1983 Rover 2600 SE (SD1)
Discussion
h. Breadvan72 said:
Here is the car on station duty, and some engine pics.
Not usually a fan of BL products, but this car has some charm about it!What's the deal with lack of radiator fan? I can't see an electric one and it looks as if one should have been mounted to that stub behind the rad.
The idea of a BL car without a radiator fan is amusing, given the legendary propensity of the swirly plughole cars to OMGHGF, but there is in fact a fairly posh Kenlowe in there. The original fitment would be a viscous coupling affair, but that borked and the previous owner sensibly swapped it for an electric unit.
That reminds me, tomorrow I should get my hands dirty and change the thermostat, because the car runs too cool.
I drove it to London yesterday in heavy rain and associated humid atmosphere. No leaks anywhere, and the demisters work well. The car did not show any signs of overheating in heavy London traffic. The lights and wipers worked fine.
This morning, after a night outside getting rained on (the car, that is, not me, I was at some hotel up the road), it took a couple of goes for the auto choke to wake the car up, but it purred smoothly back out of London to rural Oxon, where it has just been woofling around the lanes on the way to a pub lunch and back again. The (not) the only two gays in the neighbouring village liked it a lot as we rolled past. so the car gets Metrosexual stylin' points.
PS: Spotted at pub: lovely looking gold metallic 1983 Scirocco Mk2, 1.6 single carb version, for sale. I will check how much in case anyone likes those wagons. Posh cross-spoke alloys, light coloured interior, alleged to have a new MoT.
I drove it to London yesterday in heavy rain and associated humid atmosphere. No leaks anywhere, and the demisters work well. The car did not show any signs of overheating in heavy London traffic. The lights and wipers worked fine.
This morning, after a night outside getting rained on (the car, that is, not me, I was at some hotel up the road), it took a couple of goes for the auto choke to wake the car up, but it purred smoothly back out of London to rural Oxon, where it has just been woofling around the lanes on the way to a pub lunch and back again. The (not) the only two gays in the neighbouring village liked it a lot as we rolled past. so the car gets Metrosexual stylin' points.
PS: Spotted at pub: lovely looking gold metallic 1983 Scirocco Mk2, 1.6 single carb version, for sale. I will check how much in case anyone likes those wagons. Posh cross-spoke alloys, light coloured interior, alleged to have a new MoT.
BGarside said:
LJK Setright identified ways to release more power from the 2.6, which was deliberately detuned to avoid making the V8 look crap...
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/rover/sd1-rov...
Deliberately detuned... Hmmm... I wonder. http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/rover/sd1-rov...
I've heard or read stories like this in the past. When I had the opportunity to sample one of the pre-production MG ZS factory mules prior to the ZS being launched I had to have one, but not with the V6, but a Turbocharged 1.8 K-Series version. I waited and waited but although they put it in the larger MG ZT and Rover 75s, it never was made available in the MG ZS. Having driven and owned 1.8 Turbocharged MG ZTs since, I now suspect the 1.8 K in turbocharged form was never put in the smaller MG ZS for much the same reason. So I bought a new ZS in normally aspirated form.
Since owning 1.8t MG ZTs, I've been told by other MG and Rover enthusiasts it's the best engine to have in the ZT bar the Mustang V8 version. I found that hard to believe when I first knew. Now I'm not so doubting ... If it showed up the ZS180 with the V6. I also wonder why there was a ZT190 ... Ten spots higher than the MG ZS 180 ... figures .... could be for the same reason.
Some folks have modified the ZS with a Turbocharger. Had one been available new from Longbridge I would have had that instead.
A long time ago now, but, my boss's new SD1 V8 Vanden Plas was one of the few cars I drove which gave me a really scarey moment. Not scared for my own well being, but, facing the boss with my explanation ... As it happens, the car was very forgiving and that coupled with my skill limitations, saved the day. I sure knew what an adrenaline release was after that 'moment'.
Finally, OP's 2600 SD1 left the Austin Rover Group production lines, not the British Leyland ones....
That V8 in the later Rovers was a bit like "Triggers Broom", so many changes it had little in common with the original Buick lump.Trigger's Broom. Enjoy :~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE
I think that a 1983 SD1 (which, of course, wouldn't be sold as an SD1 in 1983) can still fairly be described as a BL car. As at 1983, Austin Rover Group (formerly known as BL Cars Ltd) was, IIRC, a subsidiary of BL PLC, but I may be getting that wrong from imperfect memory. My dad, who worked in the group, can recall some of the corporate structure and the frequent name changes, but he's bored with cars these days. The name Rover Group was adopted from 1986, IIRC.
