Skizzer's SD1: Tomorrow's Car, Yesterday. Fixerations, with mixed results

[r.welfare]

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

 

I seem to recall the manual 3.5 runs either a ridiculously long 5th, or a very low final drive ratio, or both. Hence why it's so long legged. Something like 28mph per 1000rpm.

[oman5]

Thats beautiful. I have lots of love for the sd1 and have owned loads of them. I wouldn't begrudge it the odd bit of filler or rust, given the way they were put together its done well to get this far. every one I ever owned leaked water, either through the screen and into the gloveboxes or into the boot. Might be a plan to get a spare choke lever too as it WILL break.

 

Having got thoroughly bored with driving, my sd1 rekindled my interest- I actually took it out just for the hell of it. great fun with the v8 engine and they're not that thirsty* either

[petr]

I Love SD1’s I had an A reg Metallic green one, with lovely dark brown seats!

It was unusual as it had the 2000cc O series engine with twin SU carbs.   I don’t think they made many with this engine fitted. Amazingly it went rather well and was good on juice. Very comfy cars, with loads of room to carry loads in the back. It did not even have any rust or leak! Wish I still had it but had to sell it when I bought a house. Then ended up with a bombed out lhd Renualt 14!!!   I haven seen one of the 2000cc ones for years don't think there will be many left.

[cort16]

I'm currently having a debate about what to do with my SD1. The gearbox is a bit knackered, there's a top end knock from the engine and it runs like a bag of broken bottles falling down the stairs. It's basically undrivable as it is. My options are to get it setup right by fitting S1 carbs with manual choke bt the engine might pop, get v8 put they're not great on fuel and manual boxes are quite hard to find these days. The final options is got quoted about 2 grand (a lot of money I know) for a turn key BMW 525i transplant with manual box. My XJR is worth about 2 grand so if I sold it I could get this done making the Rover a one off and much more pleasant to drive.

[Mr Livered]

Sounds pretty cool^. How fond are you of the XJR? Because if you were willing to sacrifice it for the cause, you would end up with a very cool car indeed. I reckon an SD1 with 525i POWAH would be a really nice compromise between fun and usability.

 

Is there a particular BMW being lined up for the job? Because obviously if you were to go down that route, you'd need the 525i engine and box to be really good ones for it to be worthwhile. If it was me, ideally I'd want to test drive the BMW, and inspect the engine whilst it was running, before it got broken.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I'm currently having a debate about what to do with my SD1. The gearbox is a bit knackered, there's a top end knock from the engine and it runs like a bag of broken bottles falling down the stairs. It's basically undrivable as it is. My options are to get it setup right by fitting S1 carbs with manual choke bt the engine might pop, get v8 put they're not great on fuel and manual boxes are quite hard to find these days. The final options is got quoted about 2 grand (a lot of money I know) for a turn key BMW 525i transplant with manual box. My XJR is worth about 2 grand so if I sold it I could get this done making the Rover a one off and much more pleasant to drive.

Whilst ripping out the burbling heart of Solhull's finest to fit some Bavarian clockwork box might seem sacrilidgeous, once that decision is made how much more difficult would it be to fit a 530d engine? 200bhp 300lb/ft and 40 mpg ,what's not to like?

[cort16]

There's still a few cheap 525i's around but probably not for long because they all get driftlol'd. The sweet spot seems to be with the old M20 motor as it's has 170bhp but has less complex electronics and none of the VANOS vvt bollocks. I guess that's about the same as a single plenum vitesse?

I looked into the t-series turbo conversion as the t-series can be mounted on o-series engine mounts and connected up through a sherpa manual box. Those t-series turbos make big power but I recon the 6 cylinder would be smoother in such a big car.

 

The 530d motor would be great but probably too complex to fit plus it's probably shatter the diff. The 525tds would be do able but I'm not really after it for economy I just want something with decent performance and reliability..

