1972 Granada Mk1 coupe build - Still going... 14-10-2024

[eurogranada]

Now I have introduced myself (retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=138245) I think it is time to start this build thread. Better do it now so I can update you as I go as I've learned by now that updating in retrospect is always a lot harder and more time consuming.

So to set the stage I'm going from this:





to approximately this:
(If you replace the creme interior with a black one in your mind and add a subtle 3 piece black striping between the front and rear bumper just below the fold in the lower doorskin you'll get a rough idea... I'm not that great with photoshop...)





Updates will mostly be twice a week as in general I get to visit the workshop friday afternoons and monday evenings.


So, what am I working on at the moment? Currently I'm prepping the body for shot blasting. This means that it has to be fully stripped of everything from glass to wiring loom etc. The last remaining things are the rear window, headlining and the bitumen from the inside floorpan and outside front inner wings. I'm continuing that today! Than I will also sand the rear wings and roof so they only need a light blasting. Keeps cost down and deformation due to heat buildup as well. The blaster is a specialist in cars/oldtimers so he knows what he's doing.

This shows what I started with last friday. If you look close enough you'll already find some previous owner repairs removed. Also known as considerable holes! The PO fixed the car by welding fresh metal OVER the rusted out metal. I have cut lots of those repairs out so far. And after blasting that is what I'll be focussing on: welding in new metal front to back (literally starting at the front working back).





A close-up of some of my findings:





























Well, you get the picture...

As you can see I started fixing some of the holes, but decided on a change of plan by shot blasting now, before any more welding is done. Cleanly blasted metal works al lot nicer and you have a full view of every bit to fix...

In past years I have been hoarding parts for the car. There isn't much that I didn't manage to find new or in good condition. So While I was working I thought it was a good time to do some trial fitting of the new wings and doors. It's clear that original stuff pays for itself in the fitting!! Only the doors posed a problem. They will need the window frames altered as they turned out to be 2-dr saloon doors sold as 2-dr coupe doors, bummer, but hey, could have been worse. They are new and Mk1 design so 2 out of 3 ain't bad!











I'll give you a quick preview off the leather interior'I'm fitting to the car. As it's non Ford it will be al small challenge, but hey, they're heated, fully electrical and luxurious as well. So well worth the effort. The rear seats are narrower then the originals, so I'll be making custom side panelling to make good use of the spaces around the seats. The fronts have much wider tracks so they'll be more of a challenge as the tracks cannot be narrowed. I'l have to construct a frame of sorts without getting the seats mounted to high up. The granny has a rotten floor arrangement with 3 out of 4 mounting points at different heights.





Wel let's call this the intro to the build and in the next installment I'll show of some of the things I've done in the past in preparation for this build.

I thouroughly hope you'll enjoy my build... although I do it for Me, Myself and I alone. It's always nice to be motivated by responses and to motivate others to go and work on theirs...

Alex

[hamps]

Awesome Can't wait for updaes, bookmarked

[Granadaman72]

Thats going to be a great project. I love Granada's, had 14 in total but all mkII's and mkIII's (Scorpio's i think where you live) never had a mkI but I'm hoping to some day! don't know if its any help but i think the MKIII (Scorpio) leather seats are a bolt in job?

[eurogranada]

Having shown a little bit of the direction my project should be going in and of work I'm currently doing, I thought I'd now show you some work done for this project but done in the past. Some things finished, some things redundant, some things close to finishing and some things still to do.

Let's talk suspension for a bit.

I've shot blasted all of the suspension after taking it apart to the highest level. Reducing it to a bunch of bits. I than had the bits powder coated in grey metallic. Not to obvious a colour, but also stands out from the black that the floorpan will be from underneath. I also fitted the end product with PU polyflex(?) or powerflex(?) bushes all round. I have them from subframe mountings to diff mounting (customised a sierra cosworth item).

Removal


This curse word nut was stuck pretty good!


Home made rubber bushing puller


Pile o' bits


Even stripped these to bits


More bits


Finished products before assembly (still to do, waiting on new and recoated fasteners)





So That's where I am on the suspension front. I have rebuilt the diff (needed to put the thing in the freezer overnight to get it in) and need to put the full suspension together when the new and recoated (p1000 coating so no brittleness introduced from the process). I also need to finisch rebuilding the power steering rack.

All of these are pretty quick to do when the right materials have shown up. I went with new and recoated bolts etc. to make sure for a couple of years everything will look as new as possible. Yes, I'm a bit anal in these things. I'd like to do it really well.... we'll see how it holds once on the road.

