Austin-Rover

I'd happily pay what I need to for a more comprehensive breakdown policy if holidaying in a classic/old shed of sentimental value. I guess you either need to factor in to your costs the price of the policy, or walk-up fares for flights home. Not much in it I guess. Not driven abroad for a decade, but last time ended up changing a fuel pump in northern Spain en route home from the Costa Blanca. No call out needed, thankfully.

Yes, that really was one of those jobs that spiralled out of control! Both the side skirts are removed, and for the time being they've not gone back on. The reason is that they're incredibly flimsy fibreglass and in many places where the securing bolts pas through in to the sill, the fibreglass is splintered and in poor condition. More work required there. In the meantime, the holes in the sill where the skirts attach now have some lovely new 8mm blanking grommets in them. All four wheel arches were cleaned, and whilst in bits and as each side was jacked up in turn, the whole thing was doused in a thick coat of Waxoyl. As for the fuel filler neck (which was the main reason for disassembly) some creative work was required to get the new part to fit. The MGRover supplied replacements are all different to the ones fitted to the car. (why? who knows, and it's too late to ask now!). The difference being, the much smaller return and lack of attachment point for the small hose from the vapour trap. Megabodge to the rescue! The joys of living with a plumber! So, after a good deal of attention, the CR is now my wheels for the week; a good opportunity to get a couple of hundred miles on it over the next few days. A particular highlight today was finding another CityRover on the M62. To see one is rare, to see one when driving your own...

In the past week; Patch for the sill marked out on the repair panel... Cut out... ...and welded in...

End of the near side sill completed. On to the sill itself, next.

I somehow got a bit carried away this afternoon with cleaning rather than repairing. I took all the wheel arch liners out (most screws needed grinding they were so rusty, so said wheel arch liners won't be going back in until I've been to the fastenings shop!) and got busy with a scrubbing brush and Autosmart G101. It's all come up pretty nice indeed and is a good basis for soaking in Waxoyl prior to reassembly.

Also, had the side skirt off and was pleasantly surprised to find the sill is in very good condition, with just one bit behind the front wheel that will need attention.;

It's out! You can see the remains of the ring that should be around the neck, which is where it bolts to the inside of the pocket. May as well clean up inside the arch before reassembly.

I'd have gone with painting the plate with with a yellow aerosol, it would soon weather to a nice patina. Regardless, what you've done looks fantastic. Such attention to detail is often missed on classic cars, so the fact you've put the effort in for a tractory-thing is really nice to see!

I've had a fun week driving round in the CR. The new clutch has really made a difference to the driving experience, and it's like being reintroduced to the thing all over again. Get it opened up on a NSL road, and it's pretty enjoyable! First up; some fluffy stuff; a new side repeater to replace the one with the missing clip and held in with blu-tac! ...and to follow that up with something more involved; the rotten fuel filler neck! The collar that secures it to the inside of the pocket has rotted away, so the filler has withdrawn out of the pocket and twisted round. It's only a matter of time until the rest of it crumbles to dust. Thankfully this item was in the Rimmer Bros Bargain Bucket and I have one in the garage. Somewhere. First up, get the car in the air; I'm not sure if it shows in this photo, but the car has seen some accident damage on this side (I presume very early on in its life, to have actually been repaired and not scrapped!) and the bottom half of the door panels are quite 'wavey' and with a poor paint finish. The leading edge of the side skirt also doesn't fit, so another job while the car is jacked up is to remove the side skirt and assess what lies underneath. Generally plastic trim hiding structural components is bad news! I have four of these rusty nuts to open on the underside of the skirt. Should be great fun! Back to the job at hand; The three nuts in the filler pocket should secure the filler neck in place, except the collar has rusted away and the neck has fallen back in to the arch; ...and from below... That's about it for today. Nuts are soaking in WD40, and it's too hot to be lieing in the sun!

Wow! Out of the frying pan, and in to the fire! 😄 Good luck!

Having had two of these, my biggest piece of advice to anyone considering scratching this particular itch is; buy a Mk2 version! They are better in so many little places, and at this level, those little changes really do count. They are dead easy to tell apart (reg year alone is not enough as plenty of Mk1s hung around at dealers and picked up late registrations); Grey interior plastics = Mk1 original, Black interior plastics = Mk2 the never actually launched, post bankruptcy 'improved' version.

