Rover 3.5 SD1, why so thin on the ground?
Discussion
Keep it stiff said:
Well I found an SD1, picked it up last week. It is a 3.5 SE, colour looks original, likewise the trim. I have not really had a chance to roll my sleeves up as yet, I will be interested to see what surprises await me!
Great news OP, and yours looks pretty clean too! 
One of my mates raced one of these in the Toyo Tyres series back in the early 90s - he got inspired by a couple of his mates who raced them in Slick 50!
Anyway I hope you keep us updated, and I hope you don't find too many surprises!
This is one of mine, bought last week I've been using it Daily. It's a JE engineering 4.2 with Omega pistons, uprated heads, double valve springs, hot cam, rhoads lifters etc etc etc. Suspension/brakes/gearbox have all been played with too and the rolling road printout shows 234BHP and 289lbft of torque. Not too bad, and personally I love the slightly unloved look! 
Spurred on by the desire to have a 1980s car towing our 1980s caravan I'm going to look at a 2600 SD1 in the coming weeks.
I can't justify the price of a V8 for the few times a year it will get used, and anyway the 2600 made more power than the V8 when it was first bench tested, then de-tuned (if popular internet folklore is to be believed). As a Triumph fan I like the idea of the inline 6 Rovers being the spiritual successor to the big Triumphs of the previous decade, in more ways than one. I also can't afford a MK1 Triumph 2.5Pi Estate that's number one on my towcar wishlist.
This nice single plenum Vitesse graces the workshop occasionally. Running an aftermarket ECU and exhaust on it's basically standard 3.5 engine it makes every one of its claimed 190hp on my dyno.
I can't justify the price of a V8 for the few times a year it will get used, and anyway the 2600 made more power than the V8 when it was first bench tested, then de-tuned (if popular internet folklore is to be believed). As a Triumph fan I like the idea of the inline 6 Rovers being the spiritual successor to the big Triumphs of the previous decade, in more ways than one. I also can't afford a MK1 Triumph 2.5Pi Estate that's number one on my towcar wishlist.
This nice single plenum Vitesse graces the workshop occasionally. Running an aftermarket ECU and exhaust on it's basically standard 3.5 engine it makes every one of its claimed 190hp on my dyno.
These have aged so well. As a sixth former I used to work in the summer holidays for Howells of Cardiff, the main Austin Rover dealer prepping cars for 1st August.
They had two of these that had at in the compound in all weathers for over 18 months before being first registered. Both Moonraker blue (loved that name).
Seagulls had been crapping on them all that time and when we valeted the cars it took over a day to get back to the original paint under all the crud as it was so caked on, and the bird s
t had burned into the paint leaving indented splatter marks all over the roof and bonnet.
The cars were rotten underneath as well, poor sods who bought them did not have a clue.
The following summer, back again and I was sent out as a passenger in a demo Montego turbo with a potential customer as no salesmen were free, the mild mannered looking accountant type took it out onto the local bye pass and frightened the life out of me, red lining it in every gear til he maxed it out!
They had two of these that had at in the compound in all weathers for over 18 months before being first registered. Both Moonraker blue (loved that name).
Seagulls had been crapping on them all that time and when we valeted the cars it took over a day to get back to the original paint under all the crud as it was so caked on, and the bird s
t had burned into the paint leaving indented splatter marks all over the roof and bonnet.The cars were rotten underneath as well, poor sods who bought them did not have a clue.
The following summer, back again and I was sent out as a passenger in a demo Montego turbo with a potential customer as no salesmen were free, the mild mannered looking accountant type took it out onto the local bye pass and frightened the life out of me, red lining it in every gear til he maxed it out!
Edited by PAUL500 on Wednesday 16th May 12:20
Ha! he did not say a word to me throughout the test, and as a 17 yr old I was too scared to say anything to a potential customer, at one stage I looked over and we were doing 115mph and still accelerating. Quickest I had been at that point in my life was when my dad did the ton in his Cortina :-)
Another funny story related to that Montego turbo, it was the managing directors demo, one day a customer brought his own one in for its first service and returned later that day to pick it up. The service receptionist told them it was still in the workshop being finished off, the customer replied "no its not its parked right outside" out they went and sure enough it appeared so, then off they went into the workshop and there it also was inside!
During PDi they had cocked up the number plates and given the customers car and the MDs demo the same exact plates, the cars were identical and no one had realised the error. The customer had been driving around on the wrong plates for weeks!
Another funny story related to that Montego turbo, it was the managing directors demo, one day a customer brought his own one in for its first service and returned later that day to pick it up. The service receptionist told them it was still in the workshop being finished off, the customer replied "no its not its parked right outside" out they went and sure enough it appeared so, then off they went into the workshop and there it also was inside!
During PDi they had cocked up the number plates and given the customers car and the MDs demo the same exact plates, the cars were identical and no one had realised the error. The customer had been driving around on the wrong plates for weeks!
When I was an impoverished student, I went to view a Fiesta, sadly it had gone. Not deterred, I tried to find another car for sale nearby and found a Rover 2600 SE Vitesse look alike, in Moonraker blue.
The following summer (1990) I did a road trip to, France, Spain and Portugal. The Pyrenees cost me a set of disc pads on the way down and the return journey. Enjoying my holiday far too much, I left my return rather late. I left the Algarve at 15:00 Wednesday and arrived in Loughborough at 11:30 Friday. 1,540 miles, if I remember correctly. The car drew a lot off attention as they were a sight rare on the roads of southern Europe.
