1985 Ford Granada 2.8 Ghia

[rob88h]

…Looking after Granny…

It’s my absolute pleasure to be knocking about in this glorious old Granada.

Built in January 1985, registered in Cardiff; the 2.8 Ghia “BUH”. Having had 14 different keepers, it’s a bit rough around the edges, definitely a survivor car. At some point it might have had a life in the Midlands, possibly being sold at Meteor Ford, St. Mary’s Row, Moseley, Birmingham B13 9EG based on some of the aging stickers. From the history that came with it, it lived in Selsey, West Sussex between 2017-2023 and then belonged to our very own HMC in 2024. Right now it’s repatriated to its spiritual homeland in Essex (I know, eventhough these were made in Köln).

 

Collection was a mission, involving 8 hours of public transport of which I won’t bore you with all the details, but suffice to say in the end due to some excessive delays the whole trip (including refunds) cost just £2!

The way back was much more enjoyable. I split the journey into two by taking the Granada on a 70 mile warm-up across Dartmoor to the South Coast before cruising the remaining 200 miles back to Essex after a weekend break on the coast. As Ford said: ”…200 miles to drive. What better introduction to the 1982 Ford Granada”

The drive is just as soft and squishy as you’d imagine it to be and the centre arm rest has the elbow indentation of 115,000miles of one-handed cruising. It wanders around the road like you’d expect from any 40-year-old Ford, but certainly not as alarmingly as it could be by this age. There is a blow on the connection to the right-hand side mid-muffler, but that’s alright because the right-hand side window doesn’t work so you only hear it reflecting in through the passenger side. It’s not mint, it’s probably not even shabby, but it is honest. 

[HMC]

Sounds like a great road trip! Hope you manage to get a few Ford hq type photos / south ockendon etc done. Meanwhile heres an Alt. Hq Photo of my own.

[danthecapriman]

Nice! I’m glad this is staying on here!

Selsey isn’t far from me either, it’s very possible I saw it at some point back in its days down here as I used to do a lot of work out around the Selsey/Witterings/Chichester areas.

Lovely old boats these are. What’s your plans? Use and improve as you go?

[rob88h]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

What’s your plans? Use and improve as you go?

Use, Yes! I love a Granada. I jumped on this because my other Granada is so far from seeing the road (funny how not working on it doesn’t magically progress things) and with the HMC pricing scheme this was too good of an opportunity to miss, allowing me some sweet Granny action immediately. 

Improve, Yes! Well, we’ll see. I’m sympathetic to the old thing, but also aware that using it will no doubt bring out problems. I just hope any improvements in my time out weigh the degradations!

 

Here’s the collection-Petrol-fill shot. It didn’t really put a foot wrong on the first phase of the collection, other than the blowing exhaust. A mix of country lanes, dual carriageways and hills, all free flowing. Big Ol’ tank; I stopped pumping V-power at £75 in fear I was just pumping it onto the forecourt floor but all was well. 
On arrival at the weekend stopover I checked the oil and located the exhaust blow, to give me peace of mind it wasn’t about ready to completely fall off.

Setting off again after a couple of days parked up and it was reluctant to start. Crank crank crank crank with no signs of life until it fires then it is fine - which I think is a fuel line air leak where the supply line is draining back to the tank. If it’s turned off after running then it starts immediately. When it’s running it’s happy, so it’s not like the auto choke is misbehaving as far as I can tell.  
I drove on for a while trouble free, until warm and in traffic the oil pressure was really low. No warnings illuminated  (if it has a red telltale) but it was into the red on the gauge. At 2000rpm the oil pressure is approaching half way up the gauge. So, I put some extra oil in, despite it being about halfway up the dipstick already. Now when idling hot it’s out of the red.

Later on wescosa has cited that the Cologne V6, even when in great shape reads quite low oil pressure, so I’m not too worried. It’s probably Bob-on for a 115,000 mile engine. I’ll just run it nearer max. 

I’m struggling to conclude this post - I’ve really only just picked out the faults here on what was actually a really enjoyable 300 miles driving to get it back to mine. 

[Bren]

I would imagine a good quality 20W/50 would get the oil pressure higher.

[vonmon]

What a magnificent beast.

[danthecapriman]

21 minutes ago, Bren said:

I would imagine a good quality 20W/50 would get the oil pressure higher.

This. 
I used to run mine on thicker oil as the gauge used to indicate low pressure. The light never came on so there wasn’t anything wrong it just always dropped with 10w40 oil. Thicker won’t hurt it.

