RE: Rover 214 SEI: Reader's Car of the Week

[Oh twaddy]

itcaptainslow said:

That’s a proper base model with black plastic rather than wood! Rover loved a bit of fake tree garnish, so any of their cars without it definitely sat pretty far down the model hierarchy.

Please get yourself on the 200 & 400 Owners Club (www.rover200.org.uk) - they do some great work on finding/reproducing parts, plus there’s goodies available like the original Rover workshop manuals available for download.

Your significant engine noise may be down to perished engine mounts - there seems to be a lot letting go at the moment. Worth checking. If you do find they need replacing and struggle to find the parts, drop me a message and I’ll have a look for the part numbers and see what I can find.

My 214 is still around, but shamefully hasn’t even been out this year so far. Hoping to take it to the Rover event at the Great British Car Journey in a couple of weeks time (12th May from memory). The thread resurrection has given me a timely reminder not to forget it!

Yeah, I'm not sure what spec items i am missing 100% but mine does seem very basic although it's got most things I need and there is less to go wrong.

I've got no wood (it was real in this era though rather than fake I believe?), no PAS, 4 x windy up windows, plastic steering wheel, wheel trims only, no sunroof, manual wing mirrors, BUT working central locking, an in-cabin remote boot release, working rear window demister and wash wipe and decent looking seat material.

I'll check the owners club out thanks for the tip off.

Regards the engine mounts I'm looking for material engine movement when revved at idle am I (plus anything that looks deterioated)? I would like to quieten the thing down because it makes a right racket at the minute, which combined with the lack of torque and general speed probably looks ridiculous on the outside...."Daddy, why is that old car making such a noise and not going very far??"

[itcaptainslow]

Check as you’ve mentioned, plus use a pry bar to see if you can get any significant deflection in the mounts. The main mount by the timing covers is a semi-conical thing that can go soft with age, so it might be worth replacing as a matter of course.

More common to fail is the lower tie bar attached to the sump & rear subframe (which would do a great job of transmitting noise and vibration into the cabin).

The other thing to check is if the rubber boot around the base of the steering column (where it goes through the floor) is still fitted and undamaged. Without this, you’ll get a lot more NVH inside.

[Lester H]

Interesting, in that it exists. However, something which was a little above average in its class all those years ago won’t seem up to much now. There was/ maybe still is a thread on here discussing real build quality, versus perceived quality. Rover were adept at adding a veneer of superficial quality, with shiny tread plates on the sills, decent twin horns, sometimes quarter leather seats, and what some Americans call ‘real tree wood’ ,etc…. They sold well and the K Series engines went well, but the success was short lived and they became “ cheapies”. Fleet buyers then reverted to type (Ford and Vauxhall.)

Edited by Lester H on Tuesday 30th April 13:09