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Rover 216 GSI Auto £300 or possible swaps, page 3.


davehedgehog31

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As long as the rest of the car is OK then thats not too bad IMO. I cant weld either but I have found much bigger holes in my old Corsa over the years which were welded up at a relatively painless price.

 

Automec in Bo'ness are enthusiastic about older cars and their tame welder has done good jobs on the Corsa over the years. The replacement of the whole front crossmember and repair to the rear valance was only about 300 quid so that hole should be a lot less than that. Their bodyshop man will match the grey no bother either.

 

I was told Rover ownership is an adventure, which is certainly true!

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As long as the rest of the car is OK then thats not too bad IMO. I cant weld either but I have found much bigger holes in my old Corsa over the years which were welded up at a relatively painless price.

 

Automec in Bo'ness are enthusiastic about older cars and their tame welder has done good jobs on the Corsa over the years. The replacement of the whole front crossmember and repair to the rear valance was only about 300 quid so that hole should be a lot less than that. Their bodyshop man will match the grey no bother either.

 

I was told Rover ownership is an adventure, which is certainly true!

Cheers Matey! As far as issues go on banger money motors, it's minor, every other aspect of the car I've dug into has been well up to snuff so worth getting it put right.

 

I already had them on the radar after your earlier recommendation so going to give them a bell and see if they can have a scout at it. 

 

Looking forward to the updates on the Rover your end, lovely big bus.

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TADTS on the rear arches, it's a common issue amongst '90s Rovers and Hondas - if you can find one that's never been welded and doesn't need any then I'd be pretty surprised, even my Prelude has had minor attention. I had one of those rear arch/sill ends and a sill hole cut out and plated on my old R8 for £80.

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Not too much progress, just gave her an oil change using the old extraction method. Definitely the best tool I've ever bought, oil changed in just over half an hour start to finish including warming the car up.

 

Other than that,not much, going to wait until after pay day to get quotes for sorting the rust out as I've already spent plenty this month.

 

Thought I had a squealing gearbag, turns out it's just my shite stereo getting interference consistent with engine load. Most odd...

 

Beige floor mats are silly...

 

Away down to a caravan in sunny Southport next week, fretting on wether to take rusty rover or the dependable modern Peugeot.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm loathed to call this a project as such, as it's more a case of being on top of maintenance ad driving it...

 

Ive been oddly productive. Spark Plugs were swapped, found some oil in Spark Plug #4 on the insulator side. Advised it's a common issue and O-Ring seals on Rocker Cover should cure that particular ill, so new set ordered up from eBay, should come tomorrow. 

 

Last night I set to replacing the front brake discs and pads along with front ARB linkages. 

 

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At it's conception in the 1950's Cumbernauld was described as a Utopian dreamland, "the town for tomorrow". Well, they didn't think about jacking up Rovers when they designed the parking bays. Less than optimal terrain. I don't think the little scissor jack has ever seen the light of day until yesterday. 

 

All came apart well and I had the brakes and drop links fitted quite quickly. The bolts for the pad carrier were FT, but not FBT and a breaker bar got them off without much grief.

 

His MOT is due by the 28th of this month an I thought I would have a nose about to see if there was anything obviously amiss in the common failure areas while I was down there, not a hint of it. The old boy who owned it has obviously kept on top of his maintenance despite his infatuation for driving into street furniture and garage doors. This is evidences in the exemplary MOT history.

 

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It's going down to the garage tomorrow after work for the chap to have a quick squint at the problematic rust areas I found a page back. They really do look much worse in the photos than in reality. Hopefully a quick patch up job. The car is absolutely solid otherwise as far as I can tell with no corrosion issues outwith the usual problem area highlighted. With that seen to it will be going in early next week and hopefully emerge with a years ticket.

 

Going to give the automatic transmission fluid a drain and change then that should be fettling concluded for a wee bit. Have a shot of him sitting in the car park at the golf;

 

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Me too!  I can see all the rest fine.  I've had this issue popping up randomly across the forum recently but thought it was just my pc playing silly buggers.  At least I could see the other pics and what a nice tidy example this is, well worth investing in since it has nothing too horrific looking and is a nice colour combo.

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  • 1 month later...

This car developed a bit of an issue where it idles highly (around 2k rpm) when first started. After 10 mins driving, it settles down but I suspect even then it's still not quite perfect, if blipping the throttle revs climb then fall sharply below idle speed, but it never stalls and finds its correct idle speed again.

 

I suspect vacuum leak, but couldn't find anything using the usual method of flammable spray around any seals... Not sure but going to dig into it this weekend, the car is still perfectly drivable. I did replace the battery and it roughly coincided with my problems, I'm not sure if there's something there or just a red herring.

 

I drove a mates much newer and much more shagged Honda Civic recently and it made me realise just how good this Rover is, it really is as tight as a drum and the interior is pristine.

 

Its a dream to work on, even changing the ATF can be done on the ground without lying down or anything, just turn full lock right and get a 3/8 ratchet on the drain plug. It's so thoughtfully designed.

 

I think this and the 405 could be around for a long time.

