Lord Sterling's fleet of failure - Vectra sortage

[Bucketeer]

Hey Mo that looks grand (but then I have really low standards).

If you are definitely returning to France for work and still have access to a pool car there then I understand that it makes no sense to bring the coupe with you, but I'm not sure I would be able to resist the temptation. Wafting round the South of France in an 800 coupe sounds like the stuff of PLAYA/DON/BOSS dreams.

[chaseracer]

strangely my renner 19 has a portsmouth reg but all the service book stuff says renner birmingham and compared to a brochure it had a lot of options

 

Management/press/pool car registered by the importer, then.  Have you noticed how many post-2001 Renos wear plates starting H*?

[Pillock]

HV mostly for Renault.

A lot of pre-2001 plates with O in the middle are Brum registrations, and a lot of Rover demo and press cars ended in OK. There's every chance this was originally a Rover car although it could have just been preregistered to bump up sales figures, a common tactic in the 90s.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Y* for bmws

all our new 208s start LO, LM ,LT

[Lord Sterling]

Right, since I bought this heap, some work has taken place;

 

It failed its MOT on a few minor bits some of which has actually been sorted out. The passenger-side sill needed a tickle with the welder, thankfully as the sills are Black from factory, there was no need to paint up the sills or worry about a tide mark.

 

I've hoovered and washed the out which has made it a slightly better, I also added some original shag-pile mats and a drivers original Rover rubber mat:

 

 

The seats also had some Cif and a damp sponge chucked at it, but its made little difference. I'm now on the lookout for a couple of 800 Coupe front seats in Beige.

 

Whilst MOT work was remedied, the lad who did the work (superb chap) removed the ugly towbar for me and as I managed to see Brad today and access my unit, I grabbed an original Rover head unit to fit to the COupe:

 

 

Whilst also at Brads, he fitted a petrol flap closing mechanism as the flap was held closed with Blue Tac.

 

 

Whilst fitting the radio, I noticed that the retractable aerial didn't raise when the stereo was switched on, but I found some wires that led to a small switch, the wires came from the loom behind where the radio is fitted, switching it one way enabled the aerial to raise and lower when the radio was switched on and off.

 

Anyway, this is how it generally looks now:

 

 

The retractable aerial is pretty cool on a sort of mid-90s way.

 

So, "the thing" now has 12 months MOT, some missing items reinstated, cleaned up (not quite to standard)

 

Brad stated that this car is solid, more solid than most other clean, low mileage Coupes and that it has the potential to be a great car. Most of the cosmetics are easy to sort. Should I not go back to France or come back for a couple of weeks at some point, then with Brad's help, it will receive:

 

Interior carpet replacing

Side cladding replacing

Wheels replaced (I already have)

All boot carpet replacing

Gearbox oil change

Window mechanism changed

 

Later on, I'll get;

 

The exhaust system replaced

Brake pads changed

Ball-joints and arms replaced

Front seats replaced with something a bit nicer

Boot lid possibly replaced as one in the right colour has been sourced.

 

I should then have a nicer, more presentable Coupe.

[320touring]

Try a 25% mix of g101 on the leather. Test it somewhere first but I reckon it'll shift most of it.

 

Maybe use a soft scrubbing brush and g101 mix then some leather feed/sealer

 

It looks a lot better than before:)

[AnthonyG]

Good to hear it's a bit more of a worthwhile project than you thought.

[Lord Sterling]

YO!

 

So, I rolled down to Worcester in the 2.7 Coup' to set about starting to try and make it look a bit presentable. Day didn't start great as I found my LPG filler cap had gone missing, either taken by the local twats or fallen off as it was a bit loose.

 

Anyway, upon getting to Evesham work had commenced on the heap, firstly, it met its cleaner, better twin:

 

 

Then a new scuttle panel and wiper arms were fitted:

 

 

Old window cassette removed and new one fitted:

 

Getting the window out of the old cassette involved an angle grinder as one of the bolts just simply laughed in our faces and rounded off. Brad managed to attack with an angle grinder and the window was free to come out of the cassette ready to fit into it's new home.

 

Sadly, despite fitting it into a new cassette with motor/cables, the window still doesn't want to go down, it makes a 'bleeping' noise but that's all. An investigation for another day I guess.

 

We removed the seats to check the window ECU, all was good but it left us stumped. I took the opportunity to grab the hoover and hoover all the crap you can't really get to when the seats are in, there was quite a bit of crap but also £1 and 10p was discovered.

