01x11 - Ford Capri Laser 1.6 Part 1

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Welcome to Wheeler
Dealers, where I show you

how to buy, restore
and sell modern classics.

Cars of my generation.

Now the challenge is to
find the cars and return

them to tip-top condition
for no more than £1,000.

And to help me, I've got my very own
mechanic, Ed China.

I'm going to be showing
you the best places

to find the cars and
how to source the parts.

Ed's going to be fiddling with the oily
bits and fettling their paintwork.

And hopefully we'll end
up with a collection of

iconic classics like this
beautiful Capri 1.6 Laser.

Everyone knows the full Capri,
the glamour car of the Ford range.

Buy Capri and you're
telling the world that you're

a bit of a Jack the
Lad or Jill the Ladette.

With its cool coupe looks and its punchy
engine range, it was the British Mustang.

I loved it back then and I still love it
now.

Like the medallion man
and the white three-piece

suit, the original full
Capri shouted seventies.

Bucket seats, stateside styling and a fake
power bulge on the bonnet.

This was a car that was about go and show.

In the words of the famous ballad, it was
the car that you always promise yourself.

And there was a car in the range for
everyone.

A basic 1.6 right through to the
terrifyingly quick 2.8.

The car's place in the nation's affections
was sealed when Bodie and Doyle appeared

in a Capri like this in The Professionals,
a hugely successful eighties cop show.

From then on, the car
would always be associated

with confident Makismo
and Larry Hamlin.

Finding the Capri in good condition now is
harder than you'd think.

The rustworm has attacked
that wide body body work and

plenty of cars have ended up
on the wrong side of a hedge.

Still, I love a challenge.

For the Capri that I'm looking for,
I'm using the weekly motoring magazines

like the AutoTrader and the Exchange and
Mark.

Inside, they're packed with cars laid out
nice and clearly in alphabetic order or

even in categories like
general cars, sports and

performance, but more
importantly, classic cars.

Just what I need to find on that Capri.

When you find the car you're
looking for, look out for a

tell-tale T or P next to the
picture of the car in the advert.

Now, the P means private and the T means
trade.

However, if you're ringing a car that's
marked P for private, the very first

question to ask is, I'm ringing about the
car for sale.

If they were to say what car, then the
chances are they're in the trade.

Read the ads very carefully.

Understand the words that you're looking
at.

Abbreviations like EBD and ESP.

What do they mean?

Well, usually there's a guide at the front
of the magazine that'll explain that.

Also, look out for keywords like MOT,
full service history and tax.

They will save you money.

For Capri, 1.6 laser, D plate,
be about 1986, tax, one year's MOT,

alloys, very original and it's local.

That could be the kiddie.

Yes, I'm ringing about a car for sale.

I spoke to the owner, who was called,
and this is no joke, Del Boy.

A few hours later, I was checking out his
laser 1.6.

On first impressions, it looked like a
goer.

A nice original car, but with a few
problems.

There's plenty of rust on these front
wings here, Del, aren't there?

Yes, sir.

She's an old car.

Looks like it's made out of Alka Seltzer.

What's it like underneath, though?

It's a good old girl, actually.

Isn't it quiet?

I can't believe how quiet it is.

Yeah, it runs OK.

Yeah, it's serenely quiet.

You won't even know it was running.

You got the paperwork?

I'll have, yeah.

Let's have a quick look.

It's got a ticket on it, is it?

It's got an MOT on it, a year's MOT.

A year's MOT.

A fresh year's MOT.

Right, so it's got one year's MOT.

It's said...

A couple of owners.

A couple of owners,
three owners, which isn't

bad, I suppose, for
an old car like this.

It's almost every single panel on this car,
unfortunately, that's got a mark on it.

All right, I've opened the boot.

By all means.

No hidden

It's all right, isn't it?

It's nice and original.

The team's got the original...

original mats.

What's underneath?

It's spare, I think.

Is that...

We're going to add the fifth alloy.

See, there's something to be said about
this car.

