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

[EssDeeWon]

Hi Magnificent - That is a nice early car in Richelieu red, I see it had a single strap parcel shelf that gets the SD1 club boys weak at the knees. Don't think it had Aircon as that came in with the V8-S in 1979, then later on the VDP in 1981.

 

Some of the very early cars were very poor, which is partly why there are hardly any left on P, R and S plates. (76-78)

[TagoraSX]

Lovely story Mr. Magnificent, what did your Grandfather buy when he chopped in the SD1?

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

@EssDeeWon I wasn't quite sure about the air conditioning actually which is why I stuck the 'IIRC' getout clause in!

 

The problem it had was the blowers stuck on full permanently and no one seemed to know what to do about it. Unfortunately it gave my Grandfather conjunctivitis. Bright red eyes are not a good look in business!

 

I remember the V8-S; they were quite a fancy piece of kit back then. I was nine or ten when they came out and remember being incredibly impressed by the gold wheels.

 

@TagoraSX I'm not sure what he got after the Rover, I have a feeling it may have been a 5 Series. I was young at the time. I only remember the Rover so well because it was so damn memorable, for all the right reasons.

 

My Grandfather tried a few makes after the Rovers. He had a couple of BMWs, one of which got stolen in Belgium. He didn't like the BMWs much, even claiming he was disappointed to get it back when the car was recovered. He considered them dull cars for unimaginative people who didn't like risk.

 

After that he ran several Volvos - a 760GLE, then two 960GLEs. He quite liked them, considering them almost as comfortable as a Rover. He liked a big car and couldn't bond with the newer, smaller Volvos like the 850, so switched to Jaguar at that point, arguing they were the only car left which held any desirability for him. This amused my late father who ran a Jag for many years, since my Grandfather long argued Jags were for spivs; a gentleman drove a Rover!

[Skizzer]

^ That's a great story Mag.Rust.

 

 

Meanwhile, grump.  In spite of much tidying, the tailgate is still letting through bucketfuls of water.  

 

It's spending Monday to Friday in a multi-storey car park at the moment, but it's on the drive at weekends and the boot is now soaking after 24 hours of steady (and sometimes heavy) rain.  The Haynes Book of Lies sitting there had curled itself into a dish-shape and was holding a fair sized puddle.

 

The window seal looks superficially ok but is probably prime suspect, having shaped itself to fit the previously very wavy metal; boot seal rubber is suspect number two.  When it eventually dries out I shall probably run a fine bead of Tiger Seal round the edges of the window rubber and see what that does.

 

 

It's running well though - 300 miles of Italian tune-up last weekend have done it a power of good.

[dollywobbler]

Rear lights another possibility?

[Inspector Morose]

Ah! Hang on. Whilst I was being wafted around Wales last week in the rear of this fine automobile I noticed some wind noise from around the boot seal area. As far as I could work out, it seemed to be coming from roughly the top nearside of the hatch, just like the door wasn't making contact with the seal. You've just jogged my memory!

[cort16]

Yip defo the rear light seals if you've not already looked. This is the main source of soggy boots on these. There's kind of a foam seal in there that crumbles i re sealed mine with black silicon.

 

Does yours still have the big rubber bung in the floor? Mine fell out and is probably what saved it from rotting out all together .

[Skizzer]

The lights don't seem to be the main problem as the water is collecting higher up - which obviously isn't to say they're not leaking too.

 

It's actually stopped raining now, so I've had a further poke about. I reckon you're right FPB7, there's dampness around the boot seal and it looks a bit flat in places. Will get on to Rimmer Bros: I'm sure a new seal won't be expensive hahahahahaha...

 

I'll check out the rubber bung question in a minute as well. Luckily I have a good dehumidifier so eventually I should able to dry things out properly.

[Inspector Morose]

Now running without the bung could lead to some interesting side effects. Sit down while I tell you a tale...

 

In the days of Midland Red building their own buses and coaches, they designed and built the first coach for specific use on the new motorway and called it the C5MT. After a few months of service it was inundated with complaints of wet luggage from the boot. Seals and whatnot were changed, redesigned and checked with no great improvement and so a more novel investigation was called for. This involved a friend of mine being shut in  the boot with a torch on a wet day and being driven up and down the motorway for a time to see where this water was coming from. An hour or two later a soaking fitter was released from the boot to divulge his findings. 

 

What was happening was at certain speeds water was being sucked into the boot from the drain holes for the boot. Now these holes were placed and shielded in such a way as to not be in the way of spray from the underside yet they still managed to suck in quite large quantities of water from the outside but only at certain speeds. The eventual solution? Rubber bungs with strict instructions that they were to be removed to drain water then replaced before continuing in service. Problem solved!

As you were...

[Guest Breadvan72]

 

^ 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.

 

 

 

He might poss be wrongs, I think , as some Italian heaps and poss even a Lotus or two had such contraptions earlier, IIRC.  Not sure, may consult Big Bumper Book of Spoddy Knowledge later.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Doesn't the FD Victor have a bonded screen?

