Shed ahead... 75

Author
Discussion

Barchettaman

6,307 posts

132 months

Friday 23rd March 2018
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This guide works brilliantly for a bit of ghetto stone chip and scuff repair:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p...

Nice shed, can’t beat a bit of sheddy action.

Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Monday 30th April 2018
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Update on the 75....



Had it about 4 months now, almost 6000 miles in that time and currently no breakdowns... Touch wood.

Although it was serviced just before I bought it, I decided to do an engine service on it at 95000 miles, as with a fleet of cars with varying service intervals it's easiest to stick with one conservative interval for all, so I've gone with 5000 miles. Possibly overkill but I want the car to reach 200k miles!

Service included..
- new genuine oil filter and fresh Castrol GTX
- new air filter
- new PCV filter
- new fuel filter
- JATCO autobox fluid change
- new Viton intercooler seals
- top up of screenwash
- level check of PAS fluid, coolant (newish anyway as I've recently done the R5 thermostat mod), brake fluid.

I also decided to take the front bumper off to get better access for the intercooler seals, while I was at it I gave the headlights a polish. They're known for going yellow thanks to UV over time, I wet sanded using 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and eventually 2000 grit to get the smoothest possible finish, before applying a wet polishing compound and finally giving them a thick coat of carnuba wax to finish off.

End result:



While the bumper was off, I noticed the radiator fan wasn't actually attached to the car anymore, it was sitting loose against the fan motor/crash bar! I whipped the crash bar off to get access to the centre nut, peeled off a sticker in the centre that revealed it had simply un-slotted itself from the motor hub. A 15mm socket stopped the hub rotating while I reattached the fan. A couple of small drops of locktite to help it stay in position hopefully will be enough to stop it coming free again.

Loose fan as found below:



You can also see in that picture above the fruits of Project Drive, the mission by MGR to cut costs during production of later cars. One of the results of PD was to remove the high-tone horn from the dual-tone horn setup, leaving just the low-tone FIAMM unit on the nearside. Some people add the high-tone unit back in as per original design brief, I can't be bothered currently!

With that all done and dusted, I turned my attention to an irritating cabin vibration. Common problem on the CDTI Tourer models is that the roof spars between the headlining and roof skin separate away from the roof skin, which then vibrate when the engine reaches approx 1800rpm. This is due to a natural resonance at that frequency, unfortunately this equates to 60mph with the autobox so particularly annoying!

Solution is to source which spar has separated by pressing the headlining up in different locations while the resonance is present and see when it stops! Luckily for me it was occurring quite close to the front, between the front headrests in fact. I took the interior light console out and removed both sun visors, then using a long screwdriver I delicately shoved a load of old microfibre towels back between the headlining and the roof skin. I used the screwdriver to stuff some material between the roof spar and roof skin, so far not a single noise. Nice cheap (free) fix, 2 minutes and didn't need to drop the headlining.



While the sunvisors were out, I made a quick washer from a bit of plastic and superglued it to the inside of the main shaft on the drivers side, as the visor kept falling into my lap every time I drove into sun. Again a free fix, less than 10 minutes and will never fall out again.



Next job was to fit a 12v accessory socket. All cars came with a cigar lighter in the centre console but they're not beefy enough to run phone chargers and so on from on a permanent basis. Rover originally offered a 12v accessory socket which was in the centre armrest cubby, however unfortunately mine didn't have one. I wanted to run a dashcam (don't worry, I'm not a DCW!) but didn't want to hardwire it to the car, plus fitting a 12v socket seemed useful should I ever need to charge a phone etc.

I bought a genuine MGR 12v accessory socket from Rimmers, fitting was relatively straightforward. To fit the socket itself just involves cutting the blank out of the plastic inside the cubby, luckily it comes out with two T20 torxs so can be done on the bench. Once the socket it in position, live feed was taken from the designated socket in the fuse box under the glovebox. An earth was run to the earth point about 6" away behind a piece of trim in the front passenger footwell. The cable was run behind the footwell carpet, then tucked under the centre console trim, past the handbrake mechanism and up into the cubby box, all neat and tidy. There are two 12v accessory socket fuses available, one is constant live feed and one switched live feed with the ignition. I used the latter as the primary use for the 12v socket would be feeding a dashcam which I didn't want running 24/7.

