My Granada 3.7i Ghia X 5 speed
Purchased from Bristol Street Motors (then a Ford main dealership)in Bromley Kent and first registered in April 1984 to a doctor who lived in Surrey. He owned the vehicle until June 1988 when I purchased it from Dee's of Croydon, a Ford Main Agent. (I was trading in my Mk2 S1 estate for a Mk3 saloon, what was I thinking of ? Then I saw it - No contest !)
It had a full service history with the original owners manual, also the original radio and trip computer manuals and had covered only 32,000 miles. It is now semi-retired and only used for leisure purposes, mainly attending Guild shows and events with an annual mileage of about 1500.
Various modifications have been carried out over the past years to the original Ford V6 Cologne engine, however the current specification is a 3.7 litre ULTIMAX Cologne conversion, originally created by Vee-Tech Engineering in Salisbury. Sadly they no longer exist but the conversion was taken over by Power Engineering in West London. Details as follows:- Modified Cologne 2.8 block, bore size 95mm, a long stroke (86mm) crank orginally from an American Ford Explorer V6 giving a capacity of 3663 cc. Additional balancing weights on the flywheel and front crankshaft pulley are required, as is some clearance work on the block and oil pump to allow the crank to rotate fully. I have also fitted Stage 2 flowed and polished unleaded cylinder heads with 1.75in stainless steel inlet valves and 1.5in exhaust valves, stronger valve springs, the compression ratio is 9.8:1. The valves are operated by a pair of 2.9 rocker assemblies from a Burton Powerdyne fast road cam with all steel timing gears. 2.9 Alloy rocker covers are also fitted.
The Bosch K Jetronic injection system has been uprated by KMI Petrol Injection Ltd to give a greater fuel and air flow rate to cope with the increased demands of the engine, the standard electronic ignition system with Magnecore KV85 8.5mm competition leads, a Bosch high output coil and NGK spark plugs take care of the ignition, while air is drawn in via a modified air intake system and cleaned through a K&N filter.
Exhaust is via a Janspeed tubular freeflow exhaust manifolds with a custom made Maniflow 2.5in stainless steel exhaust system with polished stainless rear silencer made by Custom Chrome, with twin slash cut tail pipes.
Water is cooled via the standard radiator and fan using the standard 82 deg C thermostat. Oil is pumped from a modified high pressure/high volume oil pump, filtered via a modified XR4i oil filter mounting assembly and cooled via a thermostatically controlled 16 row oil cooler mounted behind the front grill.
The original torque converter and C3 auto gearbox were replaced with a Borg Warner T5, 5 speed manual gearbox to improve the performance (as fitted to the Ford Mustang and later into the Sierra Cosworths), the power being transmitted via a Cosworth clutch. The prop shaft had to be shortened and rebalanced, the back axle remains standard with a ratio of 3.45:1.
Gas adjustable shock absorbers are fitted all round, the standard road springs have been retained. Higher quality nylon front tie bar bushes have also been fitted. The front brakes have been replaced with larger Willwood ventilated cross drilled discs fitted to aluminium bell housings with AP 4 pot calipers and Mintex high performance brake pads.
Steel braided brake hoses are fitted to all wheels. Wheels have been refurbished by Spit & Polish in Tonbridge, Kent. The rear brakes are standard fitment.
The standard wheels had TRX 200/60/390 tyres fitted. Now I have after market 16 inch 5 spoke alloys as the tyres are easier and cheaper to source.
Some restoration work has been carried out and the original stripes have been replaced in red. Minor additions such as the Sunroof visor. The interior is also near standard except for two additional gauges, a vacuum and battery condition indicator, a Sony digital radio/CD is fitted with upgraded front and rear loudspeakers. I still have the original Ford radio. All door trims and the dashboard facia have been replaced with real walnut veneer to enhance the interior appearance.
The Air-Con system has been modified using a dual-pressure switch on the compressor which will allow the air-con electric fan mounted in front of the radiator to switch on and run earlier than normal.
This will keep the system temperature lower and allow it to run more efficiently at a lower pressure.
An extra switch panel below the dashboard has 2 warning lights (Oil Pressure & A/C fan) plus an Air-con fan override switch to assist with the cooling if needed. Twin air horns (Ford) have replaced the standard fitment horns. I have also added a sunroof wind deflector.
Maximum power output was some time ago estimated to be around 225 bhp, not a huge amount by modern car standards, with a torque of about 280 ft/lbs. 0 - 60 time is around 7.5 secs. I have been using 97-8 RON super unleaded fuel for several years now with no apparent problems. Economy is quite good, better than the auto if driven sensibly, but who wants to do that !
