Project 1994 Rover 414SLi - Fin.

[vulgalour]

It is an PASS

 

Rear brakes work but aren't as good as they could be, excercise recommended for them.

Emissions a pass but it was a war getting there.  Looks like the new catalytic converter I bought after I failed emissions last year isn't doing as good a job as it should, and is apparently a bit of a rubbish part anyway which I didn't know when I bought it.

Front shocks to replace.  One front shock looks like it started to leak at, or on the way to, the MoT, which is a bit disappointing.  Probably a result of the car being stood around doing nothing for so long.

 

Still, it's a pass.  I'll take that.  The jobs to do aren't massive and shouldn't be hideously expensive, they're just annoying.

 

In other news, since replacing the door seal and fitting the new interior wind noise is reduced, except for the new top seal/trim on the windscreen which seems to cause quite a bit more wind noise than the old knackered one.  The seats were very comfortable for the 80 miles I did today.  The 50mph dashboard buzz is gone, don't know why and I'm not complaining.  Driver's door jingle is muted now, still there, but muted.  Car is no longer an absolute dronefest at speeds above 60mph and 70mph can be done without the insistent drone which is a big improvement, though I've no idea what I've done to make that happen.

[vulgalour]

Front shocks - £50 a pair, new

Catalytic converter - £30-50 for non type approved (which is probably what's on, I didn't know there was a difference), or £60-120 for type approved.

Brakes - £free?  We'll open up the drums and see what's what inside.  Hopefully it just needs a wiggle and a clean.

[dozeydustman]

Much like

[MorrisItalSLX]

I just saw this Montego on the Maestro/Montego owners club Facebook page with a remarkably close number plate to your Rover.

 

 

What are the chances!

[vulgalour]

Now I've got the Princess sorted and the new shocks have arrived, I can crack on with sorting the Rover out and inspecting those rear brakes.  Fingers crossed it's nothing annoying and just something that needs a bit of a wiggle.

[vulgalour]

A no-picture update here.  Took the Rover to the unit to have a look at the brakes and see why they're not working.  Took the outer drums off, the four retaining screws all came out very easily, and found that all the hardware inside is pretty much brand new.  Mike and I don't remember doing the rear brakes on this car (I'll have a wade through the thread later to find out if we did), so that was a bit of a surprise.  No leaks, nothing obviously amiss and nothing that could be seen as needing to be fixed so we put the drum back on.  I then pulled out the centre armrest to get the handbrake adjuster after finding the handbrake went to 13 clicks instead of 8-10.  Adjusted that as per the book and the handbrake is certainly better.  Drove out into the yard and when I stopped there was a sort of bong noise from the back.  Now the brakes work normally.  I guess the auto adjusters were stuck?  Either way, the brakes feel a million times better now.

 

I didn't have time to do the struts because of having to be back at work, but I did have time to have a look at the headlight adjusters.  Driver's side both work, and one of the passenger side ones seems to work, the other is reluctant.  I've doused them all in penetrating oil again and I'll have another fiddle with them when it gets dark enough to see what the headlights are doing.  If I can just get the passenger side to come up things will improve a lot.  Brighter bulbs will probably happen too in the near future.

 

I'm hoping the weather is decent over the weekend so the Rover can get a much needed deep clean inside.

 

If anyone has the lower trim level centre console that they'd like to swap for my higher trim level armrest I'd welcome that.  I'm somewhat fed up of the arm rest because it's in the wrong place for me, isn't useful storage for what I keep in the car, and makes it difficult to adjust the handbrake.  All I need to be sure of is that the replacement is the same dark grey.

[vulgalour]

FOR SALE

 

£500

 

It's Dean numbers fault you see, because he has a BX I want.  I can't buy that without selling this first.  So let's get this up for sale.

 

Located in TS17, which is the North East.

[DVee8]

^^ Still in the North East thought you were moving South?

[vulgalour]

I'm still stuck in the North East.  The house move debacle is ongoing.  I've never known it be so difficult to buy a thing.  Not like buying this car, which couldn't be easier!  Turn up with money and BAM thing bought.

 

Now if only buying a house in the South East was that easy.

[pandamonium]

I'm in no position to purchase, but if someone does and wants rid of the 3 spokes, I'll gladly take them. 