Apart from the suspension I've also been busy enginewise.
The car was supposed to get a BOA socprio cosworth engine with MT75 manual 5 speed. But I sold those off and got a BOB cosworth and BOB automatic instead.

I'll be aiming for it to run on it's original management. Won't be tuning the engine I think. Granada's are fast enough with those engines and are cruisers. I'd like mine to cruise nicely and pull away at the lights faster then one would expect from 40 year old metal on wheels...

So this is going in:

[imghttp://granada-mk1.nl/images/rsgallery/display/IMG_003495.JPG.jpg][/img]


Supposedly running strong until a wiring fault showed up. As can be seen the loom has been completely redone at one point. The problem is that it was unclear if the loom problem was in the new loom or in the car somewhere.

I have a spare original loom that I can repair myself as it is also very dangerous to use in it's current condition, suffering from lost insulation in every bend of the loom.

A smal example:



Full BOB wiring loom to get the thing running on original management. Hopefully!! I'm axiously awaiting the moment I can test it.



In the attic sorting which wires I need and which I don't... Last bit remaing is to eliminate the fuse boxes, but having trouble there.



I'm currently building a test rig to be able to start the engine with the full loom attached and see what happens. Will work from there. Should be coming along nicely in the next few weeks. Might need some help on this front though.

Would be nice to know it the pats code is in the ecu or in the pats control box. I'm using pats as well.

I have done a lot more in the past, but not everyting is as relevant anymore and showing it all is a bit much.

[eurogranada]

Oct 12, 2012 8:59:35 GMT Granadaman72 said:

don't know if its any help but I think the MKIII (Scorpio) leather seats are a bolt in job?

They pretty much are, but they're not really to my liking... Too much sofa like. What I have (might as well say: passat cc sports interior in ventilated leather) is a lot more sporty!

And as for the Granada: Go get yourself one before they're extinct! ;D ;D

[eurogranada]

Oct 12, 2012 8:56:36 GMT hamps said:

Awesome Can't wait for updaes, bookmarked

You beat me to it, I was already adding update 1! ;D

[grifterkid]

Holy poop that is just tremendous...

I still don't understand why there was the 'coke-bottle' and 'straight-line' coupe's, it just doesn't seem to make sense to have made 2 different styles...

I own a '77 3-litre Ghia saloon and I really need to give that some love soon before it turns in to a pile of rust so seeing this is really going to help me get just a little bit more motivated...!!!

I am really looking forward to seeing how this ends up, I am pretty sure I'm going to like the end result...

[bountyhunter]

amazing project.
i'm watching this with interest.

one question though, why the swap from BOA to BOB ?
BOA is much easier to get running in a different shell and has a much stronger timing chain

[DWDarkWheels]

Excellent. I love the mk1 Coupe. The shape is so right, and it's a more interesting choice than a Capri. I'm looking forward to watching this one.

[markske67]

Great project, love the Mk1 Granada Coupé.

[eurogranada]

Oct 12, 2012 11:30:41 GMT bountyhunter said:

amazing project.
i'm watching this with interest.

one question though, why the swap from BOA to BOB ?
BOA is much easier to get running in a different shell and has a much stronger timing chain

To answer that... You are right, it is so much easier to get running in another vehicle, yes.... But is's been done so often for one. Ok BOB has been done before as well, but usually n ot on it's original management.

But it's more a case of refinement. And to be honest, both 24v cossies have timing issues. The BOA has a doubled chain, but even crappier guides then the single chained BOB.

I like the idea of a fully controlled automatic with eco, sport and winter settings. As said, it's to be a fast cruiser, doesn't have to be a street racer. And if I want I can always change the box for a mt75.

I also like the look of the BOB better, with it's plastic cover. The plump plenum of the BOA is a bit in your face in a way.

Finally, the BOA was a 91 engine, the BOB is a 97.... but about the same mileage...

[eurogranada]

Oct 12, 2012 10:54:18 GMT grifterkid said:

Holy poop that is just tremendous...

I still don't understand why there was the 'coke-bottle' and 'straight-line' coupe's, it just doesn't seem to make sense to have made 2 different styles...

I own a '77 3-litre Ghia saloon and I really need to give that some love soon before it turns in to a pile of rust so seeing this is really going to help me get just a little bit more motivated...!!!

I am really looking forward to seeing how this ends up, I am pretty sure I'm going to like the end result...

Doesn't seem to make much sence now does it, two versions of the same model. But we had them from 72 on you had them from 75 onward. I guess it had to do with the german vs. uk identity of the ford brand...

I love both types by the way, but to me they both need a different look. The coke bottle lends itself to low front slightly higher backside... The straight model for me is just the other way round. That looks best with slightly lower back, simply because of the sharper straight line.

