1985 Rover 3500 Vitesse
Discussion
yellowstreak said:
To think that this survived to this standard amazing. What would happen without all those fastidious old blokes who know how to look after a car? I have happy memories of being carted round with a boot full of fishing tackle by my father in one of these.
It really is a credit to its previous owners, especially as I know the last two owners (and for at least 10 years) kept it outside too!Hopefully I can be it's next fastidious young owner!
The boot space really is incredible, especially with the extra space under the boot boards too.
So I really needed to make a decision on what to do with the engine. In reality it needed to come out. But I knew if this happened it wouldn't be going back in and I would rebuild the original engine. Something at the time I couldn't quite afford yet.
The RR engine was really looking decidedly grotty, and had at least one very noisy lifter.
After pondering this for some time I eventually decided that at least a top end refresh couldn't hurt.
After seeing how disgusting the oil ways in the heads were they had to come off.
The valley of the engine was also suitably gunged, and as some would have predicted the cam was showing some very odd colouring and signs of wear. A replacement cam is really needed, but as it's only planned to be a temporary engine it'll function fine.
No wonder it didn't run very well.
Hours where spent scraping and dissolving the solid oil gunge making sure none of it contaminated further down into the engine.
With a lot of time and effort I got this. Having worked on minis I was a lot more careful cleaning up the aluminum components, rather than the easy cast iron mini engine block and head.
Eventually I got it to a state I'd be happy to reassemble.
The heads also took a lot of effort to make usuable again, and spent some time in a degreaser bath.
These did not have any valve stem seals, so no risk of damage.
Ended up coming out very nicely, and were oiled up ready to be stored until it came time for rebuild time.
This brings us up to April 2017, so a few months of ownership and I've only really scratched the surface. At this point my attention switched back to minis as I'd bought a London to Brighton ticket and needed to get my 1275 GT fighting fit for the journey. After I got back I got stuck into the Rover properly.
Joe
Edited by 1275 GT on Sunday 13th December 17:07
Can i say a heartfelt thanks from a chap of very mature years!! to see cars like this being put back into original condition withut it nbeing tarted up slammed stanced massive wheels etc as a lot of them end up.
A, and dont get me wrong, bog standard rebuild is a true car lovers effort, and i can stand and admire them for hours!
looking forward to the diary
Thanks
A, and dont get me wrong, bog standard rebuild is a true car lovers effort, and i can stand and admire them for hours!
looking forward to the diary
Thanks
1275 GT said:
CarlosV8 said:
Looking forward to more of this. I had a 3500 SE which I sold to fund a grotty TP Vitesse. Sunk loads of time and money into it but it was never quite right. Should have kept the first one!
Would still love a well sorted Vitesse one day though.
I really enjoyed reading your thread on the TP, a real credit that you got it back on the road, and a real shame you had to sell it in the end. I hope you enjoy my efforts! Would still love a well sorted Vitesse one day though.
I know what you mean, but the draw of the Vitesse is so strong, even over a better SE.
Joe
And it was mainly that rear spoiler I wanted. Love it!!
silverfoxcc said:
Can i say a heartfelt thanks from a chap of very mature years!! to see cars like this being put back into original condition withut it nbeing tarted up slammed stanced massive wheels etc as a lot of them end up.
A, and dont get me wrong, bog standard rebuild is a true car lovers effort, and i can stand and admire them for hours!
looking forward to the diary
Thanks
It really is a passion of mine, and you're comments really are too kind. Hopefully my attention to detail is worthy of your admiration.A, and dont get me wrong, bog standard rebuild is a true car lovers effort, and i can stand and admire them for hours!
looking forward to the diary
Thanks
CarlosV8 said:
Thanks, unfortunately it's never been MOT'd since I put it through in 2010. Bit of a shame after all the effort to get it roadworthy! Still got the nasty after-market rear panel hanging in the garage though
And it was mainly that rear spoiler I wanted. Love it!!
Now that is a shame, I wonder what happened to it. Hanging onto it in case you find another one? And it was mainly that rear spoiler I wanted. Love it!!
Yeah the big rubber spoiler and deep chin is what does it for me, just gives it the perfect look.
Joe
1275 GT said:
eezeh said:
Think I recognise you from TMF 
Haha rumbled! I did love writing that thread on my green snotter 1275 GT. I've still got it, and will restore it one day. Joe
Would like one in the future but just need space to look after it!
