I won’t keep you in suspense. The project Rover 75 now starts, runs, and moves quite easily under its own steam too. But that perhaps makes light of what has been quite an eventful first proper day of work on this car. With S525 being a pre-production model we were expecting to discover perhaps one or two anomalies, but we seem to be uncovering more and more as we progress – little things, like a gearbox oil sensor that goes nowhere, and earth wires that don’t look right at all. Couple this with some very truculent items like the rear seat squab and it’s safe to say while the project is moving along quite nicely the car at times is quite willing to put up a fight.
But we’re getting there. So let’s go over today’s fun and games.
The day was in fact preceded by a trip down to see Corin to pick up a healthy hoard of bits and pieces, including a prized replacement fuel pump and lots of new pieces of interior trim to fill in gaps and damaged items. So the session began with us approaching the car once more, towed from its corner and sitting in the warm sun of an otherwise cold afternoon, with the priority it get it started and begin checking it over.
With the replacement fuel pump submerged into the tank the slave battery was hooked up and the ignition turned on. We were greeted by the sound of the familiar whirring noises and, encouraged, the key turned. A steady hugging, followed by a hesitant cough, then a gathering acceleration as the cylinders began to chime and the engine awaken from the dead. Slowly but surely, the car spluttered into life, idling lumpily but responding to a dab on the throttle with an unsteady, drunken eagerness. But then, just as Lates began to gently drive it towards the workshop, it once again died. Cue the first bout of what would be regular sessions of head scratching as it became evident that while there was a good flow of fuel, a spark and nothing wrong with the air supply, the car simple wasn’t having any of this nonsense with actually running.
Checks, and more checks, were rapidly undertaken to get to the root of the problem. The wiring in the ECU was fine. The air filter wasn’t blocked. The earths around the engine bay were all in place. And the fuel was gurgling from the main line. But then it dawned on all of us that the petrol, with its cloudy and slight white colour to it didn’t really look too healthy. With the pipe directed into a container a sample was taken and our suspicions were confirmed. Contaminated fuel, or to be more accurate, contaminated water. Somewhat mysteriously, the car had a full tank when we collected it – but it wasn’t filled with unleaded. Little wonder the car had ground to a halt, and it points to it being affected by the leaking fuel tanks beneath Longbridge.
With the fuel pump temporarily wired to push the water out of the tank into a spare container, eventually the liquid cleared and began to smell an awful lot more familiar. Back the fuel line went, back in the slot went the key, and within a few seconds the engine burst into life. This time with no lumps, no lurching, no soggy pick up, just a clean and eager K-Series. In fact, a clean and very crisp sounding engine, with little smoke from the exhaust and no overt signs of wear either. We had been quietly warned of a rumour that the engine might have worn rings, but the rude health of the engine points to it being a pretty well-cared for unit. Shame about the rest of car, but there again this one has had to earn its keep.
It Lives! The 75 drives in for it's first serious bit of work
For the first time in many months, the car was now able to move under its own power – albeit with no IPK as it was swiftly removed after it went bong enough times to madden the patience of a nun, and Lates gently crawled it under cover for the first job of the day. Which got delayed during a coffee break and my usual habit of distracting everyone, resulting in all the exterior MG trim being removed. Well, it kept me happy, and made the car look a bit better. By this time the replacement bumper had also been put on, mainly to just help make the car look a bit better than for any useful purpose, and it was starting to look dangerously more roadworthy. Fair way to go before that’s a reality.
The front of the car was soon up in the air and the first strut being removed to sort out the broken springs. It was surprising just how quickly everything came apart, perhaps due to the fact that, while the car had done way in excess of 90,000 miles the vast majority of them were at quite low speed round mud free roads in a factory complex. No seized bolts or mud crusted assemblies, just a simple and fast job which soon had the car back proudly sporting a new pair of front springs. While we had the front in the air the brakes were bled to push through some fresh fluid and the discs wire brushed to remove the surface corrosion. Moving to the rear the missing damper bolt was replaced before the brakes were bled some more and the handbrake, discs and pads checked over. Overall the brakes and suspension are pretty much usable for now and so they can all stay as they are.
Moving inside the car it was time to do some clearing out and get the rear seats back in. Simple job eh? Nope. For some reason the inertia reel on the centre belt was sticking , so the seat couldn’t be turned round to fit back in correctly. Not a huge problem, just unbolt it and then do the job. Except now the seat squab simple refused to relocate back on the hooks. It was riding on its pivots at the base, meaning the wire bars weren’t even close to their clamps, and it took an awful lot of cursing before it eventually slipped home. Of course, this is just an example of how the pre-production cars were in many details not to quite the same standard as the one to run off the track, and such minor niggles would be spotted and dealt with before launch. A good reason why you will also find me extremely reluctant to go anywhere near the folding rear seat!
With the car now working, sat on fresh springs, secured with brakes that now stop the car, and an interior that is almost driveable, we can now get ready for part two of the refurb. A nice big service, including belts, replacement alternator, oils, coolant, fresh wheels and tyres, and a good scrub-down to prepare it for the bodywork.
See you on the 20th.