Kokuten

OK, here's the skinny. Buddy of mine calls me up says "dude, I just got a new ride, you gotta come see this". I hop in the Chicken Shack, my '88 Toyota van (274k on it, waiting for the big 300), and drive over.

he's got my car.

My first car was a 1982 Ford Grenada. I loved the 'miniature land yacht' style, and Ford's weak attempt at consumer-priced luxury was very pleasing to me. I put a lot of maintenance and upkeep into that car, and lost it in a tragic stupid-me-mountain-winter-road incident.

He's got a 1977 Grenada. I'm immediately in love, and when I find out the car has a 5.0litre V8 in it, I'm, well, excited. I tell him I'm gonna buy it off him, and he agrees, when he leaves for the Air Force.

He left, I got it. Frame is straight, body is good, minor rust spotting, some sunfade, some pinstripe damage. No Problem.

Exhaust system is hosed. Tennis-ball sized hole in the Y-pipe, muffs and cat rusted so bad that the first time I throttled past half-pedal, I blew the whole system off. Front-end has the stock bushings and rubber 'bits', from 25 years ago. They're more rotten than a politician's promise. Tires are old, old, old, minor exterior issue-ness (hood support bars sagged, trunk stay-bar missing, etc, etc).

The interior is hashed. Mold is eating the rear deck-area trim, the deck itself is sodden to the point of mushy. The driver's side window trim is gone, the adjuster for the driver's mirror (manual inside adjust) is missing, the passenger adjuster won't stay true.

I'm a competent enough shade-tree mechanic that I can do a LOT of this work myself, and I have a list of upgrades that Ford never considered that I want to do (AOD tranny, Mustang rear end, some front-end upgrades, drive computer, etc, etc... ). But I'm running into a problem.

I can't find parts.

I'm looking for an online resource for new/used parts for the interior and mechanicals for this vehicle, as well as information on what I can swap-out with from a more common model of vehicle, specifically in the exhaust system and front-end, and brakes.

Any help would be appreciated, please feel free to respond here or email me at Kokuten @ te r ti a ry. n e t. I'm trickling money into my new baby, and want to be able to feed it proper parts!

Thank you for any advice, suggestions, URLs, catalog addresses, sympathy posts, or offers of beer.

-K
Kokuten Daysleeper
'77 Grenada, yes my car is older than me!

TerminalVelocity

interior can be done by almost any place that does, you guesed it, interiors

exaust, a compitent muffler man can redo everything from the headers *manifolds* back, and give you more power out of it too.

www.jegs.com

they have alot of great crap

and if you can get your hands on a ford racing catalog that gives alot of great parts too.

Look for a chiltons manual for all the digrams on how to dissasemble/reasemble/restore your car

and for beer, dont drink it, it makes you fat, go strait for ethanol, much better

__________________

My new RHD project!

Solid Crew (Circa 2002)

Kokuten

Thank you, sir, that goes on my 'to-do' list for tomorrow.. now if I could just scrape a couple grand to dump into the beast..

I've a lovely set of plans I'm building for a drive computer/in-car mp3 station, but those wait until it's mechanically sound and refurbished.

Excellent information, the kind of common-sense stuff I'd just not been able to think of. Much appreciated.

TerminalVelocity

no prob, ,and good luck :bandit:

__________________

My new RHD project!

Solid Crew (Circa 2002)

HillbilySailor

You could also raid the junkyards in your area. Remember, the Granada is the same a Mercury Monarch. This car was also made into a Lincoln version, but I can't remembert the name. I do know that the Lincolns came with rear disc brakes. Hope this helps!

g.simonson

I have a '77 Granada that I bought new. It has the Sports Coupe option group which included gold pinstriping unique to that package, gold spoke Magnums, HD suspension. Buckets and console, and mine is a 302 with the OD Toploader 4 speed. I have been finding parts on eBay with good success. Try Green Sales Company, they have a lot of Ford NOS parts and I've done business with them. I think it's www.greensalescompany.com but you might have to Google for the site.

sgt3

The Mercury Monarch and Lincoln Versailles were the same basic car. You may have to drive to yards in nearby states, but these vehicles still are coming in, however sproadically. Also try Kanter's, Downtown Auto Parts, and Auto Krafters Used Parts. I've ordered from each to varying satisfaction for my '78 Grenada. It's a continuing process, but well worth the fruits. Good luck.

OverBoardProject

I know where there is a farm full of old cars like that, and he sells parts off of them.
The problems are that he lives in Grand Forks, BC Canada, and he probably doesn't have a digital camara to send you pics. Or even internet hookup.

If you can't find the body parts let me know and I'll see what I can do to get you his phone number.

He's located about 1 1/2 hours from me, or about 1 hour from Wolf.
One of us might be able to run a camara over there if absolutly nessary and give you our honest opionion on the parts