 

New door cards also fitted (I don't seem to have a pic of the new door cards on so have one with some door cards ready to fit:)

 

 

Side cladding removed and binned, some new cladding has been fitted but the doors haven't had cladding fitted yet, the screws were surprisingly easy to move but then they did have underside protection paint on them.

 

Old cladding, wobbly, crudely screwed in and painted over:

 

 

Old cladding taken off, you can probably just make it out by the front door:

 

 

Next, my attention turned to the distributor cap, I found a good, used dizzy in my parts collection along with new rotor arm. I took the old dizzy off to find what I had suspected, on the distributor itself, an old bolt had snapped off and whoever changed the cap couldn't be arsed to take the distributor off and drill out the old bolt so simply cabled tied the bottom, very badly:

 

 

I also discovered why there was Yellow tape around where the ignition lead fits onto the cap:

 

 

Yep, that's right, someone simply tied Yellow tape around the huge crack on the cap.

 

Due to time constraints, I couldn't take the distributor off and drill out the hole myself, again, this is a job for another day. I cable tied the bottom of the cap so it doesn't move, I did a better job though finding holes on places not very well seen.

 

Doesn't seem to have made a difference but at least it runs (sort of)

 

Shit me, the amount of bodges on this car would be laughable if it wasn't my car.

 

So all in all, a productive day but with little really to show. So far this is how it's looking:

 

 

Not a flattering pic but at least it bloody drives.

[Skizzer]

Hang on in there.  These are such classy looking cars, it's worth it.

[Lord Sterling]

Cheers Skiz. It's not finished yet. I was offered another 827 Coupe with LPG for £200 but having not a pot to piss in has made it difficult for purchase. This is the car:

 

 

He is now breaking the car and I'm hooefully gonna have some parts. The front seats and front wings should do nicely.

 

Actually, come to think of it, maybe the exhaust could come I handy. The one on my car is getting worse now.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Christ what a horror, that one deserves to die I'm afraid.

[Lord Sterling]

True, I didn't realise how bad it looked. The only reason I wanted to buy it was to pillage parts from it and break/sell whatever else I could and weigh in the rest.

[Tayne]

Windows should work but just beep?

Sounds like the "window not set" message from a p38 Range Rover, simply hold the down button for 5 seconds or so then let the window go down, keep finger on down for a few seconds and then do the same again going up.

 

I doubt it will be that easy to fix....

[Lord Sterling]

Windows should work but just beep?

Sounds like the "window not set" message from a p38 Range Rover, simply hold the down button for 5 seconds or so then let the window go down, keep finger on down for a few seconds and then do the same again going up.

I doubt it will be that easy to fix....

Cheers Tayne, your right, it isn't that easy. If the windows aren't set, they'd usually go down anyway but with just a 'beep' everytime you press the button, but the window doesn't move at all. Reckon it's either the connectors being dirty (they had a lot of Green powder in them but were cleaned up as much as possible) or an issue in the wiring itself

[RoadworkUK]

Ew, I feel sorry for N443REW and the visual atrocities visited upon it. Geuch.

 

Mine passed 66666 on the odo recently and I totally failed to catch it on camera.

[Bren]

Cheers Skiz. It's not finished yet. I was offered another 827 Coupe with LPG for £200 but having not a pot to piss in has made it difficult for purchase. This is the car:

He is now breaking the car and I'm hooefully gonna have some parts. The front seats and front wings should do nicely.

Actually, come to think of it, maybe the exhaust could come I handy. The one on my car is getting worse now.

Shame if it is being scrapped because of the wheels and spoiler.

[rml2345]

That bodykitted coupe is s horrosome and would almost certainly be a ballache to return to standard. Shame to break it but there are better examples out there.

[Ghosty]

There are no words.

[purplebargeken]

Loving the car LS. Such a lovely design. Keep going!

[HH-R]

I hope those wheels are part of the "breaking" process, preferably with some sort of smelting machine.

[Lord Sterling]

Right, just a small update of my blog/thread/service history/whatever/etc...

 

I sold the 827 Coupe for £350 as I'd decided it really was too much for me to bring up to standard.

 

 

It's gone to an 800 enthusiast who has a spares car in the right colour so hopefully it'll live a nicer life than it did with me, I started the ball rolling and hopefully it'll continue getting better and nicer over time.

 

I went and bought a lovely Mercedes which was the best car I'd ever owned but had been troublesome in its own way;

 

 

It's wheel "fell off" on a roundabout due to a balljoint failure, got this sorted and replaced a corroded wing, I also got the rear gas suspension sorted. It really was the best car I'd ever owned and was due to be a life keeper...