Short MoT, I'd be tempted to go in with an offer just above scrap as the only other person who will buy that will be the scrap man. You already know it will be crap, so that's half the battle won and if you feel the need to get reacquainted with one then now is the time as there'll be none left in a year or two. The window mech is an easy fix; source a second hand one on eBay. It'll be the steel cable on the runners knotted up. It also appears to have missed the recall notice to have the 'wheel trims of death' removed, so the fact it retains its wheel trims is worth it for me! 😄

Six years of putting up with the woeful gear change, grinding cogs and clutch judder the old wafer-thin clutch plate was consigned to the bin, along with what was probably the original timing belt. I will now be living on fresh air for the rest of the month, but... no more grinding cogs and clutch judder! The gear change is still woeful, so not to get your hopes up too much I would say the car is transformed from 'awful to drive' to 'meh'. (plus representing really, truly dreadful value for money) Oh, and It's also been treated to a superbly naff numberplate from DVLA. 😁 I best get some miles on the clock now!

Don't give up on it just yet. Rimmers might come up with the goods yet. Also, broaden your search into Europe for Tata Indica parts? They were sold there after all...

Bringing the story up to date... October last year we added a Land Rover Discovery to the fleet and the insurance policy for the CityRover was 'borrowed' for the Disco. This meant that the poor old CityRover was abandoned in a terrible, leaky asbestos roofed concrete garage at my parent's flat. Soon after, the MoT on the CR expired. Fast forward to two weeks ago and the CR was insured once more and driven (in a grimy and mouldy state) to the MoT, which is passed with no advisories. Once home, it was cleaned and sanitised and taxed last Monday, first of the month. Not an awful lot to report since then, except that the self-park function on the windscreen wipers seemed to work less and less and subsequently stopped working all together, meaning you had to be quick with the stalk to get the wipers 'off' at the bottom of the screen. Now, at this point I quickly jump to conclusions and think the park switch on the motor is to blame. A quick look on eBay finds a brand new one for £39,99 inc. delivery. That arrived today and I was surprised to find it was the whole wiper set-up, not just the motor! Result! Genuine parts, too! Now, the set up for the front wipers is pretty simple, but well designed none the less. The scuttle below the windscreen is actually a self contained box section with a 'floor' to it. Access is gained by a removable rectangular panel which to one side is attached the wiper motor, and to the other, the linkage. In situ; Removed; A very quick and straightforward swap. Only the battery needed removing from the engine bay to allow for extra wiggle room! Re-assembled, and with the arms back on the glass and it is time to test... and I have the same problem as before; no self-park! Hmmm...perhaps it is the wiper control relay in the fuse box behind the dash. If anyone has ever had cause to enter this particular fuse box on one of these cars then a whole world of pain and suffering awaits. This is NOT a well thought out piece of design! The bottom of the fuse box is just visible below the line of the dash. Above the fuses you can see are three rows of various relays. The cover unscrews and then needs drawing downwards, sliding it over the top of the relays and from behind the dash. Problem No.1; the bonnet release catch is in the way! Solution; bend the bonnet release out of the way (yes, really). Shove your hand up the back of the dash to get a handle on the relays; They did print a map on the back of the fuse box cover, so the wiper relay is quickly identified. Problem No.2; the fusebox is installed before the dash during manufacturing, and the dash sits on top of the relays, so you can't actually remove any of them! Temporary solution; I can wiggle the relay about a millimetre backwards and forwards and tap it with my index finger. This slight movement restores the self-park function to the wipers, briefly. Ahhh... we're getting somewhere now! The wiper control relay is the beige coloured one to the right. So; the situation now, is a sparkling new wiper motor and linkage, and sometimes I get self parking wipers, sometimes not. There's no more I can do with it now, to time to wrap up the show. I did make myself feel a bit better about the whole thing by 'modifying' the fuse box cover, so it can actually be removed and put back without too much swearing; You'd never know I'd been in there! (excuse dash cam wiring!) So the next task is to locate a new relay and then figure out how I'm getting it in to the fuse box! In other news, tomorrow the CR is off to the garage for a new clutch and a cam belt change!