Reginald Nutsack's K-series Kapers - ROVER 623 MOT GUFF

[HMC]

Gr8! I'd almost forgotten about those 3 door hatches, think they didnt last more than a few years in production? Got to hand it to rover, they squeezed every bit of juice out of the R8 platform with all those body styles. At my reconning this is your first since the white 220 Mr b?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I was discussing these Rovers with a former Rover employee at my work, he was saying that they didnt have a press tool for stamping out the sides of the estate. They pressed out an 'extension' panel which converted a slightly chopped-down saloon side panel into an estate!!!! The brummie twats.

[chaseracer]

Could be worse.  They could have sliced up complete cars and introduced all sorts of interesting* corrosion opportunities.

 

Oi!  Citroen BX/XM and Golf mk3!  I'm lookin' at you...  <_>

[Sigmund Fraud]

Less-door R8s are for life's winners ! I presume an early one like this will have the single-point engine, rather than the OMGMPI powerhouse* ?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yes I think so

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'm looking forward to getting this although what seems to be happening the more I think about it is that its stoking a MEGAWANT 5 inside me for a multipoint R8 214. From my memories of driving an M-reg pool car one back in the day I reckon they are an all-time great car for drivers who are 'ON IT'.

[KruJoe]

Them little povvo 214's are ace on the twisty B-roads, all the better for lack of PAS.

[KruJoe]

Looking forward to seeing more of this. I wonder how it ended up with its mega-rare GTi chin spoiler thing. Are those "Rover Montego" wheel trims, too?

[Jim Bergerac]

They were used on the R8 as well. The difference between the R8 and Montego trims was that the R8 ones had Rover badges on them whereas the Montego ones were unbadged (they were always determined to avoid putting Rover badgees on the Montego). That's a sad bit of knowledge even by my standards.

 

Looks ace, hope it's a bit less grief than the previous couple of Rovers have been.

[EssDeeWon]

Whilst admiring the pretty little thing, I am also wondering why someone thought to stop half way across a motorway bridge for a pap?

[RobT]

Looking forward to seeing more of this. I wonder how it ended up with its mega-rare GTi chin spoiler thing. Are those "Rover Montego" wheel trims, too?

 

So rare Joe my GTi (or rather Fatha T's GTi) hasn't got one

 

 

Looking forward to the updates Reg if you end up getting it.  Now the Calibra has gone I'm also getting the horn for one of these K-series hotties.

[nigel bickle]

Sorry, just can't see these Boll. Edujamakate ME pleez.

[cort16]

Whilst admiring the pretty little thing, I am also wondering why someone thought to stop half way across a motorway bridge for a pap?

 

I presumed this is where the clutch had finally toasted it's self and it broke down and is also location he's going to pick it up from.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hmm, I’ve got to sell the R8 experience to Bickle.

 

I love these cars. I love all shite cars and these (I’m talking about the 214) tick the shite box because:

 

They are a lash-up of modified Honda bodyshell, Rover engine, Peugeot gearbox, Rover interior (with Honda switchgear) and Rover front suspension. A right mish-mash which sounds like it ought to be rubbish.

 

In actual fact they are great cars – light weight, fantastic engine (the 1.4 multipoint 16v K series is the best of the K’s and an all-time great engine IMO - its tough, super revvy and fun to use, economical, and light as a feather) with an almost-perfect driving position and excellent visibility thanks to the low scuttle and thin pillars. The build quality is good, specially on early models, although some of the interior bits are a bit chatty and shite. If you like a lightweight, flimsy Fiat with a small but super revvy engine I think you would like a car that was like one of those but with a decent driving position and indicator stalks that didn’t feel like they were going to snap off at any moment. The Rover still feels like a light, agile car and is a real joy to punt along. I think they even look alright, a late 214 SEi in Nightfire red with grey door bottoms still looks like a real classy machine to me. I would defo recommend trying one, but if you need to be convinced, make sure it’s the 1.4 multipoint one that’s doing the convincing.

[nigel bickle]

H'okay. I believe you

 

I'll get on it.

[hairnet]

 

[montytom]

When it comes up for sale please get in touch with me.

My mate and I both love these and would love to take ownership when done.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Got the new bearing for the 75's driveshaft today:

 

 

You can't buy these for a 75, but I managed to get a part number off the old bearing which I looked up and after a fashion found i on the original manufacturers webshite:

 

http://www.fltpolska.pl/en/products/ball_bearings_for_automotive_and_agriculture/1265-1148652rsz__c3

 

That gave me the outer dimensions, then after a bit more googling I found that a Nissan Murano has the same size bearing!!!! Eventually I found (on Amazon of all places) a company selling an aftermarket version of the Nissan Murano bearing for about 14 quid. Took a week to arrive from Estonia. Should be able to fit this tomorrow and hopefully then the 75 will be back in the game (and up for sale again)

[nigel bickle]

Top detecting, Boll

[KruJoe]

Nice breeches an'all.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Been busy fixing Rovers today

 

Took the driveshaft out of the 75 again to fit the new bearing

 

 

Heres the old bearing in situ

 

 

Heated up this collar with the blowtorch, which expanded it and made it easy to tap off the driveshaft

 

 

That made it possible to tap the bearing and hoising down the shaft & remove them. Then look what I found!!

 

 

The flippin inner race of the bearing has cracked!!!!! No wonder it all fell apart. Because of the crack, the bearing does not have a proper tight hold on the driveshaft any more. I am not sure exactly why this has cracked but presumably the bearing had got tired then either some odd vibration was set up or the inner race started to wear, thinning the section and weakening it. Or some combination of the two. Anyway at least I have found an actual problem thank goodness so I can be reasonably sure of the fix.

