Project 1994 Rover 414SLi - Fin.

[sierraman]

I once did have a knocking on a car whereby the ducting for the heater vents had come off and used to rest on top of the steering column. Easy fix.

[Noel Tidybeard]

turn up the wireless/switch off hearing aid- no more clunk!

[vulgalour]

Another little niggle.  It's been absolutely throwing it down here lately and when I got in the car today the seats were damp.  Not damp enough your hand would come away wet, but damp enough to know about it when you got out again after a four mile potter.  Car isn't steaming up and there's no puddles anywhere so there's no obvious sign of water ingress.  I suspect this is just something I shall have to put up with, the Princess was just the same.

 

TL;DR: my modern* Rover is damp when it rains.  HERITAGE.

[Noel Tidybeard]

did you leave the sunroof blind open? the glass roof gathers condensation and shares it with the seats whilst you're not looking

[vulgalour]

Sunroof blind is always closed but I bet that's what it's doing as the back seats are nice and dry.

[Noel Tidybeard]

thinking about it didnt rover helpfully fit a slatted blind to help share moisture?

[vulgalour]

They sure did.  The condensation theory helps explain the water stains on the blind too.   Having taking information from here and from someone that knows R8s exceptionally well it seems likely that the rear engine mount bush/bar/link is worn and it's that which is causing the mystery clonk.  If I can figure out what it's called I can order a replacement, does anyone know?

[purplebargeken]

the rear engine mount bush/bar/link

 

That sounds like what it should be called. Vulg should name everything and then it would all make perfect sense.

 

I think I might be about to hurl. Oh God help meeeeeee.

[vulgalour]

The mystery clonk has been getting quieter and less frequent. The same thing happened with the rear end creak which has now completely gone. Probably nothing to worry about or a sign of imminent catastrophic failure, both likely scenarios with one of my cars.

 

Today, I coerced myself into going to the unit to do something on one of my cars and picked on the Rover.  Just after leaving the house the rain turned to sleet and threatened to turn to snow, definitely not ideal for doing bodywork.  By the time I got to the unit it was just rain again and Mike fired up the heater so the place was actually pretty comfortable for working in.  Earlier this year at the house I was living in the Rover had been collecting more scratches in addition to the few it already had.  It was annoying me and I'd got as far as putting the touch-up paint on and then completely lost my motivation to go further and my spare time to do anything about it because of the house move.

 

 

 

I know they don't look like much, but when they're all over the side of the car and you're picking more up weekly the car quickly starts to look really shabby.  A couple of them were very deep too and looked deliberate given how much force would have been needed to gouge into the paint to the metal underneath.  Funnily enough, since moving to the new house these scratches have stopped appearing and apart from collecting a dent in one rear door in a car park, the bodywork has been left alone.

 

Even though I'd already filled some of the scratches in, there were still more to do that I hadn't bothered with since being at the previous house.  It's a case of painting the scratch, then carefully sanding it back with 1000 grit, then painting it again if needed... tedious stuff but worth it.

 

I'm only working above the bump strip for now and at this stage I've got the rear wing and rear door polished with the front door sanded where it's been touched up but not yet polished.  No point doing the front wing as that's being replaced.

 

I was very impressed with the Meguiars Scratch X 2.0 which my brother put me on to, it takes a lot of the effort of the job out and gives a really, really good finish just for the initial pass.  The fogging of sanded paint is cut out really quickly but it doesn't seem to obliterate the paint you want to keep on the panel.  It's also much easier to clean up than Farecla G3 which tends to be difficult to get off unpainted plastics and even paint when it splatters and better on my hands too which were nowhere near as dry as usual after this sort of work.

 

There's more to do on this side of the car but for a daily driver in the winter it is perfectly acceptable as it is now and the worst of the unfinished scratch touch ups are gone.  Better still, the thin white scratches on this side of the car are also now gone.  Before packing up for the day I had a quick go at the bonnet which I'd partially resprayed but not finished.  Same materials again and a power polisher to make life much, much easier and with very pleasing results so far.  The colour match on the leading edge isn't perfect, Flame Red is a devil of a thing for that, but it's close enough to be acceptable.

 

I'm looking forward to getting the whole car sorted, this took me much less time than with previous materials so I'm happy to give it more attention when I have a bit more time.

[vulgalour]

Sorted out a little job today.  Since I got the car the dash clock has always worked but is barely even visible so even though I set the time on it there wasn't much point.  Recently, on here and on the R8 forum I learned that this is usually a duff bulb and replacement is fairly easy.  Here's a little how to on it.  To the right of the trim (for RHD models anyway), ease a screwdriver (or in my case some scissors I found in a Princess I broke because I was too lazy to find a screwdriver) and use firm but steady pressure to pry the wooden trim free of the dashboard.  Work your way along the top edge and you'll find it slowly comes free of the holding.

 

Here is the clock.  The clip on the back needs disconnecting and this is very easy.

 

Was quite surprised that it was actual real wood rather than plastic, sign of quality there.  I'm guessing the RHD stamp is because this is a right hand drive car.  You can also see the spring clips that push into the slots in the dashboard which helps explain how this goes together and comes apart.

 

 

The back of the clock has a single twist-fit bulb.  Mine had blown so we went out to get a replacement.  Halfords wanted £2.50 for one bulb so we went to the local motor factors and got one for just £1.50 which is still more than I'd like to pay.  I'm sure dash bulbs like this used to only be 10p or something.  Blue bulb on the left is the old Osram one that was fitted, black one on the right is the new one that I've put in.

 

Before refitting I turned the ignition to on to check it was working and huzzah!  I have a visible clock.  Pleased about that.  I have to reset the time as it's currently wrong.

