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

So a little update...

I left you with my dash open and some issues sorted, though not yet tested...

This week there was little granada time but some things got done...

I had my refurbished and reworked seat belts returned to me. New webbing was sewn up and at the same time the company changed over the clasps to the right type so my coupe reels with swing arms now had the clasps to match probably later model locks/stalks. I had wanted to mount them, yet I had forgotten the hardware so it'll be a few days before I get to it. But that should at least be one more MOT issue covered.

Last time I had done work requiring me to remove my grille, so I put that back onto the car. So it's now complete again.

I then moved on to the no. 5 spark plug. That had a problem: when I pulled the plug lead off it was very hard to do unlike the others. I removed the plug and put it back after cleaning. I noticed it did not go in very far though felt tight. I could also not really get the plug lead back on. A bit of light verified it was in crossthreaded. This was not something I could let slide so I took it out again this week and inspected the threads etc. In the end I had to put it in and take it out again another two times before I had it seated correctly again. It took me holding the tools at a weird angle while screwing it in, but it worked. And the engine now feels rather smooth.

I had to take the Granada out for a little movement to see if the modification to the speedo wiring had worked so I carefully moved about some cars to make room for me to exit. The difference since the last time I took out and put back the car was huge. I now had real throttle control. I wasn't trying to manoeuvre on an engine that was basically running asif it was wanting to cut out or backfire like last time. It all went nice and smooth.

I then admired my car for a bit and decided to set off onto the not so busy road in front of the barn. The car got up to speed quite nicely and also stopped. Both dosed and quick when stomped upon the brakes... Confidence in driving it again is growing rapidly.

Test showed the speedo now reads though I'm not sure how accurate. I made a new facia for the gauge based upon the original scorpio spacings, but maybe the Mk1 gauge combined with the MkIII engine and box may still add up to a deviation. Anyway it works so if the scale is wrong that will be a nice winter project.

Anyway time was cut short due to having to deal with lousy hail damage repair and extra damage incurred at the repair shop on my daily Transit so I'll have to leave you with these:






I'm now getting my head round to what needs doing so I can finally finish the last pre MOT jobs and arrange for MOT and alignment...

Only slight concern is still the fans. They have still not kicked in ever... And I'd have expected them to...

So hopefully within 14 days there will be an MOT finally. Won't mean the car is finished but will mean the final few things can be done (as they require some travel with the car).

This is happy update, good luck with the MoT!

Thanks, little ways to go but should be soon now...

Hi Sam!

Yes I probably will be, although I've not yet decided which evening. Possibly wednesday... Oh and don't worry, I had not even considered you forgetting me like that. But we both know time is precious and also this is not a matter of MOT importance. The signal wire is also reachable with almost all of the dash intact so that helps as well. I can go ahead and close it up and we still can measure the signal.

I'd love to get that done this week though, the dash and seat belts... and some final wiring.

I'd assume you're pretty good with wiring diagramms given you are electronics savy. So I wonder if I could also bother you with my other issue: the wiper washer thingy?

PM me what would suit you and I'll see if I can accomodate.

This weeks Granny ramblings....

Friday I had taken it upon me to bring the seat belt reel housings up to my standard. In the process I think I managed to get them to something but not my standard. Let's just say that filling the imperfections with putty was far more challenging than expected. And as always when it feels smooth to my fingers, paint confirms I'm nowhere near... So in hindsight I wish I had just painted them and left well enough alone. But I'm Alex, I never do things the way they should be done or would have been wise, now do I?!?

Saturday came and I was at the barn by 9. I was all alone and would be the entire day. So I put the car in in a way I could work around it... I needed the doors open...both sides... I started with the washer system I think. I decided to cut the blue wire hoping to have that result in washers activated when footswitch was pressed and not when wipers were swithced on. Well that was quickly busted. As they still sprayed with the wipers on only now the wipers wouldn't go to park anymore. So I reconnected that wire and all was well again, still I had no washer. My only solution now without having someone clever helping me would be fitting another switch. I had one that would work, but where to put it? It would need to be temporary and yet also convenient... And I really really want this to just work like it should. Or at least I think it should, haha. Great start to the day....

Guess what, next I (finally) fitted the seat belts. This should have been easy, but it wasn't completely simple. I had apparently only prepped one panel for the bolt to go through and at that time I had not known about the bracket to keep it from rotating so that hole wasn't in either. If you have the big hole though, the little one is easy to create. Just drill a nice hole where the pin had marked the vinyl... On the other side I had to find the big hole first and that was out by a mm or so. So the bolt would only catch when held in a certain way and under pressure while turning... With that out of the way, the actual mounting of them was easy. The swing arms do exactly what I want them to do and the clasps staying in position where you leave them is also nice. They seemed to work well now as well. Retracting better then before. The swing arms also still (just) clear the inner sill trims! I'll add some pics for you....








With that done I went to job two. Finishing the wiring of the bonnet popper. One spade terminal to crimp on under the hood and a switch and two terminals to fit under the dash. I chose to put this switch out of the sightline for the left speaker pod, mounting it under the dash using an existing hole. I reworked the metal switch holder to sit more to my liking and sprayed the button black (it was yellow for some reason). The popper popped!! Until I closed the bonnet that is, right after putting away the backup cable... As the next test showed the popper to respond yet the hood to not fly up... Maybe the cable had stretched some? After pressing down on the bonnet and repressing the button, the bonnet popped up. I noticed that the bonnet latch pin and the latch keeper were still totally ungreased so I added just a thin little film of grease and retried. The bonnet now popped each and every time! Success...



