Any car club will only continue to exist and thrive if the cars are still being used and cared for.

There are many things that will remove our cars from the road - some of which we cannot do much about (the juggernaut pushing you into the Armco), some of which already have technical solutions (HGF) and are so only a matter of financial viability and some of which the solution isn't known widely, or not at all.

We discussed this topic at the AGM as we want to understand if there are things we can invest some of the club's funds to find solutions to ensure we keep as many of our cars on the road as possible.

We can use this thread to identify the common faults and where we have fixes/ workarounds etc and where we don't. If we don't have them, we can then investigate if solutions can be found and made available.

So for starters:-

1) Rusty sills - generally patched but where can you get sill repair panels from? Info and links for each bodystyle needed. For example - http://www.carbodypanels4u.co.uk/rover/ ... sill-skin/ for 5doors
2) Honda 1.6 fuel relay causing engine stalls. Normal solution is just to replace the relay with another one an hope! Alternative relays have been suggested but where is that info? Link?

In the medium-term, we can include this info on our club website

Now it's your turn

Engine mounts and wiring looms.

1234dist wrote:Engine mounts and wiring looms.

Engine mounts - are there any ones that are particularly problematic or replacement parts unavailable for?

Looms - what are the problems ? Deterioration, connectors, wear (coupe/cabriolet boot lid, for example)

mounts have been NLA for a while now. Performance companies have come out with STRONG replacements but would vibrate the hell out of any car that's not for track use.

Looms - yes the maintenance of the clips ect but also for conversions (that keep the shell on the road).

My 416 GSi had immense issues with the PGM-Fi unit and the next owner ripped it all out and fitted twin carbs from a Civic Shuttle being an H plate there was no cat to worry about!

I think the best thing we can do as a club is distribute parts when a car gets broken, too many cars simply get sent to the crusher intact. Good doors for example are worth keeping as they do tend to rust at the bottom! Perhaps it would be a good idea to form some kind of co-operative where everyone contributes to the rent of a small storage facility where items can be stored and then sold on through the forum?

As far as I am concerned HGF is a treatable condition these days and not a valid reason for scrapping, its just a shame that many garages see it as a way to make themselves rich, I am aware of one place quoting almost £1800 to fix HGF on a 1.8 K Series car, even when it was apparent that wasn't the issue with the car!

Benny wrote:I think the best thing we can do as a club is distribute parts when a car gets broken, too many cars simply get sent to the crusher intact.

I've just finishing breaking a Nightfire red SEi, and you better believe I've had a good few parts off it. For example, A spare unwarped head and doors/hatch/bonnet in the same colour as my current car could save me £££. I would take the screen out, but as it has a small crack it probably isn't worth it.

The hatchback, especially if the heated glass works is well worth preserving.

The fuel relay is presently available from Rimmers at a price = £140!

A chap at the birthday do reckon's the problem is dry soldered joints on the edge of the board. That would explain the intermittent nature of the fault.

Mr Teddy Bear wrote:The fuel relay is presently available from Rimmers at a price = £140!

A chap at the birthday do reckon's the problem is dry soldered joints on the edge of the board. That would explain the intermittent nature of the fault.

This is the Honda 1.6 Engines only - I'm going to ask a clever chap to have a look at the circuit diag and see if he can suggest any modern alternatives.

Regarding the centralised keeping of parts, this is a big task that requires premises, stock management and time and would preferably need to be 'self-funding' but could encourage people to join the club to keep their cars on the road.

1234dist has some personal experience of doing something like this and may like to comment on the effort and costs of doing so.

Short answer its bl00dy expensive and takes up a lot of space and takes ages to organise.

Honest, my rubbish pile is organised......I know its in the cr@p pile

Once I've finished the import job I'm working on I will be working towards a considerable sort out and clear out of the useless stuff in my unit to make way for the worthwhile (hoarding) stuff.

I have always run my unit on a free drop off, make an off price tag and all the money goes to keeping the unit running for likewise rover owners (and to keep my fleet running).

Window glass?
Windscreens might be around a while, though the last one I had replaced was fitted with an incorrect header, which channels the gutter water down behind the side trims. Nice.

Side windows less likely, especially for 3-dr saloons, which had a shorter production run than the other variants.

Looms do get brittle. I lost sound from a door speaker, and repairing the loom between body and door, could feel the insulation click as it fractured during handling. Could we get manufacturing data to have looms re-wired?