Stanced Rover 45

[fathead431]

Decided I'd do something a little different, so I went and did this.





Future plans include matte brown plastidip, a rover P4 steering wheel, leather bucket seats and some tartan for the interior. Student finance however has not yet allowed this.

Whatcha think?

[fathead431]

bugger! knew someone would notice

[fathead431]

Thanks for the feedback chaps. An AA badge is a good idea haha

Camber wise, it's running just enough to sit nicely without looking excessively collapsed. Not even running adjusters at the front, only natural camber from the double wishbones. I know it's not to everyone's liking but when you're 19 and you drive something more appropriate for your grandad, you have to try

This is not the final former, work in progress. Making it as old man is as possible for the comedy /novelty factor

[fathead431]

lindrup119 said:

I like it a lot actually, injects a little bit of life into it!

Are those WeatherTech side window deflectors? If so how do you rate them?

They're Team Heko, top notch stuff from Poland!

dele said:

Why haven't you updated this thread with the pictures of your suspension arms being all bent and fked from driving it?

I didn't take any pictures of the suspension fork as I fixed that in the car park at the scrap yard, but heres the rippled turrets I took just after the pothole

mrslowly said:

I hate the Rover 45, this however, I like!

For full irony, wear a flat cap or a pork pie hat, drive evrywhere at 25mph and put a packet of Werther's Originals on the front seat...

way ahead of you

[fathead431]

Oh and I bought a new steering wheel and a quick release boss so I can wave it out the window like a scene kid... if it fits through the window...

[fathead431]

the chrome is staying, it'll look funnier when its plastidipped.

[fathead431]

banded Vauxhall steels, 8j. no spacers in those pictures but I put a 5mm spacer on each side at the back this afternoon, and dewipered the boot

[fathead431]

davepoth said:

I'm not a fan of stanced cars, but this is the only Rover I've seen - which makes it achingly cool if we follow the Hipster Code.

"Oh this? It's just my stanced Rover. It's the only one in the country. I looked at a Polo with a wheelbarrow and a tricycle on the roof but everyone's got one of those."

THANK GOD someone gets it. why be a sheep when you can look like a complete idiot. but be quite cool.

I cant get chrome side strips i'm afraid, but I'm looking into getting some made up. at the moment the only way looks to be mylar strips on some smoother painted ZS door strips, but its got to wait :/

[fathead431]

yep, specialist modified insurance through Brentacre

[fathead431]

Yep, and the de-wipering...

[fathead431]

the chrome is staying! I had it all blacked out before but it was too race-car. y so serious? will look much cooler with the matte paintjob planned.
gooly! fix your damn head gasket. Nissan's aren't meant to blow HG's - my job!

[fathead431]

SR lump I hope.

[fathead431]

steering wheel cleaned up, ready for bodging onto a boss. that's my new headlining material too...



and some more pics








Now, I forgot to mention I had this as a gearknob. So here it is. How fitting for the number plate...

[fathead431]

Gooly said:

Its not gonna have 4 cylinders

Also how you gonna mount up that P4 wheel? Is it a normal kind of fixing or are you gonna have to fabricate something?

ooh! im intrigued haha. yeah ive got a boss that *might* fit but i'm going to drill the steering wheel to fit a sparco bolt pattern and cut the old splines off the back. might be done in the next couple of days

stealthgrow said:

Its not my cup of tea BUT i love to see the creative weird things that people into this stuff do. The gear knob looks ridiculous but i fking love it hilarious. is it not uncomfortable to drive? I love the old rover steering wheel too! ive never seen either of those two mods before and while not my cup of tea i still love to see it. I just don't like it when people become sheep and do the same mods everybody else does but to see people getting creative like you is nice.

it's great to drive with, although rather heavy

Lee540 said:

Is it stanced or slammed. Not much neg. camber on those wheels. Looks ok even though I dont get the trend :/

bit of both



the picture doesn't show it much but theres more than enough to cause alarming amounts of camber wear. it's got camber adjusters from a Del Sol on the back and theres some natural camber at the front which I think is enough
if theres any more it'll just look silly - I just want it to sit "square" if you get what I mean. I don't like the trend of stupid camber. enough just to get the wheel sitting a little more flush with the arch is enough

[fathead431]

NotDave said:

Depends upon the insurer. In my youth I was always with CIS as they were a) Laughably cheap compared to everyone else, and b) they had a firm "don't cost you if it don't go faster" policy.

