Rover 820i Dream Barge

[Motown]

Hello there!

As most of you on the forum will know i own a fleet of Rovers all of which i have rescued and restored ive had all sorts of different models over the years but more recently focused my efforts on Mk1 800s. Owned about ten in total most of which were 827s of various specs with one or two 820s in the mix but ive never owned one of these.

Its an 820i Fastback

 

Mk1 800s are rare as a whole nowadays but the lower base spec 800s such as the E and i are even slimmer on the ground due to a large number of them being used as fleet cars back in the day. Infact i only know of two in the owners club and i am pretty sure one of them is a saloon ive also never seen one in this colour before.

 

The car has been offered to me fairly cheap and ive arrange to pick it up in April it looks to be a good solid car with it only needing a few minor things to get it through MOT. The current owner has had it for a few years now with all manner of work being done on it including an engine rebuild new exhaust system and gearbox service. However he doesn't have the time to finish it off and i suspect its grown out of favor with him as he also owns an 827 Vitesse which even i can testify is the better car. 

 

Its been off the road since 2017 but its only issue after all the work thats been done on it is somebody has messed with the potentiometers and didnt think to mark there original position... Apparently the car is lacking power bogs down under load and doesn't run correctly as a result. I am not particularly familiar with potentionmeters but from what ive read in the owners manual its could potentially be difficult to sort out without knowing the original setting as this was set at the factory.

Does anybody have any idea of whats needed to sort this out? How much it will cost or is there anyone on the forum who could fix it? Local garages arent interested because A its a Rover and B they cant plug it into a laptop.

Any help would be appreciated I would really like to get this car through its MOT and put it back on the road.

Cheers!   

[grogee]

I seem to remember a similar arrangement on the XJ40 @Cluffy and I had for a bit. You were supposed to mark position of pot before removal then make sure it went back in same place. From memory there wasn't much adjustment, just a few degrees on the elongated mounting holes.

We had to change that pot because it broke, and I didn't mark the position. Must've got lucky because it still ran ok after that. 

I would say it's probably a trial and error thing to get it back to a happy place. Unless anyone still has access to the AR diagnostic kit. 

Bloody Lucas!

[Bren]

Pots wear out. They are a metal stylus that moves over a carbon track.

There is only one winner. The carbon wears out.

My SD1's pot was worn. New ones are NLA - you have to modify a jag item to fit. But they are around £200.

I spent £3 on some carbon paint ( used in musical instruments ) and painted the over the worn carbon. I enlarged the slots on the housing of the pot - and moved it with trial and error.

Using a multimeter I can get the voltage to increase smoothly up to about 3.4v - sadly I cannot get it just over the 4v specified for full throttle but this doesn't always happen with an alternative part.

I still think it's a win.

[mercedade]

The version of the RAVE CD I used to have also had a selection of articles covering Rover electronics, including MEMS, PGM-Fi and maybe, if you're lucky, MFi stuff?

On 20/03/2022 at 01:40, Motown said:

Hello there!

As most of you on the forum will know i own a fleet of Rovers all of which i have rescued and restored ive had all sorts of different models over the years but more recently focused my efforts on Mk1 800s. Owned about ten in total most of which were 827s of various specs with one or two 820s in the mix but ive never owned one of these.

Its an 820i Fastback

 

Mk1 800s are rare as a whole nowadays but the lower base spec 800s such as the E and i are even slimmer on the ground due to a large number of them being used as fleet cars back in the day. Infact i only know of two in the owners club and i am pretty sure one of them is a saloon ive also never seen one in this colour before.

 

The car has been offered to me fairly cheap and ive arrange to pick it up in April it looks to be a good solid car with it only needing a few minor things to get it through MOT. The current owner has had it for a few years now with all manner of work being done on it including an engine rebuild new exhaust system and gearbox service. However he doesn't have the time to finish it off and i suspect its grown out of favor with him as he also owns an 827 Vitesse which even i can testify is the better car. 

 

Its been off the road since 2017 but its only issue after all the work thats been done on it is somebody has messed with the potentiometers and didnt think to mark there original position... Apparently the car is lacking power bogs down under load and doesn't run correctly as a result. I am not particularly familiar with potentionmeters but from what ive read in the owners manual its could potentially be difficult to sort out without knowing the original setting as this was set at the factory.

Does anybody have any idea of whats needed to sort this out? How much it will cost or is there anyone on the forum who could fix it? Local garages arent interested because A its a Rover and B they cant plug it into a laptop.

Any help would be appreciated I would really like to get this car through its MOT and put it back on the road.

Cheers!   

 

[mercedade]

http://rave.stringsandints.com/Engine_Management_Systems.pdf

 

Anything here?

[Motown]

34 minutes ago, mercedade said:

http://rave.stringsandints.com/Engine_Management_Systems.pdf

 

Anything here?

Thanks il take a look! 

[Motown]

On 3/20/2022 at 9:55 AM, Bren said:

Pots wear out. They are a metal stylus that moves over a carbon track.

There is only one winner. The carbon wears out.

My SD1's pot was worn. New ones are NLA - you have to modify a jag item to fit. But they are around £200.

I spent £3 on some carbon paint ( used in musical instruments ) and painted the over the worn carbon. I enlarged the slots on the housing of the pot - and moved it with trial and error.

Using a multimeter I can get the voltage to increase smoothly up to about 3.4v - sadly I cannot get it just over the 4v specified for full throttle but this doesn't always happen with an alternative part.

I still think it's a win.

Thanks for the tip much appreciated!!! I will give that a try