My new toy

L

Loth

New Member
Today my new toy arrived. Shes a bit rough but mostly functional. Her name is Angie because the person who sold it to me said it looked like the "Ford Angelina" to her daughter.

Rover003.jpg


She is a 1970 3500s around 95k on the clock and according to the logs I am the third owner from new. She does have all the bells and whistles, more or less. Rear demist, air-con leather seats, power windows, etc. According to the owner's manual she was first purchased on 19th August, 1970. Her Chassis # is 43301888/A, Engine number 43001671/A. I have no clue what that means but you guys probably will.

Her interior is in pretty good shape, tan leather seats with no rips or tears. The headlight switch is in pieces (though I do have them all so can probably super-glue them back together at some stage).

Rover020.jpg


The dash is a little dodgy and it looks like the instrument panel is a bit out of position, plus there are two wierd wires sticking out from the side
Rover021.jpg


She actually does appear to be pretty much rust free (though of course I wont really know until I get her open) but does have an old bodge-job on the rear driver's panel. She may not remain so for long of course, as in some places her paint is literally all gone, leaving exposed bare metal, as you can see in the first pic.

Mechanically.....well she is rough. She is runnning but its very clunky and way out of tune (super rich). I havent given her a run yet as I have to get the whole registration thing done for California (and I dont want to get her impounded). She does have an electric fuel pump and ignition I think, though I havent really spent much time under the bonnet yet (it was getting dark).

Im way excited and more than a little intimidated.

Derek
 
Nice score Derek, I was watching that on Ebay. Apart from the dodgy paint on the bonnet, it looked like quite a genuine and honest car. All NADA V8s had the electric fuel pump but the electronic ign would have been installed later. Finding a replacement headlight switch shouldn't be too hard as it is the same as all series 2 cars. (Not common in the States but I'm sure lots of people on here could help you out with one, myself included)
Your seats aren't leather, they are Ambla (vinyl). This was standard on the NADA V8s too.
Chassis number marks it as a fairly late example. #1888 of 2043 built. Engine number prefix is correct for the car so it is probably original and it is a 10.5:1 compression lump. If it's running rich, the culprit is probably the AED auto choke unit. These were unreliable when new and most people convert to a manual choke setup.
Very nice car. Love the colour and period radio. :D I'm slightly jealous. :mrgreen:
 
hi,
options for the NADA were air-con, leather, magstars, rostyles etc ( they came standard with the 'S' wheel trims ) all the other things on your car were standard. the fuel pump ( electric ) is mounted at the rear of your car, one reason is a mechanical fuel pump is impossible to fit with the bracket for the air-con. there is a little pull / push switch at the back between the tank and pump for changing the fuel filter in the pump without having to drain the system. if you read some of these threads you will see i love the NADA's and have fetched a few back from california. all the best with it and keep us all informed on progress.

joseph
 
Derek...looks wonderful. And I love the combination wrench light switch thing! :)

Don't be intimidated...P6's are addictive and may be strange, but they do respond well to TLC.

Good Luck...and keep the forum posted!

Cheers,
 
Hi Derek

Welcome to the forum. That looks a really lovely car! The green plastic knob (three segment to differentiate it from the other knobs - Rover were way ahead on ergonomics) for the headlight switch is available NOS (New Old Stock) over here and won't cost a lot to post. Seller Rolydoublesix on EbayUK (who also posts on this forum) should be able to sort you out if you email him from within Ebay.

All the bodywork is pretty obvious, so nothing too arduous to get on and sort it out. Note the advice to another new USA owner, Christian here:

http://www.classicroverforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=7618

In particular, if you take your doors off, make sure you keep all the shims that come out noted as to the position they came from!

When you get to the mechanicals there's lots more help available here, and all the parts are readily available this side of the pond.

Chris
 
Hi Derek.
In North America you need to look into the Rover car club of Canada
http://www.roverclub.ca
Membership includes owners from Canada, U.S.A. and worldwide.
They have also an excellent forum for members.
Parts from the club and other suppliers are listed on their website:
http://www.roverclub.ca/parts.htm
On this page, there is an ad for "All British Cars". This is an excellent source of parts and knowledgeable advice.
You may be able to find your switch from one of these sources.
Between the Club and Ruth at All British, I have found all the parts I need to complete my 1970 2000 TC.
The advice gathered between this and the Canadian forum has been extremely helpful in getting my car back on the road. I just have to do a small bit of wiring and replace my dedion gaiter before I can throw a plate back on. I should be able to go for a road test before end of July!
Congrats on such a nice car and good luck in your restoration. Keep posting occasionally to show your progress.
Roy
 
Thanks for the advice and the interest all.

I certainly intent to check into the Rover car club of Canada when the time comes.

So far I have learned that Angie really is almost as sound as she seemed at first glance. There seems to be no rust hidden anywhere that a good wire brushing and a nice layer of POR-15 or the like wouldnt fix. The worst of it seems to be located in the boot (trunk) as below. The bare metal is a source of concern (though thankfully its just starting summer here so I have some time to sort it) but nothing that a spray of primer wont fix for the moment.


Rover002-1.jpg


Air-conditioning blows warm air only, and the rear demister is literally falling off the window, the radio is dead and other sundry other little things, which are only to be expected from a 40 year old car. The most problematic issue is that somehow the delivery driver managed to get my brakes stuck on when he parked it in the driveway. Next time I'll make sure that I am home to do it myself.

Fluids look OK, oil doesnt have that whole "mashed potato and gravy" thing that it gets when there's water in the sump, the coolant is a nice clear green. Brakefluid looks a little browned, which is a concern.

She is idling too low but that can be fixed fairly easily I think.

