Project 1994 Rover 414SLi - Fin.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

You must be using the Halfords cobalt-iodine megaplutonium oxide drills then, the ones that won't drill though cheese without melting.  A decent drill bit will go through - perhaps start with a 1mm. 

 

You've had the gas axe on it to get it red hot yet? That does involve a red hot bullet of molten ARG steel that, if it comes out and hits you in the face, will make you look as though you have grown a second arsehole.

[purplebargeken]

I have those drill bits. Luckily I need to drill through cheese on a regular basis. 

[ruffgeezer]

Failing that air chisel on the small side of the balljoint.

[vulgalour]

FIXED!

 

Hammers.  Hammers are the answer.

[scaryoldcortina]

Hammers are always the answer! Good job.

[twosmoke300]

STOP !!!

 

 

 

Hammer time !

[Ghosty]

Some light marks but nothing to it really. Any good?

 

 

Hey, that badge is from a 213/SD3!

Winner

[vulgalour]

The most important thing to impart is that tonight I DROVE the Rover home.  This is a Good Thing.

 

The balljoint stub was got out using the hit-it-with-a-hammer technique.  I'm told it wasn't the easiest even then but both did eventually ping out leaving us with a nice undamaged hub ready to accept the new ball joint, which was a massive relief.

20150804-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

That meant the arm could be put back together and put on the car.  New driveshaft oil seals were fitted to cure the one big oil leak the car did have, it will likely have some smaller ones somewhere being a Rover.  Driveshafts back in, brand new lower arms fitted, tie rods reattached and everything where it ought to be before we could get the brakes and wheels back on.

20150804-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

This went swimmingly until I managed to do this.

20150804-03 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Yep, that's a ratchet spanner stuck on the lower ball joint stud because I'm an idiot.  Slackened off the hub nut and slid the driveshaft out just far enough to free the spanner before tightening it all up with a more different spanner.  Job jobbed.

20150804-04 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Then we went to do the brakes and another problem.  The new pads are the wrong ones so I need to take those back.  For now, and I'm aware it's a big no-no, it's new discs and old pads because the old pads still have plenty of life and they'll be replaced as soon as the new pads arrive.

20150804-05 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

After that we checked all the various fixings to be sure it was all tight and sorted then put the car on its temporary wheels, topped up the gearbox with two litres of lovely fresh oil and test drove it around the yard.  GONE is the weird scrapey-draggy noise in first, second and third.  HERE is an actual biting point on the clutch.  No weird noises, no untoward smells, no issues at all.  No further issues on the drive home either with the exception of one dust shield which is rubbing ever so slightly on a disc but not enough to leave a mark on it, I'll give it a little tweak in the daytime.

 

Last of all, proof I need to lower the car.  I love the new wheels but the arch gap is comedically huge.  The camera angle likely isn't helping, I had to enlist our Henry to serve as a steady because it was the only way to get a non-blurry pic.  I'll do better in the future.

20150804-06 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

It felt great to drive home and not face another day of frustration and expense sorting mechanical stuff out.  The really big jobs that I know about are now resolved and I should have a really good little car that I can continue to tidy up and make excellent.

 

As an aside, I drove my old Xantia today which I sold back to my brother.  He has done amazing things to it because it now drives very nearly like a petrol car with performance when you want it.  It's so quiet too!  He's done such improvement on it I felt like it was a completely different car and I did have a moment of regret parting with it until I remembered the long distance seating position discomfort and the fact that he needs the car far more than I do for what he does.  A diesel just isn't suited to my driving habits.

[Felly Magic]

U IZ WINNAR WIV ROWVURR INNIT. Seriously though, it does sound like you are winning the battle of getting this 'Rayte' exactly how you want it.

[320touring]

good stuff-much winz

[KruJoe]

Good work lads.

 

Arch gap LOLz!

I'm guessing you still have Corsa-sized tyres on those wheels Some 175/65's or 185/60's would look righter methinks.

[vulgalour]

yeah, they're puny tyres, 165s I think!  Can you do me a favour, it just popped into my head.  On the squashed Rover is there an electrical connector on the bonnet release mechanism?  I think it's something to do with the alarm and the mech I got doesn't have it.  It bugs me so I'm considering modifying my original mechanism just so I can reinstall it.

[KruJoe]

From memory, I don't think so. Maybe yours had an after-market doofer installed.

Can you see anything on the pictures you took? (I'll go up and see later.)

[vulgalour]

The connector hides behind the mech, so it doesn't show up in the photos.  I'll get a snap of the one I took off so you can see what I mean.  Pretty sure it's a factory thing too because the connecter looks to be made at the same time all the bits of the mechanism are put together and looks fairly impossible to get out and swap into the new one.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

You have truly Moved Over to Austin Rover. 

 

I'm thinking a 2009 version of that first dreadful Rover 214 advert could be in order. To the sounds of 'Up where we belong' could be some fat tattooed bloke from Basingstoke's Popley estate in a sleeveless t shirt and trakkie bottoms who realises he's run out of Special Brew and Bensons, and performs a drive to the 7-11 so fast in an untaxed uninsured 216GTi it would put Raiiikkkonnnen on pole position at Spa.

[Parky]

Surely "Up where we belong" would be standing outside Mr Bollox's house while he fits a new head gasket to a 214?

[vulgalour]

Here's that connector thing on my old bonnet release mech, it's riveted in place and looks like it's put in when the latch is actually put together so I'm not sure how I'd get it out to swap onto my other mech.

20150805-01 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

Made a start cutting and polishing the new paint on the bonnet but I really need to get the car inside the unit to do it properly, the weather is all wrong for doing it outdoors and I'm ending up with too many marks in the paint.  Still, it's showing promise with just a quick pass over this lunch time and I'm sure with a bit more graft it'll look like I haven't even done anything.

