eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Well, just from regular driving and fast acceleration I can feel that this current diff has accumulated more play over the past 6+ years. Hence my hesitation…
I do have my old diff to rebuild with a new crush washer but I lack the tools to do a proper job.
Just for giggles, what would be the right way to try a burnout? And won’t having to keep your foot on the brake to remain in place glaze the rear drum shoes??
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Ref. a new build thread on a Mustang, Now that I'd like to see !! Nigel I have a nice restomod idea in mind, but I think I'm going to have to start a go fund me or something as the sale of the Granada will at best fund the new engine/box/ecu/diff combo... The one thing that my Granada lacks, or maybe I myself am just lacking the balls, is the ability to do a double wheeled burnout. I'm way too afraid of torpedoing my diff and with an auto box I'm also scared of that breaking... So my next build has to have enough HP and a driveline that can do that...while still being an automatic... But I have a love for the 65-73 mustang that keeps me dreaming. Although there are other big fords that I would own in a heartbeat if I had the funds...
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Sorry mate, Rather have yours than the Mustang, Much nicer, Nigel Thanks Nigel, I'll take that as a pretty big compliment! Or you just hate Mustangs, lol. I do seriously love my car, but a 69-73 mustang sportsroof is pretty high on my list of future wanna haves... But quality wise, my car is indeed made to high standards that seem lacking on many of the cars I've seen. But there's a solution to that: new build thread and buying a curse word one to restore yourself. ;-)
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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I have to say that I'm still struggling to find time, but mostly motivation to do stuff on the Granada. The weather is still very much hit and miss and a bit of sunshine rarely aligns with the opportunity to do some work on it. I did however use the car some! Which is obviously why I built it in the first place... So what did I do? Well, I took it to the gym once when the sun was out. And I went for an ice cream with my wife. This turned into a bit of an adventure though. We have a very local ice cream shop but when we got there the waiting line was about 30 meters outside of the building and moving slow. No way said I we'll just go to the other one that is also just a short drive though a little further. When we got there, no surprise really, the lines were similarly long. As getting an ice cream should be a fun experience not an endless waiting game, we changed plans again. Ok, it wasn't really on the same level, but a sundae caramel with nuts from McD's would have to do. Another short stint away. I had noticed for the first time in ages that the engine was running slightly hotter than normal. Then again, the weather was also warmer than most any day I'd driven the car before this year so far. So no biggie... Until in line at the drive through, it started creeping up and up. Similar to when I had three girls in the car for a Gala and we died 25 meters before the gate and I fried my wiring later that evening. So I was a little concerned. tried not to let the wifey notice, but she's no fool... Anyway we got our two sundae order and drove to the parking. I kept the car running and opened the hood. Just at that moment the fans kicked in! Pfew, at least that still works so there's some cooling happening even at stand still. Switched the engine off and enjoyed (big word for this simple treat) our ice creams. After a few minutes we were ready to get going again. Started the car and drove off. Engine warm not hot on the gauge and confident that cooling sets in anyway I was quite surprised whem without much notice it died on me in the middle of the road. Thankfully in a place where I could be passed, be it over a left turn exit lane. Car wouldn't restart. The started seemed to not work. Strangely the key wasn't recognised very well either, while that is usually not much of a problem. After a minute or two the car fired right up and we rolled on again asif nothing had happened. And then a kilometer or so on, pop pop in the exhaust, oil pressure light on the dash and no power again. I coasted as far as I could as there was a very soft side to this road and I didn't want to get stuck if I had to push... We were only about 800 or zo meters from home, but pushing that far would still be detrimental to my health, lol. Anyway, I came to a halt far enough to the side of the road so traffic could pass. But, that pop pop dead behaviour to me was very reminiscent of fuel starvation... So as my gauge is less then reliable, that was my first check. And upon opening the supposedly vented cap, there was a massive rush of air. With the cap off the car started immediately and drove fine for the rest of the way. I guess there just was not enough fuel flowing anymore because of a vacuum... I was a little surprised to find this out only now, as I never had this issue before. Now it was warmer for one and I have a new higher volume fuel pump than I used to have on the injection side. Maybe these factors combined caused the issue?? My solution was to dril the smallest of holes in the cap like I had done with the previous cap hoping for fuel to not evaporate too much, while adding venting. I could also see no way of venting on this cap so I guess it wasn't as vented as it was sold to me. Anyway, the weekend had some oldtimer activities so I decided to attend one. It was a 50km one way trip and the car behaved fine, It was half the temp of the previous drive, but the engine stayed cool and I didn't have a single issue on the 100km total. So I'll call that a succes. Car was making a good impression for sure. i had washed it before leaving. The car gathering was held at a renowned classic car delaership with a very impressive inventory. Also very impressive price tags. But, many of the cars had paint issues. On 50K pretty standard c code 65/66 Mustangs the paint may be expected to look nice. On a 179K Porsche 911 that goes doube, yet it is presented with a massive 20x20cm paint issue on the passenger door. I've seen so many examples of this that I'm convinced this is all about money and not in the slightest about a love for old cars. They had some nice stuff, but overpriced. One car I would love to have had was a 69 mustang. But even on this 99.9k car, there were letters missing from the stripings, which in itself looked very thick and stuck on. The ones on my granada look much more factory/meant to be there...