All finished with USB adapter and camera cable:



Apologise for lack of pictures during the installation, there was much swearing going on due to the human body being contorted in unusual ways to access the fuse box! Next was to install the dashcam, I wanted to try a front/rear setup so googled "best dual dashcam under £100" and the Aukey DR02 turned up with positive reviews for £99. Actually very happy with it, very much a plug and play and forget about it type system.



Ideally the rear camera would be mounted to the rear glass, however with a split tailgate the wiring would have been a nightmare, so instead I opted for the lazy option and stuck the rear camera to the boot light cover. I may fabricate a proper mount in the future but for now it'll do. Wiring tucks up under the headlining and reappears at the front camera - can't stand these lazy camera installs with wires hanging about all over the place!



A browse on the Bay returned a new roller parcel shelf, I already had one but this one had a cargo net - much better at keeping the woofers out. If anyone wants the old roller parcel shelf...



Future jobs include a replacement rear badge and also a repair to the tailgate-body gas strut mount, which have a habit of failing:



Top tip though, with one gas strut removed the tailgate won't stay open, however if you open the glass first then tailgate... You counterbalance the whole thing while you take pictures to post on t' internet...



Also I am replacing the wheel bolts as the original 17mm bolts are more like rusty 16mm now, so they've got a date with the bin and also the wheels themselves, I'm keeping an eye out for a second set to wear winter tyres next winter. I will also fit new front drop links soon, I'm a bit suspicious of my existing ones so I'll swap them out and see if that improves the occasional clunk that I'm getting.

That's about it for now, have a pair of chrome mirrors off the Bay hopefully turning up soon, other than that it's just slogging it out on the motorway. A diet of only V-power is returning me about 46mpg to a tank, that's with tyres all on 33psi a corner. Not too bad given it's a big, heavy old car with an autobox.




Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
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Few more bits achieved today. Firstly replaced the original wheel bolts, it was getting to the stage where they were pretty untidy.



Secondly I replaced the rear badge



Lastly fitted some new mirrors. The adjustment motors in the original mirrors were beginning to fail, and this chrome set finish off the pearlescent green paintwork nicely compared to the standard body coloured set.



Jakg

3,462 posts

168 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
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Muddle238 said:
Few more bits achieved today. Firstly replaced the original wheel bolts, it was getting to the stage where they were pretty untidy.

I sound like such an anorak...

You might regret this. The cheap shiny wheelbolts don't stay shiny for long and corrode very quickly.

The very early cowley / pre project drive wheel bolts are black and injected with some kind of oil that makes them barely tarnish forever. Much better long term solution.

Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
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Jakg said:
I sound like such an anorak...

You might regret this. The cheap shiny wheelbolts don't stay shiny for long and corrode very quickly.

The very early cowley / pre project drive wheel bolts are black and injected with some kind of oil that makes them barely tarnish forever. Much better long term solution.
I will watch this space. The car is from the later stages of PD so I suspect the bolts I've removed are basic parts bin bolts, I'll keep a look out for some Cowley era bolts. It's always possible to stick those shiny plastic covers over the bolts if I wanted to keep them looking fresh I suppose.

Spinakerr

1,177 posts

145 months

Wednesday 2nd May 2018
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Great work, and looking good. The next sourceof mpg improvement would be the remap, though with the auto it may now quite get to 50mpg!

I put the plastic covers on mine, it has stopped deterioration but as with the alloys eventually salt and UK grime will necessitate a refurb.

Mirrors look great, and good to get the Viton seals on.

I resisted for many years getting an undertray but relented relented and it seems to have halted some of the underbody deterioration. More underseal required once it gets warm.

Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Monday 26th November 2018
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Well with the summer well and truly over, time for a quick update on the shed.

Since January it's now moved itself 19k miles, most of which has been trouble free. The summer heatwave brought to my attention a lack of functioning air conditioning, something I half thought about getting sorted. However, it seemed easier to open a window and carry on, so that's exactly what I did.

Around August, a knocking noise from the front end really started to get loud, so I investigated further and discovered one of the front anti roll bar drop links was so perished it looked like it was about to fall to bits. These cars do seem to enjoy eating front drop links, the replacement parts lasted only about three months before the knocking returned.