[Skizzer]

Not my area of expertise, but if those BMW petrol sixes are as silky smooth as everyone says I reckon that would be a great combination 

[Guest Tony Hayers]

 

 

I take the long way home from an errand on Monday morning:

 

1979 Rover 3500 (SD1) by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

 

That looks like Cefn Bryn (with Loughor Estuary in the distance) ? 

 

 

[Joey spud]

I love that platinum colour.

 

I can remember buying Popular Classics magazine in the early 90's and recall a journalist  called Mark Dixon featured in it.

He had a love for Rovers and had a very early N reg SD1 he was collecting parts for to restore to original.

I'm sure he also had a T plated platinum V8 that he called Mervyn or dirty Harry,actually i think he went to  Practical Classics with Nick Larkin when the mags merged and was running a V8 vittesse as a staff car that had had just about everything replaced on it at least twice while it was in their staff fleet.

 

But i could be spouting rubbish though as i've been on the ale since lunch time.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Wonderful picture that one by the way, I've just sat looking at the big version of it on Flickr

[Lord Sterling]

I need to stop looking at this thread. Its making me want an early SD1

[Billy - Medhurst]

Here you go L.S Look at these

 

http://www.roversd1club.net/carsforsale/current1.asp

[oman5]

Here you go L.S Look at these

 

http://www.roversd1club.net/carsforsale/current1.asp

bloody hell, a TP for 2 grand

[EssDeeWon]

Nice car Skizzer!! I really miss my 1979 Series1 V8 Auto, as pictured to the left was turmeric yellow. Its now in safe hands with a collector in bonny Scotland.

 

I saw your platinum V8 on the SD1 forum while it was for sale, it was listed a couple of times IIRC but started with a BIN of about £5k which is hefty for one of these not in A1, but a lovely car would love to own it. Well done

[Skizzer]

An update on this.  After a couple of slightly* rainy nights parked on the drive just before Christmas, I discovered that the carpet in the spare wheel well was wet.  It was pretty obvious that the tailgate window seal wasn't watertight, not because of the seal but because of a lack of metal behind it.  So it went straight into storage with Glamorgan Classic Cars in Penarth, who are now getting stuck into sorting out the tailgate:

 

Rover 3500 SD1 - rear window removed by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

 

Mmm, crispy.

 

Here too:

 

Some grounds for hope, though:

 

 

Should be ready next month - in plenty of time for an appearance at Shitefest 

 

 

 

By the way - carpeted spare wheel well?  They don't make 'em like that any more.

[Bren]

It is nigh on impossible to get hold of a NOS series 1 tailgate.

 

Are you going to get the backs of the sills done as well?

 

Having replaced both on mine, without all the stuff a body shop has they are not an easy job - I chopped mine off with a grinder and a nibbler, at least they are done now.

[mat_the_cat]

My options are to get it setup right by fitting S1 carbs

 

I have a set of brand new, never used Strombergs if they're of any use?

 

[EssDeeWon]

Skizzers 79' V8 will have SU HIF6 Carbs.

 

*edit. Sorry thought you were talking about the carbs on Skizzers SD1 then, not Corts  me stupid.

[mat_the_cat]

Sorry, I was aiming that at cort16. Were the Strombergs only fitted to late ones? I have a feeling it was that way round...

[EssDeeWon]

Yep the later SD1's (Series 2) used Strombergs.

[Junkman]

Some later P6es were randomly fitted with Strombergs, when the SU factories were on strike.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Quite a few of the publicity photos of the new Rover 3500 were this colour. Is there a special technique for inserting photos on Autoshite now? I tried to put some in normally, but it doesn't work.

[Skizzer]

It is nigh on impossible to get hold of a NOS series 1 tailgate.

 

Are you going to get the backs of the sills done as well?

 

Having replaced both on mine, without all the stuff a body shop has they are not an easy job - I chopped mine off with a grinder and a nibbler, at least they are done now.

 

Luckily this tailgate is pretty good apart from needing some new metal around the window frame.  It would be good to have a new window seal, but I think they're hard to come by in series 1 flavour as well, so the old one might have to go back on.