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Enjoy your (early) retirement!
And don't kick the bucket anytime soon now, ok? ;-)
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Love these cars...
So what's broken, really? So far it's been peanuts stuff. Any big items?
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Apr 23, 2024 19:12:26 GMT
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Hi,
Yes I’ve seen all types of those aftermarket units, but the problem with those is that they lack an ip bus for the original cd changer. So with such a unit I will lose the cd changer… there are also no splitter cables or anything available so these pioneer units are the only option if you want both…
Didnyoj like the sound quality? Cause my current Bluetooth car kit falls short …
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Apr 23, 2024 11:35:01 GMT
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For my older model pioner DEH-P80MP head unit I'm looking for the CD-RB20 or CD-BTB200 accessories.
I'd like to add an aux source to my head unit so I can use both my 12 cd-changer and my bleutooth audio source at the same time. I currently have a manual switch in the IP bus lead, but this is not proving reliable.
Any one on here got one of these lying around?
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Wow, just looked this morning and we are 90% there!!! THANKYOU for everyone who has contributed or is still going to. Some of the donations are huge and far more than I ever expected people to make - you have all been fantastically generous, it's made me (and Andy) quite emotional. What a fantastic community Retro Rides & Hot rodders are. As promised, a small donation... But in return to the above I'd like to thank you for helping out by doing the actual work!
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Me too, modestly but still...
This forum gives so much it's good to help someone out.
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Love the lines of this model! And it's certainly looking great!
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Well it looked pretty nice... shame it didn't fit.
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Just a very small update this week. Didn't do anything to the car other than driving it outside so I could do a little hobbying for my daughter. This in turn made the car very dusty so it now needs a wash. In an effort to not stall, but make small progress on the little things I received these this weekend: For their price I'm very much surprised at what I received. It appears to be genuine german quality Ford stuff. Aluminium rather then a gel sticker even! Now let's see if I can sketch what I need to design and see if there's someone out there that can help me get them made. I've also decided to make a final list of what I want to do, cause I'm loosing track a bit.
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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So another week another update... well at least this week... The transit seems to hold itself well for now. I will need to continue my investigations into the squeal/noise as that is definitely there at times. And obviously the seat as well. But at least there is no real fear of driving it anymore. But, this week was all about the Granada because of the planned Easter tour trip. A 15+ year dream of attending finally seemed to come true. In preparation I changed out the fuel pump for a new one. Had to get myself some copper washers to do a decent job as they weren't supplied, but with those in hand it was relatively straight formward. Of course the new pump had different connectors so it wasn't a straight swap, but for the most part it was. And with the wheel off it was easy to access and work on. Got a face/eye full of fuel anyway. But within a reasonable amount of time the engine was running on the new pump and....no more leaks! I consider that a win! As I had the wheel off, I decided to take the opportunity to take some measurements (again) for the center caps and the adapter to be designed. The adapter is needed in tha back as the sub axle protrudes from the center of the wheel. And to have all four equal I'll add them in the front as well. As even with measurements this is a bit of a chicken/egg thing I decided to just buy a basic set of supposedly nice but very cheap 54mm center caps. I'm very curious to see what I'm going to receive quality wise, but at least this will aid the design proces. I'm afraid I'll have to have the bits themselves printed up by somenone else, but if I can get a design going I'll be pretty happy. One more thing to tick off the list. While under the front end I checked all nuts and bolts for tightness, but all was well. I did find a stray red drop of oil under the car, just one drop and couldn't for the life of me find where it's from. Only the power steering and gearbox contain red oil so it has to be one of those. yet I couldn't find the source yet. Something to monitor. I really wish money was less tight and I could just pour 5k in building a fresh enige and drivetrain combo. But it'll have to