 

I'm pretty sure a number of American cars were using them by the early to mid 1960s. I'd guess the first car with a bonded screen will be American.

[Skizzer]

Earliest car with a glued screen seems to be the 1961 Buick Riviera. So deffo not the SD1 - but even more deffo not the TVR Tamsin, as some would have you believe.

[Tayne]

The Horsey Horseless had a glued-in front screen.

 

You just weren't supposed to say where the glue had come from....

[Bren]

The rear badges also let in water as well as the lights.

 

As well as the tailgate.

 

As well as the rear bumper brackets.

 

Get the silicone out...

[Skizzer]

So, the new boot aperture seal from Rimmers wasn't particularly expensive and arrived this week. Trouble is, it's knackered from kicking around the back of a warehouse for 30-odd years and actually has a chunk missing. I got on the phone and they're sending out another with no quibbling though, so kudos for that.

 

Meanwhile, now that the car and weather are both dry I can put some effort into actually tracing the leak - which turns out to be in the window seal, not the tailgate aperture after all. Tiger Seal will sort that out.

 

There's no rubber bung in the boot and it looks like the hole has had a plate welded over it:

Wet boot floor... by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

There is a tiny (unbunged) hole at the lowest point of the boot floor though, so I can haz drainage. It's the tiny white dot below the spare wheel retaining strap in the picture. Anyway, the floor is dry now and the carpets are nearly dry, having been in the sun (well, haze mostly) all day, so even being an SD1 it shouldn't rust through before at least Wednesday.

 

The front passenger interior door release doesn't work, which means I have to get out of the car and walk round to open the door for Mrs Skizzer every time. Obviously being a gentleman of the Rover-owning school I do this anyway, but she'd like to be able to escape in a hurry if I ever start looking like an axe murderer.

 

Investigation shows the plastic door release lever has snapped where it fits round the metal spline. I was all set to beg or bribe pshome to get busy with his fantastic 3D printing setup, but it turns out that Brit Cars have NOS replacements in stock. In the meantime I've swapped with one from the back door. Turns out the other back door release is knackered too - we had some puzzlement with this at Shitefest, now I think about it - so I've ordered a complete set of replacements. Meanwhile, it's just like having childproof locks.

 

Removing and replacing the door cards on the SD1 is brilliantly simple and doesn't destroy the trim clips or the door cards, unlike the 75 and most other moderns. I'm liking this car more and more - it's full of brilliantly simple design details, like the properly chunky switches and connectors, and the fuse box that's built into the side of the instrument binnacle. Just a shame the plastics get brittle after 35 years.

[spike60]

They obviously pissed rain into the boot from an early age, I bought a 1982 3500 manual ex-Strathclyde Constabulary SD1 when it was about 8/9 years old and it had had a complete boot floor fitted some time back. It also had drivers side glove box that held about 3 pints of refreshing cold water that sluiced over your right foot the first time you braked on a morning. Even then black vinyl roofs weren't in fashion but I'd give it another chance now!

[Bren]

I have replaced large swathes of the boot floor in mine - even the hooks for the exhaust rubbers had pulled out.

 

BL should have fitted them with bath plugs from new - would have saved a lot of grief.

[Skizzer]

The Rover is due to go off to its dry winter residence in Cardiff next week, where it'll get an MOT, a working speedo (hopefully) and possibly some new doors and front wings.

 

Rover SD1 V8 by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

It started fine this morning after a recharge of the battery.  Its failure to proceed the other day was due to a combination of not enough choke (stupid me) and recent lack of use.  It's been parked behind the R16 on the drive: swapping the cars round is a faff.  Need big shed NOW.

 

The recent heavy rain has shown up a bit of leakage around the windscreen:

Leaking Rover SD1 windscreen - porous rubber by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

I think this is mostly down to cracked and porous rubber:  if it ever stays dry long enough, some Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure should sort it out.

 

Otherwise, it's pretty trouble-free.  I'll miss it while it's away.  Roll on March.

[EssDeeWon]

has it used a few drops of brake fluid Skiz? Keep an eye on that mate.

[Skizzer]

Hmm, good point, ta.  I'd checked the oil (fine) and coolant (still seems to evaporate a bit off, then stabilise) but not the brake fluid.  It's dark again now and about to rain, so I'll have a gander tomorrow.

[Bren]

Hmm, good point, ta.  I'd checked the oil (fine) and coolant (still seems to evaporate a bit off, then stabilise) but not the brake fluid.  It's dark again now and about to rain, so I'll have a gander tomorrow.

The top hose on mine dribbles - even a secondhand one did the same.

 

Either hoses are shit or outlet on rad has something wrong with it - very likely if it came from Rimmers.

[Skizzer]

Hose looks ok but I haven't tested it properly.  Could be the rad, which is by no means new, though possibly no worse than a Rimmer replacement.  Might bung a new top hose on and see what happens.

 

Is there a prize for having a BL car that doesn't drip oil on the drive, by the way?  (Bugger - I've jinxed it now, haven't I.)