Still motivated I set myself to putting the dash back together. I checked if all lights/custom leds still worked and put the binnacle back in. Not too hard after some experience. Bolted it back in and as I was prepping to put the facia back on I noticed the mute wire for the radio not connected. That should be connected to the carkit. So I found a suitable yellow wire and made that connection.

Somewhere between doing that and wanting to put back the facia I noticed the seat relay. I had a second one with me to also wire up the feed to the ignition on power source. But testing the seat relay it was now dead. It behaved asif no power was getting to it. Changed the relays out, nothing. Checked al wiring, all correct. Checked fuses all good to go, but still no power, and as the doors were open, power should be flowing freely! In the end I traced it to a connector on the no.1 auxiliary fuse box under the hood not being connected anymore (from connecting the bonnet popper on the no. 2 one). So with that restored I started thinking about linking relay number two. But as always with this dash stuff, I now had also discovered I had yet to arrange for an antenna for the radio and I had to consider if I did or did not want to fit the extra tweeter bowls I have lying around... I came to that conclusion while looking for my voltage meter. Unfortunately that thought process got me down on a morning turned afternoon without any food or breakfast and my energy fading fast. I had a banana to boost energy but it was too little too late.

Why the down turn over such simplicities? Well, because they aren't simplicities... I had deleted the antenna on the wing. So I had to make do with a window aerial (more proper word?) or put one on the roof or on the rear wings. I didn't like drilling a hole in the roof and so I didn't. Choice eliminated. Rear wing same story, I didn't want an extra hole that could allow for rust.... only choice left, window aerial. I have two so not a problem you'd say. Except for where to put them? As the Granada has bare a-pillars there's no way to hide the wiring. And worse, the whole dash is one piece with no holes anywhere in it so getting the wire fed to the radio is a problem. And that is where I'm stuck... My best solution for getting the aerial plug to the radio is from under hood. But I don't know how well a window aerial would do it's job in the vicinity of the engine. Anyway, mounting one to the bottom of the bonnet seems my best option. I don't listen to the radio much, but enough...

As that thought process was going on in my mind I cleaned up and intended to park the car.... but I found a small puddle under the car... Two actually. One was water from the exhaust not being sealed at the joins... Pretty simple fix, yet to do before MOT. I then remembered the small hole in the other exhaust tube that still needs welding up... But this would be peanut stuff...

The tough one was a leak of gear box/power steering fluid. Now where the HELL did that come from. I had seen the power steering reservoir was slightly lower then before, then again only last week had the steering rack actually seens some good use.... so it could have been from some expelled air... The fluid was hanging on the bottom subframe asif it was in the area of the dust boots. Still, probing around there everything was dry. Next I jacked up the car and checked the lines between rack halves and to the pinion housing. All were tight and nothing was hinting where the leak may be. The feed and return were also tight. And although not checked, the reservoir lines can't be the source as they are too far out of the region from where the fluid is. So this puzzles and plagues me now. It could also be tranny fluid, as those lines run past the side of the steering rack housing, but at that point it should indicate a leak in the metal lines, which is pretty unlikely....

Anyway, that finding put me over my energy edge and changed my mood further away from productive more toward selling the beast or putting fire to it, lol... It really made me feel like am I EVER going to reach the end of this???

And that is where I remain... I feel like instead of shortening the list it is growing again. And I know for sure that tackling the dash wiring stuff for the final time requires a fresh mindset to get it done. I need to do that first thing on a very good day.


Still the list is not too long anymore...

- weld/seal exhaust (need help)

- fix washer/wiper situation (need help)

- close up dash and wiring (pretty big job I think...)

- change temp sender for dash

- verify fan operation (need help)

- check up on red fluid leak... ( I don't see it yet....)

- check all suspension/mounting bolts for tightness


See what I mean. I did some bits and still I'm finding new bits... I guess I'd like a pair of fresh eyes to look at some of this stuff. Anyway I'll keep plodding on as I want MOT soon!

To end on a positive note, the weekend in general was great. It felt like vacation and it was quite a chore to get up for work this morning.... One more week and I start my vacation and my main goal: MOT! and vacating the barn...

fresh eyes say - it looks & sounds awesome!

i'm sure you'll nail down the details given time, it looks 99.9% there. Keep up the good work & thanks for sharing

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the above! The aerial wil sort itself out hopefully without too much trouble. Going to see how that works out next week. On the fluid found, I hope you are right and perhaps you are... My soon to be added update will explain... Actually that goes for the rest of your remarks as well!

Alex

ROTFLMAO!

Don't worry pal! AA standard is very much alive, just ask SamJ. The swing arms being painted is my by now well famous "doing it my way" at large. It has to fit the theme right? I could have gone for silver as that is the colour of most hardware used to attach anyting on the car. But the silver sill trim being so close I opted for unobtrusive black....

Haha I do love how you pretend to not have the insights you have...being my "confidant" and all... Hahahahaha

Now let me get back to actually updating the thread!

you went home early then, because when i arrived around 2pm, nobody was in the barn.

Good to see progress has been made!