If the steering feels a bit vague or the car drifts around a bit (I think you mentioned somewhere!?) check the front control bar arms where they mount to the front of the subframe/body. Thick round bars with a nut that go into the subframe right at the front of the car. They basically alter the position of the front wheels (so avoid adjusting the inner nuts!) but the mounts into the subframe are a round bush. Ford ones are/were made from a shitty yellowish foamish type material and it disintegrates and rips out! On mine one day I had to brake particularly hard one time and the force was enough to rip the bush apart and allow the bar to basically move forward and backwards freely which altered the front wheels position on one side! Even accelerating and braking did it! 
New ones are available in polyurethane which I put on mine and it made a huge difference to how the steering felt. Much tighter.

[Noel Tidybeard]

[warren t claim]

 

[wesacosa]

something interesting parked next to me this morning......🤔

looking forward to a viewing later on

 

[wesacosa]

1 hour ago, wesacosa said:

something interesting parked next to me this morning......🤔

looking forward to a viewing later on

 

Wow, its much better than I was expecting.  Looks straight and solid, interior very nice as are the wheels.  Aside from the wing tops and bonnet the rest of the paint is in good nick too .  Thanks for the look around @rob88h, i'm rather jealous

 

[rob88h]

Double Granada action! ‘75 and ‘85.

Living. The. Dream.

[Bren]

2 hours ago, rob88h said:

Double Granada action! ‘75 and ‘85.

Living. The. Dream.

The mk1 is a honey. On my bucket list.

[RoadworkUK]

Bloody love this old boat.

And in Essex.

I'm in Essex....

Hnng.

[rob88h]

I took the Granada to PipeCraft to sort the exhaust out.

The mid section is very new but the join between the old front right pipe and the new mid section has not survived the upheaval. If the P.PO who did this had put a whole new exhaust on it would have prevented this. 
I was surprised to find a new front section was only £30, so I picked one up and gave it to the exhaust gurus. 

[rob88h]

[I’m always on 1% battery due to running a 10 year old iPhone, so I had no flash to show you the beautiful details of the exhaust repair yesterday]

The problem as inherited:

(I flipped the car on it’s roof to get a better look - this definitely isn’t the stupid photo uploader)

Where the old meets new a hole had appeared. A more Shitesque version of me would have just Gummed and bandaged this, but as mentioned above it was £30 for the pipe and the Car warrants a better job. 
I wanted it done quickly (and I was a little scared of shearing a manifold stud) so I took it to the specialist. 

They did a great job and I’m glad I sent it there as although the manifold side came apart ok, the collar into the new muffler had been crushed by the previous repair. To rectify that they cut the collar off at the muffler end plate and welded a lovely new one on (and shortened the front pipe a little for extra fine fettle)

No more do we sound like a Banger Racer. 

 

[rob88h]

The next major thing to address on the Granada is its reluctance to start after a day or so sitting. I’m fairly sure it’s fuel returning to the tank (or going dry across the pump) and having to be primed up to the carb bowl on the starter cranking - and even if it’s not, the fuel hoses could do with a refresh anyway. 

Firstly, does anyone have any solid recommendations on decent fuel hose. My default would be Car Builder Solutions I think.

Secondly, and I have another Cologne engined Granada here I should probably go and look at… just thinking that now… but can anybody advise on the correct setup as I’m not sure it’s right here. 

At the carb there is a fuel line in. It looks like the union is symmetrical and could take two. The bit that doesn’t seem right is that there is a line out that is terminated. Pretty sure that’s not factory. 

Further away from the carb is this tee. The branch labelled C is to the Carb, P is from the pump and T is presumably back to the tank. 
I’m wondering if the body of the tee has some sort of bleed back check valve that’s failed. Anyone shed a light? Or know where I could get a replacement. 

Reliable starting awaits.

[Zelandeth]

Only place I use for fuel line these days:

https://www.glencoeltd.co.uk/cohline-fuel-vacuum-hose/

[Jenson Velcro]

18 hours ago, rob88h said:

The next major thing to address on the Granada is its reluctance to start after a day or so sitting. I’m fairly sure it’s fuel returning to the tank (or going dry across the pump) and having to be primed up to the carb bowl on the starter cranking - and even if it’s not, the fuel hoses could do with a refresh anyway. 

Firstly, does anyone have any solid recommendations on decent fuel hose. My default would be Car Builder Solutions I think.