Breadvan72 said:
I think that a 1983 SD1 (which, of course, wouldn't be sold as an SD1 in 1983) can still fairly be described as a BL car. As at 1983, Austin Rover Group (formerly known as BL Cars Ltd) was, IIRC, a subsidiary of BL PLC, but I may be getting that wrong from imperfect memory. My dad, who worked in the group, can recall some of the corporate structure and the frequent name changes, but he's bored with cars these days. The name Rover Group was adopted from 1986, IIRC.
Frequent name changes. Yes indeed... Bought several new Austin-Rover-Group cars in the early 1980s. Did not get the T-Shirt with them but did get the ARGroup tie with logo ...
Must be worth a small fortune today ... a third of a century later.
I believe ARGroup was name changed later than 1986, about the time it was knocked out sharpish and cheapish to BAe but, the old two remaining brain memory cells are difficult to align nowadays... . Possibly two-three years later when the face lifted MG Montego I bought back then appeared and some became the ... wait for it ... Montego GTi ...
As the whole range of cars became Rover-ised.MarshPhantom said:
It's rather sad that the SD1 is about the only mainstream British car that I'd like to own. The only one I did have was a Moggy Minor.
That is indeed very sad. I believe you missed a few good 'ns as a result. You and a few millyon others MP. Wil-o-t-wisp .. I still have this one now in its thirty-first year :~
... and a few others
There is a diesel SD1 for sale somewhere online at present, I think, but it looks a bit rough and rusty, IIRC.
For me, diesel is the spume of Beelzebub, but some people don't see it that way.
Cool Montego, by the way. Please show us more stuff! Have you see my BL line up thread in the classics room? The tie is, well, er...
If anyone ever hears of a (I know very rare) Metro VDP with a slushbox for sale, please let me know, as my old mum would love one, I reckon. Hers was manual, back in the day, but now she prefers autos.
For me, diesel is the spume of Beelzebub, but some people don't see it that way.
Cool Montego, by the way. Please show us more stuff! Have you see my BL line up thread in the classics room? The tie is, well, er...
If anyone ever hears of a (I know very rare) Metro VDP with a slushbox for sale, please let me know, as my old mum would love one, I reckon. Hers was manual, back in the day, but now she prefers autos.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 26th July 18:23
Breadvan72 said:
There is a diesel SD1 for sale somewhere online at present, I think, but it looks a bit rough and rusty, IIRC.
For me, diesel is the spume of Beelzebub, but some people don't see it that way.
Cool Montego, by the way. Please show us more stuff! Have you see my BL line up thread in the classics room? The tie is, well, er...
If anyone ever hears of a (I know very rare) Metro VDP with a slushbox for sale, please let me know, as my old mum would love one, I reckon. Hers was manual, back in the day, but now she prefers autos.
My son, MetroMartin on several car enthusiasts' web sites runs the Metropower web site. With many Metro mad friends and contacts, if anyone can track down an uber-rare Auto VP Metro, chances are he can... For me, diesel is the spume of Beelzebub, but some people don't see it that way.
Cool Montego, by the way. Please show us more stuff! Have you see my BL line up thread in the classics room? The tie is, well, er...
If anyone ever hears of a (I know very rare) Metro VDP with a slushbox for sale, please let me know, as my old mum would love one, I reckon. Hers was manual, back in the day, but now she prefers autos.
Dunno where he gets the interest in cars from. 
I gave him a low mileage X-Reg Silver MG Metro when he was still a schoolboy. Previously, he saw an unused Opaline Green MG Metro in a front garden from the top deck of his school bus and after passing it every school day for ages, one day knocked on the door and made an offer. Soon after I and my good lady had to go and collect it! Despite lack of use for so long, after a few basic fluid checks and a decent battery, car fired up first turn of the key.
Now in his thirties, he still has that silver MG Metro I gave him all those years ago. He looks after it and unlike his Elise S2, Rover 620ti and other cars, keeps it in his lock-up ..
Funny story, he could not get it to start when wanting to take it up to Pride of Longbridge a while back. Now he is light years ahead of me when it comes to modern day car electrics and gismos, he had no idea what I was on about when I suggested he check the contact breaker points gap ... What are those Dad? ... I showed him how to check them. They had closed up possibly through years of little use and after adjustment with a screwdriver and a credit card ~ used to measure the points gap as feeler gauges not available ~ engine burst into life at the turn of the key ... Magic happens as Clarkson once said..
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