RFU rescues a Rover 620ti - Bodywork done!

[Noel Tidybeard]

it took me at least 3 pages to find the reg!

just done an F5 🎈🎉

[Cookiesouwest]

Congrats. A great resto of a great car

[fatharris]

Great stuff.

Now go and enjoy it!

[2flags]

Well done, now you can enjoy it. 😁

[RoverFolkUs]

Final repairs done! 

I poked a little bit harder (with a hammer 😅) than the MOT tester (they're only allowed to use the official tools, and obviously can't remove the arch liner) which did expose a hole nicely hidden away out of view 

Never fear, chop chop

Treat and zinc prime inside

Tack weld to shape

Seam weld 

Seam seal!

Cavity waxed

Undersealed and waxed (no it's not the rubber type underseal which traps rust!)

And that's the only advisory now taken care of! I didn't want to ignore it until next year because that would have undoubtedly grown into something a lot worse

Finishing touches...

Fit the replacement silver grille! I think it looks so much better than the black one with the paint flaking off 

Finally we have a very happy looking, road ready Rover 600!

Next I'll get a quote on the bodywork to finish off the rear arches. I'll probably tax it from next month and get some enjoyment from it!

Hopefully that's everything for now! The aforementioned erratic idle seems to have sorted itself out after a slosh of fresh fuel and a run to and from the MOT. I think it was just a bit choked up from standing around and being started and stopped for manoeuvring only.

[RoverFolkUs]

Still waiting in limbo on the bodywork, but I decided to put a fresh cambelt and tensioner on it in the mean time to end the roulette! 

Pre-existing tippex marks aplenty so it's evidently been done before. The old belt didn't look awful but wasn't brand new either, so definitely worthwhile sorting it for peace of mind. 

For service history purposes, cambelt replaced on 19/02/2025 @ 118315 miles

[fatharris]

Nice!

The only history I found was a 'timing belt check' entry a few years ago.

Was good enough for me 🤣

[RoverFolkUs]

4 minutes ago, fatharris said:

Nice!

The only history I found was a 'timing belt check' entry a few years ago.

Was good enough for me 🤣

Yes! If it was checked a few years ago it implied to me it was probably another few years older than that. Interval is 60k/5 years as far as I can tell so it was probably due on age more than mileage. 

Belt and tensioner was £49 delivered from DMGRS, (opposed to £110 + vat from ECP?!) - probably took me an hour to fit it, so no brainer really for the peace of mind

[RoverFolkUs]

Now taxed from this month and with the MG selling so quickly it meant I could swap the insurance straight over

First proper drive of it - blimey, what a car 😂 - very happy and it's made the hard work worthwhile

Even though it looks like a boat it certainly doesn't drive like one, worlds apart from a Rover 75!

Obviously with the chunky sidewalls it doesn't handle as well as the MG but the ride is definitely similarly firm, the steering isn't quite so direct which makes it interesting 😂

Overall, very happy

Now just to use the bloody thing!

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Now just to roffle the thing!

EFA 🤣

[RoverFolkUs]

4 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

EFA 🤣

£100 a ticket

[cms206]

11 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Even though it looks like a boat it certainly doesn't drive like one, worlds apart from a Rover 75!

 

People always look at me like I'm on drugs when I say it, but the 600 was and still is not only a far better looking car, but a far better driving car than a 75. It is a hill I am willing to die on, 600s are fantastic.

[RoverFolkUs]

Aside from a quick trip out the other evening I decided to take this thing out for a sprint to see what I thought of it as I had a few errands to run this afternoon

Pulled up at the petrol station to be greeted with a "I'VE NOT SEEN ONE OF THOSE IN YEARS" from the bloke behind which was nice  - duly brimmed the tank with Tesco's finest E5 momentum, reset the mileage and first popped into the body shop for him to do a quick assessment in order to come back to me with a guesstimate for the bodywork 

After running a few errands I got back home with 75 miles under it's belt and it didn't skip a beat, I'd say it ate those miles very well!

The ride is going to take some getting used to, on first impression I thought maybe the rear shocks are a bit tired as it seemed quite bouncy at times but I do think this is just characteristic as it passes the very non-scientific "bounce test" on each corner

I'd say by far this is the difference between a 600 and a 75, it's not the ride quality one would expect from a car of it's class. It's not bad, it's just surprisingly firm which provides for a more engaging driving experience compared to a 75 which floats about the place. 

