Rover 800 Vitesse

MMMM Nice and clean.

I like the old man beige on beige, I feel it suits the understated looks/nature of the car. That interior is so lush though, and the wood door capping really surprised me, Rover really put an effort into that interior.

Started on the surgery today. First thing was to get the turbo and manifold off so that I could get at the obviously leaking core plug.



This involved jacking up the car, removing the battery, airbox, intake hose, coolant hoses etc. And then from underneath I removed a trim panel and then set about trying to unbolt the down pipe. Only two of the nuts were done up, the other was cross threaded onto the end of the stud and then promptly sheared off as soon as tried to undo it. One of the others came off nicely, the third was a curse word to get to. One of those awkward access nuts, and given the heat it had been exposed to, it was somewhere between a 14mm ad 15mm socket size. On top of that I couldn't get direct access, so had to use a flexi drive thing. Finally got it off with out rounding. PHEW!

Then I undid the manifold to head bolts. Tow of these at the nearside were basically finger tight and when I actually got the manifold and gasket off I think it had been leaking for a while. Lots of oil and soot staining. Oil also all over the manifold, quite surprised these don't catch fire more often.

Empty space and oil staining



It was also strange how little the manifold bolts went into the head, only about 8mm which isn't a lot for a m10 (I think) thread. I bought some studs and nuts, but now they have arrived I'm not sure if fitting them is a good idea, as they are stainless. I always though putting stainless in ally was a bad idea?

Anyway, here is the turbo flange and gasket all crappy and stained.





Next I popped out the obviously leaking core plug. AS I had good access I popped out the one next to it too, to see if that was also corroded - guess what, it was! Not holed, but definitely on its way. This is bad, as that means probably all of them want to come out. Grrrr.

Core plugs. Left is leaking one, middle is corroded but not holed, right is new one.



Weird pitting corrosion on rear side of both.



Wile all that was out of the way I had a look at what might be causing the weird noise. Initially I thought it was alternator or water pump. Alternator felt ok, and as a refurb sticker on it. Cant get to water pump yet. But aux belt tensioner had a dry rattle to it, not that bad, but ill change it anyway as I might as well.

These were suppposed to be proper rapid. Almost looks wrong with a manual gear stick in there. Bet it will be a riot to drive when it’s fixed

That's the great thing, this car is at work so I can work on it in the evenings, then go to my Dads and work on police car at weekends!

Sweet merciful curse word, it's £140+vat for an aux belt tensioner!

No it wouldnt be stupid, as that is what i have done! Took it apart, found the bearing number and ordered one off ebay

More done today. Started playing with the tensioner. I had assumed I could just press out the bearing but when I looked again I realised that it was sandwiched between the two halves of the idler wheel. The two halves were held together by three rivets. So I had to press those out to then tap the bearing out. Did it carefully so as not to damage the idler wheel.









Then went back to the car. Took the water pump and thermostat housing apart. Both were extremely rusty! Nasty really. I think I have got to this car just in time. Its rotting from the inside out!!!






Then got the head off. The bores look perfect. No scoring, tiny bit of polishing and most of the honing marks are still there. No wonder these engines have a reputation for being bullet proof in standard form (apart from oil leaks). Ive taken plenty of 6 cylinder bmw engine apart, and they have a reputation for being well engineered. This is comparable. Its done near on 150,000 miles and it all looks good inside.





Water ways are a bit crusty, but nothing a good flush and new antifreeze wont sort. With the head off I can also reach all 4 of the rear core plugs easily.



One weird thing is how messed up the plastic head dowel is. Either the head has been moving, or the dowel was damaged when I took the head off or when it got put on. Now sure if they make metal replacements?

Think k series is smaller. Will check on rover forum. No really deadline, but want the office car park looking neat!

Would like to bring it to the retrorides gathering if I can.