Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

The figures suggest that your MoT tester is either mistaken or dishonest!

A 1990-registered car does not need to pass the 'catalyst' emissions test even if a catalyst is fitted. And you would be free to remove it if you wanted to. The figures you have quoted would not quite pass a 'catalyst' test but are well within the permitted limits for a 1990 car. If your tester is not aware of this, try a polite reminder. If that does not work, I would suggest taking the car elsewhere (but have the rusty sill repaired first, because that will fail wherever you have the car tested )

I mention 'dishonest' because if your car does have a catalyst fitted (which does surprise me for a 1990 Rover, I thought they were not available until 1991) that catalyst will have a very high scrap value. So if you have it removed, I would suggest you insist on keeping it!

I should point out that I am not a qualified MoT tester but I do have a good working knowledge of MoT tests and most of the information is freely available from 'gov.uk': it just needs a bit of patience to find it

That's interesting. I would like to think that would pass the catalyst test for environmental reasons, but it's certainly worth investigating. As always, thank you.

I think I will probably bring forward the bodywork repairs and partial respray first. It may take a while though, as we're off to Scotland today for two and a half weeks.

Coincidentally my rover was sold from the same dealer originally

I had a word with the garage yesterday about the MOT failure. The emissions only just failed as has been suggested, but he assured me that they would be able to get it through. The main problem was the corrosion around the jacking point.

One thing he did say (and hopefully my memory hasn't let me down!) was if there's a certain a number (or was it a letter ?) in a small square on the VIN plate, they have to work to that! Hope that makes sense to someone!

Finally, I've just read in a back number of 'The Viking', that Denso Iridium IK 20TT spark plug are a good choice for the Honda 1.6s. Does that apply to both the SOHC & DOHC versions?

A quick update. I took it down to have it MOT'd after getting the welding done. It passed it's emissions test using the correct benchmarks this time, but failed due to the rear brake pads apparently being less than 1.5 mm!

When I pointed out that it had only done 10 miles to and from the bodyshop, the response was you can't see them too well.

So I spoke to another chap I take the cars too (whose into older cars). He took it back to his workshop earlier and he reckons the rear brakes aren't binding, but did mention that they had missed a couple of holes in the front subframe!

Give me strength.

Well, a new set of rear pads will get it legal quickly and cheaply, so do that and get your retest at the first garage. Then you can get the front subframe sorted at a time and in a manner that suits you

Yep, that's the plan!

A quick update. The other chap replaced the pads for me and welded a patch over the hole as a temporary measure. He also MOT'd it free off charge for me!

I think he said it was the rear front subframe so, given the cost of a new one, I might be looking for a good second hand one I can refurbish!

Back on the road

Getting a refurbed subframe is definitely the way to go and then after it has been fitted, you could get your original one refurbed and keep it as a spare: there will be another R8 in need of it sooner or later!

Evening all. I’ve decided to get this resprayed, so I took it up to The Bodyshop in Pershore who did such a good job via the 45’s bonnet. Although I would prefer to keep it original, there are too many imperfections, including the damaged offside sill.

I will remove all the trim including the bumpers and door handles and supply a new sill and front wing.

I’ve decided against taking out the front and rear screens as I feel that it’s too risky.

Assuming that there are no nasty surprises with the sill, he’s quoted £4,080 including VAT.