20 year old 220 turbo coupe

20 year old 220 turbo coupe

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hman

Original Poster:

7,487 posts

194 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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Yesterday I finished restoring my mums 1 owner from new 1994 rover 220 turbo coupe.

It still goes like the clappers, the air con still works and the roof doesnt leak!

The paint had begun to flake on the rear bumper, spoiler and rear 1/4 so I had them sprayed, and then set to work machine polishing the rest of the car.

Some pics:-






And on the way home I reminisced about 90's cars and their rather "interesting" dynamics...

Edited by hman on Monday 11th August 15:08

hman

Original Poster:

7,487 posts

194 months

Saturday 16th August 2014
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It's fair to say that I was surprised at how much pull it had in the nsl sections on the way home..

There are only 110ish 220turbo coupes left now so getting very rare on the uk roads.

Will get details of the machine polisher for you John - really easy to use and the results were stunning

hman

Original Poster:

7,487 posts

194 months

Saturday 16th August 2014
quotequote all
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/polishing-machines/d...

£109 !! Used waffle pad and finest cutting polish first - this didn't cut enough though so used other pad and more a abrasive polish then switched back to waffle and finer cutting polish and finished off with meguiars carnauba wax by hand.

hman

Original Poster:

7,487 posts

194 months

Sunday 17th August 2014
quotequote all
G3 on a machine polisher would be very very abrasive - always use the least abrasive polish with the softest pad first then if that doesn't work go incrementally more abrasive with harder pads clean your car has good guides

hman

Original Poster:

7,487 posts

194 months

Monday 20th October 2014
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Have you ever driven one or are you just going on what t'internet says ? - the torsen diff does a good job of pulling it around bends even if the body roll is a bit 1990's,

Luckily my 70 year old mum isnt into trackdays and taking it to the limit of its handling so the chassis is plenty adequate - as is the standard power output of over 200bhp.

hman

Original Poster:

7,487 posts

194 months

Monday 20th October 2014
quotequote all
Cheer Bob, I have had some interest from people wanting to buy this car over the last 6 months or so (pre- restoration and post restoration), I will need to see if mum is allowed to keep her licence next year when she is officially 70 and her licence is due for renewal. I am not sure they will let her keep her licence due to failing health and I am sure she would like to see it go to someone who really "gets" what this car was all about back in the day.

I remember the day it was bought, and why - my dad became very ill and wasn't allowed to drive his 6 month old Range Rover anymore, Mum found that car to be too big so he traded the Range Rover in and bought her this car as he always promised her a BRG MGB GT and this was the modern equivalent. He died 12 months later and as practically all the other presents (jewellery mainly) he bought her over the years were stolen when the house was burgled about 6 months after that this is all she has left of the pressies he bought her over his lifetime. Sad really but thats life and thats also why I restored it as a present for all the shenanigans I caused when I was younger.

So this is where its at 20 years later, a one owner car from new with 80k ish on the clock looking practically brand new for possibly its last year with the original owner.

I took my kids out in it for a little blast when I was restoring it, my eldest (6) comment "its as fast as a ferrari!!" made me chuckle!

hman

Original Poster:

7,487 posts

194 months

Monday 1st December 2014
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Interesting tip about the caged bearings and the boost control - if it ends up in my possession I'll give those mods a go.

These cars are becoming very very rare now, when was the last time a rover coupe was seen on the streets? If you have one that needs an engine swap then I would think its probably a couple of days work and not a lot of money to do..

hman

Original Poster:

7,487 posts

194 months

Friday 19th December 2014
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Ooooh big shame about the burnout coupe!!

The car is a mid to late L so it got the facelift bonnet, K plates were the older more smooth grille (which I think looks cleaner actually)

I'm pretty sure a Set of polyflex bushes are a necessity, the only bushes replaced so far have been on the rear arms for an mot