The Current Driveway...

[TrabbieRonnie]

19 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Not bad at all, especially considering a full set of tyres these days is never cheap.

Those Dimax tyres are on my radar (pun intended) for the Cresta, so good to hear they're decent!

Seems the only big ticket item needed was the brake servo. Still only the cost of servicing an Astra at a garage!

I agree Captain, not bad at all...   Hopefully the Cresta is playing ball, a great project that we're all looking forward to seeing back on the road (hopefully on the 'tube as well, you're a bit of a natural at that iirc!?). 

Can confirm that the tyres drive great, I'm not putting a great deal of high speed cornering forces through them of course, but they have steadied the ship massively, and are not noisy.  Time will tell how they age, I doubt wear is going to be much of an issue at the low speeds and miles we'll be doing.

Another thing to add for the Rover, is the great parts availability... reasonable costs and extremely fast deliveries from John Wearing in particular.  I've never had an old British car, it's a really pleasant surprise to get be able to get stuff sorted so easily.

Had an absolute blast today, trundling back and forth to work was just the best feeling in the world.  The sun shone and the beautiful Moray scenery looked even better through the Rovers' windows.  There's something very relaxing about the way the engine pulls up hills, in the higher gears, without fuss or very much noise...  the car is oozing with its own character, like the Trabbi but very different obviously!

I'll take her in again tomorrow I think, and include her first trip to a petrol station with me (been filling via jerry can up to yet).  Great reactions out on the road, and at work, I'm feeling very very lucky to be the current custodian of Old Red.

[Matty]

I'm looking after two old brits (one my own) and I can get pretty much anything i need within a few days. It takes longer to get bits to keep her Z4 coop on the road.

I think the old car scene is still in rude health and long may it continue.

[TrabbieRonnie]

Well well...

That's my first week's commuting in the old Rover completed, without any dramas at all!

Adding a touch of faded pink glamour to the car park!

Now, admittedly this amounts to only around 100 miles, with a couple of detours, once for fuel (and once just for fun!).  However, we have gotten to know each other better, and I've learned to fully embrace the steady, unhurried  nature of this car.

She hasn't used any oil or water, and has honestly not missed a beat.  I do have to leave the choke on for a couple of miles, otherwise she would stall at idle.  Maybe that's ok, I'm used to the Trabbi wherein the choke is off pretty much straight away...  When warm, the Rover's idle is perfect, so my carb set up can't be far away.

The inoperative fuel gauge is a pain, that I'm going to look into sorting pronto.  I unexpectedly brimmed the tank having pumped only 15ish litres though, so she obviously hadn't used much in the last (off-the-road) testing phase... I'll get a clearer idea of mpg's when I fill up again this weekend.

Adrian Flux were great to deal with at the start of the week, they've insured the Trabbi for years, and the P4 came out even cheaper.  For an agreed mileage of 4000, they wanted a very reasonable £94.80... which is nice.

This weekend will see me having a wee check of everything, pulling plugs etc to see if anything needs tweaking.  I'll maybe have another go at bleeding/adjusting the brakes, they're good (and have been pheasant-tested once or twice), but a wee bit further down the pedal than I suspect is usual.

The tyres are maybe a bit hard as well, I'll drop them by 5psi at a time and see, as she takes a fair thump over some bumps.

All in all, a great first experience of really using the car as it's supposed to be, bowling along the countryside in comfort.  Well done Rover, you made a good'un.

 

 

 

[Matty]

Trabs are air cooled aren't they? In that case not very much to warm through. Both of the old Brits I'm driving seem very cold blooded. Ironic given our climate mind.

[TrabbieRonnie]

15 minutes ago, Matty said:

Trabs are air cooled aren't they? In that case not very much to warm through. Both of the old Brits I'm driving seem very cold blooded. Ironic given our climate mind.

Yes, air-cooled.

The P4's 2.6 straight-six requires approximately 9 litres of both engine oil and coolant... probably does take a while to warm all that up!

[Matty]

1 hour ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Yes, air-cooled.

The P4's 2.6 straight-six requires approximately 9 litres of both engine oil and coolant... probably does take a while to warm all that up!

Family on my dad's side (his mum) are from the DDR (my mums side are from Ulster, proper mutt 😁). I spent the 80s going over there being driven about in Trabants. Another car id love to have just because!

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Well well...

That's my first week's commuting in the old Rover completed, without any dramas at all!

Adding a touch of faded pink glamour to the car park!

