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(Pat)>> You're watching Powernation!
[ engine revving ] [ Music ]
(Alli)>> Welcome to Powernation Builds. I'm Alli Walker. Today we join Engine Power as they transform this '77 Grenada into a spicy sleeper.
(Pat)>> Today we are out of the shop. It's nice to get out every once in a while and do some actual work on cars, and this is something that I think we can handle. We don't know cause we don't know a lot about it.
(Frankie)>> We're going down here to check out a 1977 Ford Granada that supposedly ran when parked. Everything runs and then you park it, and then it doesn't run anymore. So that's pretty common. The owner thinks it's something simple but we're not 100 percent sure. So, the big thing here is we got a bunch of parts pre-ordered from RockAuto. So, we're heading down here kinda blind, but we think we can figure it out and hopefully get this thing running again.
(Pat)>> He said the transmission leaks. This is a car that this person wants to get back running again so they can drive it and maybe sell it. There it is!
(Frankie)>> Oh yeah!
(Pat)>> Now we're talking. This is nicer than I thought. It's sunk.
(Frankie)>> I like how he rolled the windows down so it would air out. That makes me feel there's gonna be a smell in here.
(Pat)>> There is a smell.
(Frankie)>> Look at the inside though. This thing had to have been garage kept for how nice that is. For that not to be cracked you know?
(Pat)>> I don't see any goofy stuff under that vinyl.
(Frankie)>> I think it's just been sitting here and it's dirty.
(Pat)>> It's trying to return to the Earth. Are the keys in it? Make sure the keys are somewhere.
(Frankie)>> They're on the floorboard. Usually, the only reason you leave the keys in the car is when it doesn't run. The oil is a little high, but it seems clear of any water or fuel. So, it was probably just overfilled. The battery was completely dead. So, we'll throw on the Matco jump box and see if it'll turn over.
(Pat)>> Yeah, go ahead. [ Bleep ]
(Pat)>> I don't think it tried to fire. It's getting gas. What does it have for a fuel gauge right now?
(Frankie)>> It's got at least a quarter. A little over a quarter.
(Pat)>> If it moves let's see if this thing has spark.
(Frankie)>> At first the engine didn't run at all. After trouble shooting a couple of issues we found the problem, a distributor that was missing its rotor. After replacing the rotor, cap, plugs, wires, and air filter the engine ran pretty well and the smoke started to clear up.
(Pat)>> She's a little smokey, and it's got a dead hole.
(Frankie)>> It's only on seven.
(Pat)>> Alright you dirty dog. Please move under your own power.
(Frankie)>> The owner was kind enough to let us take the Granada back to the shop to work on the transmission leak.
(Pat)>> There's something!
(Frankie)>> Since it's 102 degrees out today we'll gladly accept that offer.
(Pat)>> Back in the shop we discovered a worn-out gasket was the source of the transmission leak. After changing the filter and gasket, we gave the Granada fresh transmission fluid along with an oil change. Finally, we upgraded the old reverse lights to l-e-ds. After a few minutes cruising around in this old Ford we couldn't stand the idea of parting with it.
(Frankie)>> This car is exceptionally clean and relatively low miles, but you're probably wondering why a Granada? Well, it's not the raciest of cars, and it might not be your piece of pie, but for us that's perfect because this is going to be a sleeper of sorts. That means giving the engine a bunch more power, doing the drivetrain and suspension upgrades that go with it, but not really touching the look of the car. But before we do all of that we need a base line dyno run. So, we're gonna get it on the chassis dyno and make a few pulls. [ engine rumbling ]
(Frankie)>> Let's see what this thing does.
(Pat)>> I think it's more exciting sometimes to do the base line because after you build something you kinda know what it's gonna do.
(Frankie)>> I just like to see the change. This thing's probably not gonna make a lot of power. So, it'll be fun to see the before and after.
(Pat)>> Here we go! [ engine revving ]
[ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> It didn't like wide open throttle.
