Abelw44's Foray into British Motoring

[abelw44]

A couple of weeks back I went to look at and bought this for a thousand beer tokens:

 

 

A 54 plate 75 Connoisseur in the 2.0 Diesel flavour. It's the first auto car I've ever owned so I was very careful to tuck my left foot out of the way to avoid slapping my forehead on the dash when I inevitably went for a clutch that isn't there...! 

Currently, it creaks and groans like an old boat because the front top mounts are shot - I've done one of them, but whoever worked on it last has snapped the pinch bolt on the O/S so I'll have to take the whole hub off and need a bigger breaker bar as the hub nut is done up to about eleventy thousand Nm.

Apart from that all I've done so far is stick a full set of new tyres on it.

It's got a hilariously poor weld to the outer sill which definitely needs sorting and for reasons I can't fathom someone has put expanding foam around the fuel tank which I'm worried might be soaking up a load of water and trapping it against the body so I want to see if I can drop the tank and cut it all out.

So far I'm fairly happy with it, though being a post Project Drive car the interior quality is pretty shoddy - plenty of creaks and rattles. It doesn't feel anything like as solidly build as my old Audi but then again I suppose it was nailed together by some blokes in Birmingham so no great surprise!

Engine and gearbox seem in very healthy condition, and there's loads of paperwork to back that up. Best of all the Aircon actually works which is a real novelty for me! 

 

Lower arms, hub, brake discs, pads and flexis are all new which is quite nice.

 

Is there anything I should be looking out for that more experienced 75 owners on here would know about? Or indeed any ruminations on the catastrophic repercussions of 75 ownership?  Any advice and/or abuse gratefully received!

[Matty]

@Mally @Split_Pin @Schaefft @High Jetter etc etc

[Split_Pin]

Diesel auto is a great combination, I have that. Not much fundamentally that can go wrong. Jatco gearbox is basic but quite robust as long as its not neglected.  Crank pulleys are rubber damped and can break up and almost all will either have a stuck open thermostat or have an inline replacement fitted by now. Make sure the PCV filter has been either binned or replaced with a BMW vortex type, they block quickly and can cause all kinds of issues.

Everything else on the M47R is very long-lived.

Mine is a facelift and the interior is starting to fall to bits now too 😂 My E46 BMW and my current and past Audis are infinitely better built. The best un-Project Drive thing you can do is fit a nicer early carpet, mine has that and it's pleasant and thick.

These cars were very rust resistant up to a point but most are rotting now. Subframes are like the Forth Bridge but can rust at the back up around the ARB mounts. Rear suspension arms are the worst suspension weakness, being a spring cup and made of mild steel has obvious consequences. DMGRS made new, stronger items but replacement can be fiddly. Sills go front and back around the jacking points, often unseen. What people sometimes miss is that the rear inner sills can rot out as well. Rear arches can rot as can the leading edge of the bonnet. I dropped mine off last night to have all that repaired.

Make sure you take your plastic scuttle off and clear the plenum where the ECU sits. It can easily block and flood the ECU causing all sorts of issues. If you search for me on You Tube I made a video on how to do it.

Also, don't break your rear lights, they're hard to find and quite expensive for Tourers. Most other parts are easily obtainable 2nd hand but if you want brand new bits such as pipes and some suspension parts, you'll struggle and it will be expensive. Unless it's a low mileage minter or a significant early or preproduction car then it's not worth it. The new lower arms on yours are a big plus as its a horrible job. 

I'd definitely get that expanding foam removed though, I can't think why someone would do that.

[Mally]

I don't look for anything, I just fix what breaks as and when.

My last one needed solenoid, sill welding, the odd coil spring now and then. Brake pipes. Had it 3 years used it every day.

Air bag lights come up so often, that  I ignore them until an hour before MOT.

Had my latest one 3 years, done very little to it apart from ABS module. It has lower mileage than my first one and it shows.

Neither have been show cars, just a workhorse. I tow cars with it, have slept in it a few times.

Never had an Auto, but would like one.

They are disposable cars to me, but mine rarely die. 