[vulgalour]

Those 3 spokes have fairly decent Firestones fitted too with loads of wear left on them.  They're a full set of five alloys, all colour matched.

[pandamonium]

I love them. To be fair, I love the whole car, but not in a position to buy at the moment.

[pauldoubleyou]

Fancy a swap for this Ignis I have for sale?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vulgalour]

I'm not open for swaps unfortunately.  One in, one out policy.

[pauldoubleyou]

I'm not open for swaps unfortunately. One in, one out policy.

No problem. If you or anyone fancies lowering this there’s a trick you can do with the rear upper arms to sort the camber out. They will tow in when lowered, just chuck some washers between the arm and the body.

 

Looks really nice. One of these was my first car and I’ve had a love for them since. I must have had about ten Rover R8s over the years.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vulgalour]

Still for sale.  Still taking up space.

 

For a one-off payment of £500 you could help keep rust-prone, fluid-suspended, old cars in the wild for [insert time period here].

 

Delivery potentially available at cost if for some reason the North East of England is too remote a location for you to get to.

[vulgalour]

I changed my mind.  I'm keeping it.

 

Soz.

[captain_70s]

THREE CAR WINRAR

[DoctorRetro]

Good for you. But if you ever fancy a 1991 Corolla....

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Good decision. You'd regret selling it, especially for £500

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[vulgalour]

Right then, a little update.  I've been using the Rover lightly to keep the systems all healthy.  Recently, the battery did go flat due to lack of use for two months, a recharge off the car has resolved that issue and the battery is fine.  The alarm-immobiliser is constantly running which draws a small amount of power, this isn't a problem if you use the car every week, only when you leave it stood for a couple of months.

 

The future for the Rover is that I will sell it.  I'm not in a rush to do so, I'm happy for the right buyer to come along eventually.  I'll continue to look after it and use it to keep it in good health and then one day, someone will give me some money and it'll be gone.  Probably not until the summer.  I may take it off the road when the BX is sorted out, just to save a bit of cash.  I can see me keeping the Rover purely because I don't want to deal with people and it ending up being one of those giffer garage finds 40 years in the future.

 

So yeah.  The Rover is for sale, to the right person, at the right price, at some point in the future.  If it doesn't sell, I'll keep it, that's no bother.  If it does sell I'll try very hard not to go out and buy another project and probably fail.

[vulgalour]

I'm now no longer the owner of this car, it has been moved on.  It's been a good journey and I'm glad I took it.  To save me from The Public, Mike has taken it on as part of his stock so I'll help with sorting out the cosmetic bits and bobs and when it sells, I get some pennies and Mike takes a small commission.  Works out pretty well for both of us that way.

[dozeydustman]

That sounds like a happy ending to the story of your Rover. It's good that it's (sort of) staying in the fold as well (is Mike a shiter?)

[vulgalour]

Is Mike a shiter?

 

He recently decided to replace his fully functional Rover 75 tourer diesel with a broken £500 Range Rover P38.

 

He might be a little bit.

[dozeydustman]

Is Mike a shiter?

 

He recently decided to replace his fully functional Rover 75 tourer diesel with a broken £500 Range Rover P38.

 

He might be a little bit.

 

Didn't know if he had a username, but yes that sounds quite shiterish!

[vulgalour]

Jo:  I can't really comment about the edge, I'm relying on a Princess as sole transport now and my backup, once sorted, is going to be a BX.

 

Dustman: He's a lurker mostly, username is Mike_knight.

[SiC]

 

 

That sounds like a happy ending to the story of your Rover. It's good that it's (sort of) staying in the fold as well (is Mike a shiter?)

He also drove many hundreds of miles with the 75 to deliver the 1100. Despite it taking a good 18hours or so to do.

[robinmasters]

Plenty of MoT, £500, Stockton-on-Tees.

I'm now no longer the owner of this car, it has been moved on.

Thank fuck for that. This was fairly dissimilar to what I'm actually looking for, so obviously I was sorely tempted. So much so that I was about to express my feelings by posting a picture of a man biting his fist, drink two more beers, then send Vulgalour a PM. Lucky escape.

[vulgalour]

You snooze you lose*.

[320touring]

Glad it's gone to someone you can trust, although somewhat sad I'll not see the concept develop further.

 

This is somewhat tempered by the knowledge of Princess/BX fleet