Now, nine times out of ten,
somebody would come and say this

and be horrified by the amount
of bodywork and run away from it.

But actually, I find it quite appealing
because of its originality.

It's got the fifth spare.

It's not been mucked around with.

Nobody's carved holes in the doors and big
speakers.

Still got the original radio.

And that's what's nice about it.

I think this is a car you can
turn back into a proper original

full capri with a little bit
of love, care and attention.

Worth every penny.

Worth every penny, I hope, as long as it's
mechanically sound.

So, talking about it, it's a good little
runner and it drives all right.

That's the next thing, really.

For me, I want to take it for a bit of a
test drive, if that's all right.

Now, I'm going to be honest with you.

I haven't driven a full capri for...
Well, it scares me to think how long it is.

A very long time.

But the thing and the beauty about these
cars is their simplicity.

They are incredibly simple
to look after, to maintain,

and to check out when
you're on a test drive.

This car is a little bit tired on the old
bodywork.

It's, how can I say, in need of
restoration.

I think it's going to need a respray.

The roof's been painted before and that's
gone flat.

There's rust all over the front wings.

Now, the good news is that it's got a nice
zippy engine.

However, it doesn't have
power steering, which in

itself is a good thing because
there's less to go wrong.

The steering is nice and tight.

The gearbox feels lovely.

I'm in the second, in the third gear for
the first time.

No problems at all.

And it's swapped home nice and neatly.

That's always important.

You can feel it pitching around on the
road.

It pitches and dives a bit.

That means it's a tiny bit tired on the
suspension.

But you haven't got to worry too much
about that.

It all seems perfect.

In fact, to be honest with you, I've hired
worse cars when I've been on holiday.

So will Delboy do me a deal or will I have
to give him the full 500 quid?

Wish me luck, because it's time for a bit
of haggling.

What would you say if I was, say,
300 quid, cash?

Oh, so you'd have to find another to
breathe.

Really?

Yeah.

You ain't going to be that hard on me,
surely.

I couldn't let it go for a lot less than
500 quid.

I mean, really, 500 pound is to sell.

You want 500 quid for it?

Yes, sir.

You don't see many original examples like
this.

I agree with you.

But what about 350?

350 cash, I'll drive it away.

The best I could do would be four and a
half, and you've got it.

You'd do a bit better than that.

You know I've got to throw a whole bucket
of paint here.

I might even buy the paint off of you.

So you'll claw some money back off me in
the future.

I'm sure you will.

How about we split the difference?

400 quid.

You bought it.

Done.

So it could pre in need of some TLC for
400 quid.

What would my mechanic Ed think of the
deal?

Hopefully he'll love its originality, or he
could think it's a ride Dagenham does been.

Fingers crossed.

Well done, Ed.

First impressions?

Well, it's been in a couple of chases,
had a couple of fights.

The rain's out of the way with the
bodywork.

Why did you buy it for free?

Because it's an iconic car.

It's an iconic car of its era as well.

I reckon they're back in both.

People love the 70s and 80s again.

So I reckon with a little bit of love,
care, attention, nurturing and your hard

work, we can get this car down the road
for a profit.

I think I believe you.

Yeah, we're going to have to
paint this front wing, because

it needs a repair down here
on the front that's a bit rusty.

Okay.

Remind you, the other one's a matching
pair, so that means we might as well just

replace it a lot quicker and they're not
that expensive.

Oh, right.

So don't cheat to get old of things,
don't it?

Yeah, no, it's still easy to get out of.

Oh, that's good news.

Well, while you're doing that thing,
you might as well do this front bumper.

It's gone rusty in the corners.

Yes, it has indeed.

And what do you make of these fog lumps,
fella?

A handy pair of those too.

Fantastic.

Two fog lumps as well.

Listen, it gets better from here on in.

Go and sit yourself down.

Look around you, fella.

It's good in here, isn't it?

It's like a brand spanking new.

Totally original.

Nobody's cutting any nasty holes in the
doors for speakers.

It's got the original stereo.

I was delighted when I sat in this car.

It's very nice interior.

