Rover 800s - Fleet update

[Asimo]

Mmm - saloons! Hatchbacks just aren't as Rover as saloons.

[Lord Sterling]

Nice. Got floor mats for it? Might have some somewhere.

[Austin-Rover]

On 8/9/2022 at 9:47 AM, lisbon_road said:

Would appreciate knowing what you stick the headlining material on with, and any tips like do you stretch it as you put it on.

I've three sagging headlinings to fix sadly!

High temperature spray adhesive is what you need. You don't stretch the new fabric as such, just smooth it over the contours as you lay it over the glue. It gets easier the more you do. 

[Austin-Rover]

On 8/10/2022 at 11:03 PM, Lord Sterling said:

Nice. Got floor mats for it? Might have some somewhere.

Yes it still has the floor mats. I do need the fuel filler flap release mechanism if you have one? 

[Austin-Rover]

Progress is slow on the grotbags 800. The scabby bit on the offisde sill turned in to holes, bigger holes, inner sill repairs and a home made repair section for the back 1/3 of the sill. Take a look; 

We've managed to spend a bit of time on it this week, and we're now close to the point that the sill will be British Racing Green again soon. The stonechip coating was replaced on the new section of sill today; 

Also, what's really important at the moment is to make sure the wing mirror cappings are the best part of the car! 😄

 

 

[Motown]

I remember this car from the owners club some years ago its definitely ex demonstrator. I wish you all the best with it the car has certainly come along way since i last saw it 

[Austin-Rover]

Sills and wing mirrors are BRG again now, but no pix of that, as I forgot when the car was briefly out of the garage today. 

In other works, the brand new fuel filler release motor was fitted (megabucks from Rimmer Bros); 

Someone previous to me had made a catch out of a flat piece of metal and screwed it to the car with a wood screw through the middle hole where there should be a rubber stopper. They then opened/closed the flap by applying force to bend the plastic catch over the piece of metal. Thankfully the flap and hinge have survived this muppetry and everything now works as it should. 

Also today was a flush out of the old 'coolant'. This is on the cards again in future as the expansion tank will need to be replaced with a new Volvo sourced item. 

Finally, down the driveway for a much needed wash, turned around and back in to the garage for the next round of jobs...

 

[Austin-Rover]

The past couple of weekends have involved fabricating and fitting some new mountings for the front and rear wings, to hold the sides of the bumpers in place. Original replacement items are made of unobtanium, and for good reason - because of their design, over the years they rot and become distored, meaning they don't hold the bumper any more, which causes them to flap in the breeze. See below! 

So a tenners-worth of steel, cut, drilled and painted sees some suitable replacements ready to go!

The front end went back together today, with a replacement front bumper in lieu of the knackered original. It was a bonus to find the fog lamps weren't completely rotted, so the backs have been rubbed down, treated and painted so they will live again (the fog lamps are also NLA!)

Back at the other end of the car, the bumper is off for its new brackets. Hopefully by the end of next Sunday it'll be ready to come out of the garage!

 

[Split_Pin]

Nice progress on this. I love the bumper brackets!

[motorpunk]

Can I just say - Britischer Arkitekt.

[2flags]

Looking good. I had an 820 auto. Really should have gone for the 825 as I felt is was a bit heavy for the 2.0 in auto form. 

[Austin-Rover]

It was out of the garage a few weekends later than planned as someone decided to remove the boot seal to discover yet more rust. The seal was removed to see if it was responsible for water getting in to the boot. Anyway, it wasn't - its the rear light clusters (new gaskets to be cut for these!).

Crusty bits;

Now not crusty;

And painted;

Top tip; Make sure your project cars are a close match to the Hammerite 'Smoothrite' paint range. The chance discovery of an old tin of green paint has saved a lot of work masking and spraying here! 😄

So the weekend just gone, everything was reassembled and the driveway cleared so it could be extracted from the garage and washed. We even got as far as running a clay bar over the panels before it was turned around and reversed back in to the garage. Now it is clean and back under cover the next weekend will see it attached with the machine polisher followed by lotions and potions to try and get it looking a little more loved. 

