1986 Rover SD1 3500SE Police Car

Ive got this week off work to try and get as much done on the car as possible. Sod's law I have a heavy cold, which is making all of this much harder work than it should be.

I have done loads of stupid little time consuming jobs, but many of them don't warrant taking photos, so I haven't bothered.

I decided that next time I start the car, I should have as much 100% finished as is practicable. So I went back through the throttle linkage and made sure everything was adjusted properly. Although it was mostly there, I had cut a few corners and not fully buttoned things up.

To help in this process I used this excellent video.



It is an original Austin Rover video on how to tune HIF44E carbs. Very handy.

First important thing that i had forgotten to do is to bridge the terminals on the engine coolant temp plug. That tricks the car into thinking its hot, so it returns the idle jacking pins and should remove the choke. Then I went right back through the fiddly throttle linkages, connecting rods, lost motion shafts etc etc. Fiddly and time consuming.

I also readjusted the main jet heights. When I first rebuilt them I read in the Des Hammil book that the jet should be 1mm below the bridge. So that's what I did. However, the Austin Rover Video and workshop manual says to set the jet level with the bridge and then do 2 turns clockwise on the screw to lower it. That actually gives about 1.8mm below the bridge, so much richer??? Anyway, that's where it is now. Also filled the dashpot dampers.

In this photo you can just see the idle screw, the adjustable pad for the cold running jacking pin, and the adjustable pad for the lost motion shaft. All very fiddly.





Then I removed the dizzy again and fitted my new vacuum advance unit. Also fitted a new coil as I randomly lost spark last time I was trying to run it.



Then I removed the coolant thermistor and ambient air temp sensor and checked they were doing what they were supposed to at various temperature by comparing the changes in resistance with the tables in the workshop manual. All looking good.

Then I continued the laborious task of checking continuity between the various pins of the ECU loom plug and the loom in the engine bay. All ok apart from some slightly dodgy resistances to the stepper motors, but ill just wait and see what happens with those. Might do another check tomorrow. Got a bit fed up this now!



ECU and plug



Lastly a slightly more fun and yet even more fiddly job. Rebuilding the Police switches again. I took more Lucas/Jaguar switches apart for their internals and fitted my Police specific lens'. Full set of Beacon, Horn, Police and Stop.






Trial fitted into the heater vent surrounds as original

Got up early this morning to continue playing with the Police switches. After the paint had dried, I mounted them on the air vent trim panel as original. Then offered it up to the dash. Looks good. Ive not done the final fit yet as I want to make sure all the wiring is correct first.






Just before lunch I collected my repaired radiator. Port all soldered/braised back in properly.



I can recommend Steve King at Regal Radiators. Knows his stuff and very reasonably priced. Here is the website.

regalrads.com/

I put the rad back in the car, refitted the fan shroud and filled up the cooling system.


I also fitted a new ignition amp to the dizzy. This is a proper job two pin one I got of Kev Clark in the SD1 club. Thanks Kev.



With the dizzy in and fitted, nothing else to do but start it!

I was bricking it, but after a few cranks, it fired up. Took a while for the lifters to pump up, and ive set the idle too low, so it stalls if no throttle on, but sounds real healthy with a nice burble. Stainless system sounds meaty!

I ran it for 20 mins at 2000 rpm which is recommended to break in the cam. Apparently running at idle is a big no no. I don't actually know the engineering reasons behind this, but fairly well documented online.

Here is a video of the car running. I made a longer video, but MovieMaker ballsed up the sound, so this unedited short clip actually gives a better representation of the V8 loveliness.

Awesome!

Well done, sounds nice, a Rover V8 without catalysts, I could almost smell the hydrocarbons

That sounds nice and promising!

That’s why he’s all light headed - not just the joy of a running engine after a fantastic rebuild journey!
Love it
James

Thank you all.

Work continues. Spent the last couple of hours fixing the hazards, side repeaters, adjusting brake light switch.

Got an irritating problem with the reverse lights though. When the switch is closed (car in reverse) I get continuity at the switch terminals. If I follow the wiring up to the connector in the engine bay, I get the same. SO switch is ok and closing. I f I check the loom side of the engine bay multi plug I have a 12V supply. If I use a power probe to put 12V into the multiplug the reverse lights illuminate. If I use a jumper wire to go from 12V supply in multiplug to feed to the rear lights they come on. However when the plug is reconnected they don't work?

So then I cleaned up the plug terminals and closed them up a bit to ensure they make real good contact. Guess what, still not reverse lights!!!?

Anyway, in better news my number plates arrived. They are as close to the original as I can get. They have the correct curvy '8' and funky looking number '2's. The 'G' isn't quite correct but pretty good.

Some SD1's had tall rear number plates, but in the photographs of its sister cars, they all appear to have standard height rear plates, so that's what I have ordered.

Just need to buy some plastic number plate screws and fit them.

Old



New

Jim - If you want self tapping type number plate screws with the plastic caps coloured for back & front just pm your address to me and I will send you a set FOC - I have a boxful upstairs in the stores that I will see me through until I hang my boots up - Chris

Thanks very much for the offer of screws but I bought some this afternoon!

Yes car has to be ready for the show. It will be on the SD1 stand again.