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

[mk2cossie]

A slow but slightly successful weekend for me.
Finally managed to get some paint on the A and B pillars before I can bolt the doors on (no paint for the past 40 years under the door hinge sections had seemingly been fine, but I didn't want to risk any more)













And also templated the repair section for the rear wheel arch, and transferred that to some thin plate







Also primered and painted the grill as well, but appear to not have taken any pics of that 🤔

[mk2cossie]

Well, a momentous thing has occurred!

Both right hand doors are now hung back on the car




And actually lined up quite well (my cheap laser level has confirmed the swage line is pretty much perfect across both doors, and the wings!)

Also got a bit more metal work done. The rear arch section needed the door on so I had something to line up to...




And I gave the chassis rail section a tweak for better fitment too







And in the absence of jonomisfit not having made any swages for ages, here's one done by me

[jonomisfit]

I salute you for keeping up the swagey hole cause.

Great repairs!

[mk2cossie]

May 28, 2024 16:20:15 GMT jonomisfit said:

I salute you for keeping up the swagey hole cause.

Great repairs!

Thank you very much

I've still to master the welding above my head, so the chassis rail repair section isn't plug welded in yet

And I shall have another look at a swagey hole making set at some point too, as the only one I have is the one I used on the sill upright panel

[mk2cossie]

I would've updated last weekend, but I didn't actually spend any time at all on my car!
I ended up spending most of the weekend in Royal Tunbridge Wells, and helping my friend Paul with his many projects.
Mainly removing a 5.0 EFI and AOD transmission from this




So he can fit a 4.6 Modular V8 and transmission, then removed both clams from an Exige project he has on the go.

There was a small bit of progress on my own car 2 weekends ago tho




And I have a litre of black paint to go with some more prep work

[mk2cossie]

After waiting patiently for a few weeks, I had some replacement rear subframe connectors made up

[kh97]

Looks good any way more sturdy than the original flimsy brackets

[mk2cossie]

Well, I have still been chipping away at odd jobs on the car. But no real actual progress.
I wanted to be done for the Weekender, that never happened. Then I thought I'd be mobile by my birthday, and thats been and gone...and the Gathering isn't even in sight either

I have managed to modify the air filter bin tho













Managed to make up some bumper end brackets, and made an exhaust hanger and some new locking tabs for the rear crossmember bolts

[mk2cossie]

mr has told me eating an elephant is doable, just that you need to do it in small chunks.

Progress on my car seems to be like eating an elephant, with no end in sight

Yesterday there was a bit more progress, and I actually got the transmission cooler lines made up and fitted! (And a cheeky swaged hole jonomisfit)










It would appear i didn't take a photo of the hoses connected, but I know everyone on here can imagine them all done up with the hose clips facing out of the way.

Also drilled a hole in the exhaust hanger, so no more runaway exhaust rubbers now there's a RRRR clip fitted ivanhoew

And had a fiddle with fitment of a pair of aircon pumps for fitment issues. Seems I need to have a rethink of the radiator mounting, or see if anyone knows how to fit a smaller mag clutch pulley on compressors?

[ivanhoew]

[biturbo228]

Looking great man! Really high quality work. There won't be a bracket on the car in need of attention!

[teaboy]

Aug 20, 2024 8:48:59 GMT biturbo228 said:

Looking great man! Really high quality work. There won't be a bracket on the car in need of attention!

Quite right, very impressive stuff.

[mk2cossie]

Thank you biturbo228 and teaboy

Just the sort of motivation that is needed at the moment

[mk2cossie]

So, after more than 18 months of no car to use, my very good friends almost gifted me a car to use to get out and about

I was almost driven to madness with trying to get insurance sorted (almost anyone that would insure it, wanted at least 1k for a policy!). Eventually managed to get a multi car policy with Footman James, who were very helpful and nice and easy to deal with 👌

Its had new rear discs and pads, valve clearances adjusted, engine oil and filter change, and general service bits. Also added some rivnuts underneath to secure the under trays in place (old plastic clips either broken, or no longer securing parts)

[mk2cossie]

I did manage some time on the car over the weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of what I've done, as I've not yet finished
Also, had time off on Saturday, and went to the Chatham Historic Dockyards for the record fair that was next to the carpark, and had a look around some "RADwood" car show event thing

Basically I've managed to move the lower radiator mounts 1/2inch further towards the front of the car, to allow clearance between the lower coolant hose, and the clutch pulley of the aircon compressor!
After many hours of tweaking, and persuading with a BFH, I've achieved what I was after.
Also managed to fettle the lower radiator brackets, and add some more lightness to them with a hole cutter! I shall continue this on Saturday, and take some progress shots too!

The Civic is still going strong, currently on its second full tank of super unleaded in my ownership, and has only let me down in regards to its radio not playing ball with any add-on boxes I buy

[mk2cossie]

Update time!
Didn't realise I'd left it so long since last time 😪

Not got a huge amount done on the Granada, but I do now have a couple of coolant pipes installed. One of them goes underneath the aircon pump, the second one is from the heater matrix down to the modine cooler







Also fettled the throttle linkage bracket, replaced the spark plugs, and made the radiator mounts a bit lighter...




And chopped a hose joiner to be welded on to the radiator in a better position,





And my last week off work, I managed to install a couple of amplifiers on the Civic, and built a slot ported subwoofer enclosure for the Civic boot











Hopefully those last few are good enough for blackpopracing for some ideas, and meets the standards of sound engineer sweetpea