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The Castle Gresley Rover 820


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On 1/9/2021 at 10:10 AM, Dick Longbridge said:

Kudos to you fellas for working in the pissing rain whilst freezing your knackers off. The original brake discs certainly gave a clear indication of just how long it's been since the car has moved under it's own steam. 

It still looks pretty solid from the snapshots I've seen - is oil change and cambelt next on the list? 

Oil has been changed flushed and changed twice for good measure. Belts will be done when its in for MOT 👍

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Some updates coming over the next few days as I've made more progress on the car however for now a quick appeal regarding electrics.

Is anyone on the site good with wiring willing to come and give me a hand? (all rules on social distancing etc will be adhered to)

I simply need to connect/crimp a few wires together in each of the doors but i am struggling on my own mainly down to poor dexterity in my hands and the fact I've been busy with other things on the car. 

I would very much like to get the wires connected up so i can see if i have assembled everything correctly within each door. I essentially had to build them up from empty shells when the car arrived. It would also give me the opportunity to test the window mechs and other related bits. So should anything not work i know to replace it but if everything is functional then i can finish reassembling the interior and that's another boxed ticked off the list.

Any help would be appreciated 

All the best 

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***Update***

The car is coming together nicely and as you can see from the video below its now sealed and secure

I spent the majority of yesterday morning removing broken glass from the bulkhead then in the afternoon i sanded back the scuttle panel and closing plate coating them in red oxide and black paint.

136998779_759425861349497_4301708944262319063_n.thumb.jpg.e2ca1bf23c599dc411e2010da8ff0b9d.jpg138331413_243372800712999_5069766961540306109_n.thumb.jpg.cb264aebd55c7c009dc451351df01fea.jpg

 

Once the paint had dried i decided to tackle the windscreen trimmings

I then started to fit the scuttle and closing plate to the car watching this video back i could have done a better job at treating and painting them however they are certainly a lot better than before.

 

I am still trying to get the electricals sorted within the doors i will try again tomorrow if the weather is good. I made an appeal for help in my last post on the thread so if anyone on the site is good with wiring and willing to come give me a hand that would be greatly appreciated (all rules on social distancing etc will be adhered to)

I simply need to connect/crimp a few wires together in each of the doors but i am struggling on my own mainly down to poor dexterity in my hands and the fact I've been busy with other things on the car. 

I would very much like to get the wires connected up so i can see if i have assembled everything correctly within each door. I essentially had to build them up from empty shells when the car arrived. It would also give me the opportunity to test the window mechs and other related bits. So should anything not work i know to replace it but if everything is functional then i can finish reassembling the interior and that's another boxed ticked off the list.

Any help would be appreciated. All the best 👍

 

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1 hour ago, Ian_Fearn said:

I’d love to help but with all this lockdown stuff I don’t want to risk travelling about at the moment.

It looks brilliant with wheel trims! 

In the future when its convenient and the lockdown lifts i might bring the car to you once it has MOT for abit of welding (rear arch) which il pay you for as we discussed. il also provide paint for the wheel arch i was very impressed with the last job you did so if you still want to help that would be great.

I think the car looks so much better on steelies than alloys 👍

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4 hours ago, Crispian_J_Hotson said:

It's looking healthy again pal. So would help with those doors but South yorks? Really? Can't you move closer? 😄

Thank you! Its looking even better now made some real progress with it lately.

What's wrong with South Yorkshire? Even Peter Sutcliffe loved the place 😆

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***Update***

I woke up quite early this morning with the intention of doing various job on the Gresley car (such as electricals) and fitting a new door handle on my Vitesse which snapped recently. However i wasn't outside long before it started raining so here's what i managed to get done.

The car will need a paint job at some point but it hit me today that if i get the door trims and wing mirror on the exterior of the car is just about complete.

 

I always find it amazing how such a little job can make such a big difference to a car

At this point the electricals were still at the back of my mind bugging me so i thought i would make a start. I fiddled with the wires in the door trying to get the connectors off but it started to rain so i thought it was best to leave it.

Back in the house out of the rain i decided to do another job. Again its abit of a bodge but i couldn't find a spare and this appears to have worked.

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The plastic recess for the screws holding the rear demister and fog light buttons in at the back of the instrument surround were brittle and had started to break up. 

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Unable to find a spare surround for the earlier models i decided to plastic weld it back together which consisted of melting the edges with a soldering iron and sticking the broken piece back on.

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Then i removed the metal clips from the back of the button surround

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And glued them firmly into place

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Before screwing it all back together and testing that its functional. It appears to have worked however only time will tell if it holds or not.

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More to come soon. All the best 👍:D

 

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21 hours ago, Rovorsche said:

Too late to the party to be of any use but that pump looks almost identical to an SD1 Carb pump, is it just a lift pump or does it provide enough pressure to drive injectors ?

