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

[eurogranada]

Well, I did...

Blew the cobwebs out of the exhaust for sure... had a nice long drive...

Ended up at the loacal airport spotters parking. Met a nice fellow there who followed me on his bike as he loved the car so much, lol.
Of course I missed the one actual plane flying right over the car...

Anyway some pictures as ther really isn't that much more to tell.

[kevins]

Great, get out and enjoy it (only issue with that here at the moment is it seems to never stop raining!)

[westbay]

👍

[therealpinto]

Nice, I bet the filter was the culprit. I had similar issues trying to use one like that as crank case breather filter (it won't work...).

BTW, the non-vented cap will only present itself as a problem after running for quite some time, you need to use enough fuel to create a "vacuum" in the tank.

[eurogranada]

Well, I used the car again... I'm not having much luck with the weather since my vacation started so it's not been all that productive yet.

There was an event for oldtimers not too far away, yet far enough to be a bit of a test for the Granada. It was a late afternoon, evening car meet at what seemed to be a nice location near the water. As I love water and the opportunity to get my car close to it, I thought I'd go. All day it was like, shall I go or shall I not as the weather was so bad all day. But around the time the meeting started the air cleared and the sun even came out a bit. So I made the call to go. I was climbing the walls with boredom anyway. So I drove about 50km mostly motorway to the meet.

The car behaved fine, but I wasn't too relaxed behind the wheel yet. Engine and fuel wise it seemed to do precisely what it should. It didn't hesitate, ran nice and stable at 100-110 km/h on the motorway. I did feel it felt a little bit light on the steering with the car wanting to drift right when I let go of the wheel. That may be something to look into again. It's been aligned not too long ago. It could also be that the tires feel different in the rain on the wet motorway... As on the way back, I was caught in a massive downpour. The car got a wahs for sure lol. All dust now gone. The rain-x on the windshield worked well and I hardly had any benefit from the window wipers.

The meeting itself was smaller than expected, but probably because of the weather. I was also surprised at the lack of conversation. Most people just walked by the cars talking among themselves but not so much interacting with the owners... I got some red capet pics that I still need to receive, but the idea was nice.

I had a few conversations, waked around a bit among quite a range of oldtimers. I still have trouble menatlly seeing a BMW 5 series or a volvo 850 estate that technically are of age but have nothing really classic about them yet. Nice cars in and of themselves, but to me a bit out of place. But then again, it does make for variety and the ones there were definitely well presented.

I had a good time for a few hours and then started back home. I bought some cheap gas as technically it was in Belgium, and had a pretty uneventful trip home apart from the downpour. I even turned on the radio showing I was a bit more comfortable again.

But when I turned it down as I got near home I heard a weird noise from the back. So again something to look into. I think it is either a cv joint going bad or more likely the circlip on the end of the drive shaft coming off and making contact inside (as I've had that happen before). Shouldn't be too difficult to investigate and fix. Although I really hope I don't have to find new cv's as my car has the more rare bigger ones. As well as the cost it would mean downtime again and I'd planned to enjoy the car a bit the coming weeks...

Anyway some obligatory shots!

[eurogranada]

Well, remember that noise I mentioned?

I tried to investigate. First off it is mostly there when the car has been driven…so when the car is hot.

It’s also definitely from the rear.

Here’s how it sounds:



I first thought it might be the cv joint circlip coming loose. I’ve had that once before but alas it wasn’t that. Which in and of itself is obviously a good thing.

A couple of days later I tried again. Warmed up the car with a great 25km drive and then had the noise again. This time I thought it sounds like something catching and releasing. I can only think of one item in the rear that can do that: the brake shoes. So I took off the wheel and opens the drum. On the Granada they are self adjusting but I did find them somewhat tight and the drum was pretty hot. So I adjusted them back a bit. Wheel roles a bit smoother on both sides afterwards and the brakes still worked well. No pull etc. No clonking or ploinking afterwards while manually turning the wheel.

So another drive. Car felt great, somewhat smoother although that may be in my mind. Yet, the noise came back as the short video I showed was made after that.

Now I’m stuck. Maybe it still is the brake shoes but I wouldn’t know why then as all looked fine.or what to do to fix them.

Only thing I can think of is warming tha car so the noise is there, quickly removing the wheel and brake shoes, putting back the drum and wheel and see if the noise is gone. But what assures me that I can do this fast enough so if the noise is gione it isn’t just because of cool down?
Also with no shoes you also have no brakes as pressing the pedal will just push out the brake cylinder pistons. And I don’t expect a tie wrap to hold this pressure….

