Having stated a few months ago that the Capri was almost good to go following a full engine rebuild it turns out I spoke too soon. The owner took it for its MoT test, which it passed, but on the way back it started to overheat. I removed and tested the thermostat, found it not working and replaced it but that didn't cure it. We then decided to fit a new radiator as a matter of course, everything else under the bonnet was new after all, but that didn't help either. I decided to check my work and stripped it down to the block, had the heads leak tested and then put it back together with a new head gasket set. Whilst I was under there I also fitted a new viscous coupling to the fan, when it was hot you could stop the fan with your hand and it stayed stopped. I decided to fill the cooling system with the top hose removed from the engine, with the de-gassing tank and radiator full nothing came out of the outlet so I let it stand overnight and in the morning the coolant had worked its way through. I think this was the reason for overheating, the system seems to have a tendency to airlock on filling. Today I fired it up and let it idle for 20 minutes with no issues, then took it out for a run and it was all good. I am somewhat relieved, to say the least. As an aside I've also replaced the heater fan & core (the fan was burned out) and fitted a stereo system into the original loom (with a new aerial too).
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