This is where things get interesting. After a few months away from the Rover, I really got stuck in.
Main aim here was to really work out what needed doing.
Overall it was a lovely looking thing, but the devil is in the detail.
The drivers side is definitely the weakest, someone has tried to repair the bottoms of the doors, and made a right hash of it.
Front of the wheel arch also isn't great with corrosion to the door step. Plan is to remove some paint and find out what lurks beneath.
The rear quarter is a little bit better but still in need of a lot of work.
Passenger side is better, but still needs attention.
Interior stripping carried on with the seats and carpet out.
Such a weird steering wheel!
One area that also wasn't great was the rear panel behind the bumper. By having to remove the rear bumper to get it on the trailer it was more obvious than usual.
It had at some point in its life a tow bar fitted, one of my pet hates on these cars.
With the known nasty areas in the boot, I also decided to have a proper look as to why this happens.
and on the other side, is the towing eye. with a water trap, rots from the outside in.
The paintwork was largely very nice, but it did have issues, mainly paint damage along the tops of the doors on the drivers side.
This is something I've largely left, and I reckon requires a re-paint to really sort. Something that I might do eventually, but not anytime soon.
The other big one was the sunroof. It had been replaced (a known item to rot out) and badly painted, flat as a pancake. So this definitely needed sorting!
So that's the majority of the problems I found, which on a 33 year old car I thought was pretty good! Once I knew what I needed to do I got cutting!
Joe
Main aim here was to really work out what needed doing.
Overall it was a lovely looking thing, but the devil is in the detail.
The drivers side is definitely the weakest, someone has tried to repair the bottoms of the doors, and made a right hash of it.
Front of the wheel arch also isn't great with corrosion to the door step. Plan is to remove some paint and find out what lurks beneath.
The rear quarter is a little bit better but still in need of a lot of work.
Passenger side is better, but still needs attention.
Interior stripping carried on with the seats and carpet out.
Such a weird steering wheel!
One area that also wasn't great was the rear panel behind the bumper. By having to remove the rear bumper to get it on the trailer it was more obvious than usual.
It had at some point in its life a tow bar fitted, one of my pet hates on these cars.
With the known nasty areas in the boot, I also decided to have a proper look as to why this happens.
and on the other side, is the towing eye. with a water trap, rots from the outside in.
The paintwork was largely very nice, but it did have issues, mainly paint damage along the tops of the doors on the drivers side.
This is something I've largely left, and I reckon requires a re-paint to really sort. Something that I might do eventually, but not anytime soon.
The other big one was the sunroof. It had been replaced (a known item to rot out) and badly painted, flat as a pancake. So this definitely needed sorting!
So that's the majority of the problems I found, which on a 33 year old car I thought was pretty good! Once I knew what I needed to do I got cutting!
Joe
Edited by 1275 GT on Sunday 13th December 20:13
I'm glad you are getting back onto your Rover OP! There is just something about a Rover with a V8.
Back at the end of the 70s I had a P6B 3500S which was a great car at the time, especially for a 20 year-old!
Then in 1984 I bought a 2 year old Capri 2.8i, only to find when I collected it that the seller had replaced it with a brand new VDP EFi. I loved that Capri, but maybe I should have looked for a Vitesse - they were great cars!
Moving on to the 90s and a mate of mine had a couple of mates who raced SD1s in the Slick 50 race series. He was so impressed he bought one for the Toyo Tyres winter series. I once drove it down to Goodwood for a track day as he had another car on his transporter, but sadly I didn't get to drive it on the circuit. But it drove really well, and was nicely noisy!
I'll definitely be checking in to this thread.
Back at the end of the 70s I had a P6B 3500S which was a great car at the time, especially for a 20 year-old!
Then in 1984 I bought a 2 year old Capri 2.8i, only to find when I collected it that the seller had replaced it with a brand new VDP EFi. I loved that Capri, but maybe I should have looked for a Vitesse - they were great cars!
Moving on to the 90s and a mate of mine had a couple of mates who raced SD1s in the Slick 50 race series. He was so impressed he bought one for the Toyo Tyres winter series. I once drove it down to Goodwood for a track day as he had another car on his transporter, but sadly I didn't get to drive it on the circuit. But it drove really well, and was nicely noisy!
I'll definitely be checking in to this thread.
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