So, I guess……

HELP

[turbogeek]

Does sound like the shoes. Were the shoes "centred" after the drum was put back on - basically as I understand it by stamping on the brake pedal after getting the wheel turning by hand? The brakes shouldn't be dragging.
Can the adjusters be assembled incorrectly? Is the handbrake too tight?

[eurogranada]

Aug 8, 2023 15:27:35 GMT turbogeek said:

Does sound like the shoes. Were the shoes "centred" after the drum was put back on - basically as I understand it by stamping on the brake pedal after getting the wheel turning by hand? The brakes shouldn't be dragging.
Can the adjusters be assembled incorrectly? Is the handbrake too tight?

The brakes were applied after putting on the drums and before locking them on by putting on the wheels.
I deliberately dialed back the adjusters for this test. But the system has an auto adjustment when applying the emergency brake/hand brake.

The hand brake I could investigate but it releases the shoes. The pull is pretty short though…so I’ll put it on the list.

I do sort of feel on both sides that there’s one spot where the wheel seems to drag just a little more. Asif the drums were just a tiny bit out of round. But the side where this is worst does not make the noise… But I’ve not had this issue for months and now it’s suddenly back.

[mk2cossie]

The noise is almost timed with the spokes of the wheel faced down, but not quite.
You say its from the rear, and nothing obvious on the rear brakes.
Is it the propshaft catching on something near the differential extension housing?

Or even possibly the drive flange behind the rear wheel bearing catching something?

[eurogranada]

Aug 8, 2023 16:19:39 GMT mk2cossie said:

The noise is almost timed with the spokes of the wheel faced down, but not quite.
You say its from the rear, and nothing obvious on the rear brakes.
Is it the propshaft catching on something near the differential extension housing?

Or even possibly the drive flange behind the rear wheel bearing catching something?

I’ve not been able to find anything in the region that could cause this. And if it were something catching, you’d expect it to also catch when cold, or when on stands.

Only other thing I can think of are the cv’s but again I’d expect them to be noisy all the time not just when warm/hot.

[kevins]

One easy thing you can try is swapping the brake drum and wheel from side to side.

[mk2cossie]

Aug 8, 2023 18:51:07 GMT eurogranada said:

Aug 8, 2023 16:19:39 GMT mk2cossie said:

The noise is almost timed with the spokes of the wheel faced down, but not quite.
You say its from the rear, and nothing obvious on the rear brakes.
Is it the propshaft catching on something near the differential extension housing?

Or even possibly the drive flange behind the rear wheel bearing catching something?

I’ve not been able to find anything in the region that could cause this. And if it were something catching, you’d expect it to also catch when cold, or when on stands.

Only other thing I can think of are the cv’s but again I’d expect them to be noisy all the time not just when warm/hot.

Mine on occasion made rotational noises when warm/after a run. But that was the boots on the CV joints rubbing on themselves.
Wasn't sure what sort of clearance your rear arms have between the rear of the trailing arm, and the flange the CV bolts to

I've also had a slack handbrake cable make an awful racket on the propshaft too!

Do you know if it still makes that noise if one side of the rear is jacked up and the vehicle in drive? (Being very cautious and ensuring it definitely isn't going to roll away or fall off. Definitely not condoning that kind of practise either)

[eurogranada]

Aug 8, 2023 15:27:35 GMT turbogeek said:

Does sound like the shoes. Were the shoes "centred" after the drum was put back on - basically as I understand it by stamping on the brake pedal after getting the wheel turning by hand? The brakes shouldn't be dragging.
Can the adjusters be assembled incorrectly? Is the handbrake too tight?

Well for now the noise seems cured… the remark about the handbrake made me check that. It turned out to be out of spec. But it also turned out there was no room for getting it in spec either. It seems the cable is a little short. Although specified replacement…

So I adjusted it back as far as I could giving the lever a little more throw and after some tests it has been quiet since. I’ll have to monitor it for a bit.

In the process I also fixed my door not always closing well. I suddenly noticed the lever that hooks on the catch not coming up fully. It was a little sluggish. Some penetrating oil soon fixed that. The simplest of things really, but oh so satisfying… you wouldn’t believe…

I also noticed a bit of play in one rear wheel that I could eliminate by tightening the hub but. It’s one of those things that have to be super tight, but with better tools now there was room for just a very slight nip up. But it was just enough…

So if she remains quiet, I think she’s good to go for a while longer.

[Alpina99]

Glad it was (hopefully) something simple,
Now enjoy it, 😁😁
Nigel

[eurogranada]

Gave the car a little wash as a thank you for cooperating, lol.




And some from a little drive I did in the past days while investigating the noise issue.

Saw some nice stuff which is probably meant for auction but I can’t be sure.

[SamJ]

Aug 10, 2023 18:20:28 GMT eurogranada said:

Saw some nice stuff which is probably meant for auction but I can’t be sure.

