[RoverRevival]

This i like

Going to book you one day to polish my cars you do a superb job of it.

[tompinney]

I'm going to do a bit of thread resurrection to retain the history rather than start a new one.

Other things have got in the way in the past 8 or 9 years since I last posted, but I still do have the car. Those that frequent RCOC will be aware of some of what has gone on with the car in the interim, but since I'm looking to get it running again I thought I would bring this thread up to date.

In October 2013, not long after it was last displayed at the Classic Car Show, a VW Passat took a disliking to the rear of the car resulting in this mess :(


Following this a long 18 month legal battle ensued as I fought over the value of the car, culminating in the case going to small claims court and me getting just over a £3k settlement for the car agains the <£700 the insurance were offering me for it. Around this time we were moving house so the car just sat under cover on the driveway for a further 18 months until just under Summer 2016, a little under three years after the accident, it went off for the repairs to be done while we were having our garage built.


The repairs ended up being more of a full body restoration than just repairing the rear end damage. More out of choice than necessity.

Here is the rear panel removed revealing the corrosion that had set in all along the back edge of the boot floor, but also along the top of the boot opening sealing lip.



New rear panel installed


Inside the boot, all repaired and painted up.


The rare as hens teeth replica rear bodystyling bumper was expertly repaired by a local fibreglassing specialist



About five months after leaving, the car returned to the new garage that was ready and waiting for it.


And that is where the car has sat, under cover and untouched, for the best part of another four years while I've been getting on with refurbishing our house and another unexpected car project. Having recently acquired a new engine for it the plan is to get it back into running condition this year. Longer term I plan to rebuild the original engine to retore it to a numbers matching car again.

Tasks waiting needing to be done short term are as follows:

• Replace all the seals and gaskets on the low mileage Cadbury's engine
• Clean the engine bay and install the engine
• Replace the fuel tank
• Replace the heat matrix which is leaking
• General recommissioning to get it into running condition again

[Topcat Tomcat]

More excellent work Tom.

[richard moss]

Can you give me the name of the cleaner that you use in the engine bay, because it looked amazing?

[kevinwillis]

It is good to see you getting back to putting this on the road Tom and have some time to play with cars instead of DIY house renovations.

Apart from some oil leaks and 200,000 of ware and tier what are the main problems with the engine and what is the reasoning behind swopping the engines for the rebuild. and loosing the matching car and engine mileage?

[GTiJohn]

Definitely a long-term project

Good to have you around again

[Smithy]

It is looking better than my 220. Mine needs an engine.

[RoverRevival]

It is looking better than my 220. Mine needs an engine.

I have a block sat around doing nothing if you need one, probably got some heads too

[tompinney]

Can you give me the name of the cleaner that you use in the engine bay, because it looked amazing?

I use a mixture of products Richard. I use any old engine degreaser product, such as Carplan Engine Degreaser. for the painted and exposed metal surfaces predominantly. On the plastics/rubbers I pre-soak in a strong solution of Meguiars Super Degreaser and then scrub it using a stong solution of Meguiars APC. Once its all hosed off and dry I used Autoglym Super resin polish on the painted surfaces followed up with a spray on paint selant (not sure what I used on that occasion) and the plastics and rubber I use a liberal coat of 303 Aeorspace Protectant; leave it to soak in for a few minutes and then use a dry microfibre cloth to soak up any excess.

Apart from some oil leaks and 200,000 of ware and tier what are the main problems with the engine and what is the reasoning behind swopping the engines for the rebuild. and loosing the matching car and engine mileage?

Oil leaks would be an understatement Kevin. It burns oil almost as fast a fuel and leaves and epic smokescreen behind it when driving. The bores are very badly glazed so much so that there is no evidence of any honing marks left, the valve guides are shot which is is cause the the main oil leak due to premature wear of stem seals. I've been through two sets of seals in about 6000 miles; I thought the first set from ebay were defective so bought genuine Rover the second time around but they have resulted in the same symptom over time. I'm also pretty sure the crank would benefit from a new set of bearings by this stage. All in all it needs a complete strip down and rebuild which I don't have the time for right if I want to get the car mobile again this year. As I said in the original post the plan is to ultimatlely get the original engine put back in but that will have to wait until I have time and space to do it right. At this stage with it having been off the road for for fast approaching eight years I just want it out of the garage and usable.

[richard moss]

Thank you