134465205_198653325316558_8625337150305482845_n.thumb.jpg.1ca91448527633dd04bc5f8237f1ee97.jpg

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-DRC195P

https://rimmerbros.com/ItemImages/Large/DRC195.JPG

 

https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-GRID008923

https://rimmerbros.com/ItemImages/Large/GRID008923.jpg

I changed a reluctant SD1 in tank pump a while ago and found it clogged with rust, being a glorified Scalextrix motor it needs ferrous bits to work but they go pear shaped if left dry of fuel.
 

All Rover pumps from that era seem to be pretty much the same it’s only the actual pump that changes between  engine sizes. So for example a pump in a V6 will have a different output to that of 2 litre but other than that they do all seem to look very similar to eachother 

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2 hours ago, skoda_fan said:

Every time I look at this thread it puts a warm glow in my heart and makes me think the world's not such a bad place, despite everything. Doesn't look like you've got the best of facilities there, which makes it even more amazing :-) .

Are you sure its not just indigestion? 😆

I don't have the best of the facilities but i make good use of what i do have and it hasn't held me back yet.

I have a driveway that has space for about four cars a loft full of Rover parts (various models) and an old ammo box with a selection of tools in it. Last year i rescued and restored seven Rovers five of which were Rover 800s all from my driveway.

Admittedly the Gresley car has been the biggest challenge yet but i determined to get it back on the road 👍

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1 hour ago, andy18s said:

Maybe @Lord Sterlingshould employ your services, he's got a cracking selection on Rovers to rescue

We are already aware of each other mainly due to his incredibly good taste and gentleman like manner. Infact he's the only chap i know that has a collection to rival my own @Lord Sterlingis a gentleman and a scholar sir! 

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Everytime i see this getting more and more complete, I just want to T cut it!! get some shine back into that paint....

Oh good luck with leccy windows, my Old 820's worked when they wanted..or would go down fine, then refuse to budge again........right up until you have everything stripped down and just push the button to confirm..and Whoosh...serenly roll back into place

Fekkin thing!!!!!

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***Update***

Hello There!  its been awhile since i did another update but I've started working on the car again now the snows f**ked off!

As you can see the exterior is looking pretty good now ive got the the trimmings and door handles on.

I am still fighting with the electrics/wiring and losing.... :(  I really could benefit with some help from someone who knows more about this sort of thing but so far ive managed to get the majority of it back in and hooked up. It all seems to be working with the exception of the heater/blower which i suspect is down to a dodgy relay. However i am still having great difficulty with the wiring in the doors and so far have been unable to get them connected up or tested.

When the better weather comes i am hoping to diagnose what's wrong with the sunroof as the motor appears to be working but the sunroof itself wont budge.

 

The car is still abit hesitant to start but i am pretty sure once i fit the new spark plugs and leads ive bought for the car when its finished this will solve the issue i think it will also benefit from a full tank of fresh fuel.

Despite my struggles with wiring i did manage to get the clock working again which i was pretty chuffed about.

 

 

More to come soon hopefully. All the best 😀👍

 

 

 

 

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I have been following your travails with this Rover for a while, now, you seem to be the ideal owner for this car. Great work.

Your problem with the heater blower not working could be the cut out, which you will find on the top of the blower. Take out the glove box to gain access. There are 3-4 screws holding the fan on. On the top, you should find a bi metal cutout. New ones NLA. I have just by passed the cut out and wired mine direct, all 3 blower speeds now restored. I have just used a temperature dependent fuse in the circuit.

Good luck, it will be a great car for you or someone else. Owned my 820 for 18 years and I still love it.

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6 hours ago, tommytwo said:

I have been following your travails with this Rover for a while, now, you seem to be the ideal owner for this car. Great work.

Your problem with the heater blower not working could be the cut out, which you will find on the top of the blower. Take out the glove box to gain access. There are 3-4 screws holding the fan on. On the top, you should find a bi metal cutout. New ones NLA. I have just by passed the cut out and wired mine direct, all 3 blower speeds now restored. I have just used a temperature dependent fuse in the circuit.

Good luck, it will be a great car for you or someone else. Owned my 820 for 18 years and I still love it.

Thank you for the suggestion il try that 👍 

Electricals are hardly my strong point and its held me back but i will remove the necessary parts tomorrow and see what can be done! Yes the 800s are great cars in fact its my favourite car of all time ive owned my 827 fastback for a few years now and always preferred it over the saloon and smaller engines however despite it testing my patience almost daily the 820 is growing on me.

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6 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said:

Wish I could ‘legally’ get up there and help mate.

Me too there's probably an incredibly simple and obvious solution for the issues with the door wiring and heater/blower but i haven't found it yet.  

I feel i may have gone a bridge to far this time especially were the electricals are concerned but il keep going tomorrow is another day! 🤔

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