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

Haha the little rascals!! Do you think someone wrote that or is it more likely the car wants me to look after her!
I'm sure its the latter....

That does seem sensible to take little bites rather than wanting to achieve too much at once. On the Monday after FF I was full of enthusiasm myself which quickly waned as the week progressed - so thank you for your little pep talk: certainly made me drag myself forward however small. Had a bash at the rear closing panel which I started last year, looks promising so far. Also started the search for a door skin.

I don't think it will be rolling for some time yet but I've bookmarked Ford Freaks 2030 as a possibly venue to park besides you for best in show! lol

Hope your trip to collect the donor goes without issue: Would love to be able to help if I could.
Keep the mojo high...

I've just bought a mk1 saloon that needs some work so reading this thread has provided plenty of inspiration, well done. Amongst all the bits and pieces I need is a windscreen rubber, can you rembember where you got yours, thanks in advance.

So another update. Progress on the car itself has been slow. Wiring up the doors etc. is taking far more time than anticipated. And thinking of a good way to power the mirror fold function is also proving time consuming. It's not hard it's just finding the right wires and relays. These mirrors are usually controlled by relays and a programmed module... I'm documenting all the accessories the car is getting and how they are powered (permanent power versus switched and from where).

Still, a huge step forward to getting the car on the road has been taken this week. I collected my donor car 2.5. I say 2.5 because it is the second full car I bought in persuit of cosworth power under the bonnet, and it contains the third engine I acquired... The first turned out to have a head gasket failure even before even getting close to the car. The second was actually put in the car but has the problems described before in this thread. And now I have one that should be ok...

So last Friday I went with my friend to collect the car in Friesland, the Netherlands. It's a 210km one way trip. Adding that you're only allowed to drive 90km/h it was about a 2,5 hour journey with a coffee stop included. The weather was actually fantastic so that made the trip enjoyable. Both me and my driver friend enjoyed the scenery and eachothers company.

We picked up a decent rented trailer at 7:55 and after doing some paperwerk were on our way. Traffic was pretty quiet and the empty trailer hardly noticable. Arriving on schedule, and a tough piece of driving backwards with the trailer later I was eye to eye with my hopefully well running 24V cosworth V6 Scorpio estate (station we say).

I was greated by a dusty car. It wasn't a beauty but that made my purpose for the car feel all the more justified: tearing into it for some mechanicals... The car had a lot of welding done to it and in my opinion it wasn't all done very well. Many patches just put on top of the structure. Not really let in. Also the welds didn't seem to be too pretty. Let's just say I wouldn't be buying this car as a driver. In that case I'd let it go. It has good lights, good rear lights, pretty good wheels and extra steel rims. But the doors are euther banged up or have rust building on them. The rear bumper is cracked, the front looks ok but needs paint etc. But it was basically exactly what I had expected. Interior was ok, could do wth a clean and had a small hole in the driver's seat.

I had taken my ecu reader and a compression gauge etc with me. I checked several things but never did do the compression check. The ecu was free of faults. The car ran a very steady 750/800 (I'm unsure of the exact number now but it looked and sounded nice and docile and steady). The coolant and oils looked ok. The engine wasn't blowing out the oil cap hole, no bubbles in the coolant etc. The car went forwards, went backwards and stopped when the pedal was pressed. The emergency brake works but feels a bit "high". The car stared on the button several times and Always setlled to a nice even idle. It revved nicely as well. On startup the chains seem to be audible for a fraction of a second but then quieten down. So at that point with no opportunity to take the car for a real drive, I decided to buy it.

We then set up the running boards to load up the car. I'd never driven a car up a trailer before. Most of the time they were non runners. Having driven many cars up onto the lift and back off again I wasn't really apprehensive about driving it up there, but I took it slow anyway. Still a strange sensation to drive up and not see anything but the top of your own towing vehicle and the sky. It was on pretty easily and quickly. We strapped it down and went on our way (the paperwork had been taken care of in between).

