So a lot has been going on lately. And I;’m feeling like I’ve turned a corner or something. I’m more keen on doing things again, feeling a lot less crippled. I found that confirmed last weekend as well.
I’d damaged the daily transit, also known as H-van, a while back. Now the vacation season was over I sorted that with a mate in the industry (the one whose shop I had my Granada in for most of it’s restoration) and combined some things that had been bothering me. I arranged for my bumper corner to get repainted, ordered a bottle of the body shop’s favourite polish to get rid of scratches in the paint and arranged for getting a signal when the paintless dent removal guy would be on site.
First action: taking off the damaged bumper corner and getting it to the body shop. No biggie. Had to remove the rear wheel to get access for the drill to drill out the rivets, but apart from that it was just two screws and a clip.
While the bumper was there I got the call that the PDR guy was coming tomorrow so I arranged to get the car back there for the day. Thankfully the loaner was available or it would have been a lot leas convenient.
So earlier last week I received my now dentless car and painted bumper corner back and I wasted no time fitting it. I had dreaded driving without as it just detracted from it’s good looks. Having spent much of my time in a body shop gave me plenty of confidence for this easy job. And having friends in the hobby meant I had gathered over time the exact right type of rivets etc. to make this job go smoothly. Car looked so much better complete…
But, the overall look was now appalling. A freshly painted bumper on a dirty van with a clean spot where they had measured the paint colour…it looked bad. But though this car gets washed regularly, it had been years since it’s last real paint care.
Having acquired the polish, Mirka polarshine 20 and a matching mop, I felt it was time to take advantage of dry but cloudy weather and get to work on the paint.
I tried the polish on an old Granada wing first. A short little machine polish at 2000-2500 revs (slowest my machine goes) showed much promise and had relieved a bit of the fear that was instilled over the years for polishing through the paint/clear. I found I could polish longer on any area than I was planning without damage.
Now slightly more confident I set to washing the car. I then clayed it to get more dirt out of the paint. The paint feeling better already. I then started polishing. I wasn’t really happy at first. Hard to describe, but I felt I had polish distribution issues. Whether I put polish on the pad and then dabbed the pad on the panel a couple of times or whether I just put the machine to the car I felt I had uneven coverage and the polish felt like it was hardening/setting on the car while polishing. The polish shouldn’t splatter and it didn’t, but it did powder. Unfortunately there is not much guidance on Mirka polishing products on youtube or other channels.
I persevered though and wiping the access off I could feel and see the deep, rich colour of the car return as well as seeing scratches disappear. Although I had expected a little more of the product in that area. But, I may have just been too careful. Scratches my body guy said would polish out didn’t. But I was reluctant to polish further. And the improvement was such that I felt it was ok. Most of the very obvious scratches were now gone or diminished to hardly visible. Still took me a couple of hours going round the full car and wiping access away. The car now felt very smooth.
After
Great example of a typical scratch before
I then had to go on an errand and would only be able to return to the car next day to finish the paint protection application. But next day I noticed that touching the car left polish spots behind. A bit like a sticky stain on a table that has attracted some dust. Had I not wiped the excess away well enough? I felt I had. This stuff was hard to just rub off. So I tried to see what washing it would do, and funnily enough that seemed to work very well. You could see that this polish disperses water in a certain way. I washed the entire car again so it could dry a bit while I started the application of the paint protector. I don’t know the brand, but I got it from a friend at a Vauxhall dealership. It’s a red and yellow sponge with the magic potion sandwiched in between. Wet the sponge, poke some holes and apply. I did this only one and a half or two panels at a time so there was time for it to set without sitting too long. Again this brought out the colour and the car felt nice and smooth.
Bird attack
Now easily removed with just water
All in all I think I spent 12-14 hours on the job. But the result s great. Only the wheels left to do some other time. These will have to come off for cleaning of the inside and outer rim.
Next day was Sunday. There was a gathering near me in Valkenswaard on the town square. So by 08:00 I had walked and fed the dogs, put on some sacrificial clothes and was washing the Granada. Thankfully that has the same protection on the car and is easily washed. Including drying it off I spent 35 minutes. Considerably less time than the H-van had taken.
Although I still haven’t fixed my (supposed wheel bearing) noise, I went the 15km to the meet anyway. I was there as the 3rd car to arrive. I found a great little spot that also had a good background. Saw many a nice car and some that you’d not expect to be shown with pride, lol. I was amazed at how much attention my car drew and how many pictures were taken or how many people were interested to know what I had done to the car. This crowd couls mostly appreciate even the wheels and mirrors. I even got compliments on both these items that day.
The mini clogs were a gift from a comapny activity a week or so before, but I like them for their colour that matches reasonably well.
After several hours I had to head home to other commitments but I ad a fun morning. It sort of energized me.
Since my last update I also put
SamJ’s tools to good use and stripped the Cosworth engine down further. Both heads now off, second head no damage. Also no rot in the aluminium. Looks pretty good. So I think these heads are reusable, although one will need some new valves. Took the oil pan off and found relatively clean oil with some debris in there. The chain guide came out in pieces. The metal support for one as a complete but separate piece. The remains of the chain guide were in the oil. But little or no metal. So I have hope bearings etc. are good on both heads and block. I measured each bore to be the same diameter and same stroke so I don’t think I have bent rods. But to be honest this was not an extensive reading but just using basic tools.
As I now am in need of a pulley puller, I’m stuck once more. I used to be able to borrow this kind of tooling from my work for the night, but since the job change, no chance… So the timing case bolts are all out but I can’t take it off without the pulley off first.
I’ve since ordered the tools I borrowed from Sam for myself as they proved very useful.
On inspection of the bores though, I’m not sure what to think. Most look ok, some don’t and in one of these I think I feel an area of wear. Top edges seem fine though. So I’d say piston slap? Where the piston has rotated a little in the bore. One piston has deep scratches in it, don't know if this is recoverable. Also at least one of the pistons seems to have a bit of movement in the bore. Mainly when down in the bore. With your fingers you can move the piston a little. I’ll let the pics do the talking, but I'm not sure if this is going to be a simple rebuild. I might need oversize pistons to get rid of all damage?
But this brings us up to date. Now I only need to find time to fix that damned wheel bearing…
I also need to revisit my Audio setup. My 1996 pioneer voice controlled cd changer unit seems to be having trouble as it pauzes for 10 seconds before continuing play. And one speaker is dead but comes on when wiggling a cable. So need to change that out. It's amazing how annoying it is to only get sound from three out of four speakers.
Anyway, stripping the block of the final few bits and doing a bit of home reno work (yes already, lol) is most likely to take up any time I have at the moment. But before the end of October I must have that bearing replaced...as a longer drive is coming up....
Cars will always have a little squeak or vibration - it does not mean they are about to break. That vibration may well have just been poor road surface.