Good.

Keep that smile on your face, because it
all gets a little bit sour.

Once I start the engine up,
because... It's not a problem.

Good.

And when you, on the test drive,
it seems to rock and roll a little bit.

It wasn't as tight as I was hoping.

Well, they've always been a bit baggy on
the steering.

But we can do, you know, have a look at
the bushes and stuff on that.

So just to recap, we've got the wings,
we've got the bumper, fog lights,

exhaust and the steering.

I think that pretty much covers it,
doesn't it?

That really does cover it, yeah.

But when it's ready and it's finished,
it's going to be worth it.

We're going to be the coolest cats in town
in that 1.6-laser.

Join us after the break when Ed gets under
the skin of the Capri.

Welcome back to Wheeler Dealers,
the show that finds cars like this Capri

and amends them before, hopefully,
selling them on for a profit.

We've got just £1,000 to spend.

Our Capri laser set me back £400,
so Ed's got £600 left to play with.

Four parts are cheap,
but he's still going to

need every penny to get
the Capri back on track.

This Capri certainly needs my attention.

I've just got it back to the workshop,
and I mean just.

The steering on this is appalling.

It's all over the place.

It has a mind of its own, so I'm
definitely going to have to fix that.

And look at this.

Cosmetically, it's an absolute eyesore.

There is no way I can drive this sports
coupe with pride until I've replaced these

rust-filled wings and these nasty
spotlights.

And as if that wasn't
enough to be getting on with,

there might even be a
problem under the bonnet.

Considering the age of this car and the
number of miles it's done, this engine's

actually in fantastic
condition, which is great

news, but there is one
thing that's bugging me.

When the engine's running, I can hear a
sort of a t-t-t-t noise, which is very

annoying, but also I can feel exhaust
leaking from around the manifold area.

Now, I'm pretty sure I know
what that is, but there is a

more visual test that I can do
just to confirm my suspicions.

Now, this is one of those
don't-try-this-at-home moments.

Now, you can't do this with all cars,
but because this one is fitted with a

viscous fan, I'm actually able to stop the
fan while the engine is still running.

Now, I need to do this to stop the draft
messing up my experiment.

A little bit of tissue paper.

I'm going to hold it down by the manifold.

And you can see, because of the movement,
I've actually got a lot of exhaust gases

coming out from between the manifold and
the head.

I think that's because we've got a blown
exhaust gasket.

This problem isn't just about an annoying
noise.

There's a much bigger issue here.

An exhaust leak like
this wouldn't go through

an MOT, and the
reason for that is safety.

As we all know, exhaust gases are very,
very poisonous, and if they can escape

into the engine bay, they can make their
way into the cab of the car.

Well, before I can do anything about the
gasket, I need to actually get at it.

To do that, I need to remove
this manifold here, and that's

very easy, because it's just
held on with eight little nuts.

And I should have had the surprise about
this.

What I was expecting to find was our
little gasket on the end maybe had a nick

or a break in it and
maybe some scorch marks

where the exhaust gases
have actually escaped.

As it turns out, there was no gasket at
all.

In fact, there are no gaskets at all on
this side of the manifold, which is crazy,

because it means that when you've got a
piece of metal and another bit of metal

just down here, you should normally have a
seal in between them.

So I'm surprised there was only just the
one leak.

Originally, I only thought I needed one
gasket, but it turns out I need four.

Now, luckily, when you order a gasket for
a car of this age, you get a whole set.

Now, this one is designed so you can
recondition the head of the engine.

So you have a whole load of valve stem oil
seals, water pump bits, carburetor bits.

But the most important part of this for us
are these four brand-new exhaust gaskets.

So I'm going to go and put them on right
now.

This is actually a really easy job,
and it's all very self-explanatory.

There are four gaskets, one of which goes
at the front.

It's slightly different.

But all of them can only
go on one way because

they're asymmetrical,
which is very handy.

On goes the manifold.

Well, that's everything back in position,
including our new exhaust gaskets.

So now it's time to find out whether they
can seal or not.

