Looking great

My Club Triumph friends will think I have lost the plot here!

Not only featuring my wife's Mini Mayfair but admitting I polished the chromework on it as well as washing the car (oh the shame of it).

Does look great though. Photos were taken for insurance purposes.

And so to bed

Bought a Haynes manual and an owners manual for the Rover but other than that the only thing I have done is covered it with a tarpaulin!

Under wraps

I have done a fair bit more to PMW tho.

First off was getting the car high enough to get the engine and gearbox out - thanks Bryce for manually lifting the car (!) while I raised the axle stands each side bit by bit. Then it was fine to pull out the engine and box, put them on an engine crane while leaving the subframe and front suspension on the pallet truck.

Once that was done I took the opportunity to inspect the engine bay and as you can see in the next 2 photos the car is as solid as I thought - not in bad nick at all.

Whilst by no means a polisher (how dare someone suggest such a thing) I did then sped time cleaning the engine bay with thinners before using curust on all the surface rust I found. Next week I'll get the Teal blue aerosols out and give these areas a coat or two to help preserve the car and then if someone in the future wants to do a proper job the car will still be in existence for them to do so!

The areas with curust applied can be seen in the above photo. Another thing that can be seen is a braided clutch hose I fitted. This was something I had bought a couple of years ago with some Rimmer Bros vouchers I had been given and it felt good to be fitting something back onto the car.

I also took the chance to get some waxoyl in places which would be difficult to reach with the engine in place.

Then finally the car was back under wraps until next weekend.

3 good hours put in and 2 cars put to bed under the covers!

Split screen

Split screen? No, I have not bought a VW Camper or early Morris Minor!

I am tempting fate and getting ready for returning to driving (application off to the DVLA today) which means looking at the car I am going to be using first.

I have been starting and moving UNJ about over the last year as well as other jobs listed on here so it's pretty much OK for MOT on March 20th although I must get round to booking that.

What has happened whilst it's been in hibernation though is the rear screen in the hood has split away from the hood fabric. In fact, it's got worse which seems odd for a non moving car. My suspicion is next doors cat that likes sleeping on the hood and may well be getting off the hood by going down over the sloping rear screen. Not sure if it' weight would be enough but it can't be helping.

Anyway, in the attached photo the problem is obvious. The granules that are visible are supposed to keep cats away!

Even duct tape won't hold it together!

Now I am pondering what to do about it. I assume a trimmer will be able to repair it but where to start and what's the cost likely to be?

One thing for sure though is that the car can't be used in the rain with it like this.

The big drop

Got a solid 4 hours work in on PMW today.

Rather than list all the detail, here's pictures that tell it all really. It has been a case of following the manual although it's great to have the use of equipment I wouldn't have at home - thanks Bryce!

The method used is to drop the entire engine and gearbox on the suspension from the car. Here is the

 start of the process.

Here it's all lowered onto a pallet truck.

That's what an empty engine bay looks like.

Those moments

Those moments like

1. Why am I doing this and
2. You know that's not bad at all!

The first one came to me when I was lying on a cold concrete floor with my hair in the dust whilst fighting propshaft nuts and bolts on the 2000. Not one of the greatest times in my life but satisfying when it's finally done.

Then removal of the speedo cable, wiring to the reverse switch and overdrive. Just about to get the front wheels off when it was time to call it a day.

Here is PMW ready for the engine and gearbox to be dropped out next week if all goes well. At that point it will be possible to start swapping the rebuilt engine over before it all goes back in.

Off side boot floor - solid by the looks of it

Then there's moment 2 - "You know that's not bad at all!

For the first time since collection I had a look at my Rover and, yes, it's not bad at all. I reckon if I had hundreds of hours and thousands of £ it would be a very good car indeed. As I don't have either it will still be another good solid addition to the fleet.

Here's a few photos with captions

Nearside boot floor - not bad at all

Interior in the front - wood and leather - nice!

 

The view from the captain's chair of the Starship Enterprise!

Not the Christmas Meal 2013

Last weekend was the NTXM 2013 and I have just about recovered.


Another really great night that carried over into the early hours!

40+ there and it gets better each year. This year's theme was the "Wild West" as you can see in the photos

Steve Thompson receives his award as P&P champion attender

My Movember tash worked well for my Mexican bandit outfit!

Bryce Greenwood receiving award as P&P's Competitor of the year

Dodgy gang

Just a little bit silly?

I have gone and bought another car. This really must be the last one!

It's just that a few months ago I came across a motor show car with only 17 miles on the clock for sale on ebay and had to bid on it. Glad I didn't "win" because I bid £4000 which is very rich for me and my car collecting habits.

The car? A Rover SD1. That got me into wanting one and I missed out on a sound (allegedly) rolling shell at £500 which is more my financial territory.

Well having a bit of time off work is a terrible thing and that left me surfing again and this time I have bought one and collected it today - a big thanks here to Bryce yet again for helping me out here.

It's a 3500 EFI Van Den Plas first registered in March 1987 which makes it one of the last built. Interestingly it was a 2600 originally but apparently when the cam seized the owner at the time paid for a professional conversion by Rovertec (now V8 developments) to the EFI 3.5 V8 engine.

Today it's solid, runs, nearly everything is there (!) and it looks very cosmetically challenged.

Having said all that I am well pleased as I have a 190 BHP car that could take 4 people all round Europe at high speed in comfort - potentially.

And the cost? Even less than £500.