1980 Austin Princess mild custom - 1951 Lanchester LD10

Sorted out a little job today. Since I got the Rover the dash clock has always worked but is barely even visible so even though I set the time on it there wasn't much point. Recently I learned that this is usually a duff bulb and replacement is fairly easy. Here's a little how to on it. To the right of the trim (for RHD models anyway), ease a screwdriver (or in my case some scissors I found in a Princess I broke because I was too lazy to find a screwdriver) and use firm but steady pressure to pry the wooden trim free of the dashboard. Work your way along the top edge and you'll find it slowly comes free of the holding.


Here is the clock. The clip on the back needs disconnecting and this is very easy.


Was quite surprised that it was actual real wood rather than plastic, sign of quality there. I'm guessing the RHD stamp is because this is a right hand drive car. You can also see the spring clips that push into the slots in the dashboard which helps explain how this goes together and comes apart.




The back of the clock has a single twist-fit bulb. Mine had blown so we went out to get a replacement. Halfords wanted £2.50 for one bulb so we went to the local motor factors and got one for just £1.50 which is still more than I'd like to pay. I'm sure dash bulbs like this used to only be 10p or something. Blue bulb on the left is the old Osram one that was fitted, black one on the right is the new one that I've put in.


Before refitting I turned the ignition to on to check it was working and huzzah! I have a visible clock. Pleased about that. I have to reset the time as it's currently wrong.


Last job is to push the trim back into place, start with the right hand side first and push until it firmly clips into place. Satisfyingly, it sits better now than it did, particularly on the left hand side. Not a big job, but a satisfying one.

It's still wrong..

Sorry

i like small jobs like that, very satisfying i need to be more careful i tend to be a bit hamfisted i would have probably snapped the clips off the back of the trim.

I don't need to change the dash, though it's interesting know you can. I quite like the standard dash, in fact the interior on this car is pretty much perfect straight from the factory which is not something I say often of a car interior. The only thing I wish they'd kept from earlier models - Maestro, Montego - is the variable speed intermittent wipe.

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Today was a fortuitous one because everything was finally in place for me to kit the Rover out with a full set of five alloys (I like matching spares). I'm really happy with them and the car rides nicely on them too. Next job will be figuring out how to lower the car and there's a few options available to me. Coilover kits I've found so far are way too expensive for what I'm wanting to achieve but more affordable options are shorter springs of the correct size and rating or getting the existing struts modified professionally (surprisingly, this is cheaper than a coilover kit). I only want to bring the car down 40-50mm just to improve the looks, I'm not after sports car action or slamming it to the floor.

Really got to sort out those bumper brackets to get rid of the sag.




The other job I wanted to do was get the boot trims removed. I've noticed things have been getting wet in the boot again and with the excessive amount of rain we've had lately I've started seeing standing water in the boot so it was time to investigate. Look, matching spare!


The interior panels come out really easily, especially since Mike invested in some plastic trim removal tools that mean you can pull out the fir tree buttons without damaging them (well, unless they've gone really brittle which thankfully they hadn't in this case). Both side panels have half an inch of sogginess on the bottom of them, the boot floor board is soaked again and the carpet is damp so that's all drying out in the house. The water is sitting in the corners of the boot as photographed.




The only place I can see it might be getting in is the vents that are hidden by the bumper, you can see in that last picture that there's some water staining from it to the wetness in the boot. The vents looked in good order when I removed the bumper previously and I don't especially want to block them up to stop this happening so I'm unsure what the best course of action might be here.

Is this is a known problem on the 400 perhaps? I know Rover are historically big fans of letting water into the boot, see any SD1 for reference.

On the R8 forum I learned that the 400 suffers from leaking vents which seems very likely in this instance. Quick but fiddly job to do and means I can sort out the saggy bumper bracket at the same time.

I've heard I can use Civic coils with slight modification but not found info on what actually needs to be modified to make it work. Thank you for the compliment, the red does most of the work for me There's several car park dings, a bit of lacquer peel and some little rust bubbles to deal with but for its age and mileage its definitely very presentable.

Those Corsa alloys look great, i've been keeping half an eye out for a set for my Polo.

From reading on this very fine forum it has been suggested that MG ZR suspension fits on the front. As standard it is lower than the 200 and lowering springs are available.

qwerty: I've got two going spare, I had 7 in total and picked the best five for the car. The two spare ones have got a minor flat spot on each rim but could be straightened. Yours for free if you can collect them from Thornaby and they'd at least allow you to check how well they fit on the Polo. They've even got (completely useless) tyres on them.

forde: Have you got any pictures of the work you did and the car itself? Might help me understand better what's involved. Plus I'd really like to see a slammed 416 tourer.

I heard the mg front suspension is straight fit

No pics of work was with my mate there and asked him if I had forgotten anything he did but no just welded larger diameter sleeve on bottom to fit the hub and used a bigger washer on top. I think he got the metal by cutting the bottom off some other coilovers and used that as the sleeve