Jinx's Record of Improvement

adamhotrod

New Member
I thought it'd be nice to keep a record of what's happening to Jinx, and this is the best place to do it as I can pick all your brains for suggestions too! I suppose it's best to start with a picture from Rugely, pretty much as I bought it. Wonky fog lamps an all.
 

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The first thing to do was a bit of a front end re-vamp. The spot lamps were wonky with one bracket longer than the other, they didn't work and I don't like them... so they were ditched. It needed some over riders on the front bumper and the number plate was screwed to the grill, so that also needed to be mounted onto a proper bracket. The old massive tax disc holder had to go too, barely worth mentioning but it was pretty hideous.
 

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Todays little mission involved some Vitesse wheels, more of a trial fit actually but it threw up some of the things I'll need to do to make them fit. I bought a set of wheels in reasonable condition with 205/60/15 tyres. A few people have used 205/65/15 as it's closer to the original rolling radius, but they were already fitted and when I put them next to one of my S wheels they were within a gnat's willy of the correct OD. That's where the good news ended unfortunately, despite my fleeting belief that the 7/16th nuts turning up this morning from Wins, and the weather being dry today were a good omen. Even though the tyres are a lower profile than some (Sparky is on 65 profile for one that I can recall), they still clout the D-Post on the drivers side, and quite badly at that. Certainly more than the suggested 3mm skim will fix, I reckon it's down to a fairly poorly placed D-Post when it was repaired.



That was problem number one, number two was the front grease caps, a problem which I expected from previous threads. I'll either source SD1 caps or trim the P6 ones as Quattro did on Sparky. Either way, 'No Biggy'.

Problem number three was the 7/16" SD1 fitment nuts from Wins, they are black which is a shame for me, but not Corazon!, they are quite dear (The thick end of £75 delivered! :shock: ) but the biggest problem is they seemed to be grounding out on the threads on some before they were biting the wheel (or certain wheels, as they seem to vary in width!). I'm not sure if a) I should tap threads deeper in the nuts or b) I need to grind a couple of mm off the studs on the car. Either way I didn't feel confident that they were holding the wheels in place completely. They definitely wouldn't with skimmed wheels!

To help spur me on, and to convince myself I wanted to continue with the trouble of doing anything more, I put them on to see what they looked like.








I'm pretty sure it's going to be worth the trouble, but I don't know what to do about the rear clearance problem. Skimming just won't be enough because of the location of the D-Post and also Jinx sits pretty low at the back compared to some. There is a part of me that's considering "creating some clearance" with an angle grinder, not ideal but it'll get me going, when I've repainted the wheels, and the nuts, and tapped them deeper, and trimmed the grease caps... I swear this car is fighting to keep it's S steels, this is the third set of wheels I've tried to get on the bugger. Until I can get some of this done it's back on the steels for now.

My next thought is one that always bugged me a bit about Jinx, and becomes even more evident now. I like the way the back sits, but the front is too high by about 30mm I reckon, that will also need to be resolved... somehow.
 

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Jinx certainly does look good in those boots.

Pity the fitment is causing a few problems but I am sure you will work it out

Richard
 
corazon said:
Jinx is going to look great Adam, what are your other plans?
Jim

Thanks Jim and Richard,

I have an A4 sheet filled with things to do actually, whether or not they ever get done is something else! My biggest problem at the moment as you my gather from the pictures is I don't have a garage, not only that but my parking space is 100m across a car park and two flights of stairs away from my second floor flat, and my tools. Where there's a will there's a way! My hit list of things to do includes, but is not restricted to: :)

The Vitesse Wheels
ETs
Smaller (15"?) wood moto-lita type steering wheel.
Power Steering (Maybe, I've heard Vitesse wheels lighten the steering a bit so we'll see).
Getting the heater to work :LOL:
Lowering the front a touch to even out the stance,
Stainless Exhaust
A decent stereo and speakers (subtle but quality, no boom box!). Jinx's 80s cassette player is Kaput so it's been V8 soundtrack only so far... no hardship really.
Black Carpet
Some extra soundproofing, although it's a bit of losing battle with the Webasto (worth it though)
A suspension overhaul with uprated shocks/poly bushing.

In a couple of years when I get a garage, all being well, I'd like to strip it down to the base and correct some of the less-pretty welding and get it properly protected for the long term, catch it as early as possible if you see what I mean. While I'm there probably a fresh coat of paint too!

Soooo, not much really... :roll:
 
That looks like a lovely car and you're making progress already! I'm thinking of fitting the overriders that came in the boot of my car to my one, until I can get a reasonable pair of square 8 fog/spot lights with covers, for mine. I have a similar list of bits and pieces to do on my car. Well done with the work so far and I look forward to seeing how this progresses.
 
