Please leave a comment ...If like this post and would like more updates I need more feedback and most importantly your support!
Thread Updated...26/09/2010
The Scorpion project was kept in store for 15 years now. The project proceeded some 3 years ago because I plucked up my courage to finish it. I'm posting guidelines on how the projects going! Most importantly I need your support and advice!
Do you think that the project is worth continuing? At the end, I will post the total spent on this car.
Cheers
Paul
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A bit of info on the car
The car was originally bought off its first owner as a Solar Gold Metallic (XSC 1366 - F.A Bollig and Kemper) excellent condition. Just fell in love with the car so much, that the day after it was parked in my garage! This is a one owner example 14,900 kms on the clock. The car had no dents or signs of rust anywhere The owner claimed that it was in its original paintwork.
Ongoing Criticism
Whenever I went out with the car, people used to gaze at it a lot....It only did 150 kms with it's original engine. In the remaining time, the car was undergoing the project transformation
Many ppl argued that this should have been kept original especially when considering the low mileage .
The Project Car
I had to create the car which I "always promised myself". Way back in 1995 I had already planned of putting in a Cosworth engine (I actually bought this in 1999).
My Cossie Baby 
Engine and a nice Borg Warner Gearbox...
I had also done sketches in pencil of how my dream car would look after the whole project was complete (1994).
The sketched car looked like a Capri with a Cartel Kit, a whale tail and an xx nose cone ....
I didn't realise what I was in for and that it would have taken me so long!
There were a couple of hitches on the way which almost led me to discontinue my project several times. Was even going to sell the whole thing but so far I'm still holding on.
Pressure to Discontinue Project::
Some of the obstacles included:
- A spray painter who left this jewel car "wroth" (double meaning) for over 5 years.
- An angry girlfriend jealous of the car
- Famly always not wanting the car around in any way!
BUT ...... I DIDN'T GIVE UP .... AND I'M PROUD OF IT!....
The Spray Paint - The First Time:
Starting off with the spray painter .... the idiot always promised "he'd be starting it but in fact he never did.....work did not start up until the year 1999 when I was polite enough to break the guy's nose. Took the car elsewhere, a friend of mine named Paul who did a brilliant job ....
Some nice shots of the body after the respray
Front right wing ... and Carl Edgoose (Very good friend of mine who comes all over from the UK to see the progess Hiya mate )
The back view ... look at the finish
Nowhere was spared .... not even inside ...
A First Shot at Fitting the Engine in
I joined the engine and BorgWarner box together and centred them in place...Don't try to make them pass together from the top cos you will dent the bodywork.
Most of the Capri owners i met would fit the cossie on the standard Pinto mounts. I realised that on the standard Pinto mounts on a Pinto Cross member, the engine would fit ok but one would have to:
- Cut down the propshaft by an inch Afterwards rebalance it ... trust me it never comes like the factory one
- Cut a bigger hole for the gear lever as it moves backwards Clearly this is the most stupid thing to do on a Capri. It ruins the driver's feel to the car. Anyone owning Capri's knows that the driver feels great at the back of the steering wheel. This all comes from the positioning of the driver's controls... mess about with that and the car's magic gone. Besides the gear lever and handbrake are very close already so another good reason not to mess about with the factory position.
- Invent a gearbox mounting ...
- Hammer in the car's bell housing in order to accomodate that huge Borg Warner gearbox
- Cut the battery tray 2 inches shorter
- Put in 2 huge 3.5 inch holes in the front panel to make the intercooler hoses pass through
- Cut yet another 4 inch hole on the driver's side front panel to make the air cleaner pass through ....
But Guys are you SERIOUS? You'd end up messing up the car to fit in a Cossie lump.
I'm fitting it MY WAY sorry!. For starters the Capri likes to lift up from the front making it unmanageable at high speed ...so what do we do? Why not move the centre of mass further? This would
- Make me create customised engine mounts
- Eliminate the propshaft problem keep it factory (perfect)
- Move gearbox forward and centre the gear lever
- Keep the bell housing untouched
- Move the centre of mass forward More weight PAST the front shockers ...
- We still have the battery tray problem which I will solve as well
- Will eliminate the idea of the holes by creating a big custom intercooler and radiator shaped for the Capri and not vice versa....
Keeping the CAR UNTOUCHED...
Also in the pipeline ... is the idea of putting in a nice powersteering.....will fit it!