(Frankie)>> Definitely starting to miss there. Not bad though, 101 and 185 pound feet.
(Pat)>> It made triple digits!
(Frankie)>> That's not bad. These things made like 120 or 130 stock. That's what they claim. That's pretty good.
(Pat)>> I am pumped it made 100 horse. Let's do one more! [ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> I think that's it. [ engine revving down ]
(Pat)>> It kinda cleaned up.
(Frankie)>> 99! It has that natural rev limiter.
(Pat)>> I think it's a combination of two barrel and it doesn't like anything that we're doing.
(Frankie)>> It's old and tired.
(Alli)>> Stick with us to see Pat and Frankie take the Grenada from mild to wild.
(Pat)>> Now we brought this car in because it was a low mile car we just could not live without, and we chassis dyno'ed it and it made dismal power. So, we pulled the engine and made a couple of street modifications to it to spice it up a bit. Check it out! When most people think of their favorite cars from the '70s the Granada does not often make the list, but honestly we like almost everything about it except for the underpowered engine. We've decided to make this Ford a sleeper of sorts adding a stroked 347 along with several other high performance upgrades.
(Frankie)>> We removed the exhaust, transmission, and finally the engine. The tear down went great until we discovered that the block had been bored 60 over and our new pistons are 30 over. Fortunately, we had a 30 over block from a previous project. With the donor block in the Sunnen SV-15 we torque plate honed it for proper piston skirt clearance and cylinder finish, opening up the bores by one and a half thousandths. In case we decide to run a power adder the rings were gapped at 26 thousandths on the top and 28 thousandths on the second. Then we assembled the 40-32 alloy forged Mahle pistons and the Eagle 5-400 long forged H-beam rods. Finally, the rotating assembly could come together.
(Pat)>> A custom ground billet solid roller camshaft was next. Intake duration at 50 thousandths lift is 248 degrees with the exhaust at 260 degrees. Lobe separation angle is 110 degrees. The cam was degreed at 105 degrees of intake centerline, which is four and a half degrees advanced. Comp solid roller lifters, AFR Renegade 205 cylinder heads, 6-850 long push rods, and Jesel 1.6 ratio shaft rockers completed the top end. After installing an Edelbrock Victor Junior intake manifold and a Duralast water pump we camouflaged all of the aftermarket parts on this engine with a patina paint job. Then we headed to the dyno cell. [ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> That sounds like a real engine right there. [ engine revving ]
(Frankie)>> 531.2 horsepower and 443.5 pound feet.
(Pat)>> That's nice! Missed the hood ornament by 30 thousandths. This road race front sump oil pan wasn't designed specifically for our Granada, but it fits like a glove. And since the rest of the engine is dimensionally identical to the one that came out earlier, we have little trouble getting it into place. There we go!
(Frankie)>> We hate to cut up a new set of headers but since they don't fit in the band saw the easiest way to do this is with a Forney abrasive cutoff wheel. Anywhere you make a cut make sure to leave enough clearance to weld all the way around the tube. [ saw high pitch buzzing ] [ Music ]
(Pat)>> Now that our two pipes are cut out we can get the header in there and see what we have to do for routing. We also went ahead at the same time and cut out the collector flange because there will probably be some interference on the floor. When you're doing something like this where something is not actually designed to go into what you're using it for it takes a delicate balance of precise measurement and brute force to sometimes make things work. [ hammer banging ]
(Frankie)>> It should fit now!
(Pat)>> Now that the floor is precisely massaged to what we like we'll get it back in and see what's up.
(Frankie)>> After dry fitting the replacement tubes, the headers are removed and tacked. Then they're put back into place for a final check of fitment before they are fully welded. We'll also weld a stainless V-band onto the collector to replace the piece we cut off.
(Pat)>> Even though this particular set of headers was designed for a different application they seem to go into this side extremely easy.
(Frankie)>> That's good cause this side took a lot more work, but we have our tubes welded in. We have some O-2 bungs to monitor O-2s stand alone, and we also have V-bands on the end so we can build our exhaust back from there. This should slide in now, but we are probably gonna have to put the transmission in before we bolt it in for real.