Now, admittedly this amounts to only around 100 miles, with a couple of detours, once for fuel (and once just for fun!).  However, we have gotten to know each other better, and I've learned to fully embrace the steady, unhurried  nature of this car.

She hasn't used any oil or water, and has honestly not missed a beat.  I do have to leave the choke on for a couple of miles, otherwise she would stall at idle.  Maybe that's ok, I'm used to the Trabbi wherein the choke is off pretty much straight away...  When warm, the Rover's idle is perfect, so my carb set up can't be far away.

The inoperative fuel gauge is a pain, that I'm going to look into sorting pronto.  I unexpectedly brimmed the tank having pumped only 15ish litres though, so she obviously hadn't used much in the last (off-the-road) testing phase... I'll get a clearer idea of mpg's when I fill up again this weekend.

Adrian Flux were great to deal with at the start of the week, they've insured the Trabbi for years, and the P4 came out even cheaper.  For an agreed mileage of 4000, they wanted a very reasonable £94.80... which is nice.

This weekend will see me having a wee check of everything, pulling plugs etc to see if anything needs tweaking.  I'll maybe have another go at bleeding/adjusting the brakes, they're good (and have been pheasant-tested once or twice), but a wee bit further down the pedal than I suspect is usual.

The tyres are maybe a bit hard as well, I'll drop them by 5psi at a time and see, as she takes a fair thump over some bumps.

All in all, a great first experience of really using the car as it's supposed to be, bowling along the countryside in comfort.  Well done Rover, you made a good'un.

 

 

 

You proceeded, unhindered. Job done. (In comfort, too)

[TrabbieRonnie]

I'm going on a bit now I know, but I'm just so bloody chuffed with the old Rover.

Filled up today, so brimful to brimful again took 14.5 litres, after 86 miles travelled.  By my maths, that's 3.19 gallons, giving mpg's of...

27 (very nearly).

This seems incredible, but that's what's happened. 

Anyway, the point of today's jaunt was a trip out to our local aircraft museum, Morayvia.  It's not far from us, about 46 miles there and back.  They are very hilly miles though, and this was by far the longest continuous run the car has had under my ownership (45 minutes each way).

Here is the proof..!

Unfortunately they don't have a TSR2 to park next to, they did let a Jaguar E-type park under a Jag of the winged variety.  It is a lovely place, entirely run and staffed by volunteers, which will include myself shortly!

She ran perfectly, didn't overheat going up some serious hills, although we could do with some carpeting to keep the smell of warm gearbox out a bit!

Cheers all.

 

 

[TrabbieRonnie]

Here's a couple of minutes you won't get back...!

Worth it for the soundtrack, I promise!

🤣🤣🤣

 

 

[TrabbieRonnie]

Hi all.

Very nearly took myself off to the big classic car show in Elgin today, but remembered last night that I don't actually seem to enjoy them much anymore...!  Getting older and less sociable I suppose.  

Spent my time much more productively.

Behold the before...

And the after...

I really wasn't expecting for this job to make quite as much of a difference as it has, the old car feels totally different.  Still the odd wee bits to tidy up (nothing's stuck down yet), and the edge trims to screw back in, but the weather has at last become changeable here.

The 2 metre x 2 metre roll cost £45 from t'Amazon, supposedly 4-way stretch.  It's not that stretchy to be honest, but I can't complain at the way it's conformed.  I even found some underlay in the loft, so I should be rolling along in a much more refined manner!

At some points, as pictured below for example...

... I could have quite happily driven the car and myself off the nearest cliff, fiddly doesn't really cut it for this job.  However, we are twenty minutes from the coast (forty in an old Rover!), so the carpet is in!

I've a wee bit left, which will find it's way into the boot eventually methinks...

... all in all pretty chuffed with the upgrade for not too much cash.

Speaking of upgrades, the discs and pads are winging their way from Deutschland for this old beast, which I pulled out for a checkover and a planned wash and spruce up tomorrow...

She started well, I forgot that she sounds the absolute bollocks!

 

Cheers all.

 

 

[Matty]

On 01/06/2025 at 18:41, TrabbieRonnie said:

Here's a couple of minutes you won't get back...!

Worth it for the soundtrack, I promise!

🤣🤣🤣

 

 

Brilliant!

[TrabbieRonnie]

20 minutes ago, Matty said:

Brilliant!

A wee bit of fun, this one's a firm family favourite already!  That was my eldest's first go at driving it, a natural I reckon.

[Matty]

4 minutes ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

A wee bit of fun, this one's a firm family favourite already!  That was my eldest's first go at driving it, a natural I reckon.

And why not start em young? I'm a bit buggered in that respect. I've two teenage girls who aren't into all this stuff. But if they were the keys would be getting thrown at em!

[TrabbieRonnie]

Morning all...

Had a weird issue with the old Rover, and would be interested to hear any thoughts.

The old girl has an oil bath air filter, which (whilst I'd been faffing with the brake servo and dynamo etc, both mounted under it), I'd been running dry.  Not good drills I know, but she's had worse treatment in her 66 years I'm sure!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, now that the car's been pressed into regular service, I filled the filter bottom to the arrow embossed in the metal casing and carried on about my day (I used standard 10/40 engine oil, not wanting to waste the expensive green 20/50 she actually runs on).  It's taken a while to link this to my issues, but I'm pretty certain of it now...

Basically, shortly after starting and whilst still running on choke, she would struggle going up a hill.  Only a problem sometimes, depending on which direction I leave the house... if going towards town, the car has to sit at a fairly steep junction, and then pull out onto an immediate uphill slope.  The engine would lose power, be very difficult to keep going, but start up easily if I did stall.  Once on the flat, or warmed up enough that the choke was no longer needed, nae bother... normal service resumed.

Well yesterday I removed the air intake, finally realising that this problem had developed after oiling the filter...  and I think she's been sucking oil.  There is a greasy residue in the intake pipe, and the exhaust tailpipe interior is covered with sooty crap too.  Both of these were absolutely spotless on fitment.  On an incline of course, the oil is further up the side of the bath, closer to the intake.  My thoughts are that when the engines on the choke, already strangled a wee bit, it can't cope with the oil as well.  And when warmed up it runs well, although my son did say she was chucking out a bit of reek the other day...  Usually, although 'old car fuelly smelling' there are no visible exhaust emissions.

I have to say that the filter arrangement does obviously work, the oil in there was already full of dead flies etc, but my immediate action was to remove some.  I've brought the level down to around 10mm lower than the mark, and a quick test run confirmed an easier idle and plenty of urge.  Another test this morning will be more conclusive, as she's sat cold overnight.

Thinking on it, my plan is to change the filter bath oil out for two-stroke oil (of which I have plenty!), the logic being that it will still catch the flies, but burn cleanly if any does find it's way down the yap.

Any thoughts or experiences from fellow oil bath filter users would be appreciated, I can't believe this problem is normal?  Maybe my carb settings are out, although the car is running absolutely spot on otherwise, continuing to be far better than I expected on fuel even.

This also could explain the oily smell I was complaining about a couple of weeks back on my first big trip out too I suppose, I'd put it down to the then lack of carpeting... I did the same journey yesterday with the same smell though, despite my new carpet sealing up all the various holes...

 

As I say, all input welcome and I'll report back once I've implemented my plan,

Cheers all.

 

 

[jonathan_dyane]

I'd suspect the lighter oil than specified is getting sucked up the intake, I'd be trying the 20w50

[TrabbieRonnie]

31 minutes ago, jonathan_dyane said:

I'd suspect the lighter oil than specified is getting sucked up the intake, I'd be trying the 20w50

That makes sense, will use the last dregs of the good stuff...  Thanks Jonathan 👍.

[Westbay]

Could you do away with the oil bath filter and use a paper filter ?

[TrabbieRonnie]

27 minutes ago, Westbay said:

Could you do away with the oil bath filter and use a paper filter ?

I suppose so (the cylindrical one fitted to the A8 actually looks about the right size), but there aren't any inherent issues with the oil bath as far as I know... except of course operator error!  

I've just swapped the oil as per JD's advice and will have a run out shortly to see any improvements.  Otherwise, yes it had crossed my mind.

[Westbay]

1 hour ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

I suppose so (the cylindrical one fitted to the A8 actually looks about the right size), but there aren't any inherent issues with the oil bath as far as I know... except of course operator error!  

I've just swapped the oil as per JD's advice and will have a run out shortly to see any improvements.  Otherwise, yes it had crossed my mind.

I was just thinking that the 'oil bath' was the technology of the day and we now have paper filters, more efficient. cleaner etc...

[TrabbieRonnie]

51 minutes ago, Westbay said:

I was just thinking that the 'oil bath' was the technology of the day and we now have paper filters, more efficient. cleaner etc...

Quite right, I daresay they do remove more than the old oil bath... I am a bit of a sucker for the old ways though!  Apparently it wasn't uncommon for folk to use a small amount of the waste oil after an oil change.  And I guess the remainder got brushed around the chassis too!

