Mk1 Capri Jag IRS Installation, Cologne bodykit fitment and repaint

Project Undertaken 18th Jan 2010 & Completed 23rd April 2010

'Crapi Chris' delivered this 'rough and ready' Mk1 Capri with instructions to fit a Jag Idependant Rear Suspension setup, fit a Cologne wide arch kit, repair the bodywork to a reasonable standard and repaint it Imperial Blue.

The car is solid, if not pretty! The only real structural work is to remove the spare wheel well (allowing more posibilites for exhaust installation) fabricate the mounts for the IRS, and cut out the arches to accomodate the wider track.

This is the car as it arrived.

First job, cut out the wheel well, which was not only requested, but also allows us a bit more space when offering up the IRS. The IRS is of the later X300 type so coilovers will be fitted into the original turrets (which will be strengthened). The original front leafspring mounts have been used as a datum point to get everything lined up precisely. Box sections were then fabricated to exact dimensions, and fitted with machined inserts to bolt the Jag subframe up to. All machining carried out in-house as usual. Once these were bolted up and the IRS correctly positioned and leveled the box-sections were gussetted directly to the chassis rails, and the rear mounts welded in place (these are simple gussetted brackets, as the rear mounts on the Jag cradle sit conveniently below the rear rails of the Capri).

With the IRS fitted, it's time to enlarge the arches to allow wheel clearance for the new widened track. First up was to clean the quarter panels back to the metal - this invloved digging out a lot of filler - there is solid metal behind, it's just not the right shape! This car has certainly lived life to the full, and fortunately makes an ideal base to fit a wide arch kit!

Time to cut out those old arches - to mark out where to cut we use a nifty home-made tool which is run around the inner arch, and has an arm that loops around to the outside and traces the line onto the outer panel. Then out with the plasma-cutter, and off with the arches - they look a slightly odd shape, but that is just how the inner arches are!

Once the old lips were gone it was time to weld in the fresh metal to bridge the gap.

Arches complete, IRS mounted, wheel well filled in, and a section of the tunnel refabricated to allow clearance around the diff nose. Time to step back and chuckle at the wheels sticking completely outside the line of the car... A quick offer up of the bodykit shows the IRS to be quite a convenient width.

OK, time to get that bodykit fitted properly. An offer up revealed poor fit in various places, so it required a fair amount of modification to get it looking about right. Once it was lined up it was screwed in place to mark the correct positioning, then removed and given a good dose of P.U adhesive around the edges, before being refitted and screwed in place while the adhesive cured. Once the kit was firmly bonded on the screws were removed and the edges feathered, before getting started with the filler work.

After initial blending, a quick coat of primer has been applied to the arches to allow easier assesment of the 'lines'. Any neccessary tweaks will be made to the shaping at this stage, before prepping for paint. The roof is fairly battered and will also require a bit of attention.

Once all the shaping work is complete it's time for a good coat of primer.

And then on goes the Imperial Blue!

The rear chassis rails were reinforced and brackets made up to mount coil-overs which were attached to the original Jag mounting positions on the wishbones via some machined adapters. Mounts were also fabricated to hang the Nissan 350Z back box Chris had requested. We also fitted bonnet pins at Chris's request.

And that's it from us! At this point the car is handed back to Chris to complete the conversion to 24V Cosworth power and reassembly. We look forward to seeing the completed car! Here it is as it left us.