sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1984 Rover SD1 Turbo V8 sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Jan 17, 2015 15:56:04 GMT
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I had a b reg vitesse back in 1999 loved it. I used to get parts from a guy in Warrington who had a shed/back garden full of parts & a breaker or two on his drive. If I find his contact details I will pass them on. Wasn't a few containers found somewhere like India full of brand new parts years & years ago..not sure if rimmer bros bought the lot. Yes I know of the guy from Warrington, I've bought a few things from him in the past, really nice helpful chap. The India spares made their way to Rimmers, at one point shortly after they arrived I seriously considered buying one of the complete shells but didn't as I was too busy and couldn't store a shell at the time.
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vertex
Part of things
Posts: 927
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Jan 17, 2015 16:50:00 GMT
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Yep very pleasant fellow. Hugh if memory serves me..
Would of been nice to get a shell or two for the future..
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squonk
Part of things
Posts: 863
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Jan 17, 2015 18:37:49 GMT
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Wasn't a few containers found somewhere like India full of brand new parts years & years ago..not sure if rimmer bros bought the lot. It was more like a complete factory full of parts!!! Yes, Rimmer Bros bought the lot. Something like 30 or 40 container loads I think. Story here: www.rimmerbros.co.uk/images/PDFs/Rover-SD1-Supplement.pdf
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Last Edit: Jan 17, 2015 18:40:22 GMT by squonk
2004 Chevrolet Avalanche Z71 2005 Mercedes CLK320 Cabriolet 1996 Mercedes C180 Elegance Auto Saloon 1996 Rover 620Ti (Dead fuel pump) 1992 Toyota HiLux Surf 1987 Range Rover Vogue (Rusty) 1992 Range Rover Vogue SE (More Rusty) 2006 Chrysler Grand Voyager 2008 Corsa 1.4 Design
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1984 Rover SD1 Turbo V8 sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Feb 21, 2015 18:14:35 GMT
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So I bought me an Audi 3.7 V8 It came with a quattro autobox and loom with ecu's still attached, so they were picked off to get to the engine and assess it's suitability The engine now sat in the garage beside my SD1 Underneath the rocker covers the heads don't look too bad, a little sludged oil above the normal oily areas but easily cleaned Torque converter removed to reveal it's got an 8 bolt flywheel, I can now start looking for something suitable to replace it with The fly-by-wire throttle body removed to see if it can be converted to cable control, or if there's another suitable cable operated replacement somewhere The variable intake flaps, clever bit of technology which I hope to retain the operation of The V8 tipped over on it's front so the sump pan can be removed to see what's what and how adaptable it will be My rough calculations indicate the steering rack will sit where the oil pick-up strainer is if the engine is pushed back in the engine bay. I need to ponder this, but am thinking about maybe spacing the front subframe a little lower, and modifying the oil pick-up and sump pan to clear the rack. The plan will be to fit the engine under the bonnet with no external clues as to what's hiding underneath so the engine needs to be mounted as far back and down as possible to clear the bonnet. I have the Megasquirt system so will continue fitting that to the existing RV8 so I know how it works and how to tune it, by then I should have sourced a flywheel, clutch and gearbox to convert the engine to manual and ready to fit. In it's native home, it pushed out approximately 250bhp and 250lb/ft, so that will be the target to start with, but without cats and modern emissions requirements it could be possible that it'll push out a bit more than that, alternatively the 4.2 should drop straight in it's place
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shitemeister
Part of things
Lovely Boy Lovely Boy!!
Posts: 46
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Feb 22, 2015 22:07:08 GMT
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I had a b reg vitesse back in 1999 loved it. I used to get parts from a guy in Warrington who had a shed/back garden full of parts & a breaker or two on his drive. If I find his contact details I will pass them on. Wasn't a few containers found somewhere like India full of brand new parts years & years ago..not sure if rimmer bros bought the lot. Yes I know of the guy from Warrington, I've bought a few things from him in the past, really nice helpful chap. The India spares made their way to Rimmers, at one point shortly after they arrived I seriously considered buying one of the complete shells but didn't as I was too busy and couldn't store a shell at the time. I also used to buy bits off that chap in Warrington in the mid-late nineties! His name is Hugh Chambers, eBay has kinda made things easier but he was a godsend really in those pre-eBay days, he usually had pretty much anything I ever needed. Good luck OP with the project, will be keeping an eye on this.
