1972 Ford Granada coupe continuous build/improvement.

The old elimination game its is then Alex - I would say that if the drive shaft is carrying witness marks I would sort the exhaust as my first port of call - can you strap up what you currently have temporally by use of a small ratchet strap then some binding wire before removing the ratchet strap - if this then eliminates the noise at least you know which direction to head in for the more permanent solution or am I making it sound all too easy  

easy solution here.... run it without an exhaust....guarantee you wont hear any odd noises then!  

Ok, so the Granada needed a new MOT and before that finally the alignment which was way overdue after having replaced the inner tie rods. With the MOT around the corner I finally put myself to making the appointments. Tough to do in these days as there just seems to be much less opportunity now everything needs to be planned. But an appointment got made...

That morning I drove over. The alignment guy has a Granada himself so was happy to once again see mine. The front wheels were obviously way out, but they were easily corrected. Rear wheels were still well within spec. So rather uneventful but my my, what a difference this has made. You could feel it just by backing out the shop and corner in order to then drive off. On the road it felt a totally different car and I really enjoyed that drive. Probably the most enjoyable in a long time. So money well spent. It'll be a few hundred kilometers before the tires lose their sharpness, but well happy now.

Getting an appointment for the MOT was also not that easy so I was late by a good week. But then the day came and me and the car reported for it's checkup. Always draws a crowd in the shop... Anyway the test started and went wel for the first 5 minutes. Then I saw them having trouble with a headlight, putting a new bulb in and it still not coming on. As the pre-check had not highlighted a broken bulb I felt something else must be going on. Also I remembered a picture I had taken with that front light out, but when I came to check/swap it over, there was nothing to fix, it was on. So, I butt in and tapped the relay box with the fuses for the headlights twice with my nucles and ask, is the light now on? Yes it was! Failure averted then.

Back to the waiting room. They put the car up in the air and down again. Nothing much to report I think. Didn;t see any funny looks. But then I get asked to start the car again and they set up to do a gas analysis. It being a 72 car doesn't require one, and I said so. I said he'd never done one before even though he has tested this car on all but one occasions since the rebuild. He admitted to being in doubt. Apparently there is also a rule that if it's on the car it must function and my car obviously has cats. So they measured. It was a very narrow fail. But a trick one of the mechanics had one day learned was to put a bit of a draw on the engine by switching on the lights or aircon etc. And low and behold, it passed. So even though this wasn't mandatory in my view, the car passed even the more strict test.

At that it received a fresh MOT with no advisories. Well happy.

Took it to work next day! Uneventful.

I still sometimes had that strange rotating noise at the back. So in an effort to rule out the cause I met up with our SamJ to go for a drive. At first the car was nicely silent, but then suddenly it started and once there it couldn't be missed. We stopped and checked. Both felt that it felt like something in the brake drum. A shoe catching and releasing with a tick. Then again it was not a once in a rotation sound but several times a rotation.
We decided to head back to Sam's and drive on to my house to take the drum off. If anything was wrong it was better to already have the car at my house. We couldn't replicate the sound this way so I cleaned the surfaces and greased the contact areas. Put back together the sound is still there and hasn't stopped after a few times around the block. It seems softer though.

Given the rotational character of the sound we can only assume it is the wheel bearing or possible back to the CV. So we'll be looking into that soonish. Hopefully this Friday I'll be able to at least eliminate one or the other. The one that I can't eliminate I'll replace...

I was supposed to have a 400km round trip this weekend due to a meeting up north, the one I got stranded while going to, twice. So I would have liked to have made it there this time. Sam felt I would. But turns out the meeting is cancelled as is...it's now a pre booked camping thing only, which I didn't know so didn't do. So I'll have to wait another year then....

Well, the weekend has passed yet again, but this weekend saw some Granny action. Although with spot’s comment on dirty Grannies in mind this just sounds so very very wrong…

After earlier investigations with a friend and some of/on my own, I felt Iike I was somewhat wiser yet still unable to draw a definitive conclusion on what actually was wrong with the car. A very kind and welcome offer from another to work on the problem with the car on the mobile lift they acquired a while back seemed to be my best and most comfortable option on getting to the bottom of it. So I took him up on it and last Friday went to the familiar place that had been the Granny’s home for 9 months in 2016 to meet up with Thomas.

A quick check when I arrived confirmed the brakes were not hot at all, and the noisy side was very slightly cooler, possibly form the shoes being a little further from the drums after last times investigations. Turning the car around it wouldn’t start. This is a new random issue. It seems to always start when cold, but when hot, the started doesn’t always seem to get power. Starting it across the terminals on the starter always works. Now, this issue started the day after I had been under the steering column shroud so I may have disturbed that one black wire that previously prevented power from reaching the starter from the key. Will look into that soon. It starts fine 99 out of a 100 times but it needs to be 100/100.

Anyway, with the car backed into the barn the car could go on the lift. A little fiddling with the pad positions and it was soon ready. So with the car on the lift, I removed the wheel and started by just taking out the brake gubbins. Went quite easily and before long the drum and wheel were back on. Car back to the ground, rolled around a bit and the noise was there. So brakes definitely ruled out. But, the noise felt different, sounded different. So I began thinking am I now hearing the same problem or a different one? The car could role further before it was heard and now it could also be felt throughout the rear suspension right up into the rear bumper. But it was consistently there.