wait. Anyway, with all preliminary checks in order I put the car back in the garage. Took it out on sunday afternoon just after a rain shower and just before the next one, lol. Went and filled the tank. Couldn't get more than 40 liters in so there must have been some 20 odd liters left. The gauge is still useless. It didn't even rise to full after filling up. But, we were ready for Monday morning! Monday came and around 7:40 I set off for my friends' house so I would have company. Which is very welcome on these type of tours as you need a navigator and an extra set of eyes for finding the answers to on route questions is also most convenient!! And besides, last time we had such a good time that it took no convincing at all to have him sign up. That was the first 15km done without issue. Only another 135 to follow to our destination start point. Although a good 1,5 hour drive, the drive itself was uneventful. I do notice that cruise control would be very nice. Must see if I can get that working. I have the system, but it works on a one wire input system where different resistances translate to different controls. So I have no buttons yet to control it. That has to be developed. Anyway, with my leg needing some movement by then, we arrived at our first destination. The car had behaved well. A steady 110km on the motorway was fine. We had about an hour and a half again to get some tea, see some cars, talk to some people before setting off again. It was good to find at least a couple of people I knew so we hung out together for much of the free time of the day. At 11 we started the tour. Took us around a lot of bodies of water and over dykes etc. A decent route with some nice views, but very limited room to stop and take e good looking picture of the car in the environment. So just basic shots this time. The car did wel on the slow driving as well so we made it to the lunch meetup without issue. The lunch meetup was at a small, apparently the only, dedicated healey museum. We had a good but simple lunch and then some time to roam between the healeys. From nash-healey, jensen-healeh to the well know healey 3000 and a quite staggering number of unique one of x cars present. Among them a one of one, one of 4 prototype with Rols Royce engine and other prototypes and specials. Even Donald Healey's personal car of 10 years, a red coupe. After the prizes, we left for home. We won 4rth, in the questionnaire, not with the car. There were no prizes for cars with this event. Which is just fine. We got plenty of thumbs up and what not en route. Most memorable were a very fresh Audi a8 saloon that we had to let pass, who upon passing made the universal ok sign with his fingers and a mustang 5.0 of very recent vintage that passed us on the motor way, but not before acknowledging our presence with a smile and some nods. The trip home was much busier on the road, but equally uneventful from the Granada's driver's seat. I had a feeling that power over 110 km/h used to be a bit more readily available, but it might just be me needing to put the pedal a bit further down. I was going for nice consistent and hopefully somewhat economical driving... At 120km/h I think I feel the prop shaft a bit. I'd really like to balance/check that as well before long. But other wise the Granada behaved well. I must admit to parking the car in the garage almost immediately after returning home, but I hadn't once been able to hear the noise from the rear we heard last outing. And we had the radio off for the whole trip there. Final proof would have been getting out and pushing the car forward and back a bit but I didn't do that as i was just glad to be home and enjoy the last bit of a good day off. But it's promising that we both didn't hear it on our drive. Not even while making slow three or more point turns etc (route was somewhat dubious at times). So on with some details and fine tuning to get it even better... Some images: The car The others (an impression) The Healey museum (impression, way too much to see there, also very much small but impressive stuff)
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Mar 27, 2024 11:50:23 GMT
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Well done Alex ! Squealy belts may just need adjustment as damp weather can cause them to 'slip' on the pulleys causing the squeal.. 'rough' running - Have you cleaned / replaced the EGR valve ? Thanks, I enjoyed this job even through the rain! I didn't think these multiple v-channeled belts squealed? The have sprung tensioners to boot right? But the sound is of from the oldfasioned belt squeal I remeber, it's more metallic in nature. Hence my thought of some bearing or other. That side of the engine sees some water running down the area too. When I get the time I'll investigate further. Granada fuel pump first this weekend. No I havent done anything with the egr. Would it be logical for this to only be an issue when cold? As when warm, especially since the diesel cleaner, it's really smoooooth. Which is why it still bothers me when cold as I remember it being smooth when cold when the van was newer to us, say through the first few winters.
