1984 Granada BOA; small progress & Civic 25/10/24

[mk2cossie]

Well, I'm amazed I've managed to get to that milestone for this thread!

Just tipped over 100k views, so thank you very much everyone on Retro Rides

It really does mean a lot to me, especially with the wittering and lack of photos on here from myself

[mk2cossie]

I am still here, and still tinkering with the car


Last week I removed the central locking relay, gave its contacts a clean up and titivated its broken casing back together with some Wurth 2 pack plastic glue stuff. So that is one less rattle up behind the dash now, and the central locking works better as a result too

Also risked a purchase off Amazon, and now have a remote central locking kit to attempt to plumb in tomorrow morning
Wonder what will happen there, and if it will work or I can work out the wiring instructions for it

I shall also try and see if the bootlid flange can be tweaked somewhat with a leather hammer, and the boot shut without having to slam it all the time! It is getting a bit tedious slamming it each time to shut it, and there isn't any more latch adjustment without the bootlid looking like it is always open

I also painted the BBQ undertray last weekend, and spaced it down so it isnt metal on metal now with the subframe

[mk2cossie]

Well, last Saturdays wiring journey was fun!
No matter how many times I looked at the wiring for the remote central locking module, and the cars central locking relay I still couldn't master how to get the systems working together!

Even broke out my Power Probe to see what did what, and when, Jerry rigged the remote locking module up to the central locking relay and even had it working!

But all with the drivers door disconnected. As soon as the drivers door was connected up, I'd get a clunk from the central locking relay, and nothing more. No locking or unlocking
Much more testing and muttering later I was still none the wiser and gave up til another day (probably tomorrow!).


Over the past week, I have been messaging my friend little Rob, who knows far more about mk2 Granadas than myself, and straight away he said "the drivers door is just a switch, you need to fit an actuator to it for the remote to operate" , or something along those lines.

So central locking actuator has been ordered, and arrived yesterday for trying to work out how I'm going to add an extra pair of wires through the door post rubber trunking thing




Also ordered some more coilover springs and rod ends for the rear ARB droplinks, and need to order up some new CV joints before the track day in August

[mk2cossie]

Well, yesterday didn't go all that well at work.
Last month, mums Micra failed its MOT on a few points of corrosion (or so I thought!)
Got it up on the 2 post ramp yesterday for Russell to have a look at and weld on the new sill panels I have purchased...













Bum hats! More than just a quick replace the outer sills job, and an interior strip and fuel tank out job to chase the rotten inner sill and whatever other horrors are lurking in there

So thats most likely the end of the poor little Micra for us it seems

With a disheartened outlook on the day, I only managed a small amount on my own car.
And fitted the solenoid in the drivers door, as well as routing the 2 wires for it up through the A post

[johnthesparky]

The yellow crayon of doom

[mk2cossie]

Jul 26, 2021 7:21:20 GMT johnthesparky said:

The yellow crayon of doom

Yup, the yellow crayon of doom indeed
I wouldn't mind, but the poor Micra has been with the family for 150k miles
Never had a clutch, has been to Le Mans, has the rev limiter almost tested whenever I use it, and still averages 40 odd MPG!

Dad has said scrap it, or sell it to someone who will do it up. But I don't think anyone would want it to repair

Shall update properly in a bit anyhoo...

[mk2cossie]

Rightyho then!
Meant to update last night, and fell asleep instead

So yesterday was again spent at the workshop, to get the drivers door reassembled at least, and try and get the remote central locking working

Started of by sorting out the front components crossover, so it is no longer just stuffed in the speaker hole in the door




So that hole at the top was filled with the bracket I made ages ago, and the crossover screwed to it




The wires were trimmed, or replaced as necessary and the door card refitted (and there is currently no weather strip or sound deadening on the door, as it needs the outer skin replacing anyway)

And then on to sorting out the wiring for this little treasure from Amazon




Of all those wires, there are 3 currently not wired up (indicator for each side, and boot release) and I think 3 cut short as surplus to requirements for me
The boot release wire just supplies an earth, and the car dash mounted switch for the boot release supplies a 12v feed to the solenoid, so that's a relay wiring job for another day

Box is mounted up out of the way with a strip of double sided tape, so shall see how well that holds up

[kevins]

I've had the same unit in my range rover for 4 years now, still working fine.

[mk2cossie]

After excelling myself and getting the remote central locking to work (and still working, although I've still to plumb in the indicator circuit) last weekend was almost full on with being out with some friends on the Sunday, including a spirited cross county drive, and Saturday was spent at Betteshanger Park for the Late Brake Show On Tour

The show was most enjoyable, even if some of the pub quiz questions were stinkers!
And I even managed to help 64impala with the use of my jump pack on an electric car

This weekend, I thought it best to get some of the jobs done on my car before the track session on the 19th
So the 1300lb front springs have now been fitted on the coilovers




1300 on the left, 1100 on the right. And a coilover with its brackets to fit where I was told it wouldn't...