Secondly, and I have another Cologne engined Granada here I should probably go and look at… just thinking that now… but can anybody advise on the correct setup as I’m not sure it’s right here. 

At the carb there is a fuel line in. It looks like the union is symmetrical and could take two. The bit that doesn’t seem right is that there is a line out that is terminated. Pretty sure that’s not factory. 

Further away from the carb is this tee. The branch labelled C is to the Carb, P is from the pump and T is presumably back to the tank. 
I’m wondering if the body of the tee has some sort of bleed back check valve that’s failed. Anyone shed a light? Or know where I could get a replacement. 

Reliable starting awaits.

It looks like your engine has been fitted with a replacement Weber 38 DGAS or DGMS carb (does it have an auto or manual choke) in place of the original Pierberg. The Webers were sometimes fitted with an extra connection for cars that had a return fuel line back to the tank. If your car doesn’t have the return fuel line it has just been blocked off.

[rusty_vw_man]

The plastic fuel filter hanging casually over the exhaust fannymould gives me the absolute shits - please get it somewhere safer! 

As above, you seem to have two fuel return options - the original junction and now a new one on the carb. If you suspect the original is playing up then you could run a new pump to carb line, and then connect the tank return to that blocked off return on the carb. 

You need to check where that fuel is going out the float bowl - if you think about it, even if the pump was dry and the lines empty, the float bowl should be full and able to run the car for a minute. Is it evaporating, or is it finding a way to drain? If you have a dull 24 hours you could pop the carb off, fill the float chamber with fuel and pop it over a tray somewhere safe. If it’s a bit leaky you’ll soon know. 

[Zelandeth]

28 minutes ago, rusty_vw_man said:

The plastic fuel filter hanging casually over the exhaust fannymould gives me the absolute shits - please get it somewhere safer! 

 

Seconding this.  Also get some proper good quality fuel hose clamps on there too...and make sure they are actually secured properly.  I had one hang up on itself and result in my P6 dumping near enough an entire tank of fuel on my drive overnight not long ago.  Thank god it didn't happen while the car was running.  The cooling fan would have ensured that a finely atomised mist would have been blasted directly all over the nearside exhaust manifold.  I suspect the loud "whoosh" as it turned into a flamethrower would have been the first I knew about it.

[HMC]

20 hours ago, rob88h said:

The next major thing to address on the Granada is its reluctance to start after a day or so sitting. I’m fairly sure it’s fuel returning to the tank (or going dry across the pump) and having to be primed up to the carb bowl on the starter cranking - and even if it’s not, the fuel hoses could do with a refresh anyway. 

Firstly, does anyone have any solid recommendations on decent fuel hose. My default would be Car Builder Solutions I think.

Secondly, and I have another Cologne engined Granada here I should probably go and look at… just thinking that now… but can anybody advise on the correct setup as I’m not sure it’s right here. 

At the carb there is a fuel line in. It looks like the union is symmetrical and could take two. The bit that doesn’t seem right is that there is a line out that is terminated. Pretty sure that’s not factory. 

Further away from the carb is this tee. The branch labelled C is to the Carb, P is from the pump and T is presumably back to the tank. 
I’m wondering if the body of the tee has some sort of bleed back check valve that’s failed. Anyone shed a light? Or know where I could get a replacement. 

Reliable starting awaits.

It already looks so much smarter buh 😎

[Christine]

20 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Seconding this.  Also get some proper good quality fuel hose clamps on there too...and make sure they are actually secured properly.  I had one hang up on itself and result in my P6 dumping near enough an entire tank of fuel on my drive overnight not long ago.  Thank god it didn't happen while the car was running.  The cooling fan would have ensured that a finely atomised mist would have been blasted directly all over the nearside exhaust manifold.  I suspect the loud "whoosh" as it turned into a flamethrower would have been the first I knew about it.

 

[rob88h]

Thanks for the Glencoe link @Zelandeth! I shall be getting myself some of that, and maybe a check-valve as backup - although I’m thinking it shouldn’t be needed if I get it all working properly. Thoughts are moving towards a draining carb float bowl.

Thanks for the thoughts @Jenson Velcro. It’s an auto choke. There’s a few receipts and things for Dr. Carb type work (and maybe even a new refurbed carb, I will go and check when I can), so I strongly suspect this isn’t the original... I saw some internet pics of a Weber type and it had the same terminating return like mine. In fact it was a blue engine bay’d Granada, so could have even been this very car in a past life.

