Discussion
After admiring these little cars for years, I grabbed the cheapest one on eBay and started the journey of revival!
No history, rotten arches, various oil leaks, a misfire, a whiny gearbox and almost no brakes!
I started with the leaky rocker cover gasket
Then did a service including plugs on the offchance they'd cure the misfire... they didn't! So I went for new HT leads and pulled the inlet manifold off to make sure I routed them properly (the originals looked like they'd been thrown at the engine!)
Took her for a spin and all seemed well until she got hot when the misfire returned with a vengeance, so i'm thinking it's something more sinister... I'll do a compression test this weekend and see what we get back.
In the meantime I tackled a few little jobs, namely the knackered cat (cheers kwik fit for lending me the ramp!)
The blown instrument lighting
Fitted my homemade BRM grille, and discovered my support bar had crash damage, so replaced with a salvage part + some new brackets from Rimmer Bros
That's all for now!
No history, rotten arches, various oil leaks, a misfire, a whiny gearbox and almost no brakes!
I started with the leaky rocker cover gasket
Then did a service including plugs on the offchance they'd cure the misfire... they didn't! So I went for new HT leads and pulled the inlet manifold off to make sure I routed them properly (the originals looked like they'd been thrown at the engine!)
Took her for a spin and all seemed well until she got hot when the misfire returned with a vengeance, so i'm thinking it's something more sinister... I'll do a compression test this weekend and see what we get back.
In the meantime I tackled a few little jobs, namely the knackered cat (cheers kwik fit for lending me the ramp!)
The blown instrument lighting
Fitted my homemade BRM grille, and discovered my support bar had crash damage, so replaced with a salvage part + some new brackets from Rimmer Bros
That's all for now!
I really want one of these, but a concours low miler. Bit of childhood memories tucked away!
Went to look at one a few months ago with 19k on advertised (and priced!) as mint, but it had rot on all four arches and needed too much paint for the money. The selling garage had been sitting on it for SEVEN years!!! Even with a generous offer they still wanted the full asking price (£4k!).
Misfire could well be the coil packs, they're a bit of a pain to get to underneath the inlet.
Went to look at one a few months ago with 19k on advertised (and priced!) as mint, but it had rot on all four arches and needed too much paint for the money. The selling garage had been sitting on it for SEVEN years!!! Even with a generous offer they still wanted the full asking price (£4k!).
Misfire could well be the coil packs, they're a bit of a pain to get to underneath the inlet.
By everything I've seen a Metro with the VVC engine in it are insane (in a oh so very good way) and are a right hoot.
Have to admit my preference has always been for the R8 wedge Rovers (inherited probably, my family have largely run Rovers/BL for a good chunk of my life), culminating in the Coupe (had mine for the past twelve years). These bubble Rovers are better cars than most give them credit for though... well... except for the 1.4, even my Dad thought it was gutless (rare, he doesn't care much about performance) and took it back to the dealer. Good luck with it though always good to see another saved from the scrapper.
Have to admit my preference has always been for the R8 wedge Rovers (inherited probably, my family have largely run Rovers/BL for a good chunk of my life), culminating in the Coupe (had mine for the past twelve years). These bubble Rovers are better cars than most give them credit for though... well... except for the 1.4, even my Dad thought it was gutless (rare, he doesn't care much about performance) and took it back to the dealer. Good luck with it though always good to see another saved from the scrapper.
hoppo4.2 said:
Your misfire is most probably plugs they are iridium tipped things might look fine but change them makes a massive difference or possibly ecu water temperature sensor. Had both problems with mine
That’s a good point, I did replace the plugs but with a cheaper NGK non-iridium alternative, Might be worth biting the bullet and replacing them again! There’s a video on youtube of a guy with a 1.8T metro… madness! Sounds evil though.itcaptainslow said:
I really want one of these, but a concours low miler. Bit of childhood memories tucked away!
Went to look at one a few months ago with 19k on advertised (and priced!) as mint, but it had rot on all four arches and needed too much paint for the money. The selling garage had been sitting on it for SEVEN years!!! Even with a generous offer they still wanted the full asking price (£4k!).
Misfire could well be the coil packs, they're a bit of a pain to get to underneath the inlet.
That’s a shame bud! Some garages would rather see a car rot than see it go to an enthusiast with a good offer…Went to look at one a few months ago with 19k on advertised (and priced!) as mint, but it had rot on all four arches and needed too much paint for the money. The selling garage had been sitting on it for SEVEN years!!! Even with a generous offer they still wanted the full asking price (£4k!).
Misfire could well be the coil packs, they're a bit of a pain to get to underneath the inlet.
Even though a genuine pack is £90 I hope you’re right! I’m still biting my nails over this compression test, a knackered coil would be a godsend!
The Spruce goose said:
i had one. what an engine and great seats. Killed it crashing into a 'please drive carefully' sign.
Best example of irony I’ve seen 
J4CKO said:
Get a BRM, better gearbox with an LSD, depends if you can cope with the colour scheme.
The BRM fans won't thank me for this but honestly? I can't cope with it But if I can't cure the whine in my current box then I would definitely consider looking for a used BRM box, I've head the TorSen diff is a cracker! Jackandwrench said:
The BRM fans won't thank me for this but honestly? I can't cope with it But if I can't cure the whine in my current box then I would definitely consider looking for a used BRM box, I've head the TorSen diff is a cracker!
Having driven an original 180bhp Rover 820 Vitesse that didn't have a Torsen diff and the 200bhp Vitesse Sport that did I can say that it transformed the cars ability to get the power down. Of course the Sport had much revised suspension to help with that too, but I was always impressed with how effective that Torsen diff was. Never really understood why they didn't catch on with other makers of overpowered FWD cars like Saab and Volvo. But if I can't cure the whine in my current box then I would definitely consider looking for a used BRM box, I've head the TorSen diff is a cracker! Jackandwrench said:
J4CKO said:
Get a BRM, better gearbox with an LSD, depends if you can cope with the colour scheme.
The BRM fans won't thank me for this but honestly? I can't cope with it But if I can't cure the whine in my current box then I would definitely consider looking for a used BRM box, I've head the TorSen diff is a cracker! Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff