[JakeM]

Meanwhile…. In Norway.


Most of us had a favorite car growing up. Something someone in the family drove that we just drooled over when we were younger, well Joel did to. He always wanted to get behind the wheel of his Grandpa’s Ford Granada. In 1995 Joel was able to make that happen. He bought his 1982 Ford Granada 2.8i Ghia and shortly after started modding. In 1996 Joel transplanted a 2.0 Ford Cosworth YB motor and cranked it up to the tune of 590 rear wheel horsepower. After a while his ambitions grew and he was ready for the next project. Or was he? After seriously considering a full track prepped r32 Skyline he decided he couldn’t let go of his first obsession. However, he knew it was time for some major changes. Then it started. He teamed up with ingar byman for building assistance, and got work.



Most enthusiasts would have been happy with almost 600 horsepower to the rear tires and a fully built suspension and drive train. But not Joel. The above is a picture of the car before the more serious modification started.

Here you can see the turbo Cosworth motor in place.

Now at a crossroads Joel had a lot of brainstorming to do as well as a lot of decisions to make. Being an advocate of a clean, OEM, look he knew he wanted to keep his Ghia looking as “normal” as possible. However, at the same time, create a beast to roam around the country side that would demolish anything that felt like challenging him. He wanted a Ford motor under the hood. He started with a modular 4.6 liter Ford V8 and then modified it for his upcoming combination. After that, a set of Ford “Type B” 4 valve heads were reworked to Joel’s specifications. To fuel this bad boy Joel knew he was going to need some serious components. An Aeromotive mechanical fuel pump with a 6000HP capacity was fitted into to place as well as a backup electric pump should the belt fail on the mechanical pump. To feed the hungry cylinder’s Joel decided on 1680cc injectors. Just in case that wasn’t enough fuel, rail pressure was increased to 4.5 bar, affectively letting the injector’s flow 1850cc’s. Why so much fuel? Because this car is going to be drinking E85 to keep the detonation to a minimum. Now with this massive electronic fuel injection system Joel knew he was going to need a serious management system. FAST Xfi was his chosen weapon. With the FAST Xfi system Joel would have no issues controlling ignition and fuel timing. Also, Joel knew the system well from the previous round of modification. With this much fuel Joel knew he would have to move a serious amount of air. To do that he chose twin 82mm Comp triple ceramic bearing turbochargers with custom made turbo manifolds and full custom 3.5” exhaust from the downpipes to the back bumper. A custom intake manifold as also put in place to accommodate a giant custom 104mm throttle body.





Above is the almost completed twin turbo Ford modular V8.

With this serious motor combination sitting under his hood Joel now needs an efficient means to plant the power produced by this very lethal combination. Not wavering from the blue oval, Joel decided on a new rear suspension setup courtesy of a Cobra R. A complete independent rear suspension swap.




Above is the modified independent suspension from a Cobra R Mustang.


This swap was not your usual “bolt-in” style swap. Joel needed to create his own mounts to tie the new independent rear axle into the factory Ghia frame. Here Ingar came in handy and created his own bracing to mount a set of canti-lever´ed coil over’s.











To keep it tight in the turns a custom set of front control arm’s was designed to accept some standard style coil over’s.









Joel wanted strengthen the frame and add some safety to his Ghia. So, he had a full cage as well as a host of other frame modifications done to make it as stiff and safe as possible.











In between that nice new rear end and the back of the motor Joel would need a stout gearbox and a heavy duty driveshaft. To pull those duties Joel chose a Liberty built 5 speed transmission with an external fluid pump and cooler. It has a Tilton 4 plate carbon clutch is allowed to slip a fraction more than your std clutch to lessen shockloads to the driveline when it is dumped slipper clutch to absorb some of the shock the drive train. The car also employs a Nascar certified 1600HP driveshaft. Some serious modification had to made to mate all the components to the Ghia. Below are some pictures to show some of the work done.




Above is a mock-up with the new Liberty 5 speed in place while making the new transmission tunnel.



New Tunnel almost complete with the beginnings of the driveshaft tube in place as well.



New transmission tunnel and driveshaft tunnel just about complete.



View from front to back of the new locations of the new driveline.

To bring this monster down from speed Joel made custom spindles and mounted massive Porsche 911 GT2 6 piston calipers with 360mm ML55AMG cross drilled rotors. To keep as much brake feel as possible Joel opted to ditch servo assistance and ABS. He also fitted a Titlon adjustable pedal box.





So now that Joel had his power train pretty much ready to rock, some serious body modifications had to be done to accommodate the new parts. From the full 3.5” exhaust to the new massive front mount intercooler. There was a lot of work to be done.



Modifying the rear bumper for the new exhaust setup.



Mocking up the dash and some other interior pieces.

Now with most everything in place it is all about the small details. Below are a few other pictures of the build. To see more click the link at the end of this article.



Massive front mount intercooler in place.



Time for paint!



Almost there!

Joel is very happy with his new beast and wouldn’t change much. Joel thinks he can do a bit more magic with the wiring and that a 6 speed tranzillia from Liberty may be in order in the near future. In the mean time, Norway has a beast of a car roaming its road with a very happy pilot behind the controls.












Here is Joel’s Ghia as it sits today.

Big thanks to :
KRB Trading (www.krbtrading.com)
JCS Race Tech
SWR Performance



Article written by Jake McCune
Build by Joel Olsen
Pictures by Joel Olsen
Link to the full build thread: Modded European Ford ;)