Broken!

I felt the need to write something on here as it looked a bit sad not having a single discussion about Granadas.......although with me being the only Granada driver it may well take a while to fill the space!
My poor Cossie is a bit broken at the moment. It wasnt starting very well a while ago and had an intermittent power loss, so while the rego was coming to an end in March I thought Id "quickly" take off the plenum and cam covers and have a look! I found engine oil in the plenum and a broken timing chain tensioner which looks like it may have been letting 1 of the inlet cams (its a quad cam) go very slightly out of whack with the rest if the engine. It doesnt look or sound like anything has hit together but I figure as I have a spare engine I will pull it out, clean up the engine bay and have a general tidy, it gives me a good excuse to sort out a few odd jobs that are impossible with the engine in situ. So I am driving my wifes Mitzi Magna Wagon for now. Having no time or money to carry out the work is kind of holding me back a bit but I have sorted a few goodies to help. I will of course be enlisting my brother and a mate to help with the heavy parts and I will try and post pics on here as and when I get my finger out! (Not easy when you have a 3 year old who commands all the attention and a 17 year old whos learning to drive in the Mitzi.......I wont even mention my 12 year old!!!!!!!!! ) Wish me luck!
 At least the Granada tab wont look so lonely now!
Cheers.
PS. Nice new layout of the forum gents, looks good. 

Im always glad to see and hear other Granada fans! I got into Granadas when the first Mk3 saloon/sedan came out. It was the biggest car I'd ever driven and scared the hell out of me parking it but I was 21 at the time and we had just had our first baby. That was long ago and then I found out about the Cossie version and saved up until I found a good 1. With the auto box they are a dream to drive, really smooth and so fast, they will still kick down a gear at over 100 mph! The only reason I changed to a manual was my auto was playing up and it was cheaper to convert it than to fix it...plus the fact I prefer a manual! Now Ive had time to look into all types of Granada I have to say the older ones are looking very nice but its so hard to find a neat example that you can afford. Just read about a Mk1 Sport in Classic Ford Mag thats been restored from the ground up and its perfect and worth a few bucks too! It still annoys me that so many Granada were used as banger racers in the UK because they are a tough car, the amount of them that have been scrapped just for a couple of bits too it seems sad.  If i ever get the space and money and time and everything else that goes with it, I would love to have a couple more....Im sure my wife will have something to say about it though! Ill just enjoy my old face lifted Mk3 for now.....I may get it back on the road one day too........