i'm sure you'll enjoy this one.

(flame suit on)



that's right. a 1993 capri xr2.

the car was free (it only runs for 15 min at a time), came with two sets of decent street tires, and a hardtop. 2423 lbs before dieting, expecting to take around 200 lbs out of it.

136 lb/ft, 132 hp at what i recall to be 6 lbs of boost... the factory ecu is programmed to compensate for up to 12 lbs, so we're looking to take it to 10 to get some more fun out of it.

As far as safety goes, we're installing a full cage and two fixed-back seats, kill switch, fire extinguisher, etc...

we're not going to touch the suspension other than alignment settings until we can get it out on a track to see where it needs improvement (my guess is everywhere). its your typical macpherson bs, i'll take some pics of it some time next week for your amusement.

assuming everything goes at least partially well, the car should be ready by the end of march...

anyone who races macpherson-type suspensioned cars have any tips on getting the most from it? any constructive comments are welcome, and of course flames are expected, but i am serious, so try not to let it get out of hand, please.

-Neil

edit:spelling


Modified by artifex at 12:36 PM 12/29/2004

 

No flames here. That's cool.

 

Who cares what people say.. its FREE!!! Free is always good

 

A friend of mine used to have a black one with a rag-top. The turbo versions are fast. I remember him complaining about the catalytic converter failing several times.

 

hmmm. i think vw's use the macfear-some strut system.

i've got torsien bars, so i'm no help.


cool little car. should be fun.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by artifex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">anyone who races macpherson-type suspensioned cars have any tips on getting the most from it?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

As much static camber and positive caster as humanly possible.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by artifex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">136 lb/ft, 132 hp at what i recall to be 6 lbs of boost... </TD></TR></TABLE>

What are the engine specs? That seems really low for 6psi. The non-turbs must be a dog.

BTW: no flames here, awesome find.

 

its a 1.6er. the n/a version only puts out 95 hp and 100 lb/ft.

we're going to toss the exhaust and fab up something that flows a bit more freely, put a muffler on it, and turn it down right under the passenger compartment.

our goal for "Project Crapi" is to spend as little money as possible, so we're only going to do cheap mods (&lt;$100 for exhaust stuff, whatever it takes to make it reliable) and safety gear. The capri shares its engine with the mazda 323, so naturally if anyone knows a good source for information on the engine, it'd be much appreciated.

if anyone knows someone who needs a full capri interior and soft top assembly, let me know, as we'll have the stuff up for sale within the next month or so.

i'm pleasantly suprised at the positive feedback. ::tear::

thanks guys.

-Neil

 

mcpherson.......good turn in response till you feel that the car understeears on the apex till the exit...

as they said camber and caster to the most that you can

 

this would be a good candidate for the GRM challenge thing if they're doing it again this year..

 

lol.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by artifex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The capri shares its engine with the mazda 323, so naturally if anyone knows a good source for information on the engine, it'd be much appreciated.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

If it's the same engine as the 323 GT/GTX, Road Race Engineering might be able to help.

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/323index.htm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A friend of mine used to have a black one with a rag-top. The turbo versions are fast. I remember him complaining about the catalytic converter failing several times.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ditch the cat...we are all doomed anyway.

 

Free!!!

the best car in the world

Now time to turn up the boost!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ross R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No flames here. That's cool.</TD></TR></TABLE>

And free. I'd track any car that's given to me for free.

 

same motor as the GTX.

my 323 had a reichracing ecu (good for 16psi), straight exhaust, cone intake and probe/mx-6 intercooler. Way more power than the stock, beat up suspension could put down.

 

Looks like the car is in a Used Car dealer lot- did the dealer decide to give it to you after you did a 15 min test drive and it died?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by artifex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The capri shares its engine with the mazda 323, so naturally if anyone knows a good source for information on the engine, it'd be much appreciated.</TD></TR></TABLE>

As said Road Race Engineering.

Also http://www.corksport.com http://www.323gtx.co.uk

 

Is that 1.6 engine not the same basic engine as the Miata? I am pretty sure that it is before the turbo went on. I know that the non-Turbo Crapi is classified in SCCA Production classes and at least one of them is run and being pretty highly developed.

As mentioned before, at that price, this car screams to be a GRM $2005 entry. Lose as much weight as you can from it, get some cheap drop on threaded threaded sleeve coil-over kit with very high spring rates to greatly reduce suspension travel. Rarely outside the GRM challenge will you hear me suggesting cheap junk coil-over kits but when $ must be bare minimum and simply keeping the car from moving for a short time is the goal, one can afford to not be picky on quality or engineering. This thing starting from a zero budget could be a real killer for that event. Do it then go on and do things better as you develop it cheaply.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by D.CACO &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Looks like the car is in a Used Car dealer lot- did the dealer decide to give it to you after you did a 15 min test drive and it died? </TD></TR></TABLE>

nope. a friend of mine's father has had the thing forever, and didn't feel like going through the trouble of fixing it and selling it. he said we could have it as long as we got some use out of it .

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr Hammond &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As said Road Race Engineering.

Also http://www.corksport.com http://www.323gtx.co.uk </TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is that 1.6 engine not the same basic engine as the Miata? I am pretty sure that it is before the turbo went on. I know that the non-Turbo Crapi is classified in SCCA Production classes and at least one of them is run and being pretty highly developed.

As mentioned before, at that price, this car screams to be a GRM $2005 entry. Lose as much weight as you can from it, get some cheap drop on threaded threaded sleeve coil-over kit with very high spring rates to greatly reduce suspension travel. Rarely outside the GRM challenge will you hear me suggesting cheap junk coil-over kits but when $ must be bare minimum and simply keeping the car from moving for a short time is the goal, one can afford to not be picky on quality or engineering. This thing starting from a zero budget could be a real killer for that event. Do it then go on and do things better as you develop it cheaply.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i'll check it out

 

Looks like a recipe for fun to me.

 

yeah, that is a B6t (which sucks, because everytime you say "bee-six-tee" people ask "you have a b16 in that thing?!?!"

anyway, my buddy has a 323 GTX making nearly 300whp for about a year until it blew up. (totally nuts car to drive) check out road race engineering, those guys really know their ****. BTW this motor came in a whole lot of cars, so you can keep your eyes out for parts. (323 gt/x, probe gt, capri turbo, mx6 gt, a few mazda cars in japan) basically any compact made in the 80's by ford or mazda w/ the letters GT at the end of the marque That also helps for cheap replacement motors.

have fun, I would love to have one of those.

 

well, after checking out the GRM Challenge rules, it is mighty tempting, but we'll have to pass, for this year at least. none of us have any money, but we all need the fix , so we're honestly only looking at spending about $1000 to get the car track-worthy, then the rest of whatever money we can come up with will go into seat time. I am thinking of taking it to the expo if i can scrounge the funds together...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by artifex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well, after checking out the GRM Challenge rules, </TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, didn't the Challenge start assessing a "fair value" to all free parts last year? I seem to remember at least one person in the magazine who had an entry like "XXX car - free (assessed $400 value)."

 

You can sell parts off the car up to half the purchase price of the car. So if you paid $2000 for a car, you could recoup as much as $1000 from selling off parts. With a free car, none of the money from the parts you'd sell off it could be added to the total you're allowed to spend. At least that's how I understand it.