So after a trip to the Lake District, another poke around underneath discovered that not only was one of the new drop links playing up, the wishbone bushes were also shot and the rear coil springs suspected of being broken, due to the angle the car sat. So all of the above was replaced and the car now rides and handles like a dream.

I also had a new exhaust as the back box sounded as if the baffles had all had decided to go AWOL across the UK motorway network. Next up is a can of BG244 through the system as I've started noticing a bit of smoke under hard acceleration, so in the next few days the plan will be to clean the intake manifold, EGR, check the hoses and make sure my viton intercooler seals haven't played up.

In the meanwhile, I have a nice new set of Dunlop Winter Response 2's sitting on freshly refurbed 15" Crown alloys ready to go on, as soon as the temperature drops.



So overall a fairly smooth summer with the 75, nothing major and only routine and preventative maintenance on a 15 year old Longbridge veteran, fast approaching 110k miles. Hopefully winter doesn't bring surprises, nor it's MOT in Feb...

ciege

424 posts

99 months

Monday 26th November 2018
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Big love for them on here, are you in the club :-)




Mines been in the family since new, farther in law handed it down :-) at 108,000 now done 136,000

Lovely car!

Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Monday 26th November 2018
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ciege said:
Big love for them on here, are you in the club :-)




Mines been in the family since new, farther in law handed it down :-) at 108,000 now done 136,000

Lovely car!
I may be.. To be honest I'm a member of so many various car clubs I can't actually remember boxedin

I have zero experience of the saloon versions, always been Tourers in my family. How do you find it?

Merry

1,366 posts

188 months

Monday 26th November 2018
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Superb looking thing OP. I do have a bit of a thing for these, particularly in the colour/interior trim spec you've got.

I need help.

EarlofDrift

4,645 posts

108 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
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I have an 2004 pre-facelift and out of all the others I've driven the late pre-facelift ones just seem to be better screwed together, could be just me though.

They are well into project drive by 2004 and they aren't as desirable as the Pre Production Cowley models of 1999-2000 but I just think by 2004 they had perfected building the pre-facelift at best as they possibly could.

Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Friday 25th October 2019
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Well overdue an update about this...

About 15 months since the last post and a few things have happened. The car is approaching 130k miles, having been to the West Country, Wales, Lake District, across the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Normandy and Brittany.

Last winter the car went on to winter tyres, 4x Dunlop Winter Response 2 in 195/65r15 format. Each tyre brand new for about £60, each fitted to a set of refurbished alloys I acquired from the Bay for less than £50.





February snowfall provided a good opportunity to test them, both on roads and off road. There is a fair old debate on PH as to whether it's worth having winter tyres or not, my experience I wouldn't do another winter without them. For a majority of the time there's no huge difference, dry cornering does feel a tad more "sloppy" but as soon as the white stuff falls, you're laughing.

With temperatures climbing towards the tail end of February, the winters where removed, thoroughly cleaned inside and out, treads cleaned out, pressures pumped up and the whole set stacked at the back of the garage. I decided I preferred the ride quality of the smaller 15" to the 16"s that the car came with, so I sourced another set of 15s and put some new Pirelli rubber on them, selling the original 16s on eBay.

Next was to sort out the tatty steering wheel. The leather dye seems to flake off after 15 years of use, luckily there's a chap who provides kits to re-dye your wheel. After a few hours, I had a fresh sandstone wheel again...



However I'd been keeping an eye out on the bay of fleas for a second hand walnut steering wheel, at a reasonable price. Some seem to go for £150, which I didn't really want to pay. Typically, the evening I finished re dying my existing wheel, I found a walnut wheel for £40.. The leather needed work but hey, I'd just become a self-taught expert (read: hash artist) at re dying wheels. Plus the walnut wheel had far less leather than the standard wheel, so I should be able to sort it out with the remains of the dye and sealant I had left over.

Before



After



Fitted



Seeing as money was being spent on the aesthetics, I decided to keep an eye out for a set of halogen projectors too. The standard headlights are very average in my opinion, typical of late 90's design in reflector halogens. Eventually I came across a set of tidy looking projectors from a ZT, which were duly bought with the cash from the 16" wheel sale.



In my opinion they suit the car far better than standard reflector lenses. I put Phillips Racing Vision bulbs in for upgraded performance, avoiding the idea of HID - I can't be bothered with the added complexities of HID with ballasts, washers and so on, not to mention MOT time.

