My beige Rover

[plasticvandan]

I've bitten the bullet and am going to have a go at doing the cambelt and waterpump myself,as the pas belt is very cracked too and they've got to come off I've ordered new Pas and alternator belts too.got a gates belt and tensioner and waterpump for £60,a pair of belts for £20 and a locking tool for a fiver.Just need to get antifreeze now. I figured for around £100 it would be worth me having a go and saving myself £200 at the same time.

[Tickman]

Good decision, hope it goes as planned.

[plasticvandan]

Update time,on the hottest day of the year do far,last week I changed the cambelt.followed the manual and online tutorials,top tip for anyone wanting to lock the crank,there's an access plate by the flywheel,a stout screwdriver fits perfectly in the ring gear and even at 205nm the crank pulley undid using a breaker bar and muscle,no expensive impact gun required! Took me most if the afternoon,as with all newer cars,progress was only slowed by having to remove things to access other things.i decided to leave the waterpump alone,it's done 35k,isn't leaking,felt good (could feel each impeller turning water when turned clockwise),had no play and is probably better quality than the aftermarket replacement that came in the kit. Refitted it all and tensioned the belt,new Pas belt as the unipart one on it was about to snap, unfortunately the aux belt I got sent was too long, apparently being one of the last it uses a 45 belt,but it wasn't as old as the Pas one so is back on for now. Fired up straight away which was a relief,read so many stories of people not lining the marks up.

Heater blower only worked on 3 and 4,new resistor on eBay and now have all the speeds.

Just a coolant flush left to do,and a couple of tyres but can wait until I start using it,likewise I haven't taxed it yet as I don't need the car at the moment.

 

[mitsisigma01]

I miss my 96 420gsi, sticky rear calipers and sagging headlining got on my tits, now I've got the 96 Sigma...... with sticky rear calipers and sagging headlining but with the bonus fk of most bits being unobtanium in the UK. 

GLWTRover

[sierraman]

Most timing belts on cars that era are straightforward if you are methodical, you’ll only bollocks the timing up if you don’t lock the thing in place properly and cycle it through a few turns to make sure the pistons and the valves don’t hit each other. 

Its newer stuff where it runs in bastard oil and requires the hands of a 7 year old child to access everything where it gets tricky. Then again it’s entirely possible a car might see the scrapyard on its original belt these days when they’ll do 120-150k on a belt.

[Rocket88]

MY TT appears to have done 170k on the original belt?. It's a bit slack [being changed tomorrow] but still seems to be fine.

[plasticvandan]

Mine still had the original rover branded belt,and did look good,as did the tensioner,but although low miles,it's 21 years old

[plasticvandan]

Update time

I eventually found a wing locally for this,I suspect it had a pattern wing on which had got the rot in it and needed sorting.there are a few new pattern wings about and I had bought one from ecp,but they cancelled order as they couldn't ship it...and I'm still waiting for my money back.Used wings are not plentiful,seemingly there aren't many left now being broken.I found my nearest yard had a BRG 400 in,and got a decent rust free original wing for £25.it did however have a few slight dents which I had a go at filling,not perfect by any means but is good enough.Bought an old English white paint kit from paints4u and it's an excellent match,and after a few days work it's back on the car,and lined up much better than the old one.

Now it looks like I have a job to go to I'm going to be taxing it this week and start using it and see how I get on,really I think I want a small Jap car,Micra,Yaris,starlet etc,just in case anyone fancied a swap lol,but with 35k and a perfect mot history I thought it worth a try.

 

[2flags]

These are great cars. We had one for 6 years. Paid £600 for it and was very pleased with it. It finally fell apart at 170,000 miles. Very comfortable and smooth. Lovely place to sit. Traded up for a Rover 75.

[plasticvandan]

Tomorrow I should be taxing it (have to go to post office as it's currently on disableds tax) then me and my dad are going on a decent 40 mile round trip to get cider in it (he's coming as he's got personal breakdown cover lol)

[New POD]

On 7/2/2020 at 4:54 PM, sierraman said:

Most timing belts on cars that era are straightforward if you are methodical, you’ll only bollocks the timing up if you don’t lock the thing in place properly and cycle it through a few turns to make sure the pistons and the valves don’t hit each other. 

Its newer stuff where it runs in bastard oil and requires the hands of a 7 year old child to access everything where it gets tricky. Then again it’s entirely possible a car might see the scrapyard on its original belt these days when they’ll do 120-150k on a belt.

My "trick" has been to Mark the pulleys and crank with tipex, and the block and the cam belt coming off, and then mark the cam belt going on by putting the new cam belt next to the old one.  And make sure all the marks line up.  Then as you say, turn the engine over by hand afterwards.  

[plasticvandan]

Taxes this morning, washed the dirt from standing,always looks great clean. Just come back from a 60 mile round trip in the rain.shat myself on the way out,as I haven't driven for a fair while,and the car was unknown.Seemed to be fine, temp perfect all the time,comfy,only things I don't like is the gear change,and it seems to have quite strong engine braking so it judders a bit when decelerating in town etc.dont know if this is a characteristic or not.overall though pretty good.

[Rod/b]

This looks really well bought dan!

If it’s juddering on deceleration then the engine mounts might need doing. Ref the temperature these have “damped” gauges - the needle sits bang in the middle of the gauge whilst the temp is anywhere in the normal operating range. Only when it starts to over heat will the gauge will start to rise into the red. Can lead to a slight sense of over - confidence.