1986 Rover SD1 3500SE Police Car

Got bored today and with the car in the tarpaulins i decided to clean up some of the interior parts i had removed to see what was savable and what was scrap. So here is the steering wheel....

It had quite a bit of mould on it, some glue? and decades of dirty greasy finger fat. Sadly by the time id finished scrubbing it had taken a fair amount of the colour off.



So out with the boot polish.

Half done.



All done



Originally it would have been a matt type of finish, but i quite like it shiny and patterned. Just need a new silver rover badge, as mine had corroded and when i cleaned it up, the rover lettering disappeared before the corrosion did! Anyone got one?

Did some more faffing about. Took a look at the police speedo and surround. The plastic surround is very thin and brittle and total pants. It had a couple of splits and was quite warped, so i used an old solder iron to do so improvised plastic welding. Worked pretty well.







Then i took the speedo apart to repaint the rim as it was corroded. Then i polished up the glass and got all the dust off the dial face.





Then i made a brace for the back of the speedo out of 3mm all sheet which was robbed from an old yacht wind generator. So now when the clamps are done up to hold the speedo to the case, it straightens the worst of the ripples and distortions from the plastic surround.





Then i took another look at how to fix the base of the drivers seat.

The rear armrest mechanism was broken and i was going to fix that, but then i realised that i could use the fabric from the recess to patch the front seat. There isnt enough to do it in one panel, but there is enough to do it, it'll just have an extra seam about 2 inches from the rear of the seat which will hardly be noticeable. The only problem is the fact the colour match isnt great as the front seats are faded compared to new fabric. Still in time it will blend in.





The one parts that still has me totally stumped is the drivers door card. It is in really poor condition and i don't know how to repair it. Getting a replacement will be really hard, as only the 2 litre models and police cars had no wood trim and manual windows. And then finding one in brown. So i guess ill have to get a good drivers door card of any description then modify it? Anyone know where you can buy brown vinyl?

Awesome. If your mate has one ill definitely have it.

Choppychop grind weld starts as soon as the kitcar goes. It has provisionally sold on ebay and should be collected weekend after next.

Yes please. I'm away till tuesday, but pm me your details. Thanks

Wow, i think there is more good metal on your model than my car!

Not sure mine is worth £5 though

I think they still assembled police cars though. as various bits of trim have dates for feb 86 on them. Its also got the electronically comntrolled SU carbs which they only fitted in 85 and 86.

Started on the dash today. For a police dash it has very few holes in it and the only molestation is around the centre air vents. These are also missing, but should be easy to get replacements.



Stripped it down and found the underside of the dash and the metal shelf the instruments sit on are guess what......rusty!



So i sanded it down and zinc sprayed it, then began reassembly.



Lots of the switches are broken and the bulbs don't work so may need to find some more spare ones. Also the paint is peeling off the instrument needles and the clear lens' for both clusters is cracked scratched and broken. So ill be watching out on ebay for bargains.

Think l read somewhere that the police bought a load of SD1 when they went out of production because they liked them soo much.

It's interesting that yours is carbs rather than EFi as I though all the v8's had moved to injection by 86? It was around this time they offered the twin plenum, which you'd think they'd have went for pursuit cars.
I wonder if the EFi chucked it and someones move it back to carbs?