[Skizzer]

As I mentioned in another thread a few days ago, the Rover of Love is having clutch problems.  I went to give it its periodic run round the block, and the pedal went straight to the floor and stayed there.  On inspection the reservoir is only about half full of fluid.  

 

So today I got out the Eezibleed and set about getting it sorted.  Luckily there was enough going on there to run it up onto ramps on the starter motor so I could get at the slave cylinder underneath.

 

Rover V8 SD1: bleeding the clutch / fluid change by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

Rover V8 SD1: bleeding the clutch / fluid change by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

With a drain tube attached to the slave cylinder bleed nipple and the Eezibleed empty, I pressurised it using a spare tyre and drained all the old fluid out.  It was quite yucky.

 

Then I disconnected the air line, filled the Eezibleed bottle up with DOT4 and reconnected it:

 

Rover V8 SD1: bleeding the clutch / fluid change by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

...until the fluid ran clear and bubble-free into my little jar, at which point I tightened up the bleed nipple.  Happy days!  I did a job, without breaking anything!

 

Except it hasn't made any difference at all to the clutch pedal.  Fucksticks.

 

 

So I've ordered master cylinder and slave cylinder rebuild kits from Rimmers.  Hope that does it.

[Skizzer]

Oh, and while I was underneath... does anybody else think this radiator might be past its best?  

 

Rover V8 SD1: radiator looking a bit elderly by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

Any recommendations of a good supplier of new ones would be very welcome.  Rimmer Bros do them on special order for £200-odd exchange, but re-reading the comments above there might* be better people out there...?

[xtriple]

I may be wrong (I often am) but I thought that when the fluid goes black it's because of the break down of the seals contaminating the fluid? I've usually just changed seals on master cylinders if the bores are okay, slaves are (usually) so cheap just buy/fit new.

 

Is there not a local radiator place that would re-core the old one and give it a fresh lease of life? The state it's in at the minute I would expect it to have a life expectancy of at least several minutes....

[Skizzer]

I may be wrong (I often am) but I thought that when the fluid goes black it's because of the break down of the seals contaminating the fluid? I've usually just changed seals on master cylinders if the bores are okay, slaves are (usually) so cheap just buy/fit new.

Makes sense to me - I suspected a seal might have gone anyway, from the way it suddenly went (having been fine previously).  I might as well do the slave as well while I've got it drained, the refurb kits were only about £7 each.  (Which is still a lot for a couple of o-rings and a bit of plastic, but hey ho.)

 

Is there not a local radiator place that would re-core the old one and give it a fresh lease of life? The state it's in at the minute I would expect it to have a life expectancy of at least several minutes....

Aye, probably... [Googles] Yes, these chaps look promising: http://www.rickettsradiators.co.uk/Radiators.html.  If they're friendly I might talk to them about treating the old girl to some pre-2001 font number plates too... and regassing the aircon on the Disco...

[Skizzer]

Finally got the clutch master cylinder off today - it's a two person job (the bolts just rotate without someone spannering the other end) and I've not had an assistant available until now.

 

Some* swearing was involved - access under the bonnet is hard because the plumbing, brake master cylinder and the rocker cover all get in the way of a spanner, and inside the car there are all sorts of pedals and dashboards and steering columns where your head and arms need to be.  Luckily, Keith was on hand to assist.

 

Clutch master cylinder refurb: Keith the Dog helped by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

Eventually we won, and extracted the master cylinder.  (I hope I can get it all back together again.)

 

Clutch master cylinder refurb by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

In the immortal words of Junkman, it's fucked.

 

Clutch master cylinder refurb by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

I think that counts as 'showing signs of corrosion', and there's no way I can think of to extract that piston, so I've ordered a new one for a stupid amount of money from Rimmers.  Ordered a slave cylinder while I'm about it (slightly more sensibly priced at least).  

 

I wonder what condition it will be in when it arrives, and what components turn out not to be included.  They wanted me to complete a survey about them after I'd paid, so I did.  They won't like it.

 

Anyway, the car will have to stay up on the ramps until next week as I won't have time to fit it until at least Monday (if it's even arrived by then).  Ho hum.

[Bren]

I have criticized Rimmers in the past, they certainly are'nt cheap, P+P is horrendous, however nobody else is really supporting the SD1.

[EssDeeWon]

There was a place in Suffolk called 'Past Parts' that were GR9 for refurbishing these parts.

 

My SD1 Brake master cylinder went one day, so I went about ordering one from Rimmers. Big mistake as the one they sent me was probably worse than the one that came off the car. I sent my old master cylinder to 'Past Parts' and it came back like new and never failed again. Its still on there AFAIK.

[Sudsprint]

There was a place in Suffolk called 'Past Parts' that were GR9 for refurbishing these parts.

 

My SD1 Brake master cylinder went one day, so I went about ordering one from Rimmers. Big mistake as the one they sent me was probably worse than the one that came off the car. I sent my old master cylinder to 'Past Parts' and it came back like new and never failed again. Its still on there AFAIK.

 

Still going - they have my Fiat Amigo brake master cylinder at the moment.