 

Then not so long back, this happened to it:

 

 

I got paid some money by the insurance, but I had a dilemma, either repair the bloody thing or stick a Rover on the road. I chose sticking the Rover Sterling on the road as it was the last car I used and seemed Ok at the time.

 

I got it to the MOT station, just, after breaking down at the local petrol station, the battery was too weak and couldn't be arsed to start the car. Plus I also had a problem with lack of coolant, the temp gauge went up into the red.

 

Thankfully a friendly bloke in a pick up truck came down, poured a load of water into the expansion tank and got the bloody thing started.

 

I got it to MOT and legal again.

 

Then on my way to Cholmongdogly, this happened:

 

 

The alternator gave up and after spending pretty much a whole day in my car like a homeless person, it was towed back to the garage where the alternator and other stuff was sorted.

 

So far it's been Ok apart from losing coolant.

 

This'll be fun....

 

I'll upload some more pics when I'm less busy.

[EssDeeWon]

So glad you didn't lob anymore time or money at that Merc LS

 

Get the Rover back into its stride and it'll be fine.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Good to see this back on the road far nicer car than that oul German thing sounds like it's just throwing a hissy fit after not being used for a while, get some miles on

[Lord Sterling]

Cheers chap, after a busy day teaching computer basics to people (voluntary position) at the library, I now have more time to myself.

 

Now, the KV6 is on the road, I took it to visit some if its kind to show it how to behave:

 

 

Don't think it worked tbh, it is an inanimate object...or is it?

 

I've got a bit of a 'drive it until it dies' mentality going with it. But it really is a lovely place to be carted about in (well, that is until it goes wrong)

 

Memba dis:

 

 

It wouldn't run so stayed in the corner like a naughty car.

 

As agreed with yard owner I went back up to move the bloody thing into it's space. We had some fun pulling the car out and pushing it into place using a very old tractor leaking diesel, a lump of wood, some chain and an old cloth sheet:

 

 

Soon it was in place:

 

 

The Grey N-reg 827 Sterling is honestly a really cool looking car. It's less rusty, way cooler with tinted rear windows and generally seems a better bet. But it needs a new radiator, expansion tank, gearbox sealing again as its leaking ATF badly.

 

This:

 

 

Now, if this picture was taken sometime in the 90s, you could be excused for thinking I was a wealthy man.

 

It's kind of made me realise how much 90s high-end stuff I have. I have these old 80s/90s executive cars, then at Chez_Mo I have a Sony Trintron TV, a late 90s Kenwood stacker system, a proper 80s pair of Raybans, clothes that are donkeys years old etc... I feel like a lucky man. Yeah, I might not have the money to go with it, but all this together in the 90s would've made me a fairly well-off man. Old money look now?

 

In conclusion:

 

 

As Wet Wet Wet once said:

 

I always buy the best but never something new

[Ghosty]

That's better:

[purplebargeken]

Those two Rovers look like they are sniffing butts.

 

Rovers are for winners!

[Lord Sterling]

Thought I'd better update this thread (Note to self; DO NOT use the fucking pad to write long posts with pictures, it'll lose all the work and you'll have to start again  )

 

A sad tale of Rovers

 

This thread started with the resurrection of my Mk1 G-reg Sterling which at the height of it's life looked like this:

 

 

Sadly, one evening after work sometime in early 2013 whilst dropping off a beautiful Polish girl I was trying to pull home, my Sterling felt rather odd and juddery to drive, upon arriving back at Ma's where I was languishing at the time, I tried to investigate the problem but as it was a cold night I couldn't exactly tell whether the White smoke coming from the exhaust was signs of HGF or just because of cold night.

 

The next morning I went to inspect, the car started reluctantly and the very White smoke was a sign of the dreaded HGF. Joy. A phone call was made to Brad to beg for storage as I wouldn't have been able to sort out a garage fast enough. He was happy to accommodate my car. So the journey from Birmingham to Pershore in Worcestershire began, the journey was a bit gut-wrenching, I needed some momentum on my journey to keep from potential fail-to-proceeds and to keep from having to labour the poorly engine, however, it being morning time threw lots of obsticals such as the crossing lady, who once let me proceed again left my car leaving a huge trail of White smoke.

 

On the motorway things were much better, the car kept on going without complaint, it was almost normal, as long as I kept up momentum with minimal engine labouring I could at least get nearer to my destination if not completely...