The car was finished in a nice perlescent Bluey / Purple Colour. The girlfriend (at the time ..)used to threaten that she would damage the car whenever i used to work on it! The car was yet AGAIN left under a plastic cover just to let sleeping dogs lie. Not realising that the humidity was damaging the paintwork .... Had a terrible surprise when I uncovered it 6 months later ....was angry..... One fine day, the girlfriend told me to "sell the stupid car and that I was unable to finish the car" . . so I got rid of her ...the girlfriend of course....longest 3 seconds of my life!
Restarting from Scratch!.....The second time
As the spray underneath the cover was still fresh. When humidity got between the cover and the paint work OMG OMG. The car got filled up with a very small number of spots in some areas. These never measured more than 1 to 1.5 mm each. I wasn't trusting the spray anymore.
When the sprayer saw the car ... he felt like killing me ... No matter how much i asked him to redo the brilliant job, Paul refused mainly because he had taken a lot of effort to produce the outstanding job. Futhermore he had stated that now it wasn't a matter of respraying the car. The car had to undergo a full restoration jobin order to make sure to cleant the spray bed and didn't have enough time to approach such a task.
Some years on, while looking for a spray painter and restorer, the only thing that was done on the car was sanding down and treating the spots. Luckily for me there was no signs of corrosion on the body underneath.
After scrutinizing the various jobs around, my eye caught a nice perlescent Sierra Cosworth in Candy Apple Red which was restored from a wreck. What was particular about the guy who did it was that he specialised in Fords and Cosworths...In my opiinion he had the balls to do a good job. Alan Busuttil (Daytona Wprkshop) took a good look at the car. While saying it was a good looking car indeed, he didnt really trust the black spots . The only way of knowing was to sand down the body completely and assess from there...Indeed he was right... there were more spots lurking underneath the etching primer (the lowermost coat). The verdict was that the metal was just contaminated with the humidity coming through the pores of the paint. Funnily enough he had told me that there are many more spots which we can't really see with the bare eye and that he would have proved this as we went along with the reborn project.
So far the car went through the following ...
Step 1 - the body shell outer areas such as wings, roof etc...got finely sanded down by hand and were given a special metal treatment: a very expensive acid which is sold in 200 ml cans....And i needed gallons of it! The acid surfaces these black spots and then hardens completely locking any air from going through. This rock hard coat has to be then sanded down by hand again and the respray process can begin ....The problem being sanding it down...To put you in the atmosphere it would take you around 30 - 40 minutes to take off 2 square inches of it!
Taking a close look at the right wing above, there seems to be "black dirt" coming out in certain areas of the wing. This occurs when the acid in the treatment surfaces the impurities within the metal to the top. This is not rust but if its left in the metal it does become rust indeed.
Note to the smart eyed: The rear windows now open...modified the frame in that area
Step 2 - The remaining areas which were not as delicate such as the engine bay, front & rear panels , running boards, windscreen surrounds, floor board etc.) got very finely sand blasted in order to eliminate these problems completely.
As seen above that greenish colour of the engine bayis the bare metal showing in its rust free state. This can be easily compared to the grayish colour of the treatment shown on the passenger wing. The pictures below show the good condition of the car in areas which are typically found to rust away on Capris.
Inspecting some more areas around the headlamps to make sure
Left headlamp area... factory sealer hiding original welding: perfectly clean 
Right headlamp area ... just as clean
Gearbox bell housing
Check out chassis legs when buying a Capri.... they typically rust here as well!
These are clean though...
The rear panel...
The petrol filler area
inside was sand blasted as well... especially the blower's air duct...there typically is some surface rust and many of you overlook it! 
After the sand blasting ...
Just as soon as the car got sand blasted it was carefully stored in a warm oven, the bare metal was specially cleaned and sprayed using Etching primer within the hour. It is important not to leave bear metal for long otherwise it starts oxidizing within a day.
Step 3: First all the still-dirty areas to be sprayed are thouroughly checked'n'cleaned with a soft wirebrush. Finally the special liquid cleaner is applied to eliminate all the dirt deposits...Yepp he's the Daytona man...Alan
Step 4: The clean sand-blasted areas were then sprayed with etching primer ...kept overnight to bake gently in the oven ... the following day the etching primer had several coats of primer applied over it...Here's an example.... and YES for the SMART - EYED... There will be NO HOLES IN HERE TO FIT THE COSSIE except maybe for putting the ECU inside. . . .Many even cut or remove the battery tray... I won't ...I moved it 2 inches forward
Back view of the right wing and running board.... yes ALL body parts in this Capri are still the original ones
That's all for now guys .... Tired