sill covers colour

My S1 has non-original black sills. I'm 50:50 on whether to put them back, the car looks lower and leaner with them IMHO.

It's actually amazing how effective the S2 facelift is really considering it was only a plastic grille, side trim and the vinyl pillar. The later seats and instrument panel already existed for NADA.
 
PeterZRH said:
It's actually amazing how effective the S2 facelift is really considering it was only a plastic grille, side trim and the vinyl pillar.
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And repositioned rear reflectors, different door handles, wheeltrims, badges and bonnet.
 
Yeah but fairly bargain basement as facelifts go. Even the bonnet was really for show. I'm not sure it lends the V8 any more useful clearance.
 
PeterZRH said:
Yeah but fairly bargain basement as facelifts go.
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I'd agree, even though I still prefer the Series 2 to the Series 1.


PeterZRH said:
Even the bonnet was really for show. I'm not sure it lends the V8 any more useful clearance.
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The bonnet bulges were for the fuel injection that never came.
 
PeterZRH said:
It's actually amazing how effective the S2 facelift is really considering it was only a plastic grille, side trim and the vinyl pillar..
Click to expand...

The differences between the Series 1 and Series 2 is often stated to be "cosmetic".

I used to say this myself, even when I owned one of each.

Now I know better - some of the components are very different indeed, sometimes in surprising ways. The stalks off the steering wheel for instance - cosmetically they are the same but they are wired differently and are not interchangeable.
 
I am biased, since I have a series 1 ( and had one nearly 50 years ago ! ) but the classical unadorned simplicity of the s1 is in my view unbeatable. The s2 looks precisely what it is - a car of the 70s with all the exaggerated ornamentation which that decade brought to cars - think of e.g. the Alfa Romeo Montreal or at the other end of the scale the Morris 1300GT
 
Because they were mass market and therefore high turnover, Series 1 cars were comparatively rare by the mid/late 1970s when I was getting seriously interested in cars, especially Rovers.

The series 1 V8s were quite a spot come the early 80s and they usually looked smarter than your average 14 year old banger.

My enthusiasm for the P6 was eclipsed for a while by the SD1 but it was the series 2 P6 3500S that first stole my young heart and it was this car I chose to kick off my collection.

They are both wonderful in their own way and I am more than content that one of my vehicles, WXC426K has strong hints of both - it has been described, not unkindly, as Series 1.7 :)
 
When painted black, the sills, to be technically correct, should have a satin finish as this is how they left the factory.

Ron.
 
Actually the fuel injection explanation for the bonnet changes in the S2 seems a bit dubious to me given the prototype systems and indeed the later production systems on the Vitesse and Land Rovers need the most clearance in the centre valley for the plenum chamber and not above each cylinder bank. If I were to guess it was a marketing thing to emphasize the V8 bit. Remember the original S1 panelwork was conceived before the V8 was even an option.

We are talking the era which gave us the Ford Capri with fake air intakes and the Viva GT with the fake plastic second exhaust pipe, so relatively speaking this wasn't so OTT.
 
The bonnet was standardised across all cars for S2 - simply a cost cutting thing, same as the base units were standardised in that the battery went in the boot of all, including the 4 cylinders.

The twin bulges are just a design thing as far as I'm aware, not sure there was any link to the projected injection cars.
 
Can't see them relating to the EI, it's a very compact manifold and has way more clearance than the SUs. In fact the air cleaner requires a fairly decent snorkel to reach the scoop in the centre.
 
I have heard of the bonnet bulges being referred to as " Power Bulges" so I assume
that its a direct reference to the V8, but as stated included as cost cutting across the range.
 
Has anyone tried rustbuster 123 on the cover sills? It seems quite matt, and the paint is far from brittle, making it ideal to withstand debris etc.
I am soon about to paint my sills for a monza red car, i have tried to spray paint it and it is possible, although the paint is thick and I don't know how much I can thin it. I used it on my restored heater box and it was not easy to achieve a smooth finish. Maybe it can be thinned more than recommended on the box?
Regards, Barten
 
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