[g259fsg]

Tried fitting a new aerail to my 1990 214 this afternoon, but it defeated me. I've had the new part for a month or two and the Haynes manual makes it sound quite easy as does the original Rover service manual I have, so I thought I'd get it done in an hour or so. Wrong!

It's easy enough to take out the radio and unclip the cable from behind the steering column, but it then disappears behind a forest of cable and a relay panel that you have to unbolt "to gain access". I couldn't see where the cable went up the door pillar, however maybe that didn't matter as you tie a piece of string onto the old cable before pulling it out.

The old cable came some of the way out and then seemed to snag on something. Eventually I got it out by twisting it and pulled the string through. The new aerial cable went in so far with a bit of turning, but again the string/cable seemed to snag on something. I didn't want to pull too hard in case the string broke.

I've given up for today. Has anybody done this job and give me an idea what I'm doing wrong. Is it possible to see where the cable comes through behind the dash? Haynes gives it 2 spanners so far I think it's more like 5!

Thanks,

Hugh

[roverman1]

What you have been doing is the same way i done it a few months ago did and yes the cable did snag,i think it catches on the pillar trim clips, you could try prising off the pillar trim to make it easier, but it just takes patience.
The cable comes out at the top behind the dash it's entwined with all the other wires, a simple in theory job but very awkward in practice

[g259fsg]

Thanks for the input. I'll have to try again. It's so inaccessable I can't see what I'm doing or even feel where the cable goes. Gash. I'll let you know if I manage.

Hugh

[g259fsg]

Had another go this afternoon. I prised off the plastic trim on the inside of the door pillar (quite easy after pulling off the rubber weather seal. That made it a lot easier to get the cable to go down the pillar. It still got stuck somewhere down the bottom. Still got nowhere, so I asked my wife to help. I'm a bit too big to work under a dashboard, but she's quite petite so she could see better and her hands are smaller for getting in amongst the cabling round the back of the relay panel. With me feeding and twisting the cable from the top and my wife pulling on the string, it came through quite quickly. I tied some strong string round the connector on the cable and then rapped some insulating tape round it so that the string came out of a cone at the end of the plug. These should have made it less likely to catch on things but it was still a real pain. This is a difficult job.

I thought it wouldn't take long to get all back together. Wrong again. It took me about 30 minutes to bolt the relay panel back to the side frame. Another awkward job for a big guy.

Anyway, our 214 now has a new aerial and it works.

However, when the Rover was in the garage, I noticed the exhaust front box had blown and the MOT is next month. Then this morning we took our 1966 Hillman Minx for a run and shortly after getting on the motorway there were a couple of loud clunks and rattling from underneath. It was still going fine but when I tried to take it out of gear the clutch didn't seem to work. Most likely a catastrophic failure of the thrust bearing. It has a hydraulic clutch so I pumped it up and could just about get into gear, so fortunately we made it home in first and second gear taking routes avoiding roundabouts and traffic lights.

So I finished one job today, but got two more, one of them a biggy.

The joy of old cars.

[roverman1]

I know the feeling well Who needs a boring reliable modern car anyway , good luck on your jobs tho.