Very much a case of horses for courses. I'm very happy, it combines the comfy cruiser and firm 'sporty' ride aspect.

I will keep an eye on it and maybe seek a comparison against another 600 in due course because I do think it may benefit from refreshing the shocks but it may just need me to get used to the way it is. 

The grunt available from the engine is the best bit about the car, it's not lightning quick by modern standards but it certainly gets out of its own way and keeps up with modern traffic which is good enough for me! 

[fatharris]

I always found the ride to be utterly intolerable on it when doing short journeys.

Weirdly though, everything felt much more comfortable and relaxed on a long drive!

Glad to see you're getting some miles in it - has that Bluetooth unit pissed you off yet?

[RoverFolkUs]

5 minutes ago, fatharris said:

I always found the ride to be utterly intolerable on it when doing short journeys.

Weirdly though, everything felt much more comfortable and relaxed on a long drive!

Glad to see you're getting some miles in it - has that Bluetooth unit pissed you off yet?

Yeah the rural Sussex roads are just as bad as I expect them to be in your neck of the woods 😅 once it's on an open road it's alright so I concur there!

The Bluetooth unit is on borrowed time 😂 - it's the irritating flashing that gets me, and the BOOP BOOP every time. Hasn't annoyed me enough to do anything about it yet 🫣

I'm not going to use it, I've already put a FM transmitter in there for modern Bluetooth functionality. I've blown the cobwebs off the cassette deck and had a tape playing through it which works perfectly and will continue to be used!

The sound system is remarkably nice although that's by direct comparison to the MG which was utter shit.  - I'll get a collection of CDs together to load the CD changer with 

Do we know who owned the car in November 2020? I notice there was an MOT advisory back then for the rear shocks but they looked original to me (albeit with no leaks) so I wondered if there's anyone that knows if they were replaced at the time or whether the misting of oil has disappeared and subsequently no longer picked up an advisory from then on? I'm tempted to take the shocks out and check them myself with the springs removed to see if they've lost their damping effect, although I suppose it would be better to order some and have them ready to fit at the same time if it needs them

[RoverFolkUs]

Just pulled the trigger on these, the seller sent an offer which got them down to £60 delivered for a pair of Monroe shocks for the 620Ti. For that price it's a no brainer to do a refresh, it'll surely only help!

[RoverFolkUs]

Popped along to a local YouTube event yesterday as it was fairly local and the weather was glorious, it's received a couple of features in the following videos

 

2:06 onwards

2:50 onwards

[AnnoyingPentium]

@Gentil79 is yer man behind the second video I'm sure.

[RoverFolkUs]

2 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

@Gentil79 is yer man behind the second video I'm sure.

Second video is Joseph Lloyd but I've seen a community post on Gentil's channel

[RoverFolkUs]

New rear shocks fitted, turns out the nearside rear one had virtually seized solid - I could barely compress the shaft at all and it was jammed in the position shown - I wasn't able to extend it. 

Offside rear one was in remarkably good condition if it really is original, decent damping effect but there was a hidden missing of oil

This has absolutely transformed the car over speed bumps at the rear but it has now uncovered a new problem - It would appear the offside front has suffered the same fate! Here's a video to demonstrate how there's virtually zero suspension travel on that corner compared to the nearside front

https://streamable.com/rir7cf

Next job will be to source a replacement offside front shock which will hopefully solve the harsh ride issue. I had a gut feeling it wasn't quite right and now having felt the rear end smoothly glide over speed bumps instead of bounce the entire car over them, I'm quietly confident it will transform the car

[RoverFolkUs]

Well that's not bad, seems silly to put 3x brand new shocks on and ignore the nearside front one, this works out at about £57 delivered for the pair. Ordered 😎

 

Does feel like I'm hemorrhaging money into this car 😂

[RoverFolkUs]

I've now received an estimate on the bodywork of £1200. (£350 per quarter panel, £300 rear bumper, £200 front bumper)

I appreciate it's a lot of work but it doesn't make sense to plough that sort of money into it when the rest of the car isn't perfect anyway. It won't add £1200 worth of value to the car so it's not worth it. 

