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

[Lacquer Peel]

The MGR forum is what it used to be. What's going to become of it when these moaners die off?

I wonder if his mother knows she's called the old dragon on a forum full of dullards.

[SiC]

I wondet how long it will be before his thread gets linked back here??!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

He was an ok dude, just a serious Rover headbanger. Must say, good job he didn't dye the seats red though, as he was pondering in that thread. Think that would have made it scrapyard fodder now I reckon.

[beko1987]

part read that thread, have to say I love what he's doing, but done come across as a bit of a Hector. Are slightly sticking brakes an mot fail? surely if the red line stop in the right place on the screen it's a pass? The ZX rear brakes stopped in different places due to fucked rear calipers on its first test, but both in the pass zone. the next year, with 2 new calipers it was nice and even...

[garethj]

I wondet how long it will be before his thread gets linked back here??!

Christ, no.  Please.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Got in this 600 tonight and stoked it up, annoyingly smoke started pouring out from round the handbrake so i switched it off again quick smart!! Turns out the connector onto the electric window switch was having a fuggin meltdown. Now I need a new EW switch and connector with a few inches of wire to connect it in. FFS.

 

Drove it up the garage though and the transmission lock-up is working perfectly now so thats good. Got a free weekend this WE so i am gonna bust out the mig and hopefully get it sorted. Anyone know any dead 600's lying about that could donate a switch?

[Lacquer Peel]

My mum's 1995 Accord did that too. Oh, Honda.

[dollywobbler]

This is extra annoying. My old 600 could have been a bloody useful parts supply. I wonder where it went? I may ask tomorrow.

[purplebargeken]

Ace car with lots of potential. I will have one at some point.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Anyone know what colour this is? I meant to note the paint code last night but forgot.

[phil_lihp]

I think it's called Platinum Silver, paint code MNX according to Google.

[Steve79]

Just passing langfords dismantlers in shaftesbury. I'll nip in and see if the 600 they've got there still has the switch pack

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I think it's white gold GMN!

[Steve79]

He wants £20 for it. Let me know if ya need it

[Ditchfinder General]

I drove to Edinburgh for a night out through all kinds of horrible Friday night traffic in my 600. I was really looking forward to the night out and because I'd spent so long getting their I was gasping for a pint.

I arrived and put the window down a bit for some reason and it came off the runner. I couldn't get it back up and I couldn't leave it in central Edinburgh with the window down so I just had to drive home (with freezing air blasting in my face).

 

Happy times*

Something similar happened to me in Newquay in my 45.

 

I was sat waiting for the missus outside her mate's house, I was reading the paper minding my own business and decided I'd lower the window as it was getting a bit warm.

 

So I pressed the switch.

 

And absolutely shat myself when the window exploded into a million pieces all over the inside of the car and down into the door itself behind the door card. Apparently it dropped off the runners then hit something, hence the explosion.

 

The nearest Autoglass was in Truro so that was fun. Plus they didn't have the right piece of glass anyway so I had to drive around for the next few days with some Perspex gaffa taped over it. That made a hell of a noise on the A30 at 80 mph!!

 

I sold the car a few months later, with the bits of glass in the door card making a lovely sound when you shut the drivers door.....

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Forgot to mention, I had a cheeky bid on this the other day and ended up winning it for £85. Picking it up on Thursday with the A!!!! Hope its the 130bhp effort.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-216-Cabriolet-Spares-or-Repair-Honda-engine-/222260890468

 

[Kiltox]

216 cabs are for winners

[Ghosty]

I don't think it's a 130, I can't see any evidence they ever put that engine in the cabrio. Seems to be coupé/GTi only.

[Jim Bergerac]

1993 brochure says 122ps in the 216 Cabriolet.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I have seen several twin-cam soft tops

 

I don't think it's a 130, I can't see any evidence they ever put that engine in the cabrio. Seems to be coupé/GTi only.

 

heres a couple

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1994-HONDA-rover-216-cabriolet-power-hood-/162215550590

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-216-Cabriolet-convertible-L-reg-1993-Barn-find-light-restoration-project-/201671685410

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I think the single cam honda engine is about 110 or 115 bhp, I imagine the 122 is the 130bhp twink with a catalyst I suppose.

[Ghosty]

Might be right, I can see what's up now. The D16 and the K-series have about 1cc difference in displacement, so it's hard to tell what's what where it doesn't specify. As you were.

[vulgalour]

Pre-facelift cab in black, doesn't get much better than that. Pretty amazing you got a complete car for under £100.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

To be fair it looks pretty shonky

[Alexg]

Just loaded the reg on my work program for your new cabrio. It's a 122ps twink

 

Engine & Performance

• Acceleration 0-62 MPH (secs)9
• Top Speed (mph)120
• Max Power (bhp)122
• Max Power (rpm)6800
• Max Torque (lb/ft)100
• Max Torque (rpm)5700
• Engine Size (cc)1590
• AspirationNATURALLY ASPIRATED
• Valve GearDOHC
• Number of Cylinders4
• Cylinder ArrangementIN LINE
• Driven WheelsFRONT
• Euro Status
• Gears5

[Mr_Bo11ox]

BOOM! Cheers Alex

 

Thats just powerful enough to get the door gaps opening and shutting on a spirited drive

[dollywobbler]

Pre-facelift cab in black, doesn't get much better than that. Pretty amazing you got a complete car for under £100.