[Split_Pin]

10 minutes ago, Mally said:

Air bag lights come up so often, that  I ignore them until an hour before MOT.

I wiggle the wires once a year and it goes off just long enough for the test 😅

[abelw44]

Thank you very much for the replies on this, very useful and much appreciated!

The previous owner has bought a "fix kit" for the rear lights but looking at it I'm not convinced it will work. I suspect it will end up being a cable tie bodge job.

Thank you for the advice on the scuttle cover I will definitely have a look at that.

I have the same opinion regarding just replacing what breaks - as per my Audi for sale page trying to make cars as good as they can be is a recipe for stress and remorse! The Rover is purely a workhorse.

If I manage to get the fuel tank out and scrape all the expanding foam off I'll try and do a bit of a write up/pictures

Thanks again @Split_Pin and @Mally

Sent from my moto g84 5G using Tapatalk

[Mally]

One of my rear lights is lightly siliconed in. I just cut the silicone if a bulb goes. They can be a pain to release if correctly mounted.

I've done a bottom arm. It's not easy.

Can't see why the tank has expanding foam.  Unless the straps were loose.   I'd try removing surplus with a hacksaw blade.

[HMC]

Well Done on the purchase.

Diesel/auto has the least bork potential and ive always been partial to an estate.  Random trivia- Ihad a very early one and some of the plastic trim on the folding rear seats had bmw roundel moulded into them, my later estate didnt.

[abelw44]

@Split_Pin Good call on the PCV filter - I took it out yesterday evening and it looks pretty grim: 

I will sort replacing it with the vortex type! 

I think I have found your video on cleaning out the scuttle on YouTube - so I will be giving that a go over the weekend. Many thanks! 

@Mally Thanks for the silicone tip for the lights - I hadn't thought of that! Will pinch some out of the van this weekend and stick them in place.

 

Regarding the thermostat - mine does run very cool. In fact it rarely reaches temperature at all. There is no second "in-line" type thermostat fitted. Are these fitted because changing the original is an absolute nightmare?

@HMC Thank you! And interesting trivia - I hadn't realised they shared quite that much BMW DNA! 

Thank you

[Split_Pin]

37 minutes ago, abelw44 said:

thermostat

Changing the original is indeed very tricky, mainly because the bolts foul the inner wing and you need to raise and lower the engine. Also, replacements rarely seem to last. DMGRS sell an inline thermostat that slides inside the top hose, I think its about £30. All including my current diesel 75s have this. It's very straightforward to fit, you just need a bit of patience to slide the thermostat inside the top hose, a bucket of hot water is essential. Also, you'll need a Dremel to cut off the fixing that holds the top hose to the head as there's no way of undoing it, need to be careful of the hose itself there! Once fitted you'll be unlikely to ever need to do it again.

You can check what temperature the car is actually running at by going into diagnostic mode (if you Google it you'll find a guide on how to do it) because the temperature needle, like a lot of cars that age, is very linear and only moves between  'thermostat broken', 'OK' and 'oh shit'.

[Mally]

As above for the thermostat, Think there are cheaper stats available but I forget what they are off and you do need new clips anyway .

My temp gauges  have worked up to now. Fuel gauge can be funny in cold weather.

 

[abelw44]

I've now replaced both the top mounts on this to stop it creaking. Found that cutting an inch of garden hose pipe and slicing down its length to wrap around the shock with a jubilee clip stops it springing back in as soon as you release the top mounts making the whole thing easier. Did the ARB links and an outer track rod end while I was in there - all worth doing is it's much quieter and more refined going down the road now!

New PCV filter, in-line stat on the top house and cleaned the plenum drains on Friday before taking it up to FoTu on Saturday. Great day out, had never been before so failed to understand that either the Rover or the Audi would have been acceptable entrants so parked in the modern car park with the other peasants...

Left to do now is sort out new switchgear for the passenger seat which is too far forwards for anyone above 3'2" and stuck there because the switches are snapped off. And then spend some time going over the interior replacing clips and trying to fix rattles.



Sent from my moto g84 5G using Tapatalk