20150805-02 by Angyl Roper, on Flickr

 

I'm happy enough with how the car looks now, it's very nearly how I want it to look.  Clutch is taking some getting used to and the cable and/or pedal needs some adjustment to be spot on.  New (hopefully correct) brake pads arrive tomorrow afternoon so I can fit those and hopefully fettle the dust shields a bit more because one is still catching just a tiny bit somewhere.

 

Gearbox no longer makes an unpleasant noise in first, second and third, which is really reassuring.  Driveshafts are behaving themselves, fluids are staying where they're put, temperature never goes above the first third on the gauge and the car feels really nice to drive now.  Quite pleased, all told, which is a relief considering the marathon it's been these past two weeks or so.

 

Bodywork will be the next big thing to sort and I'll tackle it a panel at a time.  There's quite a few parking dings and dents here and there, some look like they'll dress out from the back of the panel, some don't.  There's a couple of minor rust blemishes on arches and doors but the sills are pristine so far as I can see.  The car gets noticed a lot, the only other R8 I've seen up here is the Nightfire Red Tourer with terminal lacquer peel, previously spotted in April this year and more recently driven past while I was in the Rover on the way to the shops.

 

[purplebargeken]

The Tourer versions of these are handsome things. Practical too.

[twosmoke300]

I'd love a tourer on the cross spoke wheel trims

[ruffgeezer]

Krujoe, please may I request the squiffy Rover badge off of the squashed car, thw one on my streetwise fell off somewhere on the A158.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The Tourer versions of these are handsome things. Practical too.

 

 

They are, and sadly underrated. I wonder why they never sold better - they're so much nicer looking than the 'loon.

[Honey Badger]

http://www.gumtree.com/p/rover/rover-420-gsi-tourer-with-tow-bar-/1127095826

 

[Timewaster]

Krujoe, please may I request the squiffy Rover badge off of the squashed car, thw one on my streetwise fell off somewhere on the A158.

Was it the proud spirit of P4 and P5 Rovers trying to disown it?

[brownnova]

I got the Mazda roughly the same time you got this. So far I've removed some stickers... Oh and driven it a few times.

 

... This thread serves as an inspiration on how much CAN be done!!

 

Note to self... Do more.

[hairnet]

I started doing a vulg on my zorst

 

Will I be sent to the norty corner :lol

[KruJoe]

Krujoe, please may I request the squiffy Rover badge off of the squashed car

 

As seen here... http://autoshite.com/topic/21285-for-sale-not-raffle-another-r8-rover-%C2%A30-down-hp-subject-to-status/... I've done a deal with JohnK for the whole car (again) so you'd best ask him... he may not be collecting for another week or so though, he's waiting for his truck to be fixed.

[KruJoe]

 

 

Those photos show bugger-all.

What I'm pointing to there is the wire just in the mech. It's news to me that it was there. It runs down that spar to the bottom of the radiator and into the loom. I can only guess that it's something to do with the factory alarm.

[KruJoe]

 

 

It may be up for grabs when John breaks the car, to save you messing about adapting stuff.

[vulgalour]

That looks like it might have the connector on it in the second picture.  It's well hidden. Apparently it's a solenoid to tell the alarm the bonnet is open when it shouldn't be.

[vulgalour]

Let's have a little update here shall we?  The Rover continues to be rather excellent, it's weird having such a pleasant car for so little outlay.  The car had been having some coolant loss issues, an occasional smell of fuel in the cabin and had an annoying proclivity to stall when setting off from road ends or trying to park, the sort of situations where you've got low revs but are about to put some on to get moving steadily.  It was also putting water out the exhaust, which was scary but didn't seem to be the usual boiling kettle problem.

 

Now, nothing broke or came to a particular head but it was getting a bit annoying. I was pretty certain it wasn't the dreaded head gasket failure as not enough of the signs I'd expect - low on power, coolant and oil mixing, general feeling of doom - were there to confirm it.

 

I did the sensible thing and consulted some experts... well, I say experts, I consulted my mate Mike and my brother because they know their way around a K series better than I do.  A leaking inlet manifold gasket was diagnosed as being the issue and sure enough, when the inlet manifold was removed the original gasket came out with many cracks and splits and was basically knackered.

 

I've had a couple of big projects started so I've not had much in the way of free time, an imminent house move has made me equally short on spannering patience so Mike very kindly offered to do the spanner work on this job so I could get on with other stuff.  Great!  A call was made to Rimmer Bros to order a new gasket and it arrive the next day.  Even more great!  We'd be sorted in no time.

 

Except they'd sent the wrong gasket.  So I sent it back explaining what I wanted and they told me I was wrong.  So I sent them photographs of what I wanted and they said they sent the wrong one.  I had to ask if they wouldn't mind sending the correct one and had to confirm over the phone which gasket I needed.  It was a right palaver because The System has my car as having a different manifold to what it actually has and therefore I must be wrong.

 

Anyway, to cut this very long story short the new one arrived today and Mike fitted it.  He also freed off the little ballbearing as that had stuck in place which should prevent any problems.  Here he is doing the job, he doesn't know I took this picture.

 

 

The result of this is that the car is so much smoother to drive around town and park it's unreal.  I guess I'm used to some pretty shonky cars because the way it drives now is night and day to how hesitant and irritating it was without me realising.  The temperature comes up to normal much quicker which is also nice and the engine sounds even quieter than it did, I guess the old gasket must have been producing a bit of noise with it letting fluids and air get places they shouldn't.

 

Now, if I can just figure out what that clonk is at the front end when I let off the throttle sometimes (but not always, it's an odd one) I'll be very happy.  I'm wondering if it might be a tired engine mount.