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...
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...