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Mar 26, 2024 11:40:11 GMT
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I was looking at your thread earlier and noticed bits where going back on the car, and I was like " hang on a minute....I've clearly missed something major " So I went back...... Wow!....what difference, it looks great! You must be over the moon with the result. I'm currently in the same boat as you....I can't decide on what stripes I want on the truck. I need something to break up the expanse of bright white....I just can't work out what that is yet? Keep up the excellent work.....the finish line is in sight. Dan. Thanks for the kind words Dan. The stripe things is a pain as once it’s painted, I’m stuck with it. There are no funds for a repaint. Although it is a pain, it’s better than looking at all the rust and deciding where to start cutting. Well, there's quite a simple solution to this... printed vinyl stripes/decals... of your own design or existing. I wasn't sure if I would like what I was doing/had designed on my Granada striping wise either so I just opted to go removable. Never felt the inclination to remove though as I love it! And I have to say it wasn't even very expensive!
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Mar 26, 2024 11:21:06 GMT
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I'm gone for a week and look at how much progress I have missed!
As per usual, well done!
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Mar 25, 2024 13:11:41 GMT
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Back from a short week of vacation with the wife, no work, no kids!! As a treat to myself and my wife, I promised us some vacation time after my biggest project to date for my current employer went live and transitioned to aftercare... Those were hectic and stressful times so some relaxation was in order. We don't usually do these type of things so it had to be something special. For me relaxing was key, for my wife I wanted to offer her an experience that would benefit her health/rheumatism. So we decided on a luxury villa with sauna, jacuzzi, bath, sun shower and room for 6, even though we would be just the two of us. That tied in with my need for relaxation: leaving our slightly autistic and time challenged dog at home as she wakes me up seven days a week between 5:30 and 6:15... Not a problem om working days, but not nice seven days a week. But the dog not coming meant we had to secure care for her, which was easily solved by leaving that to the kids. They're of ages now that they can be left alone and with responsibilities like caring for the dog. That had the benefit of being able to book out of season and pay a lot less for a change! So let me just say we enjoyed our stay in the lovely villa making the most of all it’s offerings. We both could just relax and rest up some. News from home was encouraging, with me gone the time challenged dog was apparently more willing to change it’s schedule! This by the way proved to last only until the second I was home again! Anyway, before we went away I had just updated you guys that I had bought a stash of parts. And that I’d spiked the tank with extreme diesel cleaner stuff to see if that would help the rough running without codes in the system. I’d also managed to replace the support from gearbox to engine. The pics were however lacking so I’ll add them below. I’d confirmed that this had done away with a lot of the noise that we heard but it wasn’t fully gone. So I felt justified in ordering the drive shafts complete as well. With the vacation over, and let’s just say not without some fears for getting stranded as we traveled the 200km one way (twice obviously) and at least another 120 exploring the surroundings, as the car was making more and more noise when under power. Roundabouts were more and more becoming a challenge as the CV’s (or at least one) were clunking their way round them. Left turns especially. So when we made it home safely on Friday afternoon, we were a little relieved. I wasn’t too worried as the Transit is built pretty solidly but when something is worn it has to go out at some point. Anyway this prompted me to plan the replacement of those drive shafts a.s.a.p. Friday however was over half gone, wet from rain and well, I just wasn’t in the mood yet to go back to “normal” after the week of peace and quiet. So Saturday it had to be. It was supposedly dry in the early morning with rain coming in mid morning. I wouldn’t be getting a better chance for a week… Saturday morning came and I moved the Granada outside and the daily back on the drive. This for easy access to tools without having to crawl besides the Granada 200 times as you discover you need yet another tool you’d not already grabbed. The Granada would have to sacrifice being dry for a bit… Although having only been waxed/polished once in the 8 or so years that the paintjob is old, the water still pools lovely... Although current day polishes would rather expell the water from it. Work started with undoing the wheel nuts a little, then jacking up the car on the passenger side (non UK car) front and back to get the car in a position that would drain most of the gearbox oil. So undoing the filler nut and then the sump nut were next after that. With my small 2 or 3 ton jacks jacking up the Transit is always a bit of a challenge and I guess I didn’t get it angled enough as when the sump plug came out, the spray was so violent but angled toward a bit of subframe still. Thankfully the container was large enough, but I now had some cleaning to do on the subframe. I also had to do some cleaning on myself as this bolt came undone with a click and from then no further friction at all, like regular bolts, so this literally skinned my knuckle from the unexpected movement. For reference on how much oil to put back in, I measured exactly what had come out. With the oil out and the plugs back in, one temporary for safe keeping and preventing dirt to ingress, I jacked up the driver’s side in the front and removed the wheel. This axle replacement is not rocket science, but still as a vital component and the possibility of damage if not replaced correctly I was very much on my toes. Checking every step. With the wheel off it was time for three main nuts: the steering arm nut, the ball joint nut and the axle