 

The sills have been repaired and are solid but not too pretty, so it'll get those done at some point.  The doors are worse.  I have some NOS front wings and doors (still lodging with the chap I bought the car off) - I think we'll fit those, tidy the sills, have the windscreen out in case it's not much better than the rear window and then do a proper respray over next winter.  It'll do a season as it is though.  I want to be DRIVING it...

 

 

Is there a special technique for inserting photos on Autoshite now? I tried to put some in normally, but it doesn't work.

I do it the same way as always, pasting the BB code from Flickr.  Haven't tried uploading stuff direct to AS.

[RobT]

Can't wait to see this at Shitefest.  I've never sat in an SD1 so will lodge my request to do so now!

[EssDeeWon]

Good luck with the front screen Skizzer, those were bonded in when new and by all accounts a royal PITA to remove.

[Skizzer]

^ Ah.  Bugger, I feared as much. The corners all look ok but you can see where it's been hit with the Kurust and a bit of paint around the wiper holes:

 

Scuttle panel patches by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

Guy I bought it off reckoned these were the first production cars with bonded screens.  There's a bit of trivia for you.

 

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Mmm, it is pasting photos that it won't let me do. It doesn't let me quote other people either. I'm too much of a Luddite for these new fangled modern websites. At least someone specified beige!! I will just type it in manually!

 

This was a full page advert in Car Magazine, August 1976. It looks to be the same colour as yours.

 

 

 

I have loved the early SD1 since forever. They have such a purity of shape. The detail design is far superior to the later cars. I love the stylised Viking badge, so streamlined and minimal, I love their Space age interior, whose dash pod is so confident and bonkers and I love their exquisite door mirrors. They are so pure and beautiful.

 

I also remember the launch of the 3500 back in '76. They attracted a lot of attention wherever they went. My Grandfather bought one of the first ones delivered (he was told it was the first car delivered to a customer in the North of England - so presumably there were cars delivered to customers before it in the Midlands, South of England or elsewhere in the UK. In mid August we went to Abersoch in it. A Ferrari Daytona wouldn't have got more attention and as a kid, I loved that.

 

Here are some photos of it which I found after my Grandfather died in 2010. They were taken on a trip to Scotland he and my Grandmother made immediately after the car was registered  on 1st August 1976. I'd guess they were taken a few days into the trip. SDM999R broke down on the way home.

 

 

 

It would be fair to say my Grandfather was a Rover man. He bought one new every two years  from the late 1950s until this car, in 1976. It was a manual with mustard coloured velour, electric windows and (IIRC) air conditioning. The car should have been delivered on a 'P' registration as a very early car, but he had the dealer (Drabble and Allen in Knutsford) store the car until the first of August for an 'R' plate. It replaced a tobacco 3500S.

 

Much to his annoyance, Drabble and Allen displayed the car at the Rover 3500 launch in their Knutsford showroom.

 

Sadly, the car proved catastrophically unreliable, even breaking down on the way back from its first trip to Scotland. It set a pattern, and within six months he was so sick of the problems he was having with it  (particularly the air conditioning/ventilation that was on permanent max cold and gave him conjunctivitis) that he traded it in for something else. I was devastated!

 

 

Despite the unreliability, he still loved the shape of the SD1 and years later he bought another SD1 - a Moonraker blue one  in 1982. This was to be his last Rover, since he didn't like the 800.

[Bren]

The stromberg carbs are fitted for lower emissions.

 

The SU's are better, also they are easier to tune, should you feel the inclination.

 

It was the fd victor that had the first bonded screen, also the first belt driven OHC engine, or so I am led to believe.

[EssDeeWon]

 

^ Ah.  Bugger, I feared as much. The corners all look ok but you can see where it's been hit with the Kurust and a bit of paint around the wiper holes:

 

Scuttle panel patches by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

Guy I bought it off reckoned these were the first production cars with bonded screens.  There's a bit of trivia for you.

 

 

Unless your looking to get this concourse that screen scuttle looks ok to me.

 

Your wiper arms have been painted black, they should be silver on Series 1 cars, but are like hens teeth as I found out when I snapped one of mine years ago.