2000 progress?

Transferring attention to the 2000, bodywork is the next area for work. The rear bumper was simply taped over here as it looked better than rusty holes! Well I am not ready to spend money on bumpers and I rather like the bumperless look anyway so first task was to remove it.

It's held on at the rear of the car by 2 bolts and on the rear wings by 2 further bolts, all into captive nuts which wouldn't co-operate! In the picture I have peeled away what's left of the tissue thin bumper and you can see the "captive nut". Bryce and I simply cut the bolt head off though both sides and removed the bumper - there's a fair old weight in it.


Then to the front of the car which proved to be much easier and was off much quicker. Here you can see the wheel arch repair needed and the rusty "D" section at the front lower corner of the front wing where it meets the front panel. The nearside is much the same but because the car was hemmed in by sheet metal and other vehicles in it's storage we couldn't start the body repairs.

I do like the bumperless front end though which will look pretty good when it's repaired and painted.


So, moving on I have bought 2 Rover 220 Coupe Turbo seats which I have been reliably informed fit the 2000 without too much hassle. I wanted the extra safety that comes with head restraints and there's height adjustability as well as lumbar support - the colour can be changed later.

Here we are trying to work out how it's all going to come together, the seats defintely don't just bolt in! We decided to remove the Rover rails so we could bolt the Triumph rails on which obviously have the correct holes to be bolted to the car floor.


Here the Rover rails have been ground off and the molegrips are holding a seat bracket whilst we remove a large "rivet" that once held the bracket to the rails.



With all that done we could re-drill the rear brackets and bolt the Triumph rails to the seat and the jobs pretty much done.

No it isn't! When we tried to fit the seats we found the mounting distance across the seats is different to the distance across the car floor - 420mm v 380mm. Oh dear, I am slightly miffed, or words to that effect.

So, Rover 220 seats do not just bolt in - more work needed