(Pat)>> So we'll go up in the air and jam her in there.
(Alli)>> Coming up next some sneaky add-ons keep this sleeper under the radar.
(Alli)>> Welcome back! Check out how one flip of a secret switch really brings on the heat.
(Frankie)>> This car wouldn't be a sleeper without a deceptively quiet exhaust. To do that we're using this Summit Racing 304 stainless builders kit, a Vibrant Performance Y-pipe, and Summit's V-band flanges. This will take both three inch collectors into a single three inch pipe before it goes through a catalytic converter and two stainless works mufflers that we also found at Summit Racing. We'll mockup the entire exhaust and tack everything solidly in place. The V-band connections make it easy to disassemble so we can fully weld everything outside of the car. [ drill humming ] You might be wondering why we're installing a catalytic converter. A, this is a street car. B, we're trying to kill as much noise as possible. This 18 inch long oval muffler and 20 inch long five inch round muffler will help with sound control as well.
(Pat)>> The piece to resistance are the three inch Summit Racing electric cutouts that will allow us to uncork it and let it sing with just a flick of a switch. [ mechanical humming ] Now that everything is fully welded we can install the exhaust for real. We picked up a set of steel smoothies for the front and the rear. 14 by 8 here, 14 by 7 up front. These have two bolt patterns, five by four and a half and five by four and three quarter, depending on what your setup is. These wheels have a four inch back spacing, which fits our car perfectly, and the tires we went with a BF Goodrich Radial T/A P-245/60 R-14 in the rear and a P-205/70 R-14 in the front. [ tapping metal ]
(Frankie)>> We mounted this MSD start and step retard box inside where the ashtray would go. This allows us to retard timing for starting and have a triggered retard for nitrous. Best of all, it's nice and hidden.
(Pat)>> The rest of the ignition system consists of an MSD Blaster ignition coil and an MSD off road ignition box. We hid this one underneath the dash to not draw any extra attention. No sleeper would be complete without some sort of nitrous. We picked up an NOS cheater plate system that's adjustable up to 250 horsepower. We've obscured it as much as possible underneath the stock air cleaner. We also tucked away two 10 pound NOS nitrous bottles in the trunk. You know what's next, right?
(Frankie)>> I think we need to close the exhaust and we need to start putting it on the giggle juice.
(Pat)>> Yeah! Nitrous, rule of thumb is you pull one degree of timing per 50 horse of nitrous. I was just gonna do a 100 shot on this one, but I did 125 just to be safe! What we're gonna do is by rights we should take about four degrees of timing out of it, or five degrees of timing. I'm gonna do our handy dandy flip down, and I'm gonna take six degrees out of it.
(Frankie)>> That sounds good! This will be interesting. Full exhaust, 125 shot, let's see what it does.
(Pat)>> Purge it! [ nitrous hissing ]
(Pat)>> We're good!
(Frankie)>> Let's see what she does. [ engine revving ] [ engine revving down ]
(Frankie)>> 416 horsepower and 366 pound feet. So that's about right. Being conservative on the timing means we're not gonna get the full 125. Also, it's diminishing return with the full exhaust. That's pretty good. That's not bad.
(Pat)>> Now time for the gusto.
(Frankie)>> Open her up and make another hit. [ Music ]
(Pat)>> This is gonna be exciting! [ engine revving ] [ engine revving down ] [ engine rumbling ]
(Pat)>> Whoo! [ engine rumbling ]
(Frankie)>> That's awesome, 537 horsepower and 433 pound feet, which is freakin' sweet! We kinda set this arbitrary goal of 500 at the wheel. What would be cool in a street car that maybe if you took it to the strip. That's awesome, and God that's so cool. You can just close it back up, go back to the nice cruiser.
(Pat)>> That was exhilarating right there!
(Alli)>> The Spicy Grenada may not turn heads on the street but a few runs on the strip and the secret is out.
(Frankie)>> Our '77 Granada sleeper is definitely a street car, and we've put some serious street miles on it, but we wanted to take it to a drag strip. So we are here at Etheridge Motorsports Park, which is a great, local eighth mile all concrete track near us. It's a beautiful day, we have a beautiful facility. What more could you ask for?
(Pat)>> I know what we could ask form, drag strip runs! We are gonna run this car in several different configurations. The first one straight off the street. Street tires, closed exhaust. Hell, I'm even gonna leave it in drive, and then we're gonna change things up. Some slicks, open up the exhaust, and definitely hit it with the spray. They don't pay us to look cute. Let's make some runs! [ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> We're gonna leave it right in drive and just floorboard it. [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ]
(Frankie)>> Heck yeah, that wasn't bad!
(Pat)>> That was about as nice as I could do it.
(Frankie)>> 9.90.
(Pat)>> It got in the nines! I'll take that!
(Frankie)>> For street tires, it didn't spin. It wasn't horrible. [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ]
(Pat)>> Was that any better?
(Frankie)>> That was way better. A little smokey. I think that's just the stock valve covers and the stock breathers. I don't think it was too bad. One of the things we're gonna be doing to take our car from street mode into strip mode is changing out the rear wheels and tires for a set of slicks. We went to Summit Racing and we found these Hoosier QuickTime Pros. They're a 26 by 9.5. So, they're the same size as the tire we have on there, but they're gonna work way better here at the strip.
(Pat)>> Now they're still a 14 inch wheel. That means we can still retain our stock hub cap, which adds the extra stealthiness. I even took the time to remove the white lettering from the tire to add to the sleeper effect.
(Frankie)>> I don't think we're fooling anybody.
(Pat)>> No!
(Frankie)>> We mounted and balanced this set back at the shop. So, all we have to do is swap them out. With the added traction we're ready to open up our exhaust cutouts for a major horsepower increase. [ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> It was significantly better.
(Frankie)>> Way better! We know that the engine picks up like 120 with the exhaust open. I'm kinda expecting that, but that was pretty good.
(Pat)>> Two things. One, raise the rev limiter.
(Frankie)>> For sure!
(Pat)>> Two, the converter is so tight it's shifting out of second gear by itself at about 4,800.
(Frankie)>> I didn't know if that was you or the transmission.
(Pat)>> It's a street transmission. I'm not saying that's a bad thing.
(Frankie)>> Street car, not a drag car.
(Pat)>> If this was a true race car you'd have a trans brake in it and a manual valve body.
(Frankie)>> Floor shifter.
(Pat)>> This is a fast street car, and we haven't hit the spray.
(Frankie)>> And opening the exhaust was huge, a whole second!
(Pat)>> So what's the next plan?
(Frankie)>> Unless you think you can pick up some e-t somewhere. Obviously, we can't do anything about the second gear shift. I think we move on to spray. We'll open up our twin 10-pound NOS nitrous bottles that will feed the 125 horsepower shot out of our nitrous plate system. [ engine revving ] [ purge spray hissing ] [ engine revving ]
(Frankie)>> Boom! Way better!
(Pat)>> That was a slight improvement.
(Frankie)>> Still had the second gear early shift, but 7.02!
(Pat)>> That's dangerously close to the sixes. I think with a little fetzering on it I think we can get it in the sixes. I hit the rev limiter again. The car was actually skating off.
(Frankie)>> It was walking back and forth.
(Pat)>> That was a little concerning, but I thought it was probably a teen, but that's pretty good.
(Frankie)>> For the first time taking our 3,800 pound street car to the track we think 7.02 at 97 miles per hour is a huge success. We've got several ideas on how to make our sleeper Granada even quicker down the strip, but for now that's a great day at the track.
(Alli)>> Mild mannered on the street but spicy on the strip. The perfect sleeper project! Follow all of our latest builds at Powernation TV dot com. I'm Alli Walker and I'll see you down the road.
Show Full Transcript
[ engine revving ] [ Music ]
(Alli)>> Welcome to Powernation Builds. I'm Alli Walker. Today we join Engine Power as they transform this '77 Grenada into a spicy sleeper.
(Pat)>> Today we are out of the shop. It's nice to get out every once in a while and do some actual work on cars, and this is something that I think we can handle. We don't know cause we don't know a lot about it.
(Frankie)>> We're going down here to check out a 1977 Ford Granada that supposedly ran when parked. Everything runs and then you park it, and then it doesn't run anymore. So that's pretty common. The owner thinks it's something simple but we're not 100 percent sure. So, the big thing here is we got a bunch of parts pre-ordered from RockAuto. So, we're heading down here kinda blind, but we think we can figure it out and hopefully get this thing running again.
(Pat)>> He said the transmission leaks. This is a car that this person wants to get back running again so they can drive it and maybe sell it. There it is!
(Frankie)>> Oh yeah!
(Pat)>> Now we're talking. This is nicer than I thought. It's sunk.
(Frankie)>> I like how he rolled the windows down so it would air out. That makes me feel there's gonna be a smell in here.
(Pat)>> There is a smell.
(Frankie)>> Look at the inside though. This thing had to have been garage kept for how nice that is. For that not to be cracked you know?
(Pat)>> I don't see any goofy stuff under that vinyl.
(Frankie)>> I think it's just been sitting here and it's dirty.
(Pat)>> It's trying to return to the Earth. Are the keys in it? Make sure the keys are somewhere.
(Frankie)>> They're on the floorboard. Usually, the only reason you leave the keys in the car is when it doesn't run. The oil is a little high, but it seems clear of any water or fuel. So, it was probably just overfilled. The battery was completely dead. So, we'll throw on the Matco jump box and see if it'll turn over.
(Pat)>> Yeah, go ahead. [ Bleep ]
(Pat)>> I don't think it tried to fire. It's getting gas. What does it have for a fuel gauge right now?
(Frankie)>> It's got at least a quarter. A little over a quarter.
(Pat)>> If it moves let's see if this thing has spark.
(Frankie)>> At first the engine didn't run at all. After trouble shooting a couple of issues we found the problem, a distributor that was missing its rotor. After replacing the rotor, cap, plugs, wires, and air filter the engine ran pretty well and the smoke started to clear up.
(Pat)>> She's a little smokey, and it's got a dead hole.
(Frankie)>> It's only on seven.
(Pat)>> Alright you dirty dog. Please move under your own power.
(Frankie)>> The owner was kind enough to let us take the Granada back to the shop to work on the transmission leak.
(Pat)>> There's something!
(Frankie)>> Since it's 102 degrees out today we'll gladly accept that offer.
(Pat)>> Back in the shop we discovered a worn-out gasket was the source of the transmission leak. After changing the filter and gasket, we gave the Granada fresh transmission fluid along with an oil change. Finally, we upgraded the old reverse lights to l-e-ds. After a few minutes cruising around in this old Ford we couldn't stand the idea of parting with it.
(Frankie)>> This car is exceptionally clean and relatively low miles, but you're probably wondering why a Granada? Well, it's not the raciest of cars, and it might not be your piece of pie, but for us that's perfect because this is going to be a sleeper of sorts. That means giving the engine a bunch more power, doing the drivetrain and suspension upgrades that go with it, but not really touching the look of the car. But before we do all of that we need a base line dyno run. So, we're gonna get it on the chassis dyno and make a few pulls. [ engine rumbling ]
(Frankie)>> Let's see what this thing does.
(Pat)>> I think it's more exciting sometimes to do the base line because after you build something you kinda know what it's gonna do.
(Frankie)>> I just like to see the change. This thing's probably not gonna make a lot of power. So, it'll be fun to see the before and after.
(Pat)>> Here we go! [ engine revving ]
[ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> It didn't like wide open throttle.
(Frankie)>> Definitely starting to miss there. Not bad though, 101 and 185 pound feet.
