Roverjoyed. ABS woes resolved, MOT? Completed it mate (Rover 800 content)

[Guest Len H]

I'm going to replace the cambelt on the TU-powered Citroen Xsara my mum's just bought, this thread has inspired me. TOP WORK!

[RoadworkUK]

I'm going to replace the cambelt on the TU-powered Citroen Xsara my mum's just bought, this thread has inspired me. TOP WORK!

 

Cheers! It's all back together bar the shouting, in about an hour (when I've taken some brave pills) It'll either cough into life or expire into fifteen foot of mixed metals.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hey Earl! Ya doin' some mighty fine work here, if ya finish it and the Thema 8.32 out in the lot before Friday, ya might find an extra 10 bucks in yo pay next week, now don' say I never give you nuttin.... WHOA! GIT OFF THAT COFFEE MACHINE, ITS FOR GODDAM CUSTOMERS ONLY!'

[Pillock]

Yup. Been there. Getting the exhaust manifold back onto the 2CV and sealed perfectly (which is not easy!). Then realising that the cowling is meant to go on BEFORE the manifold. DOH!

 

Bolting the gearbox up to the Golf engine, and doing all the engine mounts before realising the end of the driveshaft doesn't fit between the bulkhead and the bottom of the box, and is currently lying on the floor.....

[RoadworkUK]

Yup. Been there. Getting the exhaust manifold back onto the 2CV and sealed perfectly (which is not easy!). Then realising that the cowling is meant to go on BEFORE the manifold. DOH!

 

Bolting the gearbox up to the Golf engine, and doing all the engine mounts before realising the end of the driveshaft doesn't fit between the bulkhead and the bottom of the box, and is currently lying on the floor.....

 

Hmm, this has the makings of a new thread...

[RoadworkUK]

 

The above image signifies that the Rover is now out of the garage. Meaning; It Bloody Works!

 

Managed to remember where the millions of vacuum pipes and bits of sparky's junk came and went to, got everything back together and, with fear and trepidation, took it off the stands and rolled it onto the driveway (lest it should explode into a mushroom cloud of late-90's Austin-Rover product underdevelopment).

 

Then gingerly connected the battery, turned the key and it instantaneously sneezed into life, and then settled at 2500rpm 'cos I'd smegged up the throttle calibration.

 

A quick adjustment and, well, it's fine. Albeit there's been a tappet clatter for the 30 seconds I've run it for, I'm hoping that's just 'cos it's had no hydraulic pressure for a fortnight, and we've hand cranked it several dozen times. Haven't topped up the oil yet either, a good few pints were haemmoraged during the operation.

 

Interestingly, I found much evidence attention from shoddy outfits in the past; two of the intake manifold bolts were missing, as were all the bolts holding the wiring harness in place, and the throttle cable was wrongly routed. So, counting my chickens stupidly prematurely; I've actually made things better.

 

My name is Earl (sorta), and I've changed a KV6 Cambelt.

[Pillock]

Well done! Have a cup of tea, it's the done thing to celebrate a completed job.

Don't forget to leave oily handprints on the kettle, the fridge door and the tap.

[RoadworkUK]

Well done! Have a cup of tea, it's the done thing to celebrate a completed job.

Don't forget to leave oily handprints on the kettle, the fridge door and the tap.

 

Done all of those, with additional greasy marks on the bannisters and my girlfriend.

[RoadworkUK]

Hey Earl! Ya doin' some mighty fine work here, if ya finish it and the Thema 8.32 out in the lot before Friday, ya might find an extra 10 bucks in yo pay next week, now don' say I never give you nuttin.... WHOA! GIT OFF THAT COFFEE MACHINE, ITS FOR GODDAM CUSTOMERS ONLY!'

 

Yeah, yeah, shuddup about the damn Lancia already, I'll do it. And you need to up my hours, or I'll tell Hank an' Gubba about you and that fat broad from Wendy's.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Why you little.........!!!!!! (Storms off, ripping girlie calendar off the wall and slamming office door)

[dollywobbler]

This thread is both inspiring and chuckle-worthy. Thanks!

[Rod/b]

Now you've proved yourself to yourself, I'd suggest getting stuck back in and doing the relay belts as you'd be monumentally pissed off if one of those went and lunched a bank after your hard work thus far.

 

Still, you could do all that and still get presented with an engine full of mayonnaise in a fortnight...

 

Good work though. Rather you than me.

[RoadworkUK]

I'd suggest getting stuck back in and doing the relay belts as you'd be monumentally pissed off if one of those went and lunched a bank after your hard work thus far.

 

Cheers Rod, I'm putting the car back in lay-up until the end of the month. The Audi has rent until the end of July, and I have a weeks camping holiday arranged in Cornwall in August. That's my target.

 

700+ mile round trip with a KV6 with DIY cambelts? What could possibly go wrong?!

[RoadworkUK]

My Girlfriend is away for the weekend doing a course in Devon, so I get to do car stuff all weekend long.

 

I'm at a crossroads, car wise, the tax and insurance on the Audi both expire at the end of the month, so this gives me a good incentive to get the Rover on the road. Firstly, I know full well that I'm only halfway through the cambelt job, while the main belt seems to have gone swimmingly the relay belts have yet to be disturbed. Needs done pronto.