Looks a nice car.
It's all personal taste of course but with the black seats I think black carpet is too much. And this is from the Bruisers stable where the black theme is very much in evidence. The only relief is the headlining & carpet, though there are the black rubberised overmats fitted of course. 8)
 
Jinx looks great :)

I've fitted an uprated stereo in mine as the '80s tape one fitted never really worked properly. I went for a basic sony CD player from Halford's, along with some new speakers. I mounted the speakers in the original locations, and as there's only two, I used just the front outputs from the head unit and have sideways stereo. The speakers I bought are 3 ways and protrude further from the mounting face than the originals. I mounted them from behind the mounting face, so I was able to conceal them behind the original grills so they're not apparent. It was a bit of a faff, and meant taking quite a bit of the dash out, but it's not too hard. At the moment the head unit is just mounted conventionally in the dash. I have the original Rover blanking plate for when there's no stereo fitted. I plan to sink the head unit further into the dash and engineer a flip up lid using the blanking plate so from the outside everything looks period.

Tom
 
The Rovering Member said:
Looks a nice car.
It's all personal taste of course but with the black seats I think black carpet is too much. And this is from the Bruisers stable where the black theme is very much in evidence. The only relief is the headlining & carpet, though there are the black rubberised overmats fitted of course. 8)

I get you and I'm still not entirely sure either, but something other than the gold. I've considered maroon or grey to get it a bit lighter, but I don't think either would look right.



Hmmm... You can see the dodgy cassette player here, and the larger non-power steering wheel too.

I was looking around Halfords the other day actually Tom, I had my eye on an Alpine unit with green illumination... to match the dash. Standard door speakers and two pods on the back shelf. It'll have to wait until funds allow though!
 

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Tom W said:
I plan to sink the head unit further into the dash and engineer a flip up lid using the blanking plate so from the outside everything looks period.

Tom

I also like this idea... STOLEN! :LOL:
 
I had black seats and black carpets in my old Monza P6 so I already know what it looks like, and I do think that it is a nice look.

Sparky however, already has a mid grey carpet ready to fit, but with a black edging to it. I am hoping that it will really fit the bill, although it is not exactly period.

Time will tell :)

Richard
 
quattro said:
I had black seats and black carpets in my old Monza P6 so I already know what it looks like, and I do think that it is a nice look.

Sparky however, already has a mid grey carpet ready to fit, but with a black edging to it. I am hoping that it will really fit the bill, although it is not exactly period.

Time will tell :)

Richard

I'm curious to see what that looks like actually, but hang on... I heard a rumour Sparky was going Monza, and already has Vitesse wheels anyway. Nah I couldn't go the same as you on the carpets too. :wink:
 
What condition is your driverside floor carpet? If you come to get rid that is? :wink:

Only an A4 list huh?
That'll soon become the abridged version :LOL:
 
adamhotrod said:
Tom W said:
I plan to sink the head unit further into the dash and engineer a flip up lid using the blanking plate so from the outside everything looks period.

Tom

I also like this idea... STOLEN! :LOL:

When I get round to doing this, I'll post photos on here. Not quite figured out how I'm going to do the flip bit yet though. I'll probably start at a scrap yard looking for a mechanism I can base it on. Soft open ashtray type of thing, or maybe the stereo flip front from an Audi can be made to fit.

Tom
 
Hi Adam

Sorry to hear the Vitesse wheels are not co-operating.

Easy one first. For the nuts I'd start by running a tap down them, on the principle that more thread engagement is better than less where wheel nuts are concerned. If that doesn't fix it, only then get the grinder to the studs.

Even with 3mm skimmed wheels, Lucky still had problems with the drivers side D post. I put a hydraulic bottle jack between the inner mud guard and the D post and pumped until I ran out of bottle ( :) - courage, that is). This moves the bottom fixing for the wing out a tad, and the bottom of the wing with it. But that was easily fixed by a gentle lean on the wing, as no doubt, Rover themselves did on the line! Then of course you could try getting the backs of the wheels skimmed. Do all four - you don't want to get left with a wheel that only goes in one location! Shouldn't be that pricey - take them to a local wheel refurbisher as they have lathes already set up to take wheels. And while your at it get them to reseal the inside of the wheel and the tyre bead so that you don't subsequently get problems with the tyres slowly going down. Beyond this there are a couple more avenues to try. You could try moving the diff across a bit by releasing the lock nuts on the panhard rod and lengthening the rod slightly. Don't overdo it as there is the potential to put a permanent strain on the diff mounting bushes, which can't be a good thing. Next up is to remove the inner skin of the D post. The area that matters is double skinned for no obvious reason (introduce a water trap so we can all get practice at renewing the D post?). Simply angle grind off the inner skin in the affected area, smooth out the outer skin and reweld the inner skin back to the outer rather higher up.

Hope that helps.

Chris
 
chrisyork said:
Hi Adam

Sorry to hear the Vitesse wheels are not co-operating.