(Pat)>> It made triple digits!
(Frankie)>> That's not bad. These things made like 120 or 130 stock. That's what they claim. That's pretty good.
(Pat)>> I am pumped it made 100 horse. Let's do one more! [ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> I think that's it. [ engine revving down ]
(Pat)>> It kinda cleaned up.
(Frankie)>> 99! It has that natural rev limiter.
(Pat)>> I think it's a combination of two barrel and it doesn't like anything that we're doing.
(Frankie)>> It's old and tired.
(Alli)>> Stick with us to see Pat and Frankie take the Grenada from mild to wild.
(Pat)>> Now we brought this car in because it was a low mile car we just could not live without, and we chassis dyno'ed it and it made dismal power. So, we pulled the engine and made a couple of street modifications to it to spice it up a bit. Check it out! When most people think of their favorite cars from the '70s the Granada does not often make the list, but honestly we like almost everything about it except for the underpowered engine. We've decided to make this Ford a sleeper of sorts adding a stroked 347 along with several other high performance upgrades.
(Frankie)>> We removed the exhaust, transmission, and finally the engine. The tear down went great until we discovered that the block had been bored 60 over and our new pistons are 30 over. Fortunately, we had a 30 over block from a previous project. With the donor block in the Sunnen SV-15 we torque plate honed it for proper piston skirt clearance and cylinder finish, opening up the bores by one and a half thousandths. In case we decide to run a power adder the rings were gapped at 26 thousandths on the top and 28 thousandths on the second. Then we assembled the 40-32 alloy forged Mahle pistons and the Eagle 5-400 long forged H-beam rods. Finally, the rotating assembly could come together.
(Pat)>> A custom ground billet solid roller camshaft was next. Intake duration at 50 thousandths lift is 248 degrees with the exhaust at 260 degrees. Lobe separation angle is 110 degrees. The cam was degreed at 105 degrees of intake centerline, which is four and a half degrees advanced. Comp solid roller lifters, AFR Renegade 205 cylinder heads, 6-850 long push rods, and Jesel 1.6 ratio shaft rockers completed the top end. After installing an Edelbrock Victor Junior intake manifold and a Duralast water pump we camouflaged all of the aftermarket parts on this engine with a patina paint job. Then we headed to the dyno cell. [ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> That sounds like a real engine right there. [ engine revving ]
(Frankie)>> 531.2 horsepower and 443.5 pound feet.
(Pat)>> That's nice! Missed the hood ornament by 30 thousandths. This road race front sump oil pan wasn't designed specifically for our Granada, but it fits like a glove. And since the rest of the engine is dimensionally identical to the one that came out earlier, we have little trouble getting it into place. There we go!
(Frankie)>> We hate to cut up a new set of headers but since they don't fit in the band saw the easiest way to do this is with a Forney abrasive cutoff wheel. Anywhere you make a cut make sure to leave enough clearance to weld all the way around the tube. [ saw high pitch buzzing ] [ Music ]
(Pat)>> Now that our two pipes are cut out we can get the header in there and see what we have to do for routing. We also went ahead at the same time and cut out the collector flange because there will probably be some interference on the floor. When you're doing something like this where something is not actually designed to go into what you're using it for it takes a delicate balance of precise measurement and brute force to sometimes make things work. [ hammer banging ]
(Frankie)>> It should fit now!
(Pat)>> Now that the floor is precisely massaged to what we like we'll get it back in and see what's up.
(Frankie)>> After dry fitting the replacement tubes, the headers are removed and tacked. Then they're put back into place for a final check of fitment before they are fully welded. We'll also weld a stainless V-band onto the collector to replace the piece we cut off.
(Pat)>> Even though this particular set of headers was designed for a different application they seem to go into this side extremely easy.
(Frankie)>> That's good cause this side took a lot more work, but we have our tubes welded in. We have some O-2 bungs to monitor O-2s stand alone, and we also have V-bands on the end so we can build our exhaust back from there. This should slide in now, but we are probably gonna have to put the transmission in before we bolt it in for real.
