Home D496 YJB D659 DBJ

Modifications (2001)

D659 DBJ has been restored to original factory condition.  With the exception of the engine that now gives 20% more power there are relatively few modifications to the car.  The other modifications are as follows:

Suspension: Following the rebuild I have had the suspension uprated all around.  This involved fitting gas shock absorbers and 30% uprated springs (coil and leaf).  The front springs were replaced by a local garage as I do not have a spring compressor.  At the same time I had a full set of Superflex bushes fitted to the track control arms and the anti-roll bars.  Following the fitting of new leaf springs the rear of the car was sitting quite high so I have lowered the rear using a lowering kit purchased from the Capri Club.  This was reasonably easy to fit and made all the easier by the fact all the U-bolts came undone easily.  If you don't know what is involved the kit is a block of aluminium that locates itself in-between the top of the spring and the bottom of the axle.  This effectively raises the wheels into the wheel arches thus lowering the car.  I used 2" blocks which are as big as you can fit and they were quite a squeeze to get in.  You must fit both sides together or you will never get them both in.  Some clever manoeuvring of the diff using the trolly jack was required to get everything aligned.  The finished effect is quite pleasing to the eye!

Lights: New fog lights were fitted to the front of the Capri.  I think these really improve the look of the front end and they are surprisingly useful in the fog (especially in the damp old Cambridgeshire Fens).  They are small Hella fog lights and are connected under the dash to a switch that fits neatly in the spare socket  where the manual choke would otherwise go.  The wires were carefully hidden inside the engine bay to keep things neat and tidy.  Finally the fog lights were adjusted to make sure they were straight and pointing downwards.

Security:  The value of my Capri is now considerably more than the £900 I paid for it.  In fact it has an agreed valuation for insurance of £3000 which is basically what it would cost me to replace it with a car of a similar standard.  As soon as the car was back on the road I arranged to have a professional alarm fitted.  It is a Thatcham category 1 alarm and immobiliser.  It is important to get a good alarm that the insurance companies recognise for a discount.  I shopped around and went to a place that had fitted them to Capris before.  I made it very clear that I would not accept shoddy workmanship and was assured that all the wiring would be invisible.  The alarm is a Laserline and cost £360 which is about the going rate for a Thatcham 1 type.  The fitting was neat and tidy and all there is is a small box on the inner wing.  No wires are visible anywhere.  It took them nearly two days to fit and I get free annual service checks. Ask about this because many places charge up to £30 for the annual check, and you need it to keep the insurance company happy.

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