It didn't take more then one highway kilometer to realise that the trailer wasn't following well. We'd noticed empty that it had a tendency to do right a bit, but now loaded it was not happy above 70-80 km/h. It wanted to swing about. So as the next McD., a planned stop anyway, was about to come up we took that opportunity to first reposition the car. We'd put the weight nicely distributed on the trailer, but as it wasn't following we decided to put more weight on the front. After "dinner" we were on the highway in 2 minutes and immediately we felt the trailer follow better. We easily made 100-105 if needed for over taking. We put a steady 90 on the odometer and weaved through much denser traffic back to the workshop. We still felt the trailer wanting to go right more naturally than left. But we made it without issue.

I drove the car off the trailer, took the plates off as the car was suspended from use and parked it up. It once again ran nicely and turned over strongly. I took a small drive but it just felt good. It truely is a luxury barge. The power steering is smooth and very light, throttle response from the block and box is as well.

We then went home to turn in the trailer and enjoy the rest of the day at our campsite.

I already have offers for the body, the rear axle and probably will be able to generate some more money from it.

Some pictures:












So plans now are to get the engine cleaned as the car is still a runner... Then test it some more (compression, little drive) and tear into it. And into the Granada.

I'm hoping to have two days off end of the second week of july to do the full swap... We'll soon know if all is well with my wiring and fuel delivery...

Thanks for reading!

Glad you've got a good engine at last

Well, took Donor 2.5 for a spin yesterday. I had to confirm that not only the car could move, it could also shift through the gears. As it was highly illegal with no plates and being suspended (shouldn't even be visible from the street) I just took it for a short spin. But it was long enough to get it up to 80km/h and feel nothing but smooth changes and a working kickdown.

Ive seen good point and I've spotted some minor bad points as well. The new engine has had wiring work done to the main engine loom, just not every single wire as far as I can see. So some small fixes to keep in mind. Still as this one runs well on its current loom I'm not planning on changing that over anytime soon.

Friday the stripdown commences. It'll take some time I'm sure... A Scorpio is pretty well filled under the bonnet.

Funny hey? How it's all about the engine and gearbox with this donor 2.5 and yet I completely forget to take a picture of this engine. Even though I've stuck my head in the engine bay quite a few times already!

I was planning on doing a short clip of the engine starting and running Friday before stripdown commences. So I can prove it did run if in the Granada it will not...haha

Funny thing, I never much cared for the a$$ of the Scorpio estate, though loved the frogeye saloon. I found it somewhat daring and loved the american influences. But I have to say, it's rekindled my love for the frogeye. It's an awesome driving machine. It drives very nicely (even my dads 1995 2.0 16v on LPi) and is hugely comfortable. They truly are well running luxury barges. I'm also one of the few who think the car was bashed for no good reason. I've only ever found one honest review of the car.

But hey, they're a rare beasty these days. I had a pretty hard time finding an affordable one. Or even finding one. They aren't as much advertised as they once were.

Well at least it's heart will live on for a while in my Granada Mk1 coupe, which I think is not a bad fate at all... And the rest of the car will get it's day on the banger tracks. Never thought I would actively help in that, but this car at the very least I know to be too far gone to fully do up...

I'll give you that the Granada is (far) prettier! I'll give you that the estate is not a pretty car at all. But I can't call just any old frogeye ugly. I love the saloons, sorry, yes I do. And so did my gf back then, hehe... I've never found them ugly. The 97 model improved a bit at the front as well. We had a dark aubergine metallic one that looked amazing when clean. And it drove superb.

But yes, I'll not waste more time and rip into it this afternoon. Can't wait to have this swap done. Just too bad it's so much work that I've already done once in the first place!

To be continued...

good luck, hope your workshop has air con, going to warm this weekend!

Sorry, those frog eye scorpios were ugly - they were fine cars but a real design error by ford.