I'd like to see your granny too. Did you do much to it or is it standard? Other granny's I'd love to see as well.

I hope that my updates and endresult will please not just me but all of you as well! Ok, it will be a while befor it's finished, but at least work is progressing at the moment.

[bountyhunter]

Oct 12, 2012 18:41:05 GMT eurogranada said:

Oct 12, 2012 11:30:41 GMT bountyhunter said:

amazing project.
i'm watching this with interest.

one question though, why the swap from BOA to BOB ?
BOA is much easier to get running in a different shell and has a much stronger timing chain

To answer that... You are right, it is so much easier to get running in another vehicle, yes.... But is's been done so often for one. Ok BOB has been done before as well, but usually n ot on it's original management.

But it's more a case of refinement. And to be honest, both 24v cossies have timing issues. The BOA has a doubled chain, but even crappier guides then the single chained BOB.

I like the idea of a fully controlled automatic with eco, sport and winter settings. As said, it's to be a fast cruiser, doesn't have to be a street racer. And if I want I can always change the box for a mt75.

I also like the look of the BOB better, with it's plastic cover. The plump plenum of the BOA is a bit in your face in a way.

Finally, the BOA was a 91 engine, the BOB is a 97.... but about the same mileage...

fair enough - and you seem to know exactly what (and how) your doing.
should be ace.

interesting comment on the looks of the BOB, most people say exactly the reverse and prefer the BOA looks claiming the BOB cover looks cheap.
But then if we all liked the same things life would be very boring

BOB has better cams btw (ideally I want a set for the BOA in my TVR)

[eurogranada]

Well, went to the workshop again today and put in about 4 hours work. Turned out to need the time as well. I thought I didn't have too much to do, but the work was slightly difficult today.

Let's see, first I cleared out the car and put some stuff in the Transit van (daily driver to be able to move a scootmobile). This meant I could really work on the car from all angles.

So I attacked the front. Took off the crusty bonnet. And stripped al parts off that. The catch was in the catch ( ). One screw wouldn't come off and I had to resort to gripping pliers to get it undone. Taking off the rest was pretty straight forward.



With the bonnet done, I turned to the rear window. Needed to come out for access to the headliner. I managed to get it out with the seal intact! So on to the sunroof. I needed to undo the screws from above so I could get at the headliner. That was a struggle as wel but I managed.



Next was the headliner itself. That came loose pretty easily from the glued edges. Undoing the sunroof winder and one bow was all it took to come out.



After that it was time to get the sunroof mechanisms out. That was a bit of a challenge and I hope I'll be able to remember how it al goes together again. I probably will, but it will not be the easiest job for sure! At least it is out now. And so is the bit of loom that goes through the roof an a pillar.



On with the back end. Removing the decklid/bootlid. Piece of cake! Then the rubber seal and some inoperative lights a PO had put in the boot.



Then I had a tidy up, I'd made a bit of a mess... Put everything that I needed to store in the transit and then I put away all spare sheetmetal safely until it can be shot blasted: two bonnets, two doors, four front outer wings, two bootlids and the sunroof...

That's about it for now.

[eurogranada]

Oct 12, 2012 19:39:42 GMT bountyhunter said:

BOB has better cams btw (ideally I want a set for the BOA in my TVR)

I have a set of 4 spares....

[bountyhunter]

Oct 12, 2012 19:43:45 GMT eurogranada said:

Oct 12, 2012 19:39:42 GMT bountyhunter said:

BOB has better cams btw (ideally I want a set for the BOA in my TVR)

I have a set of 4 spares....

if they're truly spare and surplus to requirements, then please drop me a pm

heres mine btw retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=readersrides&action=display&thread=138059


...Nick

[Pid363!]

Got to love a coupe but it don't get much better than a "coke bottle coupe"

[adamb]

This car has win all over it, I've had thoughts of a Chip Foose inspired version of one of these

[bountyhunter]

can someone pls post up a pic of both types of coupe - cos i have to say i didnt realise there was more than one type

[24vpaul]

Oct 12, 2012 18:41:05 GMT eurogranada said:

Oct 12, 2012 11:30:41 GMT bountyhunter said:

amazing project.
i'm watching this with interest.

one question though, why the swap from BOA to BOB ?
BOA is much easier to get running in a different shell and has a much stronger timing chain

But it's more a case of refinement. And to be honest, both 24v cossies have timing issues. The BOA has a doubled chain, but even crappier guides then the single chained BOB.

The BOA ran a duplex chain, one chain around both sets of cams.

The BOB runs 2 single chains, it is possible to have 1 chain break and the engine will still run on the other bank!

But, yes, they both have chain problems