So let's try the tissue test.

Well, now, straight away, all I can hear is
a nice purr of the Capri's engine running.

There's no annoying tuff-tuff noise.

So just to be absolutely sure,
do the tissue test.

Not even a glimmer.

There's no sign of any draft.

These gaskets are doing
what they're supposed to do,

and this is an important
safety issue you've dealt with.

And I've also got rid of my nasty noise.

When I first got into this Capri,
I was already psyched up for an exciting

drive, but nothing could have prepared me
for what was about to happen next.

It was like trying to drive a shopping
trolley.

There I was, trundling along, minding my
own business, and then suddenly,

without anyone wanting
at all, the car tries

to take me on a completely
different direction.

Now, that kind of handling
just will not do, so I'm going

to get it up in the air and
get to the root of the problem.

A Capri has a MacPherson strut arrangement
on the front suspension.

That means it has a strut with a spring on
the top, a shock absorber inside,

and a little pivot on the top,
which means the wheel can move around.

Now, you don't want it to be moving
forwards and backwards or left and right

when it's going along, so to stop that
from happening, you have an anti-roll bar

at the front, which stops the wheel from
moving forward to back.

And there's a track control arm, which
stops the wheel from moving side to side.

Now, a common problem on
these cars is that the bushes in

the track control arm wear
away and give you lots of play.

So the best way of
testing that is to grab hold

of your wheel and just
shake it around a lot.

And you can see, straight away,
there's loads of excess movement around

this bush and also a little bit on the
inside.

So what I'm going to do is change this
bush and this bush and also the ones on

the other side because the chances are
they're rubbish too.

To remove these bushes,
what I'm going to have to do is

take off this track control
arm from the car completely.

Now, to do that, I need to undo this bolt
here.

There's a nut here and a nut here.

And both of these are held in place by
some split pins.

So I need to remove those.

And, of course, because
this is rusty, a bit of a

go with some penetrating
fluid wouldn't go amiss.

A really good tip is if you're trying to
really give some stick to whatever,

like undoing a nut or anything underneath
with a bit of leverage, always pull

towards you because if you tend to push
away, you'll end up losing all your knuckles.

I'm trying to save time
here by not taking apart the

suspension completely and
by not removing the wheel.

But that means that I'm going to have to
put some kind of pressure or force on this

arm to pull it away from the taper of the
pull joint.

So I'm going to use a ratchet strap,
which I just feed over the top.

This suspension, like so.

I'm going to join it to itself.

Now I'm going to stand in the loop that it
makes and use my vast body weight to try

and pull this arm down as I bang it with
the hammer.

I'm hoping by doing this, it
saves me a lot of time messing

around with suspension
parts I just don't need to undo.

With this bolt now removed
at the top, I can use my

magic cradle thing to
try and lower the pull joint.

There we go.

And just ease it out of the way.

I've just been inspecting the track
control arm and the first thing that seems

pretty obvious is that rubber bush is
very, very loose.

It's a really good thing that I'm changing
this over.

Now this is the really painful part of the
process.

I've got to take the old bushes out before
I can put the new bushes back in.

Now, this bush is the
wobbly one, so it shouldn't be

too hard to get out because
it's already very worn.

But this one has been in here forever and
it's going to take a real bit of pressure.

Now, there's such a tight fit because
they're supposed to stay in there forever

and have, of course, no movement
whatsoever.

So if it gets a bit
too much, I might just

cut this one out and
we'll see how we get on.

OK, well, I managed to rip that one into
two so it made it a lot easier to get out.

But you can see again how worn that is.

The other bush was much
harder to shift so I'm forcing it

out using a vice and two
pieces for my trusty socket set.

And now for the really fun part, I've got
to try and put this into this hole here.

And you can see probably just about that
there is quite a discrepancy.

So because it's rubber, it will move.

A real nice, simple
way of trying to sort

this out is a little bit
of washing up liquid.

And now comes the clever bit.

I get a bolt.

I get a washer.

Just to make sure it doesn't squish
through.

