good polished and the rears painted black. I have new center caps already, I just need to get longer studs and the correct wheel nuts for the Wolfrace's which have a collar.

Cheers

I love the rims....looking for a set like that for ages now

[427TNT]

Good to see the car out of the shed again,Paul.Keep us updated....

[zahistorics]

my wheels are quite a bit wider and even though the arches are rolled out they are going to touch.

The lip of the arch is not the problem. They touch on the inside about 2 or more inches up from the lip.

I am thinking of getting the wheels machined sometime to reduce the offset.

[paulusvrotius1]

I don't have any lips, they are completely rolled out, front and back arches. This is how I got the car, I guess the idea was to have a flared arch using the existing metal but the wheels are going to foul on the inner arch as you say. I will have to widen the arches properly.

[zahistorics]

They touch on the inside about 2 or more inches up from the lip.

OK I see that my sentence wasn't too clear. What I meant was:

My wheels touch the outer bodywork, but not on the lip, higher up.

They do not touch the inner arch. There is plenty of clearance there. You will hit the leaf spring before you hit the inner arch. Even A2 (the actual race car, not Chris's) with curvy leaf springs has standard inner arches.

[paulusvrotius1]

They touch on the inside about 2 or more inches up from the lip.

OK I see that my sentence wasn't too clear. What I meant was:

My wheels touch the outer bodywork, but not on the lip, higher up.

No John your sentence was correct and I know exactly what you meant, my wheels have the standerd Ford 4 inch inner offset so are no where near the inside of the inner wheel arch.
The term inner wheel arch (at the rear) refers to the whole arch as it forms over the tyre and the outer arch is joined to it and is part of the wing. At least that's what all my bodywork books say.

[ZA Perana]

I think those wheels were fitted as standard to the Lotus Esprit S1.....