 

With a heavy heart, and very unwisely, that's going to have to wait. I need the car driveable ASAP.

 

So. My Grandfather had lost the V5C, so I launched a form to the DVLA to replace it, together with 25 of my quid. Then, he suddenly un-lost it. He claims now to have had it all along. Fun game, this. I demanded half a pony from him as recompense and he obliged. No matter, this was the first time I'd held said document in my hand, and I was pleased by what it said:-

 

 

My Grandfather has been the only owner of this car since Rover had it on their books, whether as a fleet, management or press car. but it's nice to know.

 

So, todays bodging was part one of the weather-proofing I'm attempting, culminating next weekend with Wayoyl being sprayed into every crevice I can find. Firstly I wanted to have a go at the little bits of surface rust on the wheelarch lips.

 

 

This photo is pretty representative of how the wheelarches look, they're pretty good aside from the odd blot as shown. So, my plan today was to just try to stem the flow and prevent things from getting any worse. Even as a temporary reprieve until I can do the job properly. My method was to firstly just attack the wheelarch lips with a fairly aggressive electric sander (Black and Decker Mouse, not used since university in 2004) to get rid of any loose matter and key the paint to something I could work with.

 

Once the bare metal was exposed and confirmed as being sound, i painted liberally with Finnegans Number One rust preventitive miracle elixir. This is thick, gloopy beige stuff that is supposed to neutralise rust and also work as a primer that can be painted over. I've applied two coats so far and am now leaving it overnight to harden so as to be sandable. I've also "masked" the surrounding area.

 

 

Tomorrow, I intend to sand the primed area down to a nice enough surface to paint on. It needn't be fanastic, the arches on these things are full of spot welds and were rippled and nasty from the factory, so as long as it isn't a complete abortion, i'll be happy. It's not like it's a highly visible area or anything. More stupid is the fact that I'm going to be using the wrong shade of silver paint to go over the primer. I'm using left over Silver Leaf paint from my old Rover 820e. I know this is stupid, but at least I'll be better able to tell the area I've done myself, when I get to doing the job properly, and it'll at least look better than being left in primer. And it's a semi-hidden area, so shouldn't look too much of a bastard.

 

So by the end of tomorrow I should have temporarily neutralised the rust and got things ready for undersealing.

[RoadworkUK]

Bodging didn't work out as badly as I had feared. As luck would have it Grandad had a spare can of Zircon silver, a proper, specialist-mixed can, not a Hellfrauds graffiti-canister. Anyway, I splaffed a load of "Number One Rustkiller" all over the wheelarch lips, ran a bit of wet and dry over it in a cursory manner, then 3 coats of paint and three of lacquer (which seems to have discoloured things slightly). All told, though, things are better than they were and the wheelarch lips now have a bit more protection.

 

 

Rather annoyingly, I discovered that at least two of the nicely treaded Michelin Pilots have perished to this extent:-

 

 

Fortunately, the 195/65 15 seems to be a sensibly priced shape of tyre.

 

This weekend:- Waxoyl!

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, Michelins seem to crack up rather than wear out. At least it's a fairly standard tyre size!

[RoadworkUK]

Yeah, Michelins seem to crack up rather than wear out. At least it's a fairly standard tyre size!

 

Astonishing to think what used to pass as "low profile"!

[RoadworkUK]

Against all sensible logic, my ferociously reliable Audi is now SORN'd ready for all hell to break loose elsehow.

 

On Saturday I spent all day spraying Black Waxoyl everywhere I could find, and doing a particularly good job of rust-proofing the driveway block-paving. It's utterly disgusting stuff, and I bemoaned the fact that I don't have a pillar-lift to grant me access to the innermost reaches of the underbody. Nevertheless, the wheelarches, sills and any box-sections I could find got a damn good dowsing. I still have some left, so I'll have another go after I've put some miles on.

 

No Waxoyl photo's as they'd be extremely boring.

 

I Compared The Market at the weekend and collapsed with fits of hysterics when the automated valuation service suggested a value of £145. Pretty much bang on trade.

 

Insurance ended up at £439 fully comp, same sort of cash as the Audi was costing me.

 

A further £118 coughed up at the DVLA and the old beasty is now fully legal and ready to clog up a hard shoulder near you.

 

Gratuitous and self-congratulatory photos;

 

 

I have my DAB and attendant tangle of wires all set up, ready for life in the slow lane. Now just waiting for OMG HGF or those relay belts (which I really ought to have done...) to go ping. I have my RAC card handy, together with the phone number of my local metal recycler.

[Lord Sterling]

Great stuff Chris. Yep an RAC Card is always handy, was certainly handy when my Sterling decided to throw a wobbly. A metal recycling service may yet come in handy too.

 

Here's to many years enjoying the Rover

[Mr_Bo11ox]

YO EARL! So you got ya new ride goin' - whaddya want, a goddam Nobel prize? Git yo ass back in the freakin shop, we got a LeBaron over there needin' a new muffler!

 

Rover looks absolutely great! I think your colleagues are going to be quietly impressed.