That fuel filter is definitely moving. I hadn’t thought about it, but now it’s all I’m thinking about 🤣. Of all the classics I’m running, this is the only one without a fire extinguisher as well, so it’s a reminder to remedy that!

You’re right about the float bowl draining @rusty_vw_man. That’s surely happening as it doesn’t even try to start initially. I shall start by staring at it and tap my chin until the issue presents itself. I like your ideas though and likely to give that a go. 

 

I appreciate all the help, as ever. It’s unfortunate for my enthusiasm that I’m away for the next few weeks so won’t be getting  on with any of this right away. 
 

Car Forum; car picture:

[danthecapriman]

Can definitely concur that your carb is a Weber replacement. It looks nothing like the Pierburg original! Weber replacements usually have that shaped hose connection area, with return ports and possible left or right handed inlets. That brass nut under the inlet btw is a built in filter - unscrew it and there’s a removable filter element inside.

Im not entirely sure why they have this issue with the fuel draining back and needing loads of cranking to pump it back up before it starts. My old one was the same and that did have the Pierburg still. 
I never did find a solution, just put up with it! 
It’s possible it’s at least partly to do with heat and modern fuels. My theory was the carb sat in the middle of the V of a hot engine while it’s not running and pumping fresh cool petrol into it just evaporates the petrol in the float bowl. 
Mine was usually fine if you were using it regularly but as soon as it was parked up again (even just overnight) the fuel disappeared. 
Id be surprised tbh if a check valve helps much as that’s only going to stop whatever is in the pipes after it from draining back. Ideally your float bowl should stay full or at least partially full to give you a quick start up, then the engine can start pumping fuel up the pipes again.

[wesacosa]

29 minutes ago, rob88h said:

Thanks for the Glencoe link @Zelandeth! I shall be getting myself some of that, and maybe a check-valve as backup - although I’m thinking it shouldn’t be needed if I get it all working properly. Thoughts are moving towards a draining carb float bowl.

Thanks for the thoughts @Jenson Velcro. It’s an auto choke. There’s a few receipts and things for Dr. Carb type work (and maybe even a new refurbed carb, I will go and check when I can), so I strongly suspect this isn’t the original... I saw some internet pics of a Weber type and it had the same terminating return like mine. In fact it was a blue engine bay’d Granada, so could have even been this very car in a past life.

That fuel filter is definitely moving. I hadn’t thought about it, but now it’s all I’m thinking about 🤣. Of all the classics I’m running, this is the only one without a fire extinguisher as well, so it’s a reminder to remedy that!

You’re right about the float bowl draining @rusty_vw_man. That’s surely happening as it doesn’t even try to start initially. I shall start by staring at it and tap my chin until the issue presents itself. I like your ideas though and likely to give that a go. 

 

I appreciate all the help, as ever. It’s unfortunate for my enthusiasm that I’m away for the next few weeks so won’t be getting  on with any of this right away. 
 

Car Forum; car picture:

is it draining away from the float chamber though or is it evaporating?  Float chamber should fill from the top so can't see where it would drain out the float chamber. Could it be that the chamber is vented to atmosphere and its evaporating? That would account for slightly extra cranking but maybe its coupled with drain back from the hoses/air leak/lazy pump turning what would have been a mildly extended crank to a longer extended crank,.

[Peter C]

If fuel is evaporating from the float bowl, surely there would be a strong smell of petrol in and around the engine bay?

[sutty2006]

The voice in the back of my head says I NEED and WANT to own a mk2 Granada at some point in my life……..

 

my current fleet and bank account state otherwise. 
 

im looking forward to your updates 🥰

[rob88h]

Thanks chaps. I think the most likely thing here is a little of column A and a little of column B with regards of loss of fuel in the bowl and drain back in the pipes (and probably some column C being a weak fuel pump). 
The cranking time is currently nerve-rackingly battery-drainingly long, so it can definitely be improved! I’ll chip away at all aspects of the problem.

[Fabergé Greggs]

15 minutes ago, rob88h said:

Thanks chaps. I think the most likely thing here is a little of column A and a little of column B with regards of loss of fuel in the bowl and drain back in the pipes (and probably some column C being a weak fuel pump). 
The cranking time is currently nerve-rackingly battery-drainingly long, so it can definitely be improved! I’ll chip away at all aspects of the problem.

If it was me I’d be unable to resist column D : fit an electric fuel pump