hub nut. They all came of easily. The hub nut is a bit of a chore and requires my breaker bar to undo and a jack handle to keep the hub from turning while doing so. Nothing very difficult. Then the dreaded ball joints need releasing. The steering joint let go easily enough with a good tap of a heavy hammer, but the lower ball joint needs a fork to get it to split. Unfortunately this also almost always destroys the dust boot. Off it came, and as predicted the dust boot didn’t survive. Then I use my breaker bar again to wedge it in a hole in the suspension arm and lever that far enough down to get the ball joint to release. A few blows with my biggest hammer knocked the shaft loose enough to be able to manually slide it out while levering the strut out a bit. Final action, pull the drive shaft from the box. I had expected to need a lever, but as the axles were to be fully replaced a gentle but firm tug simply dislodged it. It was out! Time to address that ball joint boot. I had bought new joints as in theory they are easily enough to change. Just a circlip and either some pulling or hammering if need be accompanied with heat. I’d seen some videos on this. Unfortunately this simple process proved most difficult so far. The joint wouldn’t budge. I didn’t have suitable materials to construct a puller and with the mess that the previous replacement boots that were just not 100% perfect had left I wasn’t in the mood for fighting with heat. The ball joints themselves were fine it was just the boots anyway so I left them in. I just replaced the boot(s). Last time I had a hard time doing this as the springy metal thingy always deforms to much to reuse upon removal. But again, some video’s showing a tie wrap hack had made it seem easy. I had no choice, this now had to be my way forward, so I tried that by taking the boot of my new joint and low and behold it worked a dream! Now that ball joint was obviously off the car and I had all around access. The one on the car is hindered in access. Still I managed to do it using the little access I had by turning the whole boot and not just trying to run the tie wrap around. Just section by section I had it done in a matter of minutes. Well pleased with that as no more mess! So, new axle in time! A bit of prying and a push and it seemed to be in nicely. Hm, there’s still a bit of shaft exposed… It needs to go in further… Probably hanging on that ring in the groove. A further bit of aligning and pushing and suddenly it just clicked, slid right in. A bit of maneuvering to get the other end in the hub again and then it was just the reversal of the process. However somewhere in tightening it all up I noticed a bit of a bind. I undid the axle nut again, removed and reseated the axle stub in the hub and all was well again. I must have inadvertently moved things about a bit. Anyway with a confidence inspiring turn of the hub things were put back together. Put the wheel back on and removed the jack on this side. Quickly on with the passenger side as by now I was about three hours in working on my drive with manual tools and had been showered by light drizzle, heavy rain and even small hail stones. I was wettish from sitting/laying on the ground for all this and I wanted it done. Obviously the other side went quicker. The experience of the first side helped me be even more aware of things being right and even though this side had the longer drive shaft with the support bearing, it went relatively easy. Everything came undone. Ball joint popped easily enough. The axle came out with a firm pull and was equally easily seated with just a bit of effort and the support bearing confirmed the right orientation to boot. Speaking of boots, the second one also was easily replaced in minutes, another win! Also everything seemed to move as expected no noises, no heavy spots etc. Confident enough to bolt it all back up. And both done! Added the oil again, two liters had come out so were replaced. That seems to suggest 200ml of the old stuff still being in there, but as I replaced with the exact same spec that I was pointed to and was able to verify I have no fear regarding that. Adding the oil with liter bottles proved doable but fiddly. Coolant/aircon lines in the way but with a gentle maneuvering, not a drop was spilled and less then 10ml was left in each container. Time to get the stands out and bring the car on its wheels again. Torquing the wheel nuts, test drive and cleanup. A little over 4 hours work excluding lunch/rain break. And the result? Well I wasn’t surprised to find the noise is now gone. All’s quiet on the (Western) front. No new noises either, just a decent rewarding repair I guess. The surprise for me was that I could have sworn the noise came from the left. My wife however said she felt it in her feet while I didn’t on my side. Thinking about it after pulling the axle and seeing how floppy the CV is on the one from her/passenger side of the car it’s obvious she was right. There was so much play in that joint you can easily make it click and clunk. It’s not completely strange though as this side was first to rip a boot and was driven like that for a couple of hundred kilometers as we were to retrieve our horse the day I noticed the damage. I made a patch back then keeping some lube in, but obviously I expected wear. That is why I’m not so flustered about having to buy these bits. What did come as a surprise though was the bad shape and cracking that was already forming on a year old new CV boot. Not the quality you’d expect from an item like that. This would have been through within another year. The other one bought 5 weeks later from the same shop was fine, not a sign of wear?! Am I done now? No I don’t think so. The cold starting rough running has improved and when warm it is now super smooth. But that also indicates that the smoothness when cold/wet should be better. And there’s a high pitched squealy noise still in the engine. This seems to come and go a bit, possibly weather dependent as well and the only way to investigate this is taking off the aux drive belts and see if the noise is then gone. I suspect a bearing, just on which component? Oh and I still haven’t investigated the seat (heater and electrical adjustment not working). But, focus should now be on the Granada fuel pump. I’d like to replace that before my 400km day come Easter.
