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The Pilgrim Cobra Kit is know as the Sumo MKIII. The kit uses either a Sierra or Granada MK3 as the donor/running gear, or if you have loads of dosh, an X series Jag. Which donor to use ?, Granada or Jag ? Well although Jag running gear would hold more esteem, I decided on Granada because of availability and cost of parts, and the Disks all-round option over the sierra.
This does mean however I also needed some parts from a Sierra, Namely: Steering
Column So first, off to the scrapyards to find the Sierra bits. The first scrappie quoted me £150 for the lot, hmmm perhaps I could find a cheaper source, (and I had to remove the parts !). I then found a small local scrappie who had 4 Sierra's I could climb around and have whatever I wanted. The steering column even had the keys in the ignition !. All the parts were in very good order, the master cylinder looked new. I removed all the components I wanted and went back to negotiate a price. He was quite happy to accept £50 for the lot !, bargain !!!!. My donor car has a V6 2.8i engine... hmmm no I don't think so, I want a V8. Looking around I have managed to source a 'turnkey' Rover 3.5 V8, much better. I had thought about the Chevy 5.7, but don't like the idea of 10 MPG , also service and support is much better for the Rover. I will replace the Twin SU carbs however for Webber 500 4 barrel plus Offenhauser Manifold, (complete with big flat chrome air filter). Stripping the Donor What a pain this has turned out to be !. The Sierra was stripped no problem in my last Kit build, however the Granada is turning out to be quite a pain. First problem, I could not get the wheels off !. They were rusted on. In the end I destroyed the wheels by bashing them from the inside with a sledge hammer, eventually releasing the now warped wheels. This was of course after having problems undoing the wheel nuts. Things did not get any better because although the rear suspension dropped out okay, I could not release the six torqx screws releasing each of the half shafts. Both my torx sockets snapped! because the screws were so tight. In the end I resorted to grinding off the heads, then removing the leftover studs. During all this I noticed the car was slowly getting lower, it seems the axle stands are pushing their way up through the rotten underside, hmmm better get a move on. With the rear suspension finally off, now to have a go at the front. Now last time I did this both the 4 pinch bolts snapped off making it a bugger to get the stub axle off. No problem this time, both stub axles came off okay. However now a thought crossed my mind, it was going to be very difficult to get the leftover donor car down to the bottom of the drive for the scrapman to take away. I decided to go visit the scrapyard and get a couple of stub axles to put back on the Granada so I would have front wheels with steering. I could then just lift the back of the car with the engine host and pull the car down the drive. A quick visit to the scrappy and I had two stub axles in my mits, (both pinch bolts snapped off by the way !!). I then refitted the worst of the stub axles and put the front wheels back on. 11/04/03 Well the Granada has gone to the scrapyard in the sky. It only cost £20 to get the local scrappy to take it away. There doesn't seem to be a lot of parts left ...
I went to the local Partco and bought exchange Calipers, Disks and new pads, cost a fortune but after my last experience with the SVA and brakes, I thought it best to buy new. 12/04/03 Started cleaning up the Donor parts this weekend, I had forgotten what a horrible messy dirty job this was, but at least it's over with now and all the parts are ready for painting. 13/04/03 About half the parts are painted now, and not looking too bad either, the diff came up quite nice with Hammerite spray. 05/05/03 Well just about all the parts are ready and waiting, including the engine. I have fitted a Weber 500 Carb and Offenhauser manifold to the engine, more detail later during the build.
06/05/03 Great news !, Pilgrim rang me and asked if I could take an early delivery of my Kit, (does the sun come up in the morning !!). Apparently they had built one too many somewhere along the way and wondered if I would like it. They want to deliver in 2 days time !, yippeee, can't wait. The only parts missing will be the wheels ,(they are only ordered once you pay the balance, and the exhaust manifold as the welder has walked out !. The delivery will be for the 'Part A' components which will allow me to build up to full rolling chassis.
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