Local Capri in welding shocker........

[B'stard Child]

A few of you know my mate Dave bought a Ford Capri 2.8i a while back and it's quite a nice one but like all old cars not without the odd issue.



This winter he's been sorting out the electrics (dash and carpets and seats out) and incidental to ridding the car of a host of electrical niggles he found a crack in the floor by the seat mounts so I offered to fix it.

The crack was describe as a stress fracture and it all looked sound - simple flap up and and mig it back together.

So I gathered tools (portable welder - portamig, consumables, flap discs and angle grinder and just in case some slitting discs - well you never know do you.........

Quick inspection - Well it was a crack for sure and maybe I could have just buzzed it up but it was a bit swollen. The floor has a plate spot welded under the floor so we drilled out the spot welds so we were just dealing with a single skin thickness.



Yeah not so nice - all a little frilly

So cut it out - now it was a big hole but nice solid edge to work to and all the cracks weren't a problem



Use what was removed as a template and then fettle a plate to fit in and buzz it up



It's a floor covered with carpets and so rather than grind it back flush I just took the tops of the weld (so not an invisible repair but perfectly acceptable)



Now with a solid rust free floor we could puddle weld the strengthening plate back in and then blow a bit of paint over



Underneath with a quick squirt of primer to keep surface rust at bay



Now while I was here with tools it would have been rude not to do a quick inspection of the other seat mounts.

Not cracked but I can't say I like it



Might as well drop the strengthening plate - ah that's better



Chop chop



Clean the edges up top and underneath



Make up a piece to fill the hole and drill the holes for the plate and fettle to fit



Buzz it in



Underneath looked good too



Clamp the plate in position and puddle weld it back in



Temp paint job



so that was my Sat afternoon.......

[Gewy]

Nice work Mr M, will save you and Dave pretending to be Fred and Barnie in July. Now go and get on with the Commonza!
cheers
Paul

[B'stard Child]

Gewy said:

Nice work Mr M, will save you and Dave pretending to be Fred and Barnie in July. Now go and get on with the Commonza!
cheers
Paul

I was tempted to start the thread with Gewy was absolutely right in his guess that if it was cracked it would mean more than a quick buzz up job.

So I went armed with more than I needed

[Wacky Racer]

Good work. Thanks for the photos...

[rob0r]

Seriously tidy welding BC!

[Grandad Gaz]

Looks good! Always had a soft spot for those 2.8 Capri's. That's my era

[B'stard Child]

Wacky Racer said:

Good work. Thanks for the photos...

Thanks - sharing is good isn't it?

rob0r said:

Seriously tidy welding BC!

Oh I don't know about that - functional and sound I call it - we both have seen some really good welding on the blue forum - if I ever get close to that std I'll be a very happy man

Grandad Gaz said:

Looks good! Always had a soft spot for those 2.8 Capri's. That's my era

They were a rival to my favorite car - the Opel Monza

Dave is never gonna let me forget I welded up a Ford

I justify the activity by saying if I'm going to the Le Mans Classic this year I'd rather not have the seat fall thro the floor on the passenger side

[fast eddys]

I used to have these 2.8i's and 3.0 Mk3's and Mk1's, and my brother was an Opel/Vauxhall man and my dad had a Monza GSE.

I remember this car from Snetterton, it looked mint from the outside lol

Eddy

[B'stard Child]

fast eddys said:

I used to have these 2.8i's and 3.0 Mk3's and Mk1's, and my brother was an Opel/Vauxhall man and my dad had a Monza GSE.

my Dad was a Ford man - like a stick of rock if you cut him open in slices he'd have ford written all the way thro him

Err I appear not to have inherited that and I have a Blitz all they way thro me

fast eddys said:

I remember this car from Snetterton, it looked mint from the outside lol Eddy

It's bloody good condition but it's not mint - it will get there eventually - it's his 4th 2.8i so he knows his way round them. He just lacked a welder so rather than lend him one and expect him to get on with it I offered to help resolve his little issue.

End of last year he hit a deer with it so it's having some attention at the front end too!!! hence no pics of the car complete (cos it's not)