Easy one first. For the nuts I'd start by running a tap down them, on the principle that more thread engagement is better than less where wheel nuts are concerned. If that doesn't fix it, only then get the grinder to the studs.

Even with 3mm skimmed wheels, Lucky still had problems with the drivers side D post. I put a hydraulic bottle jack between the inner mud guard and the D post and pumped until I ran out of bottle ( :) - courage, that is). This moves the bottom fixing for the wing out a tad, and the bottom of the wing with it. But that was easily fixed by a gentle lean on the wing, as no doubt, Rover themselves did on the line! Then of course you could try getting the backs of the wheels skimmed. Do all four - you don't want to get left with a wheel that only goes in one location! Shouldn't be that pricey - take them to a local wheel refurbisher as they have lathes already set up to take wheels. And while your at it get them to reseal the inside of the wheel and the tyre bead so that you don't subsequently get problems with the tyres slowly going down. Beyond this there are a couple more avenues to try. You could try moving the diff across a bit by releasing the lock nuts on the panhard rod and lengthening the rod slightly. Don't overdo it as there is the potential to put a permanent strain on the diff mounting bushes, which can't be a good thing. Next up is to remove the inner skin of the D post. The area that matters is double skinned for no obvious reason (introduce a water trap so we can all get practice at renewing the D post?). Simply angle grind off the inner skin in the affected area, smooth out the outer skin and reweld the inner skin back to the outer rather higher up.

Hope that helps.

Chris

Thanks Chris,

This almost spooky actually because I was just on the phone with testrider and he suggested shifting the panhard rod over a little too. In hindsight the thing that bugged me is the passenger side had a lot more clearance than the drivers side so, that would lead me to believe I have an alignment problem (and/or the D-post is out of course). I was coming to the same opinion as you on the nuts, and there does seem to be plenty of untapped hole at the bottom there. My next port of call after that will be the bottle jack trick and we'll see where we go from there! All four wheels seemed to be a bit different so getting the faces machined, even just to get them the same, can only be a good thing.

It really is so valuable having you guys about who've done this before!
 
An update, I finish early on a Friday and there is nothing better to do on dry Friday than tinker with your pride and joy.

My mind has been whirring since last week when I was struggling to get the Vitesse wheels on, but I took Chris York's advice and pinched the scissor jack out of the Merc A Class hire car I'm abusing, sorry "driving". I got the back end airborne again with my trolley jack and whipped the wheel off, I adjusted the panhard rod a touch but there wasn't much to play with on the axle so I didn't want to push it too hard. Next I put the scissor jack in the wheel arch and started winding it out cautiously against the D-Post. It's less daunting than it sounds to be honest and goes quite progressively, you have to go further than you want to allow for a bit of spring-back but the D-Post has now moved and squashed back about 1/2" to 3/4", which let the wheel sit in there nicely! There was no issue on the passenger side and the fronts fit with yards to spare.

This was temporary fit number two to be honest so I just removed the grease caps for now to get the front wheels on, this is just a clearance check. I narrowed down the offending wheel nuts that weren't locking down on the wheel to four nuts that aren't tapped as deeply as the others. For the purposes of this test I put one on each wheel and will relied on the remaining four nuts to hold each wheel on enough for a spin around the block. On the test drive it seemed pretty good, I can't hear any rubbing at the back and it seemed to behave quite well after I corrected the tyre pressures to 32 at the front and 30 at the back as a guess for now (They were 40,33,27,12 - Lottery numbers anyone?). It felt a bit vague on the steering but I'll put some of that down to having 4 different makes of tyre and 3 of them being directional in the same way on the rim (so I had to put one going the wrong way somewhere on the car, for now). I'm happy enough to commit to getting them painted up and some decent tyres on them, I'm not going to bother with the skimming anymore as both wheel refurb places I asked didn't do it (Must just be the ones near you Chris!), and they clear now anyway. As a precaution I'll squeeze the D-Post another few mm to be sure when I take the wheels off for paint.

Watch this space to see if Jinx can get suited and booted in time for the NEC...
 
adamhotrod said:
Next I put the scissor jack in the wheel arch and started winding it out cautiously against the D-Post.

:shock:

You're braver than me.

Sounds like you're getting there though - where's the pics?

Richard :)
 
quattro said:
:shock:

You're braver than me.

Sounds like you're getting there though - where's the pics?

Richard :)

Nah... Don't confuse bravery with stupidity :LOL:

I have it in mind to get it in down to the base unit in a couple of years anyway so I wasn't too concerned about a few paint cracks if they happened. I was going to put a picture up, but to be honest it's just the same as the trial picture anyway so not a lot of point. I'm getting the wheels coated this week and hopefully fitting some decent tyres so I'll update you all when they're properly shiney again... hmmm shiney.
 
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