My old man had a 2litre V4 and his mate had a tuned 3 litre. His mate sold the 3 litre as it was making him weep when having to put fuel in it and that was in the 70’s. Old man’s Capri was Silver with a Red Starsky and Hutch stripe, I have very fond memories of that car.
learnt something today as never knew they put the V4 in the Capri, I remember it was fitted in to the Pubic.
His was badged as a GT XLR from memory, I had a 2 litre Cortina MK3 as my first car. Fairly quick in a straight line, interesting in the wet through bends……
they never publicly owned up to it (rarely did any) but the location for the rear axle was downright dangerous on that car, as was the same fitted to the Mk4. The bushes in the locating arms had voids in them purposely to allow even more compliance but this only added to the problem. It was as though the designers main priority and brief at the time was solely to do with driver comfort and soundproofing..
I didn’t keep it long but it put me off rear wheel drive cars until I bought my first Vito 10 years ago. I ‘upgraded’ to a Honda Civic just to stay alive……..
Same engine as Ford put in the Corsair and Transit Chris. In the Capri it was sat right back against the firewall, the radiator was @1/2 way between the firewall and the Slam panel, and the front 1/2 of the engine bay between the Slam panel and Rad was filled with a massive flat panel ducting air from the grill to the Rad. It looked a bit daft. I only know this because I helped a friend of my older brother rip one out of a Rotten Capri to replace his Transit engine. Bedtime reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Essex_V4_engine
err, yes, I got those 2* I just didn't remember them putting it in a Capri. i remember the engine well (horrible). Was also used aftermarket obvs in NSU Ro80 initially as a solution to owners inability to make original Wankel reliable. * you've never heard the Ford Pubic joke Simon? - they were made from old Coarse-'airs. I even helped one catch fire once in this configuration.
My first car was a 2000 GT XLR, (V4)... I blew the engine on it several times... eventually rebuilt with Piper camshaft and sports exhaust. It was actually really quick.... but blew head gaskets regularly, and the clutch lasted no longer than 20K miles. .... and the front wings were replaced and rear arches mended within its first 7 years. You wouldn't expect to replace body parts due to rust in under 15 years these days... and the BMW 523i I owned had a clutch for 183K miles. Things have changed for the better, but not necessarily to be more fun? Boy that Capri could smoke its rear tyres!