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Fast idle is normal for these from cold but 2k is a bit on the high side.

Check the crankcase breather, possibly the idle air control valve, and check that the spark plugs aren't tired.

Yeah, it's always idled high when first started for a wee minute, but more like 1100rpm. I'll check those out mate, I did replace the spark plugs quite recently too but didn't gap them coming to think of it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got 4x new Tyres for this and the front alignment checked. I usually try to buy big brand tyres after having some truly shocking shiters on a few cars I've owned, I broke the trend here though. 

 

Some potential ditchfinders branded "Rovelo", first impressions they are round and black and have no weird font on the sidewall. Driven about 150 miles on them over the last few days and they seem fine to be honest, I don't really hustle it along. On a saturated road earlier they were absolutely fine. Certainly don't seem to be in the same bracket as the fucking disasters I had on my 206 which were frankly dangerous. 

 

They were £146 for four of them fitted with wheel alignment and it was all done within about an hour while I ate my breakfast in Wetherspoons... 

 

Below is actual* footage of my 206 fitted with Wanchong Skidmasters

 

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I do seem to have, mostly...

 

I went for the old skoosh a highly flammable aerosol round any joins trick. With a fire extinguisher pinched from the parents caravan on standby. No obvious leaks anyway. 

 

I cleaned out the Idle Control Valve and reseated all connectors. Also changed plugs at the same time. The high idle has calmed down, it does idle around 1300, 1400, but I think there's still a degree of compensation going on, it is lowering each time I start it.  Revs now rise and fall like they should. 

 

I should really update this thread more often, I've done quite a bit of fettling but I always forget to take pictures, mainly because my phones camera is utterly garbage. Does anyone know how to merge two threads? I wouldn't mind merging my 405 thread into this rather than clutter up the boards if I post an update on both. 405 thread.

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I fancied a stereo with CD/USB/Blueteeth etc, Stanky of this parish had a nice Sony one which was faulty but he wanted nothing for. He kindly posted it up along with CD one of Top Gear Anthems (CD 2 was suck inside said Sony stereo). 

 

I set about having a look at it, plugged it in to see what the script was. The unit would turn on and indeed play track one of Top Gear Anthems. Street Spirit (Fade Out) by Radiohead. A couple of buttons would register a press but all seemed to just perform a random function then turn the unit off.

 

First step, I cleaned out the contacts between the faceplate and the unit itself with some contact cleaner. No dice, still the same. Damn. So naturally I dismantled it.

 

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There wasn't much to see. I further cleaned and re-seated the connector between the faceplate and the unit itself, as this seems to be the problem area. I even bent the little pins out on the female side to try and get better contact, sadly nothing. It did look quite cool in it's dismantled state though, but behaved just as erratically. 

 

There is  hardware reset button, while I could confirm this did reset the unit, it made no difference.

 

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I think I'll put it in the cupboard and set a search alert on eBay for a replacement faceplate, I think it would need to be one for this exact model though, so I could be waiting a while. For now, period cassette deck is reinstated.

 

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I decided to take her a drive, went up through Kilsyth and over the Tak Ma Doon road, then over to Denny, an interesting bimble. 

 

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The more pressing issue I should look to investigate is the fact it idles at 2000RPM from cold, I thought it was fixed for a while, but no.It doesn't seem to be a vacuum leak, or if it is I can't find it. I cleaned the IACV out as best I could but just the same. New plugs made no difference. Next thing to replace is HT leads, I have a replacement set. It's not a major issue as the car runs fine once it settles down, but it's not ideal. 

 

Other than that, it does just keep plodding along really uneventfully. I've been thinking about changing it recently as I really don't like it's automaticness much of the time, but it's a really solid car and doesn't feel it's age so I'll probably run it through the winter and take it from there.

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A short run in the Rover, with the only soundtrack befitting of such a fine steed. 

 

Marvel at the outstanding refinement, wonder at the unprecedented road holding ability of the Rovelo pneumatic tyres, gaze in wonderment at the majesty of the lovingly crafted interior, featuring the finest* cuts of wood* available to the contemporary craftsman. Finally, let your troubles melt away as the dulcet tones of Classic FM soothe your ears, the only soundtrack befitting of a vehicle of such distinguished character. (Warning, watch your volume, the sound quality is abhorrent)

 

 

 

In other news its still idling like a bag of shite from cold, it will do so for some time then settle down and run normally all of a sudden. God knows, requires further investigation but I'm scratching my head as I've tried all the obvious. Will look at it at the weekend with renewed enthusiasm... hopefully. 

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Find another ICV from a scrapper or try one of the Ebay £20 specials?

 

Also, as it seems to be temperature related it perhaps could be linked to coolant temperature sensor? My 940 was revving it's knackers off and hunting really badly until it warmed up, a new CTS cured it.

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Your high idle problem may be caused by oily wiring which confuses the ECU. I had this same problem with my 820 for years, never could fix it. What happens is that current tracks along the outside of engine wires. Cleaning the wires is a cheap fix and just takes a little time and patience. Try it, it has worked for me. Great looking car!

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