While all these various Rover upgrades have been going on, the legendary Jules has had a couple of visits this year too. The mechanicals so far this year include a lower arm, Meyle front drop links, handbrake adjustment, AC recharge, a replacement injector, some welding to fix the tailgate gas strut mount, gearbox oil change and the retrofitting of cruise control.

The rear nearside passenger window stopped functioning too, although only via the drivers main window switch panel. It was duly removed, dismantled, contacts cleaned, reassembled, reinstalled and hey, working electric windows again. I do love an easy fix!

All in all so far, the car has easily eaten it's way through far more money than either was paid for it or what it's worth, however these old retro English barges get under your skin. The old girl wafted across 2,000 miles of French roads this summer, no problem at all.


RazerSauber

2,274 posts

60 months

Friday 25th October 2019
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I've quite enjoyed this thread, lovely car! I do wonder where Rover get their reputation for unreliability sometimes.

idealstandard

644 posts

55 months

Friday 25th October 2019
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Always loved the look of these 75s. Really underrated car.

SamR380

725 posts

120 months

Friday 25th October 2019
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Technically, I think you're doing 'shed' wrong. I fully support everything you're doing though, you're even making me think about washing mine.

Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Friday 25th October 2019
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RazerSauber said:
I've quite enjoyed this thread, lovely car! I do wonder where Rover get their reputation for unreliability sometimes.
I think it's part related to the generic BL-era of British cars and partly the HG problems on K-Series engines, which I'm led to believe was to do with water pump failure more than the heads just going by themselves.

Of course, a 75 is BMW-era Rover and the diesel is from their stable, same engine to be found in the likes of the E46 320d. Chain driven, low stressed, pre-DPF days, perhaps the best combination for big mileage reliability. I even know of a few with over 300,000 miles on the clock.

Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Friday 25th October 2019
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SamR380 said:
Technically, I think you're doing 'shed' wrong. I fully support everything you're doing though, you're even making me think about washing mine.
I think you're right. It's got under my skin and I can't but help myself trying to keep it in good condition, for nothing more than the perverse reason of improving condition with higher and higher mileage...

SebastienClement

1,950 posts

140 months

Saturday 26th October 2019
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Muddle238 said:
I think you're right. It's got under my skin and I can't but help myself trying to keep it in good condition, for nothing more than the perverse reason of improving condition with higher and higher mileage...
You might be shedding wrong - but you're Rovering right!

I absolutely LOVE reading threads where TLC has been lavished on cars that could otherwise be 'old bangers'. R129's Mercedes thread takes this to an absolute extreme. Your car looks SO good though, and its so heartening to read this (and a couple of other 75 threads on here)!

I'm in the same boat that I've spent WAY over what is even reasonable improving my 75 saloon - but it was bought as a project (that's my excuse) and I aim to run it as a 'high days and dry days' car as long as is possible.

Bertie says hi...


Spinakerr

1,177 posts

145 months

Saturday 26th October 2019
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Really great stuff! Could you send me the link to the steering wheel redye kits? Ours has the look of a slightly worse-for-wear polecat at present.

The list of fixes there on a dark green tourer with Jules looks familiar!

I have also been considering a set of cheap 15s with winter tyres already on them, at the very least to try the ride quality. I think this has convinced me its a good idea, as our 75 is always the go-to car when the weather gets bad.

Onwards to 200k!

Muddle238

Original Poster:

3,894 posts

113 months

Wednesday 30th October 2019
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Spinakerr said:
Really great stuff! Could you send me the link to the steering wheel redye kits? Ours has the look of a slightly worse-for-wear polecat at present.

The list of fixes there on a dark green tourer with Jules looks familiar!

I have also been considering a set of cheap 15s with winter tyres already on them, at the very least to try the ride quality. I think this has convinced me its a good idea, as our 75 is always the go-to car when the weather gets bad.

Onwards to 200k!
Indeed I'll try and find a link for you.

It's well worth going on to winter tyres in my opinion, given how cheap it can be to find a reasonable set of 15"s on fleabay for the 75 it's virtually a no-brainer. I used Dunlop Winter Response 2 on 195/65r15, 15" Crowns. Even with the autobox, the traction was superb. I went to an airfield with about 6" of fresh untouched snow on the runway, took it up to 40mph and it felt absolutely planted.