(Pat)>> So we'll go up in the air and jam her in there.
(Alli)>> Coming up next some sneaky add-ons keep this sleeper under the radar.
(Alli)>> Welcome back! Check out how one flip of a secret switch really brings on the heat.
(Frankie)>> This car wouldn't be a sleeper without a deceptively quiet exhaust. To do that we're using this Summit Racing 304 stainless builders kit, a Vibrant Performance Y-pipe, and Summit's V-band flanges. This will take both three inch collectors into a single three inch pipe before it goes through a catalytic converter and two stainless works mufflers that we also found at Summit Racing. We'll mockup the entire exhaust and tack everything solidly in place. The V-band connections make it easy to disassemble so we can fully weld everything outside of the car. [ drill humming ] You might be wondering why we're installing a catalytic converter. A, this is a street car. B, we're trying to kill as much noise as possible. This 18 inch long oval muffler and 20 inch long five inch round muffler will help with sound control as well.
(Pat)>> The piece to resistance are the three inch Summit Racing electric cutouts that will allow us to uncork it and let it sing with just a flick of a switch. [ mechanical humming ] Now that everything is fully welded we can install the exhaust for real. We picked up a set of steel smoothies for the front and the rear. 14 by 8 here, 14 by 7 up front. These have two bolt patterns, five by four and a half and five by four and three quarter, depending on what your setup is. These wheels have a four inch back spacing, which fits our car perfectly, and the tires we went with a BF Goodrich Radial T/A P-245/60 R-14 in the rear and a P-205/70 R-14 in the front. [ tapping metal ]
(Frankie)>> We mounted this MSD start and step retard box inside where the ashtray would go. This allows us to retard timing for starting and have a triggered retard for nitrous. Best of all, it's nice and hidden.
(Pat)>> The rest of the ignition system consists of an MSD Blaster ignition coil and an MSD off road ignition box. We hid this one underneath the dash to not draw any extra attention. No sleeper would be complete without some sort of nitrous. We picked up an NOS cheater plate system that's adjustable up to 250 horsepower. We've obscured it as much as possible underneath the stock air cleaner. We also tucked away two 10 pound NOS nitrous bottles in the trunk. You know what's next, right?
(Frankie)>> I think we need to close the exhaust and we need to start putting it on the giggle juice.
(Pat)>> Yeah! Nitrous, rule of thumb is you pull one degree of timing per 50 horse of nitrous. I was just gonna do a 100 shot on this one, but I did 125 just to be safe! What we're gonna do is by rights we should take about four degrees of timing out of it, or five degrees of timing. I'm gonna do our handy dandy flip down, and I'm gonna take six degrees out of it.
(Frankie)>> That sounds good! This will be interesting. Full exhaust, 125 shot, let's see what it does.
(Pat)>> Purge it! [ nitrous hissing ]
(Pat)>> We're good!
(Frankie)>> Let's see what she does. [ engine revving ] [ engine revving down ]
(Frankie)>> 416 horsepower and 366 pound feet. So that's about right. Being conservative on the timing means we're not gonna get the full 125. Also, it's diminishing return with the full exhaust. That's pretty good. That's not bad.
(Pat)>> Now time for the gusto.
(Frankie)>> Open her up and make another hit. [ Music ]
(Pat)>> This is gonna be exciting! [ engine revving ] [ engine revving down ] [ engine rumbling ]
(Pat)>> Whoo! [ engine rumbling ]
(Frankie)>> That's awesome, 537 horsepower and 433 pound feet, which is freakin' sweet! We kinda set this arbitrary goal of 500 at the wheel. What would be cool in a street car that maybe if you took it to the strip. That's awesome, and God that's so cool. You can just close it back up, go back to the nice cruiser.
(Pat)>> That was exhilarating right there!
(Alli)>> The Spicy Grenada may not turn heads on the street but a few runs on the strip and the secret is out.
