Run by: Assistant Motoring Editor Myles Gorfe. Total Mileage: 299,918. Miles since August 16 2015: 0. Costs: £1600 labour, £1350 spares including a new roof, window trim, headliner, interior trim, fuel lines and various heater matrix units.
It’s been a busy month for the Grannie. Len Gudgeon at the Granada Garage has been unable to resolve the non-starting problem reported last month and the month before. The engine has been dismantled twice.
The Granny has developed an appetite for heater matrix units. As of today I have bought twelve of them and none has worked or worked for long.
Eventually Len Gudgeon managed to find a similar unit from a late model Cortina which he adapted using some additional parts. It is a bit bigger than the Granada unit which meant cutting out a small section of the bulk head and wheel-suspension tower and welding in new metal (most of this was for access apparently).
Kimber Car Parts did not have any chrome trim clips and say they may be in again in December, maybe. Maybe not. I am in contact with an eBay seller in Stirling who might be willing to provide the items.
The rust on the roof turned out to be quite serious. The paint looked alright on the outside but the metal was about to begin bubbling into rot so I had to deal with that. Len has removed the roof and cut back the A, B and C-pillars so at the moment the Granny is now a convertible. While moving the car and testing the new matrix there was a small engine fire when petrol sprayed out from one of the perished fuel lines.
Luckily, this month I have not had to have the car towed.
Why did you not have the old Granada unit re-cored?
Myles Gorfe replies: it had been recored, probably about three times to judge by the state of it. The hoses, clips and bolts all showed signs of heavy wear too. I decided best to get something that works in the first place but it’s hard to know if the part is good when it’s a private seller in Split or whatever.
Hi Myles
I don’t know what the core looked like but I assume it would be brass/copper. I could have probably recored the Cortina unit for you with a slightly smaller core – if that would have helped … obviously sorted now but perhaps if someone else reads they can bear that in mind. The tanks could have been straightened and pipes resoldered etc etc
Myles Gorfe writes: I will bear that in mind, thanks.