81 ford granada marquis (transmission and driveline)

With the engine sat inplace it was time to bolt up the transmission, make some final posistion adjustments, then fabricate some mountings. Apart from drilling a few holes, one of the only two body sheet metal modifications I had to make was a small dent in the transmission tunnel to clear the MLPS (Manual Lever Posisition Sensor), the other major sheetmetal adjustment was mentioned on the engine fitting page, removing and repositioning the battery tray .

Transmission test fit

I actually did a little test fit beforehand

Transmission bolted in

With the engine/transmission bolted up and final position determined I could make the transmission mounting, yes I know this mounting bracket looks all crooked and bent but it was made to fit the car which being a product of seventies technology was built to loose tolerances compared to modern cars.  One stroke of luck fitting the transmission was that the shift spacing on the original Granada C3 transmission was the same as the Mercury 4R70W transmission, so all I needed to do was make a few addittional bends in the original linkage to fit around transmission mounting.

Transmission cooling

To keep the transmission cool I fitted a fluid cooler behind the front grille and a Derale fluid control thermostat to regulate fluid flow, the thermostat allows transmission fluid to bypass the cooler and flow back to the transmission when the fluid is cold, then opens at 180 degrees F (82 degrees C) to allow hot fluid to flow through the cooler.

Propshaft

I took a few measurements, then delivered the Granada and Mercury propshafts to H.J. Chard Engineering of Bristol, U.K. to make a new propshaft to fit the Granada Marquis, a week later they called to say it was all readt to collect.

Final drive

Being a lowly 2 litre (122ci) base model the rear axle gear ratio was 3.89 to 1, this way too short resulting in a quick acceleration but high cruising rpm and poor fuel economy (as if I ever cared about that), taller gears were rquired so a rear axle from a 2.8 litre (170ci) with a ratio of 3.45 to 1 ratio was sourced and fitted, this small change gave a much more relaxed highway cruise with 2000rpm in top gear equaling 62mph (100kph) and 3000rpm equaling 93mph (148kph).

more information about the ford granada marquis

Please follow the links below to find out how the 1981 Ford Granada Marquis was created. (Click on pictures to see at full size)