 

Managed to press the old bearing out of its housing:

 

 

Well knackered

 

 

 

Cleaned up the housing

 

 

IN with the new bearing, slotted in a treat

 

 

Had a right war getting this back on the shaft, it was much tighter to fit due to not having a ruddy great crack in it. couldnt fit it in the press either so i had to resort to some 'skilful' hammering. Also put a new gas cylinder in the blowtorch which made it about 1000 times hotter much to my surprise, the collar just slotted on!!!

 

 

 

Anyway I chucked it back on the car and had a cheeky blezz up the road and all is well, I am pretty chuffed with that for a repair. Defo better than a secondhand driveshaft which was the only alternative. Some lad at work has expressed an interest in buying this 75 so fingers crossed!!!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Once the 75 was sorted I pulled the 'new' 214 into the garage to sort the clutch:

 

 

Took a couple of hours of farting about to get the gearbox out:

 

 

Not too bad for access to be fair

 

 

The old clutch didnt look that bad to be honest

 

 

 

Still, i was hardly going to put it back together with the old clutch in, as here is a new one:

 

 

Gave the gearbox a quick half-asred wash with some thinners - I bought a drum of thinners about 10 flippin years ago and I'm still using it, problem is it seems to have lost about 85% of its potency for shifting paint, cleaning brushes etc so now i am using it as a sort of lame-ass degreaser

 

 

I had a right flippin war getting the gearbox back in as I am a proper skinny-armed weakling nowadays. I just couldnt lift it in!!!!!! Very annoying as the R65 gearbox is prettly lightweight really. Need to eat more weetabix I suppose. Eventually I gave up and rigged up this machine mart publicity photo:

 

 

That got it in surprisingly easily so fair enough.

 

I spent a couple more hours connecting everything back up, and turned the key. Guess what?

 

 

Its only EXACTLY THE FLIPPIN SAME!!!!!! No drive!!! Well about 1% drive.

 

It genuinely seems like the clutch is burned right out, but obv there is some other problem. I didnt think there was owt wrong with the gearbox because it changes gear OK, doesnt make any daft noises or other obvious problems. Both driveshafts are properly engaged. In reverse it feels like it wants to move, but in all the forward gears you really get pretty much NOWT. FUCKING BASTARDS

 

I am gonna have to take the gearbox out again to investigate WTF is going on here, but before I do I am gonna find another R65 box to fit on the day if I can't get anywhere with this one. Anyone have any info on what Rover 200/400's have the same diff ratio as the one in this car? Does a later multipoint one or an early 'bubble' have the same?

[steve_earwig]

I thought that old clutch plate looked way too good as I read the post. No idea what's next, maybe something with the actuator? Is it cable or hydraulic?

[seth]

Brilliant work (detective and practical) on that bearing.

[saucedoctor]

The chassis number for that car, ending in 7760, comes up as invalid for some reason, so I can't check the gearbox part number for commonality with owt else. I can't imagine that a cable-actuated R65 from another 14K Rover would be different enough to make a big difference, though.

 

Edited to add: Just putting your car into EPC by year and model gives me the part number TRC10097N. Putting in the chassis number for my old 1994 R8 214 MPi 16V gives the same part number.

[Jim Bell]

[HillmanImp]

At least be glad that you had the knowledge that the clutch you took out was okay. I would have assumed that it was still fucked and that the reason the car was still borked after replacing it was due to something I did putting it back together. This lack of experience would have resulted in me removing and refitting the bloody thing four more times oblivious the the possibility that the lack of forward thrust is the cars fault rather than my own. A few days later people would be wondering why I had not come into work and they would come round my house to see if I was okay, only to find my corpse hanging in the garage next to a Rover with a gearbox thrown through the windscreen. 

[garethj]

Strange that the gearbox is knackered if there's no noises coming from it.  Does it want to move in 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th?

 

Stick it in 5th gear and give it a push across the yard to see if a horrible grinding noise fills the air.

 

Can you see the clutch is engaging properly?  Has a previous muppet fitted the wrong slave cylinder or something?

[KruJoe]

Cable clutch on these.

I wonder if the cable had been over-tightened. Also, I've heard of people bodging some kind of home-made shim onto the end of the cable in an effort to give the pedal a better feel.

 

Anyhow, I have a gearbox for you, from that 1994 MPi 214.

It's still "in" a front cut I have stashed in the field. It's been there for about three years, but it's had a bonnet over the engine bay, so it's not like it's been in a hedge for yonks or owt.

I don't have access to the tractor just now to get the box out, but if you have a small-ish trailer, you can come and get the lot. I'll get a friendly farmer to pop up and hoik it in.

£20?

There's a good little 'K' attached, about 100K when parked, clutch slipping a bit, but still drove ok. There's no ECU - that sold. No starter either, you've had that I think for the van. Did you ever get it, btw Boll? (Via Vulgalour).

[saucedoctor]

Cable clutch on these.

I wonder if the cable had been over-tightened. Also, I've heard of people bodging some kind of home-made shim onto the end of the cable in an effort to give the pedal a better feel.

 

Top off a pop bottle with a slot cut in it for the cable. As KruJoes suggests, this can mean the cable is too tight.

 

Try turning the cable anticlockwise, where it goes into the bulkhead. When I put the new cable on the 25 I got no gears as the cable adjuster was closed up. Turning it anticlockwise, 5 turns at a time brought the drive back.

 

There may also be a bolt on the back of the clutch pedal that you're not supposed to adjust. However, some people wind it right in to solve the "High" clutch pedal issue.