The summer of 2002

BlackMagicCapri takes it to the strip

The summer of 2002 turned out be a great summer weatherwise. However, not that much has happened to the car. I do drive it as much as I have time to, though, and it is great fun.

Fuelling still is a problem - the EEC-IV injection with O2 sensor is a bit too "smart" to fool, and it keeps adjusting the fuelling despite my efforts to inject more fuel. More that 0,6 bar och boost seems impossible, even though I reverted to the bigger Saab injectors again. It works reasonably well though, with the spring tension of the air flap in the VAF altered. The big task for this winter is to counteract this problem, probably by using a older EEC-IV without closed-loop facilities.

Anyway, this year we had the chance to test some timed runs on a true dragstrip. It was the first time for me, and pretty fun (although road tracks are more fun...). Some streetracing (umm...) has proved that the Capri seems to run out of oomphf at the end of the quatermile, and these timed runs really proved that. The gearing is also wrong - if I keep it in third I hit the rev limiter (6400 rpm) 5-10 meters before the finish line - and if I change to fourth it doesn't really accelerate fast enough.

Still, a best time of 14.966 is not that bad.

I also put on a glass fibre front bumper, it is part of a "Profile" kit but I'm not really sure about the look. Too much of a "underbite", so I hope to change that this winter (haha, heard that before?). The real revolution is that I also put on a rear bumper - it's probably the first time in 15 years that this car has had a rear bumper...but it actually does look quite good. No pics though, I'm afraid.

One thing that does not look too good is that I have started helping a friend build a MkI 2.8 turbo. I have a bit of a hard time concentrating on my own car - beacuse his is getting so cool!

The engine is from a Sierra XR4x4, with the EEC-IV injection, although not with the closed loop (see, I have learned...). The turbo is a Holset HX35W, pretty big...but there's 2.8 litres of V6 pushing it, so it will probably work.

Actually the car is a US-import, pretty rare in Sweden but the condition was not good enough to keep it strictly original. It had been standing for many years so we feel pretty good putting some life into it again.

Stay tuned for next update!