One thing that has been frustrating to me is that (one of) the previous owners decided that the best way to solve a bright red warning light was simply to carefully cut a small piece of black electrical tape and hide the light so you couldnt see it anymore. One that is stuck on is the brake light, which again makes sense, the other is the oil pressure light, which is a little concerning.

Anyway so far so good.

Derek/Loth
 
The brake warning light is probably just down to the handbrake switch being out of adjustment if your fluid reservior is full. Easily accessed under the transmission tunnel trim though removing the trim can be a little awkward. Or it could be the cork float in the reservior swelled & stuck in it's tube. Nothing a new cork out of a nice bottle of red won't cure. :wink:
 
The Rovering Member said:
Nothing a new cork out of a nice bottle of red won't cure. :wink:
Click to expand...

Yeah, but, no but...

What are you going to do with the red after you used the cork for your brake fluid bottle?
 
What are you going to do with the red after you used the cork for your brake fluid bottle?
Click to expand...

How about.......

Sit it on the floor next to your chair in the garage (after pouring a nice glass of it) and then quietly admire your purchase while mentally patting yourself on theback for being so fortunate to own that beauty.
 
My plan would be to drink it before I needed to do the job. To date I have about 200 corks waiting to be utilised as brake fluid floats.
I need some more cars. :mrgreen:
 
KiwiRover said:
Nice score Derek, I was watching that on Ebay. Apart from the dodgy paint on the bonnet, it looked like quite a genuine and honest car. All NADA V8s had the electric fuel pump but the electronic ign would have been installed later. Finding a replacement Headlight Switch shouldn't be too hard as it is the same as all series 2 cars. (Not common in the States but I'm sure lots of people on here could help you out with one, myself included)
Your seats aren't leather, they are Ambla (vinyl). This was standard on the NADA V8s too.
Chassis number marks it as a fairly late example. #1888 of 2043 built. Engine number prefix is correct for the car so it is probably original and it is a 10.5:1 compression lump. If it's running rich, the culprit is probably the AED auto choke unit. These were unreliable when new and most people convert to a manual choke setup.
Very nice car. Love the colour and period radio. :D I'm slightly jealous. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

I do agree that the headlight switch should be easy to find since lots of great car sites offer it in affordable prices. I love the car, it just looks amazing and tight. :)
 
Thanks for the comments all. Angie is making progress for sure. The front brakes were seized so they have been removed and rebuilt. New hoses, new pads, rebuilt servo and master cylinder. Now that the brakes are at least mostly functional (still quite heavy) I was able to get her to the Department of Motor Vehicles to complete the registration. The brake light is still on though, despite the work and the new bits, so I might have to try the wine bottle cork thing and it sa good excuse anyway :)

She drove there fairly nicely but does have a tendency to stall at stop lights once the car is up to running temperature. Im guessing thats a symptom of the "chimp with a spanner" syndrome and whoever serviced it last set the idle with the auto choke still on and a fairly easy fix. The gear box is a little dodgy and kicks out of gear under moderate-hard accelaration (it was the first time I've really driven her, what can I say :oops: ). The speedo wobbles around like crazy above 40 mph, with speeds varying by about 20 MPH. Kinda think I might want to fix that :).

We have a new rear driver's side light cluster installed and working, which was a feat for me as electrics give me hives and the light switch has now been replaced, so no more spanner on the dash.

Still got a bit to do on the brakes and to figure the issue with the speedo, then this whole idle issue and then the gearbox and finally paintwork, maybe not in that order, depending on how things shake down.

Not really much to see though so no pics with this update.
 
lakwandaphillips said:
KiwiRover said:
Nice score Derek, I was watching that on Ebay. Apart from the dodgy paint on the bonnet, it looked like quite a genuine and honest car. All NADA V8s had the electric fuel pump but the electronic ign would have been installed later. Finding a replacement Headlight Switch shouldn't be too hard as it is the same as all series 2 cars. (Not common in the States but I'm sure lots of people on here could help you out with one, myself included)
Your seats aren't leather, they are Ambla (vinyl). This was standard on the NADA V8s too.
Chassis number marks it as a fairly late example. #1888 of 2043 built. Engine number prefix is correct for the car so it is probably original and it is a 10.5:1 compression lump. If it's running rich, the culprit is probably the AED auto choke unit. These were unreliable when new and most people convert to a manual choke setup.
Very nice car. Love the colour and period radio. :D I'm slightly jealous. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

I do agree that the headlight switch should be easy to find since lots of great car sites offer it in affordable prices. I love the car, it just looks amazing and tight. :)
Click to expand...
Actually I quite like the spanner operated lights... :oops: :LOL:
 
Things have been really slow and more than a little frustrating.

Angie is at the shop waiting to have her rear calipers rebuilt. The local "specialists" around here took a couple of weeks to discover that they couldnt order the seals. I then ordered them and delivered them, only for them to tell me they were the wrong ones after about another two weeks.

At this point I contacted Ruth at All British Cars in Canada (recommended by the Rover Car Club of Canada guys who are really helpful) who was willing and able to rebuild them. At that time magically, so I thought, the locals decided that they could do it after all and returned the rebuilt calipers and all was well.

Sortof....when attempting to refit the calipers it was discovered that there were parts missing, so back they went.

Three weeks later Im still waiting for them to come back again. I've been waiting to update until I got my calipers back but its taking too long.

My transmission is a little dodgy (slips in and out of gear a bit) Im hoping that might just be a fluid issue and not a precursor to something needing a complete rebuild. Hopefully it has some of that nasty Dextron stuff in there and a fluid change will fix the issue. Other than that and the brakes Im down to only a speedo that varies wildly over 40mph as a large necessary job before the car is properly roadworthy.

And then a paint job of course.....

WIll update further when I finally have brakes again :)

Derek
 
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