Bodywork, interiors, SS exhausts, coilovers, - Stated, £15 policy amendment fee and fk all else.

Was brilliant.

Ironically the same company won't insure me at 25 years old on a 1.9TID Saab as I'm "too young for such a car"........... It was insured with them when I bought it 3years ago

yeah that's how mine works - any mods except engine mods are free to add to the policy. i'm insured up to 120bhp which is about as far as i'll get with the N/A 1.4 without serious modifications.

Vince70 said:

Is it easy to change the steering wheel back come mot time or isn't it an issue,
I read somewhere on here that if you take the airbag light out it onlys an advisory but if the airbag light does light up on startup then decides to stay on its now a fail.

I'm putting in a small resistor to fool the SRS system. it should arm as per normal as if there were an airbag there. this way the seatbelt pretensioners, passenger airbag and side airbags will still fire in the case of an accident. if not, it's still a simple swap back to the old one.

joe_90 said:

Without attempting to derail and sound like and ass, but what did the insurance company say when you told them you changed the gearstick to a fuel pump handle? Also how much is it at 19 to get it slammed from an insurance point of view, I see loads of young people doing it and often wondered how much cost it occurs.

Note, I did the same to my xr2 (with my uni government grant no less) quite a few years ago and I had to pay an extra £10..

I just told them it was an aftermarket gear knob
well the 45 is in a silly insurance group unfortunately. last year it was £2700 with elephant but I pay the price for living somewhere with no streetlights and a previous robbery. damn countryside.
this year its £1700 through a brokers called Brentacre. insured with a company called Highway. £1700 is still a lot, but I was getting quotes of £1400 and £1500 over the phone and online from various other non specialist companies.
I could insure a BMW 323i e36 through elephant for less, but I wouldn't be able to do anything with it.
The deal is that I don't go over 120bhp, but I can do whatever else I like as long as I let them know about it. according to the guy on the phone, I can cut it in half and make it a foot wider if I really wanted and it wouldn't add anything to the policy. there are no admin fees either. you do however need a year of no claims, and they are not at all keen on young drivers in BMW's for obvious reasons. Sky insurance and Greenlight are also reputable modified insurers but you need to be a certain age or have a certain amount of NCB

[fathead431]

NotDave said:

First:

4-2-1 manifold (Janspeed), custom down-pipe, sports cat, straight through custom system

then:

CDM Air intake or Pipercross Viper. Remove old box, and funnel to front bumper. Also 90 degree bend silicone hose to TB in 76mm silicone, also 52mm TB off of the 160s.

then:

new injectors, as you'll have reached the limit of standard ones. IIRC the 1800s drop in easy enough, £25 off ebay for NOS set.

then:

head skimmed to the limit, uprated gasket

then:

Rev the knackers off of it. Should see peak power between 5900rpm and 6400rpm


I may have been down the 1400cc K-Series route before, and the above format may have been tested for 80,000+ miles.

AFAIK the 1.8 vvc injectors wont do much except over fuel. the 1.4 ones are the same as the 1.8 ones so are more than capable
exhaust waiting to be fitted along with front camber adjuster and sealant for solid engine mounts:



uprated gasket already on, head could be skimmed more but its money

I rev the tits off it and service it every 3000 miles.
I've been through a lot with this car, drivers door:

[fathead431]

botheration.

the steering wheel is a touch too big, gets in the way of my view of the road which is cool but not safe.

any suggestions for a new wheel since ive got the boss, quick release and resistors? something wooden rimmed with a little dish maybe, but dark wood to match the interior.

just polished my shaft, doing the resf of my knob.

[fathead431]

Lee540 said:

Wooden wheel from MX5?

yeah never seen that done before

[fathead431]

Dave^ said:

BMX handlebars...

For show use only, for obvious reasons...

I've seen that in a lupo before somewhere....

[fathead431]

Yeah yeah I know, but I want something a bit more original than an MX5 nardi :/

thanks for the positive feedback