Looking under the car it almost seemed as if the cv joint I had tightened the other day wasn’t seated straight, which might make the noise we heard now as weight shifted around. I had done them up with the car on its wheels last time so to make sure the car went back in the air and I verified that not all bolts were now tight, even though they were when I did them up. That enforced the feeling that I may have eliminated one noise but gotten another in the process. But with the car on the ground the noise was once again unchanged.

As I had seen the drive shaft to cv joint had pushed off a circlip (the seating groove is not very deep) that I had only quickly put back on, I felt I should check to see if that was still in place and if it was fully seated. It would also be the definitive test for the noise as the brakes were still off and with no cv it would isolate the wheel bearing. Thomas at some point had felt a little up and down play in the rear wheel. No side to side. So not having successfully eliminated the noice in the previous test, I checked all the bolts on the bearing carrier and was able to nip them up a little as well as checking the hub nut itself. This moved ever so slightly, almost indeterminable. So with the wheel end of the shaft again disconnected I could verify the circlip still in place. Made sure it was fully seated and then tested the car once more. This time I even took the drum off and bolted the wheel to the hub directly. The noise was still there. So logical conclusion would be that the bearing is at fault.

I put the car back together, driveshaft with the car in the air, making sure it was all done up tight (although I will double check later). Although the brakes were now definitively ruled out there was some evidence of the edges having a little wear, so I filed them down a little to make sure they engage smoothly. If it doesn’t help at least it doesn’t hurt either. Put the brake shoes back on, drum back on and adjusted them. The self adjuster worked fined and the wheel could go back on.

I went home for the day, enjoying the drive a lot. And that is just it, the car is great to drive and enjoy so I want to get this out of its system.

So I ordered a new one wheel bearing and will replace as and when it comes in… Hopefully that will be the end of that!

Saturday I felt it was time to address the dirty car and dirty interior so to match the quality of the drive, the joy factor. It was just a mismatch. So I washed the car, dried it to prevent water spots. Hand polished the black striping to get rid of some marks and it started to look great again.

Dusted the interior, wiped the seats and vacuumed the car’s floor and seat edges. Now the car was looking good again! I decided that I had made the carpet in the car out of too cheap a fabric as it was already wearing thin in the place your feet rest when on the throttle pedal and ordered a set of floor mats as well. Will see how they work out. As my carpet is made in 5 sections. I have the center hump section and each footwell front and rear had gotten it’s own. Depending on the fit I may remove my own carpet and only use the mats or just put them on top of the carpet. In the future I may decide to redo the carpet, but it’s a low priority.

A higher priority are the starting issue, cubbies besides the rear seat, a new wire or resolder in the audio installation as one channel drops off and comes back on when hitting bumps, oh and the rair sail panels also have lost their grip on the car. The pastic legs that should get cought by the fittings in the bodywork just simply pop out. Will have to see how to remedy.

Old cars, done however nicely, always throw something at you to keep you busy. But the best thing lately has been the alignment! Really transformed the car into an awesome driver! 

Treated the Granada to some presents...

I had ordered a new wheel bearing kit for the suspected right rear. These prices have apparently gone up a lot over the years. I remember paying 30+ ish for them back during the restoration, but this time around they're 50 euro's... Didn't get a chance to replace the bearing yet. I think I'd be doing myself a favour to see if I can do this job like I did the final bit of trouble shooting: on the lift at the barn. But that would take some planning and permission...

The other present I bought was a set of floor mats. Way back when, budget was non-existent so I bought litterally the cheapest black carpet I could find. Thinking it wasn't going to see much use anyway so how badly could it wear?! Well, turns out it cannot handle my foot resting in the same place while driving. The rotating movement between brake and go pedal had pulled a lot of the carpet fibres out. A patch was starting to appear. So at some point I'll have to redo my custom carpets. But in order to save what is there now from further wear, I thought a set of mats would be clever.

Now I didn't buy them in the first place as my floor is customised to accommodate the seats, but I'm happy to say that the new mats fitted perfectly as intended and look smart as well.

Thanks! To me the stripes on the bonnet pull the whole theme together. They also add a sporty look. But I love the side ones better, with the Granada designation fitting perfectly between the rear edge of the door and the rear wheel.

Thanks George! Most kind...

Its not a sealed for life bearing so one would assume it requires lubrication - is there anything stated in the factory / Haynes manual (If you have one) 

Alex - You mention that too much grease / lubrication will heat things up - I tend to think in the opposite direction - lack of lubrication / grease on a bearing of any type will create friction - friction in turn generating heat whereby something lubricated creates less friction / drag and therefore runs cooler - Given the speed that a wheel bearing will run at I would certainly advocate that you use a grease with a high temperature resistance but given that you have a bearing seal either side of the bearing I don't think that you will have too much of an issue by packing the bearing with grease - I have however, seen someone before today pump so much grease into a bearing area (via a factory grease nipple) that its forced the bearing seal out of its housing