Anyway, just back from a test flight and all is well.  I purposely took the uphill direction, setting off immediately with zero warm up time.  She pulled up and away smoothly, and gave me the 'put the choke back in' lamp a couple of miles up the road.  Calling that a fix, feeling a bit silly but am still in the getting-to-know-you phase with the old lady!

Thanks again Jonathan.

[Dyslexic Viking]

This is a bit strange because in the oil bath airfilter on my Mercedes I have used 10w-30 and the same in the tractors I maintain for my dad and have never had any problems. The reason for the 10w-30 is that it is the cheapest engine oil I can buy and I only use it for this.

Do these Rovers have a strange air filter design?

[TrabbieRonnie]

3 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

This is a bit strange because in the oil bath airfilter on my Mercedes I have used 10w-30 and the same in the tractors I maintain for my dad and have never had any problems. The reason for the 10w-30 is that it is the cheapest engine oil I can buy and I only use it for this.

Do these Rovers have a strange air filter design?

I don't know DV, it's my first one!  The heavier oil has definitely worked though 👍

[Matty]

Ah, old cars are like women. They're all differant 😁

[TrabbieRonnie]

New old car alert...!

Hello all, 

I haven't been updating much due to family life becoming massively busy/stressful, and honestly didn't expect this latest purchase to come off for the same reason.

However, somehow all the stars aligned and my eldest 'shiter has a new set of wheels... a replacement for the Mazda 323 ex-of-this-parish.  The wee car is in no way to blame for this (it's in for it's MOT as we speak), he's just ready for something bigger, and the new model doesn't exactly come up that often!

So, what could feasibly replace his 323?  What other car could give the same blend of old-school cool, good quality and nice driving dynamics...?

Behold!

A 1997 Xedos 9... with non-Miller cycle 2.5 V6, automagically driving the front wheels to the tune of 160bhp.  He had been on the lookout for a nineties estate car, but close enough!

She has rust here and there, but did just survive the Ministry's ministrations in April, so nothing too drastic.  I wonder if that's why she never made it onto a certain raffle website, despite having (until today) never left the mighty Kingdom of Fife?

Too rough for Retroshite these days then maybe, but certainly a very handsome car, that has completed the jaunt up the A9 to Moray without a hiccup.  It honestly has to be the quietest, smoothest running engine I've ever known, and the cabin doesn't rattle... at all.  900 credits of the realm were required in exchange for the pleasure.

It's undergoing it's first big clean up as we speak, I'll post more pics as things progress.  History-wise, we bought it from a lady who was selling on behalf of her Dad, who at 91 was unwillingly hanging up the driving gloves.  He'd had it a fair few years I think, and going by the service history was the second owner.  

A full custom-built stainless exhaust was fitted in 2015, but with the emphasis on silencing as there is no appreciable noise to speak of.  Tyres are getting on, but have plenty of tread and handled some very wet roads on the way home without bother.

The list of jobs will grow I'm sure, but it is at least useable and the 323's not going anywhere as my youngest quite fancies it (especially the lower fuel costs than he's getting used to with the old Surf!).  I'll really need to sell something now as I'm out of spots, which means the wee caravan will be off to pastures new, probably.

Anyway, cheers all 👍

 

 

[Split_Pin]

Super work Ronnie, your lad has great taste! Enjoy.

[TrabbieRonnie]

5 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Super work Ronnie, your lad has great taste! Enjoy.

Cheers SP!

Mazda's have been a pleasant surprise to us here at Trabbi Towers... don't know what the new ones are like, but the three on fleet are all great in their own ways.  

[Split_Pin]

I saw a green Y reg 626 Saloon towing an equally ancient caravan yesterday on the road up to Dundee. Older fella driving, it's almost certain he's owned that car from new!

[TrabbieRonnie]

Well well,

Wee Mazda 323 is still stuck in dry dock at the garage, having had it's handbrake cables replaced, but awaiting it's turn on the MOT ramps. 

This is delaying the entry into service of the Xedos, as it will be swapped onto the 323's policy.  It does mean it will be the cleanest car if all time when it does though, as my eldest is slightly* obsessed with it!

Took the old Rover out this morning, and almost suffered an FTP as she started sputtering under high throttle application.  Upon our return, I cleaned out the filter, needle and bowl, all of which was full of rusty brown shite.  

I'll start cleaning her out every fortnight to avoid this, and maybe the winter will see me dropping the tank after all...

Anyway, she instantly returned to rude health, took her up the hill for some celebratory pics in the sun...

Cheers all!