Looking back, I did some stupid road trips in very inappropriate cars, the year before, was a similar jaunt in a Cavalier SR with over 100,000 miles on the clock.
Some gorgeous cars on here. .
The following summer (1990) I did a road trip to, France, Spain and Portugal. The Pyrenees cost me a set of disc pads on the way down and the return journey. Enjoying my holiday far too much, I left my return rather late. I left the Algarve at 15:00 Wednesday and arrived in Loughborough at 11:30 Friday. 1,540 miles, if I remember correctly. The car drew a lot off attention as they were a sight rare on the roads of southern Europe.
Looking back, I did some stupid road trips in very inappropriate cars, the year before, was a similar jaunt in a Cavalier SR with over 100,000 miles on the clock.
Some gorgeous cars on here. .
Reviving this thread, if anyone is interested in these cars. We (my family) had an early 3500 SD1, 1977 R, which we used for continental holidays. I think my dad pretended it was his Daytona. It sat in our garage all winter as he had a DD P6 2000, which was far interior in dynamics, and far superior in quality. The SD1 was a proper touring car, in looks, handling and power (to an extent - great torque, but needed more top end which it got with the Vitesse and TP).
Build quality was astonishingly terrible. Ours overheated every time the sun came out. Exhaust rusted through, electrics failed, rust everywhere. It did not actually strand us on any of our European holiday jaunts, though we became acquainted with local garages from Dijon to Malaga. After my dad died in 1985 I took the car over. Coddled it like a baby. In return, it rusted, blew a gasket, blew its electrics on a November night in Wales, and taught me a lot about mechanics through the list of parts that had to be replaced.
I still loved it though. I ran a 205 GTI contemporaneously and still enjoyed the RWD handling fun of the SD1. If they had been built well, they would have been world beaters. There was some alchemy about the design and handling of the V8 that really worked.
Build quality was astonishingly terrible. Ours overheated every time the sun came out. Exhaust rusted through, electrics failed, rust everywhere. It did not actually strand us on any of our European holiday jaunts, though we became acquainted with local garages from Dijon to Malaga. After my dad died in 1985 I took the car over. Coddled it like a baby. In return, it rusted, blew a gasket, blew its electrics on a November night in Wales, and taught me a lot about mechanics through the list of parts that had to be replaced.
I still loved it though. I ran a 205 GTI contemporaneously and still enjoyed the RWD handling fun of the SD1. If they had been built well, they would have been world beaters. There was some alchemy about the design and handling of the V8 that really worked.
I was an apprentice @ an Appaling dire, Austin Rover main agents, called W.J.Wells of Woodford, from September 77, to November 1980 and would have PDi checked lots of SD1s.
My most vivid memory is of being out with Les, the fab bloke, whom I was apprenticed to. Wells owner, always had a new co car, every couple of months and then one day, a brand new SD1 arrived on a transporter. It was an R reg. in my minds eye, I can still see the “ unusual “ instrument binnacle.
We took the Rover out “ for road test “ down to Charlie Browns roundabout and then up to the Water Works roundabout, @ a fair lick. That Rover was really smooth, comfy and felt quick, even if it only had circa 165 Hp
My most vivid memory is of being out with Les, the fab bloke, whom I was apprenticed to. Wells owner, always had a new co car, every couple of months and then one day, a brand new SD1 arrived on a transporter. It was an R reg. in my minds eye, I can still see the “ unusual “ instrument binnacle.
We took the Rover out “ for road test “ down to Charlie Browns roundabout and then up to the Water Works roundabout, @ a fair lick. That Rover was really smooth, comfy and felt quick, even if it only had circa 165 Hp
I have to confess that since buying the SD1 in 2018 I have done nothing with it, it is tucked up in storage and aside of running the engine a few times and putting air in the tyres it is just sitting under a cover. I have been distracted by some other car projects, I have garage space for four with six classics, I have just sold one but this still means the SD1 in stuck in store.
I think banger racing and rust might have had quite a big impact on numbers!
My 3rd car in 1979 was a 1973 P6B 3500S that gripped well but wallowed around like a ship in a swell - and was just as rusty as the 9 year old Cortina then 9 year old Fiat that preceded it.
The SD1 seemed like a backward step in tecahnology to me with rear drum brakes and a rear beam axle.
Anyway in 1984 I bought a 2 year old Capri 2.8 Injection from someone who had a growing family and had bought a 3500 VDP EFi SD1 to replace it, but as I didn't need rear seats I didn't feel hard done by.
Then some years later a mate of mine bought a V8 SDi race car to do the Toyo Tyres Winter Series and I drove it to a track day at Goodwood and realised how great the SD1 could be when properly sorted!
My 3rd car in 1979 was a 1973 P6B 3500S that gripped well but wallowed around like a ship in a swell - and was just as rusty as the 9 year old Cortina then 9 year old Fiat that preceded it.
The SD1 seemed like a backward step in tecahnology to me with rear drum brakes and a rear beam axle.
Anyway in 1984 I bought a 2 year old Capri 2.8 Injection from someone who had a growing family and had bought a 3500 VDP EFi SD1 to replace it, but as I didn't need rear seats I didn't feel hard done by.
Then some years later a mate of mine bought a V8 SDi race car to do the Toyo Tyres Winter Series and I drove it to a track day at Goodwood and realised how great the SD1 could be when properly sorted!
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