Progress then will slow down again as my mechanic can't fit it in for some much needed attention until the middle of April. I had hoped it would be ready for the Pride of Longbridge event, but it looks unlikely now. 

Anyway, a couple of pictures of it out in the open at the weekend; 

[Austin-Rover]

The outside is machine polished and it has come up great - well, it'll pass the five yard test anyway. I've even fitted my set of reproduction number plates created by Retro Plates on Facebook. The finishing touches are always some of the first things I buy! 😄

It's now time to tidy the interior, and deploy the wet and dry vac; 

 

 

[Austin-Rover]

Forgotten thread update time!

The green 800 disappeared to my mechanic back in May, along with a list of jobs that culminated in a fresh MoT. The biggest problem standing in the way of being able to use the car was it pissing power steering fluid everywhere. After a week or so, the garage called to advise the high pressure rail for the power steering was NLA, had been for some time, and stopped the job. The next update I was advised a pipe had been sourced from a Turkish seller with a number of MG and Rover parts - and he'd bought from them previously with success. 

To cut a long story short, it took MONTHS for the pipe to make its way to the UK, and... it was the wrong part! By now the car had migrated to one of the dreaded 'long term' parking spots outside the garage and it took a long time to see it extracted from there and back in the workshop. A local company were able to fabricate a new pipe with the correct fittings. Funnily enough, once work restarted, it was all turned round in surprisingly quick time. 

In total its had the timing belt done, cam cover gaskets, a Volvo header tank fitted with a bracket made to hold it, a new power steering pump, the power steering pipe, CV boots and the alloy wheels replaced with a slightly less scruffy set. 

After washing seven months-worth of muck off it over the weekend, its now on the road for a bit of 'running in' with a view to some longer trips over the Christmas period if there's no drama. So sixteen months after we started, I guess this completely pointless resurrection of a worthless car is pretty much done! 

 

 

[busmansholiday]

It's when you see it parked up amongst modern tat you realise how overbloated modern cars have become.

Congratulations on the work though.

[N Dentressangle]

Not pointless or worthless, obvs - a really nice, satisfying job to have something a little bit different.

Makes more sense than umpteen PCP payments, anyway.

[High Jetter]

Excellent work! I'd have a random...

[Twiggy]

They are a very good looking car. It looks like new, a real credit to you.

[oxb1l]

Good stuff, cars looking great. 

I've seen the PAS pipe issue before when you wait weeks and the part arrives and it's for a lhd model.

[DSdriver]

I might have something more suitable than your washer tubing on the scuttle http://www.hadlowmarine.com/Pages/Seals indiarubber.html

(I've only just caught up with this excellent thread)

[RoadworkUK]

Utterly brilliant work.

My 800 didn't even make it onto the road this year. I drove it up and down the drive a few times just to hear it, though and I've sat inside it a number more times just to smell it.

Next year, I might even MOT it.

[Austin-Rover]

The 800 has been in daily use for a month-and-a-bit now and it has not been without issues - none of which took it off the road though, so there's something positive. 

Problem #1 was the discovery that the sunroof tray was letting water in to the cabin. The driver's footwell was wet as was the top corner of the headlining. Dropping the headlining down showed the metal stub that the drain tube attaches to it rotten. I've effected a repair which was to stuff a grommet in to the drain hole, and avoid parking the car facing down hill. Success! This is one to investigate further in the warmer months. For now, crisis averted. 

Problem #2 is the actuator for the boot release which now does half a job. Press the release button and the boot opens, but the arm on the actuator does not return and you can't shut the boot. A bit of head scratching and poking round in the boot lid with a screwdriver found the problem, and I can push the actuator's arm back in with the tip of the screwdriver. Thankfully the boot can be opened and closed without problem if you open it with the key. Of course new parts are unobtainable. I found a NOS Rover part on the internet, but had my money refunded today as they don't actually have the part in stock. 

