FORD CAPRI MkIII 7 SMART WAYS TO IMPROVE IT

John Kitchen’s Capri 2.8i has undergone a rolling programme of improvements both big and small

JOHN KITCHEN ‘My first two cars were a Capri 1300 MkI and a 1600 MkII. That was in the 1970s – I always loved these cars, and regularly mentioned to my wife that I rather fancied another one. So in 2006 she bought me a very original 2.8i MkIII as a birthday present. It had done just 66,000 miles, but the engine had been run with insufficient oil at some point, so it was quite worn. The only cure was to rebore it, but suitable parts weren’t available. I was keen to stick with a Cologne V6, so I bought an injected 2.9 unit, but it became clear that parts availability for these engines is patchy, so I started to look at alternatives. ‘A common transplant for the Cologne engine is a 2.0-litre Zetec unit, which is available new for around £1100. Easy to tune, lighter, more free-revving and more powerful than the original 2.8i V6, the Zetec engine slots easily into the Capri’s engine bay. However, it has to be turned through 90 degrees and it sits quite close to the bulkhead, but kits are available to make the conversion pretty straightforward.

‘I’ve fitted motorbike carbs for the fuelling – they’re efficient and give good throttle response, but the engine has to be fully up to temperature before I

can drive the car at all,

‘The Zetec engine is more powerful than the 2.8i and slots in easily’

otherwise it just stalls, so I can’t just get in the car and go if the engine hasn’t been run for a bit.

‘If I was to do the project again I’d fit fuel injection and a catalytic converter in a bid to future-proof the car. Who knows what restrictions on classic cars are on the way.’