Great to see some photos of it out in the Sun! Hopefully you can just enjoy it for a while now.

I think that's a private collection - That used to be a Ford garage, but they have moved to new place over in Hapert, wouldn't be surprised if the owner is using it as a personal museum now.

[grizz]

Aug 10, 2023 18:20:28 GMT eurogranada said:

Gave the car a little wash as a thank you for cooperating, lol.

Made me chuckle

Looks good

[eurogranada]

Aug 11, 2023 7:28:07 GMT SamJ said:

Aug 10, 2023 18:20:28 GMT eurogranada said:

Saw some nice stuff which is probably meant for auction but I can’t be sure.

Great to see some photos of it out in the Sun! Hopefully you can just enjoy it for a while now.

I think that's a private collection - That used to be a Ford garage, but they have moved to new place over in Hapert, wouldn't be surprised if the owner is using it as a personal museum now.

I drive by often… it used to be a ford dealership indeed. But that has been gone for a few years now. A few months ago it was the home for a lot of oldtimer vehicles to go on auction. But that was stated in the cars and showroom windows.

So maybe the property is rented out for different purposes now on occasion?

[eurogranada]

So a few weeks have passed and the Granada hasn't seen much use after fixing the noise in the rear. A few short runs at best. Until last weekend that is.

Weather was predicted to be fine and there were several oldtimer events. So I asked a coworker I consider a friend if he was in for the ride. I chose an event that I knew would have a long tour to drive with some puzzle questions included. My friend said hell yes, so I prepared (cleaned) the Granada a bit and filled up with fuel (ouch!!). Parked the car for the day after...

At 8 o' clock I had put the Granada outside and was ready to leave. A few drinks, sandwiches and some sweets for along the route and I was off. Of course, as I was driving to my friend I started hearing the rear noise again. Well I'll be damned! Why?? And why now? The only thing I could think of was I had used the handbrake the day before on the drive for a second. Maybe that was just enough for the self adjusters to throw things off again? A bit bummed about that I picked up my friend anyway. I had made the assesment that not only has this sound emerged and disappeared once before in 2021 (page 108 I believe) and also it had come and gone of late. So I figured that although it is obviously undesireable it didn't seem to be anything that I would expect to break catastrophically. Like wheels falling of. And even if so, I'd have recovery...

So away we went. At first talking and driving, later with the radio on as well. As it was nice and hot outside (and the engine adds it's own heat), the sliding roof was fully opened, the side windows fully opened and even the rear side windows were flipped open. I'd never used them once in the past 7 years and this would be a good test for my not so pretty but hopefully very effective rear window brackets. These locate the window in a short U-shaped track and I always figured it be hard for them to escape from that and fall out. This would be a proper test. This also seemed to show that the noise from the rear was either overpowered or just simply absent at higher speeds.

It was a 35 minute drive to the event and we were there by 9. We were car number 4 so we hoped the turnout would be better than that. Slowly but surely the street filled and it allowed for some nce conversations about cars. I even got to sit in a 1931 model A, a first for me and something that brought me a huge smile although I'd never go for one myself.
















After some good fun with other owners we set off for the tour at 10:45. Me driving, my friend navigating with my aid. We both enjoyed this very much and after a while we pulled off the route for a little stop, taking pics along the way. 









Turned out we were heading to my birthgrounds...













We toured for about 4+ hours with a bit of a break for lunch, which my friend was kind enough to provide.

The car drove lovely and despite te noise being there for sure at low speeds, I was more and more relaxed in the car. I wasn't thinking so much about every heistation or vibration or stuff like that. I was truly enjoying the surroundings, the nature, the sound of the engine and exhaust en just the full experience on this lovely day. I think the engine runs nice enough for the moment.

I took my friend back home and by late afternoon I was back at home as well. No prizes as that would have been a three hour wait which even with live music was a big ask. Also many of the cars left soon after finishing... So I don't think it was a big party anyway.  



Obviously I need to investigate again the noise. I'll start at the handbrake. Next I'll see if I can get confirmed that the drums are still nice and round. And as the other side has a bit of  a creak in it, I think I may swap the wheel bearings to be sure.  But I must admit, this noise is elusive. Given all the things previously discounted and rechecked recently I just hope it's one of those two. The cv's I don't expect as the noise was there before when the drive shaft was disconnected from the wheel stub.

If I get stuck I'll ask for help or opinions. The biggest question now is... Will i do another trip on 24th of september or not. I guess that depends on if I can get rid of the noise.

[westbay]

" The biggest question now is... Will i do another trip on 24th of september or not. I guess that depends on if I can get rid of the noise. "

... you could of course just ignore it and enjoy the ride ...