1994 Rover 820

Light grey primer would be fine for BRG. I use that for any paintwork i do.

When I removed the turbo I found the oil feed pipe partially clogged with solidified burnt oil, the oil was top quality and new so it must be the heat. After the engine has been working hard and the car stationary I have to leave it running for a few minutes to keep coolant circulating but I can still hear it boiling at the turbo and probably not circulating properly.
So I got a small electric water pump from a Mini turbo, the idea is to fit this directly to the turbo coolant return hose powered by an adapted turbo timer, wanted to fit it to the feed but different bore size means it might be a restriction on the feed side



The bracket is a mix of cut up BMW Mini bracket cut down and welded to the Rover engine harness bracket



It fits neatly on the end of the cylinder head close to the turbo



As the new exhaust manifold is much taller than original I have to fit a heat shield to the bonnet. I hadnt noticed over the years it has a small patch of rust that needs fixing and the bonnet catches were corroding.



Cleaned these up, was a bit tricky because they are designed not to come apart understandably for safety, but managed to remove the rust, treat and paint them ready to go back on.



Next stainless steel parts for the strut brace are ready, hopefully my measurements are correct.

I love the Titanium weight saving! Top work!

Got a bit done on the N/S strut brace mount today.
One part did not look strong enough so reduced the cut-outs size and also added a bit more angle to the top edge for better alignment, new design



New part/s on the right arrived yesterday.



Stainless steel can be awkward to work with because it is not magnetic, getting the first parts together at the correct angles was a combination of masking tape to hold them roughly in place then a very small tack that could be moved about ready for the next part.



Top part with temporary ally bolt to hold it.



Thats where I am up to today, now need to weld these bits together and do a little bit of trimming some edges for the next parts.

Doing all my TIG welding standing up at the moment and struggling to hold the welding torch steady and move smoothly whilst pressing the pedal so next job in the garage is to build a lower bench I can sit at and support my elbows, hopefully this will help.

Thanks Jim, you too, was a pleasure to meet you and have a good look over your SD1.

As they were to be laser cut parts I was able to go elliptical rather than the usual round swaged “speed holes”

It all just looks so "Motorsport".

Great to catch up on your thread. I still have my original 420 turbo. I love it!

There are 6 engine mounts on these, so next to get the treatment is the timing belt end.



Cut out the rubber centre and side mouldings



I could not find bushes big enough to go straight into the cast iron housing so for the closest size it needs a 60mm diameter 2.5mm thick aluminium sleeve.



Cut the aluminium sleeve to length and pressed it in with metal glue, cleaned up the edges and a coat of paint.



Lastly pressed the bushes into the housing and the centre tube that uses an M12 over the original M10 bolt so slightly larger bolt hole needed on the car when it comes to fitting.
This is going to transmit a lot of vibration over the original



Could not decide how to build the welding bench but had to switch from the pedal to the torch trigger for the welding because I had to mock up the exhaust system before I could weld it, this meant I had to tack it from under the car, not easy under a car on axle stands with a mask, torch and filler rod and impossible to operate the pedal.
Managed to get two big ugly tacks on each part, just enough so it stayed in position to remove from the car to add a few more tacks then refit to double check.



Using the torch trigger has made standing at the bench welding a bit easier too, flexy welded



Welding these parts was made easier that they are similar thickness unlike the manifold that I really struggled with thin tubing and thick flanges.





I am using V-Band connectors to join the main parts, easy to take apart and look tidy, although quite a bit chunkier than I anticipated.



That is where it is up to this weekend, slowly getting there.

Really envy the space you have but at the same time think I would end up with a similar collection and get nothing finished, I struggle enough finding time for one car.