 

Last job is to push the trim back into place, start with the right hand side first and push until it firmly clips into place.  Satisfyingly, it sits better now than it did, particularly on the left hand side.  Not a big job, but a satisfying one.

[320touring]

Nice work! big improvement for very little effort:)

[dollywobbler]

I did a similar thing with my XM recently. It wasn't as easy as that! And I had no alternative but to hand over £2.49 to the robbing gits at Halfrauds. How much do you reckon it costs to make a bulb? About 0.024p?

[Ghosty]

Re: bulbs. I fill my pockets with them when I go to U-Pull-It. Heh.

[Eddie Honda]

Recycle the twist holders

 

Those bulbs come in different wattages. e.g. 1.2W  (286) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/18120023397217p a throw without going out the front door. No U-Pull-It membership required.

[Noel Tidybeard]

austin/rover used a variation of those bulb holders with repaceable bulbs- i'm looking at you metro/maestro/montego dashboard!

[vulgalour]

I'm sure I liberated a load of them for the BX from a Peugeot but do you think I can find them anywhere?  That was an entire dash worth of bulbs for a quid and I'm fairly certain they're the same sort.

[vulgalour]

 

Today was a fortuitous one because everything was finally in place for me to kit the Rover out with a full set of five alloys (I like matching spares).  I'm really happy with them and the car rides nicely on them too.  Next job will be figuring out how to lower the car and there's a few options available to me.  Coilover kits I've found so far are way too expensive for what I'm wanting to achieve but more affordable options are shorter springs of the correct size and rating or getting the existing struts modified professionally (surprisingly, this is cheaper than a coilover kit).  I only want to bring the car down 40-50mm just to improve the looks, I'm not after sports car action or slamming it to the floor.

 

Really got to sort out those bumper brackets to get rid of the sag.

 

 

The other job I wanted to do was get the boot trims removed.  I've noticed things have been getting wet in the boot again and with the excessive amount of rain we've had lately I've started seeing standing water in the boot so it was time to investigate.  Look, matching spare!

 

The interior panels come out really easily, especially since Mike invested in some plastic trim removal tools that mean you can pull out the fir tree buttons without damaging them (well, unless they've gone really brittle which thankfully they hadn't in this case).  Both side panels have half an inch of sogginess on the bottom of them, the boot floor board is soaked again and the carpet is damp so that's all drying out in the house.  The water is sitting in the corners of the boot as photographed.

 

 

The only place I can see it might be getting in is the vents that are hidden by the bumper, you can see in that last picture that there's some water staining from it to the wetness in the boot.  The vents looked in good order when I removed the bumper previously and I don't especially want to block them up to stop this happening so I'm unsure what the best course of action might be here.

 

Is this is a known problem on the 400 perhaps?  I know Rover are historically big fans of letting water into the boot, see any SD1 for reference.

[oldcars]

Those wheels look really good. Like the big spider 

My 75 boot is leaking big time. Replaced the lamp gaskets, seems to be coming from the trim around the rear screen. If it stays dry going to try and look at it tonight.

[Lacquer Peel]

Do the coupes sit any lower as standard? A source of cheaper front lowering springs might be found in the R3 200/25/MG ZR, the front suspension is identical I think.

[vulgalour]

That's Dr Leggy, he used to live in the Princess until I got the hideous nodding tiger.  On your 75 if it's not the rear screen trim check the interior panel seams (chompy's MG was leaking here) and the rear wing side trims  where the clips hold it in.  Don't remove any trim if you can help it, much of the clips are now NLA from what I gather.

[vulgalour]

@LP:  I believe the Coupés sit the same height but the styling and larger alloys make them look lower, they also tend to have larger, heavier engines which helps with the front end.  From what I remember the front end is the same as the bubble Rovers but the rear is different.  The only other common vehicle I know of is the Concerto but parts for lowering those are no easier to come by.  There's a chance that Matiz springs are the same profile and diameter but might be too squishy, I've not got a set of measurements to check.  If I had straight springs I could just chop a coil or two out, that's all that's really needed.

[oldcars]

That's Dr Leggy, he used to live in the Princess until I got the hideous nodding tiger.  On your 75 if it's not the rear screen trim check the interior panel seams (chompy's MG was leaking here) and the rear wing side trims  where the clips hold it in.  Don't remove any trim if you can help it, much of the clips are now NLA from what I gather.

Thanks, yes as you say trip clips are gold dust. Paid ££ to get some that were broken during the repaint.

Sure its the screen ones but could well be interior panel seams. Do you know where the water was coming from on chompys MG? Was it under the screen or at the sides?

[vulgalour]

MG was coming in on a panel seam between rear screen and boot I think,

[oldcars]

Thanks, could well be the same on mine then. 

[vulgalour]

I have learned a 30mm drop can be got from fitting MG ZR springs at the front and MG ZS springs at the rear.  That's about all I need and it's the cheapest, easiest way to do the job so far.  If i wanted to go lower I'd just get the lowered versions of the same springs.

[fordperv]

I like the wheels and agree it would benefit aesthetically from a bit of lowering, saying that i do love a lowered saloon

 

[vulgalour]

Found and ordered a set of brand new proper lowering springs for £150 delivered, no complaints with that!

[Cheezey]

I had Gmax -40mm springs on my 214. I feel they were lower than 40mm though. There were certain speed bumps I had to avoid.

[vulgalour]

The ones I've ordered claim to be a 45mm drop.  At a guess, I'd say that should end up looking like this:

 

 

I wouldn't want it much lower as it'd be unusable everyday.  Not really any speed bumps to speak of where I live now but there's plenty where Chompy lives so I've got to be able to at least navigate to his house occasionally.

[vulgalour]

They're not ZR springs, they're R8 springs.  Which was surprising.