New Rover Project -not P6

webmaster

webmaster

New Member
Ok so I've still got several years of work left on my P6 coupe project, but in the meantime needed something else to do.... Plus the wife has been nagging for a "little softtop sports car" (thinking MX5, as if !), so I've bought this lovely low mileage 214 Cabriolet...



Only paid £350 for it, when most are going for £1k+ , of course there's a catch, otherwise it wouldn't be a "project", no not head gasket failure (not yet anyway), but some minor bodywork...



I'm sure that will polish out..... NOT !

Anyway, what I've also found is that the seats are very nice, and they fold forward so I'm considering picking up a set for the P6 project.
 

Attachments

  • cabrio1.jpg
    cabrio1.jpg
    408 KB · Views: 1,070
  • cabrio2.jpg
    cabrio2.jpg
    393.7 KB · Views: 1,071
  • cabrioseats.jpg
    cabrioseats.jpg
    313.4 KB · Views: 1,067
Why not just wait for the head to go and then you can justify scrapping it and nicking the interior and hood....

Chris
 
Indeed, although it did come with £500 worth of receipts for head gasket work recently, so you never know it may manage a year or two. :LOL:
 
I give it 3 - 4 weeks.. lol

You could just buy head gasket's in bulk, only take you 20 mins to swap it over.. just keep a spare 'skimmed' head in the garage, sure you'll pickup a ported one for a tenner!

Nice little project, I think I'd get a new wing rather than try to panel beat that.. Ouch!

:)
 
They are great wee cars, I have a 216 coupe with the same interior.

The gearbox was getting a bit tired so I got a spare and had the 5th gear ratio swapped and the brought the rev down to just under 3000rpm at 70mph. Really made a difference to the car.

On the HGF there is always a reason for the failure. mine went last year but I had noticed something wasn't quite right and a few months later there was a coolant loss. I went back to the garage who are first class. the problem was that the temperature send was faulty and the fan wasn't kicking in and would eventually let some water escape through the overflow. They changed the senders and I didn't charge. I think that the reason for repeat failures is like this i.e not sorting the root cause. except for the head and the gearbox the car has only cost me oil and filters in the 5 years I have had it.

Good luck

Colin
 
What are your plans for the bodywork Richard ? Second hand door and knock out the 1/4 panel as best possible ?
You could probably cut out a section from a donor and weld it in using the side moulding to hide the join

Nice seats , I agree .Not quite as nice as a Rover 800 coupe though, I'm still considering one of them as my new toy
 
The rear panel is actually in 2 sections anyway, with a join behind the trim, you can get the top half new from Rimmers for about £80, but I haven't found the bottom yet, although it appears to be the entire side, sill, A post and screen pillar in one pressing, so not likely !

I've been working on it today and it's going really well, door only has a couple of minor dents that should push out, maybe even without needing paint if I'm lucky (which I never am).

Got the rear panel to this stage...



It's pretty much in shape just need a few more hours of panel beating to get it close enough for a skim of filler. I also need to cut out the rotten corner and make a repair section.

I agree on the K series issues, quite often the problems are related to thermostat failure, and sensor failure as you say, this car has a manual fan switch fitted on the dash, so I guess it's had a problem in the past, need to sort that out as there's very little chance of the wife knowing when to switch it on. I'll take a look at the coolant temp sender as that may be the reason for the bypass, may also explain rather rich running.

Gearbox is noisey, sounds like input shaft bearing as the noise goes when you push the clutch in.
 

Attachments

  • cabrio3.jpg
    cabrio3.jpg
    415.7 KB · Views: 1,006
Also the temperature gauge is somewhat useless on these. It will start to climb up to the red zone when it is all over and the engine has overheated for good!
It would be a good precaution to fit an auxiliary calibrated electric or capilary temperature gauge to actually know what is going on...
 
Thanks good idea, also considering fitting a second fan (looks to be room on the rad) and having a standard bi-metal switch in the rad to run it, so if the ecu-controlled fan doesn't start, this one will cut in. I noticed that they feed the temp guage from a seperate sender to the ecu, I've never quite figured out why they do it this way, 800's are the same, but early 800's use the same sender for ecu and guage, which means you see on the guage what the ecu is seeing, whereas with the twin senders you have no idea what the ecu is seeing.
 
My mate bought an 800 coupe a few years ago the one with the Honda 2.7 & it was a cracker. I never really rated the normal 800 as a car but the coupe seemed to be a lot better built, infact were they not hand built?? but those seats were to die for

Regards Colin
 
Managed to get a bit of work done today, cut out the rusty section of the wing and a small section of the inner arch, just had time to make up and weld in the inner arch repair. The silver paint is zinc weld-through primer, not just a really bad colour match :LOL:

216wing1.jpg

216wing2.jpg

216wing3.jpg

216wing4.jpg
 
Ok, after several enjoyable hours being dragged around the shops this morning, I finally got back on the car at about 4pm !
Anyway I managed to form a repair section for the wing and just about weld it in, just a small section of the lip to weld in and the lip needs welding to the inner arch, but I ran out of time (and energy).
216wing5.jpg


216wing6.jpg


216wing7.jpg


And a super action shot, note the extensive use of safety equipment, well I am wearing gloves.... :LOL:
actionshot.jpg
 
You look happy as a pig in £$$%.

I have had to do this area in my 216 Coupe which is a right paint, where as the convertible shares the profile of the saloon 400 the coupe has a nice multi curved effort. It is pretty hard to weld without blowing through. Looks like you've done a grand job.

I would have a look at the rear panel from the inside whilst your at it. just at the end of the rear arch where the panel is welded to the inner wing rusts from the inside. it is easy to see if you pull back the boot trim.

Colin
 
Thanks for the tip Colin, I've got the boot trim out already to work on a couple of dents over the arch, so I'll have a good poke in that corner while I'm there.
I'll be spraying plenty of waxoil in these panels once it's all sorted.
 
Oh, forgot to mention, I've bought a set of seats on ebay today, should be having them picked up tomorrow. The fronts will be no problem but the rears will need a little work to fit the P6, the rear back is split (folds in the 216) and it's right in the middle which means I can seperate the halves and have an arm rest. The problem comes with the base which is a single piece affair, this will require some carfull tweaking to widen sufficiently for the P6. Will also need to source some leather in a similar colour for the modifications.
 
Here we go, had the seats picked up today, now stored in the warehouse at work, here's the view from my office window..... :LOL:

216seats.jpg
 
Look away if you are of a delicate disposition, or you have a 200 with "a little rust spot"

Moved round to the passenger side to sort out a small rust hole, was just a scab to start with, then I chipped the scab off and cleaned it up with a wire wheel and ended up with a 20p sized hole.

216wing8.jpg


Not too bad, rust seems very localised, then I poked round the back inside the arch and....

216wing9.jpg


Which then became....

216wing10.jpg


Ouch !!!

Cue lots of cutting, metal forming, welding, grinding etc....

The original small hole only required a 2 inch square plate welding in, managed to rescue the arch lip, and you can barely see the join, very thin skim of filler required before paint.

216wing11.jpg

216wing12.jpg


Then the inside.... Cut out the rot, made repair panels, welded in... sounds easy if you say it fast !

216wing13.jpg

216wing14.jpg


216wing15.jpg


Luckily I managed to weld the top repair section in without damaging the paint on the front panel, so I just need to fill and spray the section below the trim. Also need to grind the welds down a bit in the arch, then seam sealer, stonechip and paint.

The fun never ends.

On the plus side, off to play with my mates twin engine 25 bubble project today :LOL:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top