(Frankie)>> Our '77 Granada sleeper is definitely a street car, and we've put some serious street miles on it, but we wanted to take it to a drag strip. So we are here at Etheridge Motorsports Park, which is a great, local eighth mile all concrete track near us. It's a beautiful day, we have a beautiful facility. What more could you ask for?
(Pat)>> I know what we could ask form, drag strip runs! We are gonna run this car in several different configurations. The first one straight off the street. Street tires, closed exhaust. Hell, I'm even gonna leave it in drive, and then we're gonna change things up. Some slicks, open up the exhaust, and definitely hit it with the spray. They don't pay us to look cute. Let's make some runs! [ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> We're gonna leave it right in drive and just floorboard it. [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ]
(Frankie)>> Heck yeah, that wasn't bad!
(Pat)>> That was about as nice as I could do it.
(Frankie)>> 9.90.
(Pat)>> It got in the nines! I'll take that!
(Frankie)>> For street tires, it didn't spin. It wasn't horrible. [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ]
(Pat)>> Was that any better?
(Frankie)>> That was way better. A little smokey. I think that's just the stock valve covers and the stock breathers. I don't think it was too bad. One of the things we're gonna be doing to take our car from street mode into strip mode is changing out the rear wheels and tires for a set of slicks. We went to Summit Racing and we found these Hoosier QuickTime Pros. They're a 26 by 9.5. So, they're the same size as the tire we have on there, but they're gonna work way better here at the strip.
(Pat)>> Now they're still a 14 inch wheel. That means we can still retain our stock hub cap, which adds the extra stealthiness. I even took the time to remove the white lettering from the tire to add to the sleeper effect.
(Frankie)>> I don't think we're fooling anybody.
(Pat)>> No!
(Frankie)>> We mounted and balanced this set back at the shop. So, all we have to do is swap them out. With the added traction we're ready to open up our exhaust cutouts for a major horsepower increase. [ engine revving ]
(Pat)>> It was significantly better.
(Frankie)>> Way better! We know that the engine picks up like 120 with the exhaust open. I'm kinda expecting that, but that was pretty good.
(Pat)>> Two things. One, raise the rev limiter.
(Frankie)>> For sure!
(Pat)>> Two, the converter is so tight it's shifting out of second gear by itself at about 4,800.
(Frankie)>> I didn't know if that was you or the transmission.
(Pat)>> It's a street transmission. I'm not saying that's a bad thing.
(Frankie)>> Street car, not a drag car.
(Pat)>> If this was a true race car you'd have a trans brake in it and a manual valve body.
(Frankie)>> Floor shifter.
(Pat)>> This is a fast street car, and we haven't hit the spray.
(Frankie)>> And opening the exhaust was huge, a whole second!
(Pat)>> So what's the next plan?
(Frankie)>> Unless you think you can pick up some e-t somewhere. Obviously, we can't do anything about the second gear shift. I think we move on to spray. We'll open up our twin 10-pound NOS nitrous bottles that will feed the 125 horsepower shot out of our nitrous plate system. [ engine revving ] [ purge spray hissing ] [ engine revving ]
(Frankie)>> Boom! Way better!
(Pat)>> That was a slight improvement.
(Frankie)>> Still had the second gear early shift, but 7.02!
(Pat)>> That's dangerously close to the sixes. I think with a little fetzering on it I think we can get it in the sixes. I hit the rev limiter again. The car was actually skating off.
(Frankie)>> It was walking back and forth.
(Pat)>> That was a little concerning, but I thought it was probably a teen, but that's pretty good.
(Frankie)>> For the first time taking our 3,800 pound street car to the track we think 7.02 at 97 miles per hour is a huge success. We've got several ideas on how to make our sleeper Granada even quicker down the strip, but for now that's a great day at the track.
(Alli)>> Mild mannered on the street but spicy on the strip. The perfect sleeper project! Follow all of our latest builds at Powernation TV dot com. I'm Alli Walker and I'll see you down the road.