 

Nay, rarer than that. It's the super-rare interim facelift - larger indicators but nanoseconds before they lobbed the aftermarket grille effort on the bonnet.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo!

 

I have had a busy weekend on the shite for once - a 2-day GARAGE FEST which I used to good effect doing about 8-10 hours shiting each day!!! I spent the time working on this 600.

 

Got up early on Saturday and headed to 'Scallys' scrapyard in Stoke where an eBay ad revealed they had a Rover 600 in for breaking. I needed an electric window switch after mine combusted itself without warning. To my delight I was allowed to climb on the pile of scrap!!!

 

 

I had to squeeze myself through the window of the mashed-up rover and get a load of glass shards in my arse and fingertips. Bliss!!! The Rover had a switch, but it was a poverty spec job with manual rear windows so was different. I got it anyway for £10 cos I though I might be able to do summert with it still.

 

 

More on that later.

 

Anyway, I got up the garage and started on the drivers side. I pulled the sill trim off the 623 to see the damage.

 

 

 

Hmm, I would say probably betther than I had expected. At least the whole sill is not kippered all the way along. Anyway I pulled in into the garage and got stuck in. Pics are a bit sporadic as I was too 'on it'.

 

 

I made a patch and stitched a few bits into it to give me a 'repair section' before I welded it into the car. Its all reasonably complicated shapes and i couldnt make it with one piece of steel.

 

Used plenty of 'weld-thru' primer before welding owt. Also hoovered about 1kg of rust flakes out of the sill.

 

The inner arch had started to go but wasn't too bad. Just one hole and a bit of the inner lip missing.

 

 

Stitched in the repair section

 

repairing the inner arch

 

A bit of the inner wheelarch was getting very flaky so I chopped it out and welded a patch in.

 

I made a new outer arch section from 2 pieces of 18 gauge after using a bit of cardboard to get the shape right. I drilled and spotted the new outer to the inner.

 

Heres the finished metalwork!!!! Took all day to do that but it looked prety good in the end, just a thin skim of wob needed I think.

 

Like so.

 

 

A good victory!!!! Thats one side looking bob-on. Time to go home.

 

At home i had a look at these switches.

 

You can see the meltage in there. Don't know why this happened, I hope replacing the switch will sort it.

 

Although the new switch pack only had 2 rather than 4 switches in it, the connector socket had the same number of pins in it so I wondered if it could be converted. I dismantled it and had a look inside:

 

 

After a lot of faffing I managed to transfer over the rear switches, copper contacts, illumination bulb and perspex block from the old switch to the new one giving me a complete and serviceable 4-switch unit!!!!

 

 

I've got to do something about the melted connector plug - I'm hoping I can get all the individual wires out of the melted one without wrecking them and click them into the new plug (which only has half as many wires going into it). Fingers crossed!!!

 

Back up the garage the next day I got stuck into the passenger side.

 

 

 

A bit worse on this side - the rot had spread quite far up into the inner arch. The shape was too complicated for me to get it with one big patch so I made it with three smaller ones. Unfortunately I got the curvature of those wrong too and they did not reach out far enough towards the outer arch. It was looking a bit of a bloody mess TBH and I was getting a bit fed up of it. The metal is incredibly thin even where its not rotten and the job was not going great. Eventually I welded a 2 more patches to the outer edge (making it far too wide) then used the slitting disc to trim it back to something like the right profile.

 

 

Two more strips were added to make the inner arch and its return lip complete. Here the return lip is half-done:

 

 

 

Lashed on plenty of WT:

 

 

I made a new outer arch again from 18 gauge. Used the old chopped-off one as a template. Its hard work to cut with snips, but easier to weld and less prone to distorting and losing its shape. The new outer went on a treat (after some fannyaing about adjusting door gaps:

 

 

 

For the patch at the bottom, I used the same cardboard template as the drivers side (It had fitted pretty well) but did all the folds in the other direction! Welded on lovely.

 

 

 

Couple of patches to close the gap on the door shut

 

 

Finished off the return lip like on the other side, then linished it up with the flapwheel. Looking good now!!!

 

 

By now i was running out of time so I put some sealer on the joints and sprayed some grey primer on to cover it up till i can get back up the garage and do the necessary wobbing and paintwork. Looks good though eh?

 

I think thats the main obstacle to getting this thing though the MOT although it does need a new backbox, which i have ordered off ebay for £35. Still got to sort that wiring plug for the windows and the handbrake seems a bit lame on one side so that needs looking at.

 

Both rear brake backplates are rotten , I would like to replace them but they are NLA from Rover. I suspect i might be able to get some from Honda but need to find out how much they will cost (and I suspect the local Honda dealer will not want to know, so that might be a battle)

 

Anyway that was like 15-20 hours of welding but the No. 1 Rover 600 rotspot is now sorted on this old crate. I'm pretty chuffed with how it turned out and also just chuffed to make some actual progress on one of these old shitters that I have lying about!!! Yessssssss

[cort16]

Very neat, loads of complex shapes too. Not enough pigeon shit welding for my liking though.

[Anglevan]

Done a grand job MrB. My neighbour is just about to get rid of a 600 he has it as long as i've none him (10 years plus) I'll see what hes doing with it as I think it's on it's last legs now. Do you still have the V6 45? hows that one going?