Problem #3 was the n/s/r wheel bearing which went out to lunch over New Year. New bearings are cheap enough on eBay and come with two nuts to allow fitment to either side. Earlier this week I parcelled the car up and sent it to the garage. Later that same day, the news was that someone had been here before and totally trashed the bearing carrier through their unfamiliarity with left-hand threads. Guess what... parts are unobtainable! Amazingly someone in Dewsbury had recently stripped a car and had the required part on their shelf! It was cleaned up, a new bearing pressed in and we're back on the road!

All being well, we'll be at the Rustival with it at the start of March. 

 

 

[2flags]

We had one of these, an earlier model. These were a large and luxurious automobile when new, definitely senior management. These were to tell your neighbours that you had made it! Now the humble Fiesta and Corsa dwarf it!

[stuboy]

On 12/12/2023 at 23:22, Austin-Rover said:

fine looking beast

[mk2_craig]

Papped at the weekend @Austin-Rover

 

Is this still in your ownership? 

[Austin-Rover]

On 16/04/2024 at 21:25, mk2_craig said:

Papped at the weekend @Austin-Rover

Is this still in your ownership? 

Absolutely!  That was its first ever Rover gathering amongst its siblings. We did the 'part two' of that show the next day also, at the Churnet Valley Railway. 

It's still the daily driver and racking up the miles. I don't want to tempt fate, but its been a reliable and very comfortable way to get around!

 

[RoadworkUK]

On 19/02/2023 at 18:50, Austin-Rover said:

....t was a bonus to find the fog lamps weren't completely rotted, so the backs have been rubbed down, treated and painted so they will live again (the fog lamps are also NLA!)

I discovered today that Mk2 Rover 800 front fog lights are the same item that were fitted to – of all things – the Renault 5:

Potentially a new source?

[Austin-Rover]

The green 820 is proving dependable and comfortable. We're getting on for 4,000 miles now, fitting in regular use amongst the other cars. There's not much to report with it, other than the power steering fluid requires topping up once a month (slight leak!) and a couple of minor electrical gremlins - the radio sometimes doesn't switch on, but turning the car off and on again sorts this, and the button for the n/s/f electric window on the driver's controls is sometimes reluctant to work. The button on the n/s/f door always works though - good job it's a fairly narrow car and you can reach across! 😄 I don't think this is too bad for a car widely to be considered quite suspect in the electrical department. 

It went to the BMC & Leyland show the other weekend and was easily the scruffiest 800 there - sadly no prize! 🤪

In other news... we have another 800 to resurrect in the form of an 825 Sterling fastback. It's been sat in a garage near Tamworth for eight years with the same owner since 2000 when the car was almost new. Death and a completed house sale meant it needed moving quickly. The previous Sunday was spent checking the car to make sure it was a worthwhile project, and putting some air in the tyres. We took a new battery, some fresh petrol and all sorts of tools and other crap in anticipation of fighting a battle to get it out of the garage. It was found that someone had parked the car in neutral and with the handbrake off. Fitting the new battery, the engine started first turn of the key too! Nothing to loose now, so in to gear and reverse out of the garage! 

Sadly it has had mice inside - they've munched the under bonnet sound deadening pad and made quite a nest on the top of the KV6. Inside they've been behind the glovebox, thankfully inflicting damage only to the foam pad here which has gone in the bin. Elsewhere, the interior was full of mouse shit but looks like it should clean up nicely.  It got recovered home yesterday afternoon and the worst of the crap inside vacuum'd up and the outside got a quick clean with the caravan brush and some Fairy liquid. 

Hopefully we can get it in to the garage over the weekend and take a look underneath. The current plan is to strip the interior for cleaning, strip and overhaul the brakes, clean treat and rustproof anything underneath and think about shipping it off for a new cambelt.

Lets see what we find when it's in the garage...

NB; For build data and registration saddos, the silver fastback is 3,341 cars newer than the green 820, but was registered six months earlier. 

Another NB; It's likely the green 820 will need a new home in the near future. Two 800s cause parking problems!

 

[Schaefft]

Well done, definitely looks like one worth preserving!

[RoadworkUK]

Three cheers for another KV6 Fastback in Zircon Silver heading back to the road.