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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Mar 17, 2024 14:20:09 GMT
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Right then, this is the part where I am humbly going to admit being (partially) wrong in doubting some of the suggestions made on this forum with regards to the daily transit van. So what does this mean? Well, I ordered a bunch of stuff for the van. Among others, drive shafts, the gearbox to subframe support, gearbox oil (thanks kevins for pointing me to the right stuff), extreme diesel cleaner, basically everything to cover the basics and beyond. After an issue with the order being delayed I didn't have time to effect all repairs I thought would be necessary as we're taking the van on a little 5 day vacation next week. Just the wife an I. SO I did what I could in the time frame. Adding the diesel cleaner could not have come at a better time as the tank was just at the right level as far as mixture was recommended. Strangely enough After a few short stints I felt the car although warm was smoother than it had been in a long while. Cold though, there's still a noticable difference with warm, but it doesn't seem to feel as brutal anymore. Next week is a 500km week so further improvements may come. Anyway it didn't seem a waste of money yet. So thanks kevins for the suggestion. It does put some doubt in mind about the garage also having added this during the last big service. I'd like to believe so. Yet this type of improvement wasn't noticed back then. Mechanically I figured how hard can it be to change the gearbox support with it's two bolts? Well turns out not very hard just a bit fiddly! It all came undone easily enough though the bolts were quite tight al the way till coming off. Even with the engine/gearbox supported. No amount of jacking or lowering made a difference. Anyway it came off and it didn't look too bad. It wasn't new and some tearing appears to be present, just lightly. The bolt holding it in the subframe seems to have suffered from dissimilar metal corrosion. The mid section that is in the support block was thinned. I'd like to use a new bolt but as I din't have one, I reused it for now. Getting the other end back in was more difficult. The supports were identical in shape, but once out it just seemd to end up in the wrong place. The bolt could not go through. Some more jacking improved it a little, I used a sacrificial piece of bar to improve things enough to be able to tap the original bolt back in. Did it up and job done. Later that afternoon on the first drive it was obvious that changing the support.......made a huge diference!! Again I owe Kevins and the ones that seconded his sugestion my thanks. I woud not have figured hwo this support would have an effect on the noise but I now think that its sagging somewhat transferred any noises to the subframe enhancing them. And that is where I will also say that I think I too was right in thinking this noise could not be from just the support/ As after changing it has subsided a lot, yet is still there. Less obvious, and more so on cornering. So I still think that the CV being worn after driving it with a broken boot is part of the reason for the noise. So I'm going to bite the bullit and replace both axles after we get back. They are 11 years old almost and though two boots are new, the inner ones aren't and look past their best also. Officially you replace the full axles although cv only kits are available. Much cheaper but also a lot more work in getting the old cv off. So I opted, also given the statement about the inner boots, to replace them complete. That should take care of the mechanicals which leaves me to tracing the seat issue. A new set of rear tires and side door hinges (they get rattly in this model) in a month or so and it should be good to go for quite a while! I also did some work on the granada. I jacked each corner up and checked for all kinds of play. Checked all bolts etc. All was fine. That is comforting. In checking it all I may have fixed the rear noise. At least it wasn't present after a drive where I would normally expect to hear it. That would be a great bonus. Too early to tell for sure though. I also have a new fuel pump. Just lacking two copper washers for the banjo fitting otherwise it would have been fitted already. I hope the easter drive will be trouble free!
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,492
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108mm is mk4 Golf platform size. Maybe mk5 as well. I've got a duff mk5 driveshaft sitting at the side of the house. If it's the right size you can have it. Thanks for the kind offer. As per my response to the previous post... The 108mm size is only one of the specs that need to be the same. Spline count, thicknes, bolt size (which is also bigger on these cv joints than on other granada models with the 100mm joints)... I'll try later to find/check dimensions on my car but the parts sites don't show any of those details except sometimes spline count.
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