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

Awesome! thank you - BTW could you please say a little more about the welding wire? I have not heard of such a thing and am not even sure it is available on this side of the pond.

Iv just read the whole thread, you are doing great work can't wait to see this finished. cheers steve. ;D

Sorry, I didn't see or get a message that the thread was updated...So apparently I'm slow to respond...

I've been at it a lot lately... Still cutting sheetmetal and letting that in... Some areas are completely done others are in progress. Still lots to do. I got kind of discouraged in the weldathon so I'm focussing on some of the less hard parts to fix.

That discouragement comes from my own welding s.cking quite badly burning holes in the .7mm and .9mm thin plates. Added by the fact that that means I'm dependent on my bodyman for any actual welding. Which is holding me back...

Otherwise I have also started to put together the frons mechanicals. Struggling a bit with the coil springs. They need to be so far compressed to put in... I can now put them in, but have no way then of undoing the compressors. The best solution: putting the weight of an engine on top to hold the pring compressed while undoing the compressors and then permanently attaching the upper wishbone. So I'll get it done, but it's not really easy with my spring compressors. The granada springs also are definately very strong.

But it's looking great!

The customisation for the interior is also fully welded in now. Just need to find some weldable nuts for the seat belt bolts (different thread to regular metric nuts). That interior also looks super and is fully functional!

So I'm keeping busy with the project. Reason for no updates is that I'm having an issue getting the pics of my stupid phone. And these stories aren't worth a dime without pictures...

Wow, thanks... I had thought this would have been forgotten by now! I basically decided that because of the type of work I would update when one side of the car was done, but is has taken longer then desired, expected etc.

There has been a lot of work done since last post, but it is all still welding welding and welding. And as I'm in IT and not panel beating, it takes a lot of time to fashion all the patches to be welded in. Also, I take everyting out that is slightly questionalble. And it turns out to be a lot. But my car is sound when finished. And of course doing modifications for things as the interior (very happy with the results!!!) also take a lot of planning. I have pictures but nothing has been uploaded yet. The left side is now all tacked in an 90% fully welded. I might add that compared to previous welding work from it's first restoration in 2006 it is looking fabulous. The welding quality is so good I have almost no werk in dressing them.

I just started the right side yesterday. With cutting out the outer lower panel behind the rear wheel arch. And then the inner to fix that first. This side has less work to it as the floor is much better and so is the sill. But, the rear wing and outer inner wheel house will require more attention.

The weather was so hot the last few weeks. Last friday it was 66c in the shop at roof level, 40+ at groundlevel, so not much got done. And it's the holiday season, so first I went on holiday and then the shop where my car is kept was closed for 3 weeks. But we're getting going again!

If only I could weld myself, then progress would be faster, now I have about 20 panels made, but have to wait for an hour here or there to get them put in.

I also got news as to the plans itself. The car was going to be a white pearl metallic from the Ford Ka. but this paint system is so exepensive as it is impossible to predict how many coats are required to give good coverage and nice even colouring that I decided on another colour. That saves a whopping 1500 Euro's easily according to my high standards body man.

Tada, I decided on Ford Mustang Grabber blue. Either with silver accent colour or plain black! It's going to be one visible car! Although a sample is still to be sprayed so I might have to change my mind if I don't like it in the flesh. On the 70ies and 2010+ mustangs it looks awesome. And some member here has a fiat in a similar colour and I also really like that!

Also looking for info on some issues, like how or where to get custom airconditioning lines made up and eliminating the fuseboxes from the cosworth bob wiring loom etc.

So I'm still very busy and I hope to have the car on wheels and in paint end of year. Hopefully fully finished this spring.

I am soooo motivated right now that I want to tackle several things at once. As taht won't work I have to hold myself to one or two things at a time. Also next month i will have a small buidling project on the house itself so that will also take away from this build.

I'll try and update later today with pictures if I can get them updated.

I'm also rethinking my website... I want it to be less of a blog type and more of a task or part project focussed site. For example not blogging about what I've done today on the car, but more a complete story around for instance the welding, the engine, the suspension etc. And possibly in english instead of dutch or both.

Thanks for not forgetting my project!!

Will be working on that later, pics to follow, but be warned, mostly from welding...

Well thanks, that makes me feel humble I guess. I never thought my project was very interesting to others. But I probably measure that wrong... I tend to measure that in number of replies.

I myself actually do love what I'm doing even though it is slow progress. Slower than I would want at least. The good thing is things are getting done. And every thing done is one less to do!

As of now I'm getting my pictures up to date for you guys to update you with images as well. Cu later!

Ok, so let's get you up to speed to some of the things I've been doing; Interior modification!

I made this fit and function: a back seat from a VW passat CC.





Supported by (the hinges will get a small brace added, they don't flex but it'll add some strength)








Added security for the mounts of seats and rear seat belts




On to the welding pics... probably tomorrow before I'll have those uploaded and posted.

So after a picture upload marathon... on to the welding pics.

A couple of area's have been welded up.

As seen a bit in the previous post on the seats, there were modifications made to accomodate them and the newly added rear seat belts:

In some more detail, the seat pan fixes end result (very pleased with that):




On to the floor, driverside (LHD) front was very rotten. Previously welded in, but the welds ground so thin holes were blasted through while sandblasting.

Direct from blaster:


All cut out (second time unfortunately):


Repairs: (all welds have been or will be dressed even if they aren't already in the pictures)













To finish off:



So that's most of the driversside floor work.

But there's more, after all it is an old ford.

Rear beam diff mount:







That will do nicely.

On to the most dreaded corner: driversside end of sill.

As from the blaster:




Was hiding this:


Cut away:

First layer restored:

Second layer (midway):














Another bit sorted.

On with the front wings.

Some early welds from before moving to this body shop. They were crude so needed cleaning up. Because of the effort in creating the panels though, the work was not beyond saving.


then the big work














Next issue: rear wheelarch outer skin patches to lower rear.

Not too visible here, but an ugly previous wheel arch repair to deal with:









That is mostly what is done.

I've got some repairs lined up waiting for an hour or two of welding time:








When this is done, the complete left side and cross over to the right via the boot area will be done. I expect to have that done in the next two weeks tops.

As this is mostly waiting on the welder, I have started ripping apart the reight side of the car. The right side is generally speaking better, but the rear wheelarch and back need some more attention.

When this is done it is time to fit a subframe, engine and modify the dash for the aircon unit.

Plenty to do. But after that it is prparing the body for paint.

Great update, i love reading threads like this and the seats look really good