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Hello to all members old and new.
Hello to all members old and new, as we are well into the show season now, I hope that all is well with the shows that you are attending. From the feedback that I'm receiving the public attendance is up and some shows are full to capacity. We have had a flood of new members join us this year which is fantastic. So a big THANK YOU to you and those who go out displaying their Granada(s) and representing the Guild, but don’t forget the most important show is our AGM held at Wicksteed Park, Kettering, Northamptonshire at the end of July. |
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I have had a late start to my show season, due to the long hard winter, I put off renewing the valve stem seals on my engine until the weather got warmer, but when I did start work on my engine, the job took longer than I planned. It’s not just whipping off the heads and changing the parts, it’s the cleaning up of the pistons and heads while you’ve got your engine stripped down that takes up a lot of time, it’s a full day’s work just stripping down trying not to damage anything, it’s like working in an operating theatre when working on fully restored car ! ! Anyway back to the job in question once the valve stem seals were renewed I also decided to renew the valve rockers. As most of you know they wear and you are forever adjusting your tappet settings, and I know that can be a right pain after a few thousand miles.
Rebuilding the engine took me a complete weekend, so no start up until the following weekend - the engine started, but within 5 minutes it boiled up, so I re-bled the water again thinking it was a massive air lock but it kept boiling up, the temperature gauge going in to red it was quicker than the rev counter on the dash I couldn’t believe what I was seeing ! ! ! So I tried re timing the ignition but that was ok, so constant bleeding of the water but no success. Several cups of Tetley’s finest and looking at the engine thinking what the hell have I done wrong, then a bright idea – thermostat ! ! It’s been in there for 12 year's so I’ll put a new one in; ok a simple job I thought.
Started to undo the bolt's then SNAP a bolt head had snapped off, I can tell you I was not a happy bunny when that happened just about took the biscuit and my patience. It's always the one that goes into the block ! Anyway after calming down and giving my car a damn good talking to I got the broken bolt out and put the old and new thermostats into a saucepan of boiling water to test them out of curiosity but they both opened at the same time, so I had gone through all that pain for nothing. I fitted the new one anyway, and the following day bled the system and started the engine but WALLOP up went the temperature into the red again - I don’t believe it all that for nothing, it had to be a problem down at the heads but I didn’t want to go that far back it's long way back, but I didn’t have a choice everything else was ok, so another weekend wasted but still clueless.
Time's getting on now I’ve got shows lined up and Holland to go to ,I've got no MOT no tax and no car, [the rate I'm going I'll be turning up at shows with a shopping trolley, I know that wouldn’t boil up !]. So that's it, no choice but to strip the engine down again, and that I was not looking forward to. You've got to be the mood to do a job like that and I wasn’t. Now all stripped down looking at 6 pistons 2 head gaskets and no idea. I wondered if I had put the head gaskets on back to front but I couldn’t tell as these were a pair of after-market gaskets and they don’t have any identification on them to tell you left or right side, the sticker on the packaging tells you, but doesn’t explain how to read the engine, either, from inside the car or as you look at it from under the bonnet, just couldn’t work it out, as both gasket's are identical. The only way for me to solve my problem was to strip my spare engine down that I’ve got tucked away in my shed, to see the head gasket layout on the that one, once the spare was stripped it was obvious what I had done.
Yes ! you’ve guest it, I’ve put the head gaskets on back to front, [never a dull moment with me is there], so it’s all back together now and running very sweet, taxed and tested, but be warned if you are using aftermarket garskets take note of the one's that you are replacing as it easy to forget which way round they are fitted before you remove them especially if it going to be a while before you fit the new ones. The original Ford gaskets have the words TOP FRONT on one gasket so makes rebuilding easy. Anyway keep up the good work and enjoy the rest of your show season, and I hope you can make our AGM, and we’ll see if we can have a good turn out of Granadas and people just like the shows you are going to. See you soon, take care.
Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible during the summer months.
Your chairman
Bryan