I'm not suggesting for a minute that it's an unreasonable price, it would be labour intensive, it's just not worth the cost on this occasion 

Looks like I'll be going for another DIY job!

[twosmoke300]

On 03/03/2025 at 09:52, cms206 said:

 

People always look at me like I'm on drugs when I say it, but the 600 was and still is not only a far better looking car, but a far better driving car than a 75. It is a hill I am willing to die on, 600s are fantastic.

No arguments from me on this one . Honda innit ? 
75s are wank and needy retro 

[stuboy]

well done on the mot pass, and great work

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, twosmoke300 said:

75s are wank

Oi

[RoverFolkUs]

The new shocks from Autodoc landed on Thursday afternoon which wasn't bad considering I only ordered them on Sunday evening!

Set about replacing them this afternoon. For some reason the top nut on the nearside front was seized solid as if it had been cross threaded or overtightened at some point, to the point it had rounded off the centre hex on the shock shaft when I tried to undo it. There's no access to the shock shaft on these due to the design of the dust cover so my only option was to chop it off to salvage the spring and top mount to go on the new shock!

The offside shock was seized solid. I can't compress it by hand. The nearside one was also surprisingly stiff, definitely excessive, so it's a good job I got both of them. 

I noticed the nearside front tyre looked a bit flat... 

 

Well that's a bit of a bastard on a near enough brand new tyre.. Luckily it was just within a repairable region, any further towards the sidewall and I'd have been looking at ANOTHER new one 😅

Anyway, got the new shocks fitted and repaired the puncture so it's now had 4x new shock absorbers

I was in the mood for some preventative maintenance, so decided to do a cooling system flush by removing a few accessible pipes and running a hosepipe through the header tank outlet hose which nicely back-fed and flushed out the radiator and heater matrix with those hoses disconnected. 

The header tank was all horrible inside with a layer of grime to the point it was impossible to read the level, it responded very well to a few dishwasher tablets and boiling water being shook around inside vigorously. 

Vacuum bled the system and let in a few litres of fresh antifreeze, upto the correct level and strength, and now the bottle is actually clean enough I can read the level!

 

After doing all that, I went for a quick test drive and the ride has been absolutely transformed. It's hardly surprising since the nearside rear and offside front shock absorbers were seized solid, the nearside front was incredibly stiff - only the offside rear was operating satisfactorily and it still had a misting of oil! 

So for approximately £120 all in, for 4 brand new shocks (Monroe and TRW) I would say that is money very well spent. It's completely transformed the car and I don't have to brace for every pothole or speed bump any more!

 

I suppose it's possible that the faulty shock absorbers were the cause of the uneven tyre wear on the previous set? Now I think I'm done taking the suspension apart I'll get it on a 4 wheel alignment at some point but I imagine if a shock absorber isn't damping then it's going to mean more weight on the outer sidewall when cornering

[fatharris]

So glad this is getting the love it deserves, every update is a step in the right direction 😎

[RoverFolkUs]

Silly mileometer moment: 

(118620) 😅

Unfortunately the alarm/central locking has shit the bed

The remote fob has stopped working, and now it sets the alarm off every time I unlock the driver's door.. it's a right game getting it to disarm, I'm hoping it's just a dead battery in the fob

I'm dreading it's something more than the battery in the fob though, sometimes the central locking operates from the key in the driver's door but sometimes it doesn't 

Joy!

[clayts450]

The central locking/alarm system on the early 600s seems to have been riddled with issues. Lost count of the number of times I was out in the wee hours (usually when pissing down) trying to shut the bloody thing up. No amount of key locking or button presses would shut it down, so invariably it was bonnet up and negative off until I could be arsed to look at it. Never got to the bottom of it on my Honda 620. I ended up foregoing the fob and just using the key which solved* it.

[fatharris]

Silly mileometer moment: 

(118620)
Unfortunately the alarm/central locking has shit the bed
The remote fob has stopped working, and now it sets the alarm off every time I unlock the driver's door.. it's a right game getting it to disarm, I'm hoping it's just a dead battery in the fob
I'm dreading it's something more than the battery in the fob though, sometimes the central locking operates from the key in the driver's door but sometimes it doesn't 
Joy!

Had this twice, and a reseat of the battery brought it back to life