 

Next was the A-roads, this is where things got hairy, upon entering the first A-road, the temp needle shot into the Red, 'FUCK' thought I, I pulled over quickly much to the chargrin of morning Worcestershire drivers who looked at me with disgust. Anyone who blared their horn at me got a blare back. I let the engine cool down and started to make my way again.

 

After a couple more hairy moments I arrived at Brad's place and the car was placed into storage until I could muster some money to sort it out, however, things for me personally were not going that well. I'd just found out that my job was coming to an end and not long before, I'd agreed to take on a couple more cars namely; the D-reg 820E and the free KV6 Sterling of which has served me well up until now.

 

Storage here, storage there...

 

Some time later I was made an offer by Brad to renting a barn off him to keep my cars in. We agreed a price and my cars soon decended on Pershore, this allowed me to give up my storage in Sutton Coldfield which was becoming a bit shit, crowded, broken and expensive;

 

Old:

 

One the way:

 

New:

 

It was nice to finally have my cars in a nice, warm, safe environment where they would be safe and looked after, the KV6 Sterling even joined them whilst I ventured off into France.

 

Sadly this was not to be the long term solution I'd wanted and hoped for. Due to personal circumstances Brad had to put his house up for sale and eventually move out, thankfully this took longer than first thought, however, I knew the day would come when my cars and stuff would need to be vacated, that day came and with some of the autoshite collective, some land was found and help was on hand to get stuff moved out.

 

Whilst not ideal, it saved me from having to scrap them or face having them taken off me by new house owners or whatever...

 

Current storage solution...

 

However, this solution has also realised a problem I thought had been previously dealt with:

 

 

The tarpaulin blew off a few times which I didn't know about until I went to visit cars, I'd previously had a problem with the sunroof channel on the G-reg Mk1 where the passenger side sunroof channel lets water in on the passenger side front footwell and this problem had manifested itself again, so upon opening the car I found mould on the seats. Joy.

 

Water, water everywhere....

 

Since then it's been a battle to keep the tarpaulin on and the mould at bay, at one point I was using a small bucket to get the water out of the passenger footwell. Today I decided to go up, clean the seats, door cards and dash again and remove the soundproofing which was SOPPING wet. The soundproofing was actually a replacement item that Brad had fitted for me after the first time I had the water/sunroof channel problem, now this one was is also sopping wet:

 

 

Now, when I used to go and see the G-reg Mk1, all of the windows were full of condensation, you could fill a pint glass with what was on there, today there wasn't so much but still water remained on the back windows, so upon opening the boot, I was confronted with this:

 

 

The boot was wet, so, everything was got out (some stuff had to be chucked  ) spare wheel well looked at and it was as dry and bone. Odd, seemingly the condensation was coming from underneath the rear parcel shelf (which is unmoveable metal) so that was wiped up dry and clean. However, I noted a similar problem on the E-reg Mk1, and this is what confronted me:

 

 

And this is what I did to remove water:

 

 

 

Once again, everything was removed, wiped down, boot water removed, wheel cleaned up, mould removed from carpet and everything replaced. both cars had stuff moved about from one boot to another to keep things tidy.

 

Well there ya' go. The G-reg is sadly looking a shadow of it's former self, going from the once proud and handsome looking car it once was to a mould infested broken-engined mess. I want it back on road looking as proud as it once did, but I wonder how long that'll take or indeed if it will happen....

 

 

[For Fiats Sake]

Antibacterial cleaning wipes are great for getting rid of the mould and keeping it at bay, I've three cars which aren't waterproof and footwells fill after heavy rain.  

It's the universe telling me I've too many cars.

Aren't there any fastback versions of the sterling - SD1 lookalikes under those covers?

[Lord Sterling]

Antibacterial cleaning wipes are great for getting rid of the mould and keeping it at bay, I've three cars which aren't waterproof and footwells fill after heavy rain.  

It's the universe telling me I've too many cars.

Aren't there any fastback versions of the sterling - SD1 lookalikes under those covers?

Cheers man, yeah, I'll have to get some of those wipes, I knew there was something them.

 

No Fastbacks in my fleet I'm afraid, maybe one day, just not now, I think repairing them is a priority motoring-wise.

 

Sterling Fastback you say? Not in Mk1 form, there was the 827 Vitesse which was almost a Sterling but just without the rear electric seats and eqipped with slightly harder suspension.

 

In Mk2 form, there was a Sterling Fastback.

[Austin-Rover]

You'd probably be better off leaving them uncovered. Yes, they will get dirty and mouldy but they (and the interior) will at least be able to breathe. A tarpaulin will just trap the moisture. Being BL, you'll still get water in, but you've got to make the best of less than ideal storage.