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1984 Rover SD1 Turbo V8 sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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I've had a nice busy weekend on the SD1, mostly fiddling about with the Megasquirt wiring looms and fitting it into the dashboard. The engine loom is now plugged into the engine, and most of the power side is layed out. I'm waiting on a few more connector plugs to come through the post before I'm ready to turn the key and see what happens... In comparison to the new engine loom I've made, the partially stripped hotwire loom is quite bulky, but it does contain some power leads and most of the relays The fuel pump has been relocated to near the fuel tank and most of the teflon -6 fuel lines have been fitted. I've also made a start on building a heavy duty shield out of 3mm steel to protect the exposed fuel lines underneath Whilst underneath I decided to have a look at the less than healthy looking rear axle trailing arm ends. The bushed end to the axle had non-existant retaining cups and the chassis mounts were beginning to blow apart with rust. The cups are available off the shelf, but at £15 each and needing 4, I've so far made one pair out of stainless, the next pair will follow soon The chassis bracket was given a thorough clean up, then the spot welds holding the two halves drilled out and the inner faces de-rusted before getting a coat of weld-thru primer and welding back togther The trailing arm pins under the axle are so corroded that both trailing arms are pretty much scrap. As I've stripped the paint and rust off one, it's had a quick coat of blue hammerite (I'm not wasting any nice black paint on it) to protect it before I buy two new arms from Rimmer Brothers My SD1 is almost mobile again, still got a big long list of jobs to do, but beginning to gather momentum and tick them off at last
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hmmmmm....really tempted to swap my range rover classic for an early SD1
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Seen a really nice silver D reg SD1 Vitesse while walking home from work earlier (in Paisley), awesome sight and sound
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1984 Rover SD1 Turbo V8 sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Mar 15, 2015 20:34:24 GMT
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The engine runs pretty well on the Megasquirt, but clearly needs dedicated time to finish the installation and set it up. This means I really want the car back outside so I can take it on testdrives, bit hard when buried deep in the garage. So the next jobs that need doing are the leaks into the boot and passenger footwell. First off I took a rear light off to check the seal and the metal beneath. After cutting one of the nuts off that was spinning on the retaining bolt, the light popped out to show a little rust around some of the bolt holes, nothing serious and an easy fix Not finding enough evidence of the light being the main leak point, the boot seal was next. The plastic trim was removed for a better look What I found was lots of clear silicon, so this must have been a problem in the past The rust staining is evident on the inside so it's likely the seal lip is the main cause of the leak. The panel will need to be removed to clean the rust out from between the seams but will be fine for now if I can stop the leaks The area has been cleaned and some insulating tape put of the lip before the seal was pushed back on. I think the bootlid spoiler may have been the cause, which has already been removed and the holes re-sealed so time will tell if that was the problem or not? Next up was the heater, reading the Haynes manual didn't give enough clues on how to remove, and not near a computer to read the factory manuals I have, the plan was keep removing stuff until I get to the heater matrix.... Quite a lot more than expected was removed to get access to the mounting screws and brackets! Heater on the bench for proper diagnosis The foam seals are falling apart, which explains why when putting the blower on full speed I get bits of dirt flying out of the face vents The main heater body is plastic held together mostly with metal spring clips, which once pinged off reveal the matrix inside The water pipes on the side from the engine bay were noticeably loose Evidence of the water leak beneath the water pipes With the matrix removed it does appear that the fault is the two pipes simply aren't sealed into the rubber seal on the side of the matrix. If I'm right it's a cheap fix to seal it up with some Tigerseal, and maybe weld a little tab of steel between the two pipes to stop them flexing in the matrix Everything needs flushing and cleaning first, the quicker the better as I don't want to forget where all the multiplugs and screws go in the dashboard!
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Mar 15, 2015 21:42:18 GMT
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Those matrix's are a pain. Mine was leaking at the same place on my drift car. But to get the dash out meant I would have to take the roll cage out, so I got busy with the grinder and cut through the metal pipe. Then I did what your suggesting, pulled it out of the matrix, put some tiger seal on the pipe and stuffed it back in the matrix. Been good for a while now.
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1984 Rover SD1 Turbo V8 sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Mar 16, 2015 21:06:43 GMT
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Those matrix's are a pain. Mine was leaking at the same place on my drift car. But to get the dash out meant I would have to take the roll cage out, so I got busy with the grinder and cut through the metal pipe. Then I did what your suggesting, pulled it out of the matrix, put some tiger seal on the pipe and stuffed it back in the matrix. Been good for a while now. I've never seen or read any reference to the pipes working loose from my research into SD1's, and was expecting the worst but the mickey mouse design, although essentially curse word, was a welcome suprise as it won't cost me anything but time to fix Got about an hour in tonight after work to have a proper poke and prod on the matrix and de-rust the outside of the two coolant pipes. One of the rubber grommets just fell off the matrix, I guess that's fairly conclusive that it was at fault! There was plenty of black silicone sealant over the ends of the pipes and the rubber grommets going into the matrix, not sure if that's original factory or someone has been there before me, also some of the clamps and screws that held the heater assembly down weren't tight.... The matrix has had all the rotten foam removed, the outside has been washed in thinners and some fresh dense foam tape wrapped around the outside. The big job will be removing the steel panels from inside the plastic heater box and stripping/painting them before the rebuilt heater assembly can go back in and normal V8 services may resume
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Mar 16, 2015 21:35:08 GMT
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Interesting project. I've had a couple of SD1s about 15 years ago.
You can test for leaks, get two old tyre valves and clamp them into some short lengths of heater hose, other ends to the core pipes. Pump up with a foot pump etc to at least 20psi then put in a bucket of water.
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75 Range Rover 2 door 82 Range Rover 4 door 84 Range Rover 4 door 78 Datsun 120Y 2 door 78 Datsun 620 Pickup 81 Datsun Urvan E23 86 Datsun Vanette van 98 Electric Citroen Berlingo 00 Electric Peugeot Partner 02 Electric Citroen Berlingo 04 Berlingo Multispace petrol 07 Land Rover 130 15 Nissan E-NV200 15 Fiat Ducato
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1984 Rover SD1 Turbo V8 sowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Mar 16, 2015 22:12:12 GMT
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Interesting project. I've had a couple of SD1s about 15 years ago. You can test for leaks, get two old tyre valves and clamp them into some short lengths of heater hose, other ends to the core pipes. Pump up with a foot pump etc to at least 20psi then put in a bucket of water. That's a really genius clever idea, I'll probably try that one out, cheers . Last thing I want to do is get the dashboard back in to find the heater has sprung a leak!
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tuxman
Part of things
Posts: 568
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Great stuff !!!! Top quality work .
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