Rover 827 Si Mk1

Thanks for the comments chaps. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to some welding. I would also like to replace some of the suspension bushes on which I got some mot advisories, however sourcing bushes for this car is problematic. This seems surprising for what was such a common car?

The 5 series was mine too and believe it or not there was a mk2 XR2 behind it.

It was my old Vanden Plas that had been built for the race track by Dave Porter Racing.
Fast as hell but very highly strung, it didn't like normal driving and would spin 180 with very little effort (Scared the p### out of one mate and he would never get in it again).
3.9 Injection chipped, cammed with loads of TVR and racing bit on it with a 5 speed manual box that was tweaked using Sherpa diesel gearbox cogs.

I am on the owners club with 2 six pots, one of which is a 2300 that was up for free on the club site that I collected from Oxfordshire.

One of my favorite cars that I have owned was a mk1 827 Sterling with sports mode. It had all the Tickford kit on.
I had to sell it when I lost my job around 15 years ago, the new owner wrapped it round a tree.
Yours is seriously making me want another.

Its Reary.

I had the BMW given to me because the clutch was low, turned out to be a dodgy clutch cable.
Thinking about it I only paid £40 for the XR2 as the owner got nailed for drink driving.
A few years ago now.

I do keep checking to see if the SD1 has resurfaced but not as yet, unfortunately the last time it was taxed is when I sold it.

Sills look very well made, you do know though that whilst fitting them the rear arch edges will be to tempting NOT to make good. This could be the starting point for your next project Best to start once the Police SD1 is finished.

Missed this thread when it was started, happily that means there was lots of stuff to enjoy reading through. The 800s really have aged very well. I look forward to seeing your progress with the next few jobs on this car.

I have had a frustrating day. I started off fairly optimistic that by close of play i would had both sills fitted and finished. I was wrong.

By about 11 o'clock i had finished the offside with the addition of a section welded to the lower rear wheel arch.



I moved onto the nearside and that's where the problems began as it was much rustier than the offside. If i had done this side of the car first, i think i might have actually given up and sold it on as a project for someone else to complete. There were many plates welded over to the front and rear ends of the sills which had masked the development of the corrosion and caused the inner sills to rot. Plus a large section at the middle was also pretty far gone. This isnt too much of a problem, not difficult to fix, just time consuming and required more steel than i have.



I carried on with the cutting out and de-rusting and that is when i made a nasty discovery. The car failed an MoT on the sills and a corrosion near a suspension mounting but i hadnt really properly investigated where. I assumed it was just near the sill. It was, but in an awkward place. Basically the bottom of where the rear trailing arm link connects and the bush is housed The MoT man had helpfully coloured it in with a yellow crayon. I though oh no, perhaps the offside is the same and i had missed it, but on checking the offside is in really good condition and still has original cavity wax over the area. Strange that the nearside should be so much worse.



I decided to grind off the rust and then put a plate across the bottom. I did this but the weld blew through a couple of times. I thought i best hit it with the hammer to check it was all solid and that i soon regretted, as i created two holes. Now option 1 would have been to cover it in seam sealer and underseal and hope no one spotted it. But reality hit home and i couldnt do that. Here is where i actually decided to just sell the car. I have too many projects and not enough time, plus at first i coundnt conceive of a way to fix this without removing the rear suspension. I packed up my tools and went down the house to drink tea and sulk.

New shiny plate shown, with two rust holes above and to the sides.



After much tea, biscuits and sulking i went back to the car and had another look. I figured that what ever the solution it would start with chopping off my new plate and further poking to see how bad the rot was. So thats what i did. I used a grinder to chop out most of it and then used a die grinder to grind out all the frilly metal.

Suddenly things didnt look so bad after all. The orangey rust looking stuff is all just surfaces rust. The only rot was the lower edge where i guess water and road dirt had collected inside the section and caused the rot to set in.



I got stuck in with the rebuild by making two plates which fitted snug around the bush housing and then welding them from both sides to make sure it was proper strong. This was all done in thick gauge steel, i think either 1.5 or 2 mm. This was helpful as welding upside down outdoors with an intermittent breeze with real thin steel is pretty difficult!



Both new plates on, just need to weld the base on next.



The wind got up making neat welding impossible, so i quit without managing to do the base. Not sure when i will finish it off as i need to spend some time with the girlfriend!

It seems funny now that i was ready to throw in the towel. Its been like that with this car. I do love it, but its one of those cars that is right on the cusp of being worth saving. If it wasnt so much fun to drive i would have sold it on by now. My new plan is get the sills done, MoT'd and then have a serious think as to whether i spend good money at a body shop or sell it on for someone else to tinker with.

Before making hasty decisions about bodyshops and selling, just get it all solid and weatherproof and get some enjoyment out of it for a bit. At least then all the smart work you're doing won't be in vain or to someone else's gain.

Of all the vehicles I have had come and go over the past few years, a Rover 800 hasn't been on the list. After seeing this thread I am very tempted to look for one!!

I did however pick up a dirt cheap Rover 623 GSi automatic (77,000 miles) recently which is in mint condition aside from the usual rear wheel arch corrosion.

I'm looking forward to sorting mine out and seeing your 827 sorted also.

Yes, they are superb vehicles!  Definitely a bargain considering I only paid £180 for it, with MOT until September and no mechanical problems whatsoever...

You could definitely qualify as a "hooligan" with the 2.3, it has a lot to give if you floor the throttle.  Unfortunately it is very expensive to run these days given that it struggles to get 30MPG!  Strangely though mine has no "modes" on the transmission other than the usual PRND321, but I have seen one for sale previously which had a button on the shifter presumably for said "sport" mode. 

My window regulator for the drivers window has been getting noisy lately, so I suspect it is on its way out.  It doesn't help that rain water gets forced down into the window mechanism when driving which causes it to ultimately seize up and put strain on the regulators.  Silicone spray has freed it up though, so hopefully the regulator will hold on for a bit longer.

I just took it on a round trip from where I live on the Moray coast to Edinburgh yesterday and it coped with the 370 miles flawlessly.  It's an absolute joy to drive and to be in full stop, as are all high-spec Rovers.  I honestly believe that if I were looking for a luxury saloon in the 1990s I would have opted for a 600 over Jaguars and Mercedes, even if money were no object.