[RoadworkUK]

Rover looks absolutely great! I think your colleagues are going to be quietly impressed.

 

I'm expecting very quietly! Looking forward to parking next to the boss's S350 tomorrow.

 

Thanks, chaps.

[trigger]

You'll know you've made it when one of the general public comes into your showroom demanding to trade their 3 year old Mercedes C Class in for that " stylish new model in the corner of the car park".

 

This could happen. Maybe.

[Angrydicky]

Excellent stuff! Well done on getting it back on the road, such a classy motor these

[RoadworkUK]

You know, it's funny you should say that, but I can almost see a time where that might happen. In the late 90's, all the real excecutive cars looked much of a muchness, very much "of their time". The 800, though, because it was so dated even then, almost seems retro-futurist now. And there are few enough of them around for people to not know what the hell it is.

 

I've already had somebody ask me if it's got a V8, but, then again, he's an idiot.

[RoadworkUK]

Fairly recently, when he was still the custodian of R227NOJ, my Grandfather got involved in a limited skirmish with another car. Who did what to who remains unclear, grandfather is powerless to recollect such trivia these days, but it left a lasting impression on the Rovers' fragile front bumper.

 

I want to get the car into as showroom-esque a state as I can, partially so Grandpops can see his old pride and joy being looked after. My paintwork skills are adequate when used on hidden areas, but I'm total crap at spraying metallic in areas where it can be seen by the human eye. So, I decided to farm the work out to my dealerships tame in-house Smart Repair specialist. He's usually shit-hot, this guy, our Bentley and Ferrari franchises use him.

 

Anyway. £50 under the counter and he set to work with the initial sanding.

 

 

Then came the rain. A monsoon fell out of the Essex sky. A few hours later my phone exploded and the chap on the other end said "One of the guys has done something stupid with an engine hoist and a customers car. Can we pull the bodyshop guy off your car?"

 

"Of course," said I. I'm a reasonable chap like that. My bumper will now be finished on Wednesday. He's made a start on primering it, he'll probably end up re-flatting it and virtually starting again.

 

 

While I was on my travels today, I left the keys with one of the guys for safekeeping. During his period of posession one of the little rubber buttons from the fob-remote came adrift, presumably because the rubber has perished. No matter, a few blobs of superglue skillfully applied, nobody would ever know.

 

Would have been nice....

 

One of the guys in the workshop gave me a tube of WURTH branded superglue, and warned me that the stuff was fucking mental. I cleaned the area I wanted to glue and unscrewed the lid of the superglue and then THE ENTIRE TUBE WENT FUCKING EVERYWHERE, ALL OVER MY HANDS, THE WORKTOP AND MY KEYS. BASTARD. I went straight to the gents to try and wash it off, didn't know what better to do AND IT HELPED A BIT but also means that the INSIDE OF MY KEYFOB IS ALL WET.

 

 

So, here it is. LOOKS FUCKING SHIT, DOESN'T IT? All because I didn't read the instructions / I have no skill / shouldn't be left alone with anything more complicated than a LENTIL.

 

FUCK.

[outlaw118]

 

hey, we've all been there....

(To a lesser or greater extent)

[Lord Sterling]

Shit, sorry to see that Chris/Earl. I'll see if I have a spare keyfob somewhere, of not, I can try and get you one. FOC to you of course.

[RoadworkUK]

Shit, sorry to see that Chris/Earl. I'll see if I have a spare keyfob somewhere, of not, I can try and get you one. FOC to you of course.

 

Cheers Lord Mister Sterling, Sir! I'm mostly annoyed that my Grandad has managed to keep the car for eleven years without major incidence, and then I go and balls the remote keyfob up within a fortnight!

 

If I do acquire a replacement somehow or another, how difficult are they to re-code?

[RoadworkUK]

“…If RoadworkUK doesn’t stop blammering on about his bloody Rover I swear I'll go around and torch the bastard.â€Â

 

The above WILL happen. But, for now, I’m going to go on a bit more.

 

I’ve done one of my writing things about it here; Our paint chap did an excellent job on the bumper for fifty sheets, and our genuinely brilliant valeter got stuck right in and showroomized it for me.

 

There’s a reassuringly expensive lager heading his way, ‘cos I’m absolutely over the moon. So much so that I’ve squirted my phone camera all over it.

 

 

Now it’s mint (as long as you don’t look too closely), the question remains whether it can reliably propel my Girlfriend and I to Cornwall and back next week. If it can do this, I’ll be elated, confused and possibly frightened.

 

What are the odds? Pete-M, and anyone else, care to start a book on it? I’ve got a fiver says I’ll be OK. (only a fiver, mind…. I’m not reckless).

 

EDIT:- Just want to be first to observe the irony of “I’m not recklessâ€Â. There’s one sitting on my driveway.

[Guest Len H]

Late Rover 800s are CLASS. I would love one, albeit in winning 825 VM diesel form.

 

Kudos to you for persisting with such a 'worthless' vehicle.

I think a sound file of the KV6 is required - I only slightly remember Russ Swift ragging an early 75 V6 in an old episode of Top Gear but it did sound superb.