Then I get another washer.

Got a couple of washers.

Got the right size.

I'm going to put a nut on the other end of
the bolt.

Put that head, that into a vice to make my
life a bit easier.

I'm going to get a spanner and just wind
it up.

And the bolt helps keep the bush aligned
into the hole.

There we go.

I think we've done it.

And that end is now ready to go back into
the car.

But before I do that,
of course, I've got

the same thing to do
with the other new bush.

And there we go.

Now I have one track control arm with
bushes.

Ready to go back on the car.

What I'm doing here is using a ratchet
strap to try and pull the suspension

together so I can locate the bolt in the
inner bush.

It should be quite a
transformation that we're going

to see once these bushes
are all done up and tight.

It'd be really quite amazing
what a couple of pounds worth of

rubber is actually going to
do to the handling of this car.

Now, whenever you fit split
pins to a car, make sure there are

always new ones and not the
old ones that you just took off.

Because as you've taken them out,
you've fatigued them and if they were to

break while on the car, they could end up
risking your life.

So if they fail and the bolt was to come
off, you'd lose your steering.

While I've been up here playing with the
split pins, I've noticed a very,

very scary amount of wear on the inside of
these tyres.

It's the same on the other side.

It's because of the movement in the
suspension.

So before we sell the car, we're going to
have to put some new tyres on it as well.

Well, that is the first arm put into
position with the new bushes.

So now, moment of truth, I'll just see if
I can do a test.

So I'll pull the wheel out again.

And there we go, I can move the whole car,
but that joint.

So that's fantastic news.

I've now got a brand new bush installed in
my track control arm.

So over to the other side.

OK, that's the last of the split pins in.

Now I need to do the acid test.

Look at that.

The whole car's moving, but this mount is
rock solid.

So I now have a matching
set of brand new bushes and

more importantly, a car
that's perfectly safe to drive.

The Capri still looks a bit tired because
Ed hasn't even started on the bodywork,

but at least he's sorted out the
mechanicals.

The steering bushes were 50 quid.

The exhaust gasket kit
was 20 quid, so we're well

on course for keeping
inside our £1,000 budget.

Right, it's time to catch up with Ed and
our rotten four Capri.

I say rotten because when I
gave him the car, he wasn't

very happy because it
had a load of rust over it.

But anyway, the good news is, he should be
halfway through that by now.

So let's see how he's getting on.

Ed.

Hello.

Good to see you again, fellow.

How are you?

Fine actually, how are you doing?

Not bad at all.

I'd like to say you've been working quite
hard there, but as usual, look,

rust still on the wings, rust on the
bumper.

You haven't changed the front lamps,
got rust down the bottom.

Please tell me all the work you've done is
underneath.

Absolutely.

All the work I've done is very hidden
indeed.

Remember the horrible steering?

It was all over the place.

It all came down to warm bushes.

They're horrible.

So I fixed those and now it is rock solid.

Because it used to wander all over the
road.

It's very scary stuff.

Is that all you've done?

No, no, I've done some other magic under
the bonnet.

Ed, I'm a little bit confused because
there was nothing wrong under the bonnet.

Well, you might not have
noticed it straight away, but it

did sound rather like chitty
chitty bang bang on tick over.

There's lots of toot,
toot, toot stuff coming

from the end of this
part of the exhaust.

And it turns out there were no exhaust
gaskets at all.

No gaskets?

Well, I missed that.

It just goes to show you
even people that know

about cars can miss
something as obvious as that.

And has it made a difference to the
running of the car?

Not really, but the main thing is it's a
safety thing.

It stopped all the nasty poisonous gases
getting into the cab.

Fantastic.

So you've done the exhaust gasket and
you've done the steering.

Yeah.

Good boy.

That's it for this show.

Join us again when Ed really
does have his work cut out for him

as he tackles the rust, which
is this full capri's bodywork.

And fingers crossed he
gets it done because it'll

give me a much better
chance of selling the car on.

Find out what happens next time you join
us on Wheel of Dealers.

Tala.