vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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The R8 is like this big secret that has been kept by giffers since the mid-nineties and has only just started to be discovered. They really are remarkable things, not at all what one might expect from a mid-90s Rover. Yours looks particularly smart wearing one of the best colours and the only standard alloys I like on the R8. --- I finished that patch on the inner arch today which looks far better for some seam sealant and paint than I'd expected. It's almost entirely hidden by the bump-stop bracket which has lost one rubber bump-stop and the other is waiting for the sealant to set that I've used to glue it back on. Dealt with as much of the rust as I could see and get to and gave everything a liberal dose of stone chip and purple paint. I was going to use beige but I'd run out and since all this is going to be covered by the arch liner I'm reinstating I didn't think it mattered too much. There's been a few other repairs in this inner arch in the past of a similar nature to the one I've let in, I didn't pick at them as they're solid and functional if not that pretty. I went back and touched up the paint after these photos were taken, fitting the displacer meant I managed to knock a few bits of paint off here and there.   I also, with help from Mike, got the replacement displacer installed on this side which was quite a frustrating job as more often than not it was a two-person co-ordination challenge to get everything to line up. Not fun. Screwed the nubbin of the old pipe onto the displacer to stop anything falling inside it until I can get a replacement pipe made. I may have a spare I salvaged from the orange car, I'm not certain, if I have that'll save me a little bit of cash. .  First fill on the front wing was pretty good. Put some primer on to highlight areas that might be a problem (which doesn't show up so well with the camera flash enabled) and it'll need localised second fill before I get top coat on. Promising start to the job. You can just see the replacement bolt in the top left of the bump-stop bracket in this picture too since the old one decided to run away until I was cleaning up in that way important bolts do sometimes  The other thing I started work on was the bucket for the new rear light. It's seriously fiddly stuff because of how I want to do it. If anyone has that bit of bodywork from a Viva kicking around do let me know, it would save me bags of time in fabrication. |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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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.  |
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Last Edit: Jan 5, 2016 19:25:14 GMT by vulgalour
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,420
Club RR Member Number: 52
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Its often little jobs like the clock that make the whole interior feel more complete and finished.
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,339 
Club RR Member Number: 160
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I have to reset the time as it's currently wrong. It's still wrong..  Sorry  |
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melle
South West
It'll come out in the wash.
Posts: 2,011
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I've recently replaced all the bulbs in the dash of my Saab 900 with LEDs, much clearer and they'll hopefully outlast the car. Look for "T5 LED" on eBay.
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www.saabv4.com'70 Saab 96 V4 "The Devil's Own V4" '77 Saab 95 V4 van conversion project '88 Saab 900i 8V
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gt
Part of things
Posts: 136
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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.
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Amazosan
Part of things
The Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' dealin' son of a gun!
Posts: 188
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Funny thing is, my clock has recently gone eon the fritz; it will keep time for a short while after startup then goes back to then default position of '1:00', which may be due to a battery backup in the clock unit. Luckily I have a spare.
And yeah, ain't that real bit of wood veneer great? FYI, pre-digital odometer MGF clocks go straight in as the MGF, Freelander and R3 share the same scuttle and underdash gubbins. If you're brave enough, the dash from the last Rover 25 (the one with the Audi TT-style air vents is a bolt-in swap too, providing you use all of the heater ducting.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 11, 2016 16:28:48 GMT
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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. ---- 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. |
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Jan 11, 2016 17:14:15 GMT
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Hi there
here's a little trick i use to find leaks.
Dust everywhere you think may be leaking with talc, if there's a leak it will leave a track back the the source.
Cheers - mike
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 11, 2016 17:15:38 GMT
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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.
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forde
Part of things
Posts: 377
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Jan 11, 2016 17:54:20 GMT
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That rovers clean, you can lower it on civic coils have to mod them slightly though
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'15 Royal Enfield Continental GT
'95 CZ 125 Type 488
'91 Vespa PX125E
'77 Camino, '86 Camino
'82 Puch Maxi S '70 Puch Maxi N
'80 Maxi S "Sport"
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 11, 2016 18:17:36 GMT
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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. |
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dw1603
Part of things
Posts: 591
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Jan 11, 2016 18:33:54 GMT
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The Honda Concerto (very close relative) was prone to leakage past the tail light seals.
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,420
Club RR Member Number: 52
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Jan 11, 2016 18:42:02 GMT
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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.
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Last Edit: Jan 11, 2016 18:49:43 GMT by qwerty
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forde
Part of things
Posts: 377
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Jan 11, 2016 18:54:03 GMT
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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. My mate has a 416 tourer slammed it on civic coils for an MB I think, had to cut and weld different diameter sleeve on bottom for where it goes into hub and use bigger washers on the top think that was about it tbh you can work it out if you get stuck in youll see what you have to do |
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Last Edit: Jan 12, 2016 0:52:09 GMT by forde
'15 Royal Enfield Continental GT
'95 CZ 125 Type 488
'91 Vespa PX125E
'77 Camino, '86 Camino
'82 Puch Maxi S '70 Puch Maxi N
'80 Maxi S "Sport"
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 11, 2016 19:07:09 GMT
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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.
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 11, 2016 21:02:00 GMT
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Have learned that MG ZR front springs and MG ZS rear springs fit and should give me a 30mm drop, apparently a straight swap with no need for modifying. If I want to bring things down further than that I can get the lowered equivalents I imagine. Fairly cheap option too.
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forde
Part of things
Posts: 377
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Jan 11, 2016 21:17:06 GMT
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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
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Last Edit: Jan 12, 2016 0:53:25 GMT by forde
'15 Royal Enfield Continental GT
'95 CZ 125 Type 488
'91 Vespa PX125E
'77 Camino, '86 Camino
'82 Puch Maxi S '70 Puch Maxi N
'80 Maxi S "Sport"
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Jan 11, 2016 21:40:04 GMT
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I have heard the rear light seals can get a bit tired on the R8 and start to let water in, the sort of lose their springy-back quality.
Could try replacing them with a beefier set made from a yoga mat using the originals as a template maybes?
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Jan 11, 2016 22:57:28 GMT
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Got lucky and persistent searching has found me a full set of brand new lowering springs for £150 delivered from a UK company specialising in modified Rovers. I'll name and shame/praise when I've fitted them.
As for the rear light seals, they're actually surprisingly good and not letting any water past as I found when I removed the lights from the car last year for inspection and tinting. This is possibly because they're not the original lights so they may also be replacement seals which is why they're still doing their job.
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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.