The wheels all got a clean up, and balanced. As on the drive last Sunday it was discovered there was quite a vibration at a certain speed
And all 4 driveshaft CV joints have been replaced at 202,348miles, so I shall see how they last this time around!
The shafts themselves got a poly disc session, and a quick aerosol paint job to tart them up as well













I did also measure the shafts length whilst they were apart, and there was only a difference of 1.5mm
So I'm not sure why the manual states the shafts are NOT interchangeable? All the bolts were replaced, lock tight applied and torqued to 35Nm as they all are 12.9 hardness and I don't want these coming undone by themselves again!

[mk2cossie]

So I had the 19th (Thursday) off work for the track day. I'd been over the car on the Saturday previous, when the springs and driveshafts were done.
Thursday was spent clearing out the tat, and fitting the bucket seat and harness (needed as otherwise my head is almost against the roof when wearing a helmet)

So out with the electrically adjusted drivers seat




Seems Fred approves of the original seat!
Bolt in the alloy brackets first




Then the seat can go in




Thread the harness through their respective hole, and clip in




I must add, that since I got the seat about 10 years ago it appears to have shrunk! I'm led to believe this is caused by cats sleeping in the seat, so I shall be swapping the original back in as soon as I can be bothered!

[vitesseefi]

🙂

Best keep the cat off the original or that’ll shrink too….😳

Nick

[mk2cossie]

Aug 21, 2021 13:57:15 GMT vitesseefi said:

🙂

Best keep the cat off the original or that’ll shrink too….😳

Nick

He is new to all this, as he has only been with us a year after the passing of Shandy, the previous ginger cat.
He seems to be settled in tho, and thankfully was only in the seat for about 5 minutes maximum whilst the sun was out

[mk2cossie]

I was foolish enough to only film the last session of 3 I managed at Brands Hatch indy circuit.
And I will apologise for some of the bad language in advance, as I was getting rather frustrated with the 3 GR Yaris that were on track

[bstardchild]

That's a very relaxing approach to track days (The Autobox shift technique I mean)

Goes really nicely and very smooth style - Nice pass on the NSX too

[mk2cossie]

Aug 30, 2021 10:39:20 GMT bstardchild said:

That's a very relaxing approach to track days (The Autobox shift technique I mean)

Goes really nicely and very smooth style - Nice pass on the NSX too

The autobox has no kickdown cable facility at the moment, so the 2nd to 3rd change is very sluggish compared to how it should be

Thats an ongoing "just" job tho, along with the modified inlet manifold

The passenger is a friend from school days, and he was there in his series 2 Exige. Although that was black flagged due to being 4dB over the drive by noise limit

[vitesseefi]

Makes nice noise and respectably rapid

Nick

[mr]

Been busy then.good work👍

[mk2cossie]

Well then, we have been treated a little bit in the workshop last week!
Last Monday we had a 4 wheel alignment machine dropped off for us to trial and see how we got on with it. Most of Monday morning was spent with the 2 bods showing us workshop herberts how to use and setup said machine.
Much was said about how to sell/upsell alignment jobs, but that isn't in our hands, thats the offices job

On Wednesday I was told to have a lunchbreak (for a change, instead of an hour overtime) and got the Granny in for a geometry tweak

Nice and easy to set the machine up with its fancy wheel adapters, and the laser pointers hang off of those.
Started off with it miles out, and the steering wheel pointing to about 10 'O' clock when driving straight




And more than just a quick tweak later I ended up with better results (and I didn't adjust the caster back from its current setting of lots)




Camber isn't really adjustable on the mk1 and 2 Granada setup, but caster is. However, I know my tie rods haven't been adjusted in a long time, and made the executive decision to leave the caster as is, and the tracking settings have transformed the car, and the steering wheel is now almost straight

So much nicer to drive about now, and drives straight and seems to have nice turn in either left or right! Hopefully cured the squealing offside front tyre on right handers too!

[mk2cossie]

I shall update after todays fun and games and when I get home.
But the Granny passed her MOT yesterday!

And it wasn't even done by myself

I've also cured my battery drain issues at last!

[bstardchild]

Oct 16, 2021 8:54:59 GMT mk2cossie said:

I shall update after todays fun and games and when I get home.
But the Granny passed her MOT yesterday!

And it wasn't even done by myself

Hahahaha

Oct 16, 2021 8:54:59 GMT mk2cossie said:

I've also cured my battery drain issues at last!

now that is good news I hate electrickery issues even on a good day