prospective purchaser
 

Hi all, I want to purchase a rover 75 or zt, hopefully a tourer. having read posts on this fantastic forum I have hopefully learned a bit about these cars.
now a couple of questions I hope you can help me out with. it seems that the better engines are either the diesel or 2.5 v6, as the mileage I will do will be low, fuel consumption is not really an issue so which is the better unit with auto box.
next, wheel arch liners, how do I check behind these for rust do they come off easily, any other obvious places to check?. I dont want to buy a rusty one.
probably more questions when or If I find one.
Hope you can help, thanks.
Roy

There's nothing frightening about a well maintained 1.8, especially the turbo but if you're after a V6 then have a good look in the V for any signs of coolant leaks. These are mostly reasonably easily fixable but it can be a right pain the whatnot to trace as coolant leaking from a wide variety of sources can accumulate there. Have a good old play with the fan too as both the old 3-speed and the newer 2-speed versions can fail. Again reasonably easily fixed with the front off and armed with a "How-To" from the relevant page on here. Wheel arch liners come off easily: from memory it's just a couple of screws that hold it to the bumper and another one that attaches the brake cooler vent, pull the ABS sensor out of the way and the rest is just scrivets (be careful not to break any).

Anything else? Where to start? If there are any jacking pads missing it might be worth considering how long that has been the case and how much water might have got inside the sills. Boots tend to fill with water. This can normally be fixed by replacing the rear light gaskets or re-sealing the vents. Door actuators can become lazy. If it takes more than two clicks on the remote to open them all then a replacement may be due. Have a good old look in the plenum chamber in front of the windscreen. Any evidence of water in there can be bad news for your ECU (although once again a mod is available on here to prevent recurrence). The only other thing I can think of on mine was rust on the rear suspension arms and creaking front top suspension arm mounts. Both a little more difficult but once done you shouldn't need to worry again for a long time.

I'm sure I've missed a few other things but doubtless someone else will fill in the blanks.

Welcome to the fountain of knowledge regarding the 75 and ZT.

Have a look in the For Sale section for any cars that take your fancy. We have members that will go and have a look at a car on your behalf if it's too far away to view yourself.

Just ask if you need any help with anything, no matter how daft you might think the question is.

the fittings that hold the wheel arch line in place may need breaking off, I could not undo mine. The plastic "screw and nut" seem to stick together and trying to undo the screw just rounds off the head. I think they are called scrivet
You may be able force the liner away from wing but the owner may not be too happy.
Check all switches work, check where the rear springs locate at the bottom. This area is prone to rust but can be replaced. On a Tourer, when you lift the tail gate, check where the stays attach to the body of the car, this area can tear
For parts, dealers on this forum or Rimmer Brothers are a good source.

with a Diesel, it does not matter if you get a CDT or a CDTI. As standard, the CDTI is a bit nipper but a lot of members will suggest remapping either to 160bhp, guys here can do that for you.

I have 2 diesels and although low spec the wiring harness for most stuff was already fitted and so upgrading was "plug and play". If the harness is not there, then here you will get advice of how to make one or an offer of a harness.

good luck with your search and welcome to the forum

macafee2

Welcome along, if you haven't already, have a read https://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/for...ad.php?t=75282

Hi Roy - I was in your shoes 30 months ago. I found a wonderful very late model ZTT locally on Gumtree, read all the info on this forum and took the plunge.

Absolutely no regrets. I love my car albeit that I don't get to use it that often but nice to know that it's going up, not down in value.

A big part of the pleasure is this club and the camaraderie, support and enthusiasm you get for these cars. Hope you find a good one and fall in love.

Stan

Hi Roy,

i have a low mileage ZT-T 190 with a really high spec coming up for sale soon. PM me if you would like more details.

Cheers,

Andrew

thank you all for your help, all advice taken aboard,, will take a look in the for sale lists and will pm Bertie-molly also.

PM sent regarding car sale.

Got to be personal preference of course, but I’d strongly recommend the pretty bulletproof diesel engine. I’ve put something like 120,000 on mine in the 9 years I’ve owned it – plenty of problems, but not the actual engine!



D’you know, I’ve never known the difference – what do the letter stand for? I mean, “diesel turbo” I assume, but… mine’s a CDTI I think, 135bhp originally.


I'm pretty sure Vauxhall were the first to use "CD" back in the 80s, but then it meant "Corps Diplomatique", trying to suggest that it was possible for an upper-end Vauxhall to be classy, but that wasn't a lot to do with diesels :shrug: