1985 Rover 3500 Vitesse
Discussion
In the background I've also been refurbishing all the various brackets and ancillaries.
The engine as removed looked ok, but lots of crusty bits that could be improved.
First up was the manifolds.
I bought some Deox-C rust removing solution and left them to soak along with all the other corroded brackets.
Very happy with the results, all the rust gone and perfect base for some paint.
Decided to go a little risky with the manifolds and try out VHT flameproof coating.
Went on really well and I think they'll look a lot better than the rustyness that came off!
Next up was the downpipes....
This wasn't so successful, some nasty holes and some very suspect welding to try and repair the corrosion.
The rest of the system is a full sport stainless system and I didn't want to go to tubular manifolds, they're too far gone to repair,so I had to open the wallet.
I'm glad I did though, they'll look so much nicer than what came off, and just a nice subtle shine deep down in the engine bay.
I also couldn't resist giving the rocker covers a going over.
I'd previously stripped them down when I did a top end rebuild on the donor V8, but leaving them in bare aluminium soon gives a dusting of aluminium oxide which isn't appealing. But this does leave a perfect base for painting them.
I also stripped and prepped the plenum at this point, as I figured matching would be the best look.
I went again with VHT but this time their engine enamel, I picked the "iron" effect as I really just wanted a darker grey to get as close to the factory bare aluminium as I could. The aim is to be not too "blingy" and not stray too far from a factory finish and I think this meets that nicely.
I think they came out really well.
Joe
The engine as removed looked ok, but lots of crusty bits that could be improved.
First up was the manifolds.
I bought some Deox-C rust removing solution and left them to soak along with all the other corroded brackets.
Very happy with the results, all the rust gone and perfect base for some paint.
Decided to go a little risky with the manifolds and try out VHT flameproof coating.
Went on really well and I think they'll look a lot better than the rustyness that came off!
Next up was the downpipes....
This wasn't so successful, some nasty holes and some very suspect welding to try and repair the corrosion.
The rest of the system is a full sport stainless system and I didn't want to go to tubular manifolds, they're too far gone to repair,so I had to open the wallet.
I'm glad I did though, they'll look so much nicer than what came off, and just a nice subtle shine deep down in the engine bay.
I also couldn't resist giving the rocker covers a going over.
I'd previously stripped them down when I did a top end rebuild on the donor V8, but leaving them in bare aluminium soon gives a dusting of aluminium oxide which isn't appealing. But this does leave a perfect base for painting them.
I also stripped and prepped the plenum at this point, as I figured matching would be the best look.
I went again with VHT but this time their engine enamel, I picked the "iron" effect as I really just wanted a darker grey to get as close to the factory bare aluminium as I could. The aim is to be not too "blingy" and not stray too far from a factory finish and I think this meets that nicely.
I think they came out really well.
Joe
Peanut Gallery said:
I think they came out very well!
Looking really good!
Thankyou, they look even better now with the rocker cover stickers on them.Looking really good!
Sford said:
I saw this in the flesh when you took it to C&M, my father-in-law and I pounced on you as soon as you parked up.
The car looked lovely and it was a great addition to the eclectic mix of things I've seen up there!
yes, it was really nice chatting with both of you, thankyou, glad you enjoyed it. The car looked lovely and it was a great addition to the eclectic mix of things I've seen up there!
Was a brilliant day I absolutely love that place, I'll be back once its back together.
Joe
Well this is where things get interesting...
With all the useful parts removed it was time to unmount the RR lump from the engine stand and say goodbye.
Well I say that but it'll now just sit wrapped up in my shed!
And then time to mount the fresh block on the stand ready for assembly.
I'd had a good look over it at JE, but it's even more special when its on your engine stand ready to go back together!
Here you can see the fatter top hat liners, no liner slip for me.
I do love the original touches you find when the block is super clean.
The cylinder heads are equally as clean.
Both have been machined for proper valve stem seals, bigger valves, and a deflash of the intake and exhaust ports. They should compliment the short block beautifully.
The bottom end really is lovely, with new main studs, original rods, original crank, and the whole lot fully balanced.
Baffle plate and oil pick-up installed correctly with the support that was missing from the car when I bought it!
And sump on, I also flattened out the sump face to ensure a good seal as well as using new fixings and giving it a good coat of paint.
Next up it was time to get the heads on.
The engine has been built to use composite head gaskets and give a true 9.75:1 compression.
Original 30A engine number was a must for me!
Here you can also see the NOS pistons, some of the coating has come off, but this does not affect performance. They've also been valve recessed for the hotter cam.
Heads on, cam lubed up with assemby lube, new hydraulic lifters, and rocker gear re-installed.
Finally the refreshed rocker covers went on, new valley gasket and seals, and the inlet manifold placed on for now.
Finally the exhaust manifolds went on, again with new fixings. I think that'll go very nicely in an SD1 engine bay!
Joe
With all the useful parts removed it was time to unmount the RR lump from the engine stand and say goodbye.
Well I say that but it'll now just sit wrapped up in my shed!
And then time to mount the fresh block on the stand ready for assembly.
I'd had a good look over it at JE, but it's even more special when its on your engine stand ready to go back together!
Here you can see the fatter top hat liners, no liner slip for me.
I do love the original touches you find when the block is super clean.
The cylinder heads are equally as clean.
Both have been machined for proper valve stem seals, bigger valves, and a deflash of the intake and exhaust ports. They should compliment the short block beautifully.
The bottom end really is lovely, with new main studs, original rods, original crank, and the whole lot fully balanced.
Baffle plate and oil pick-up installed correctly with the support that was missing from the car when I bought it!
And sump on, I also flattened out the sump face to ensure a good seal as well as using new fixings and giving it a good coat of paint.
Next up it was time to get the heads on.
The engine has been built to use composite head gaskets and give a true 9.75:1 compression.
Original 30A engine number was a must for me!
Here you can also see the NOS pistons, some of the coating has come off, but this does not affect performance. They've also been valve recessed for the hotter cam.
Heads on, cam lubed up with assemby lube, new hydraulic lifters, and rocker gear re-installed.
Finally the refreshed rocker covers went on, new valley gasket and seals, and the inlet manifold placed on for now.
Finally the exhaust manifolds went on, again with new fixings. I think that'll go very nicely in an SD1 engine bay!
Joe
That looks amazing, brings back fond memories of building the V8 for my Chimaera. Funnily enough I saw a slightly modded green SD1 Vanden Plas today on the way back from work, with the American spec 4 individual round headlights, it did look to be in lovely condition! Yours is pretty much just the spec I would want, it looks great
rickygolf83 said:
A work of art there!
Mr Tidy said:
Absolutely stunning. 
Biker's Nemesis said:
Threads like this make me happy.
Thankyou for the kind words, it means a lot! LewG said:
That looks amazing, brings back fond memories of building the V8 for my Chimaera. Funnily enough I saw a slightly modded green SD1 Vanden Plas today on the way back from work, with the American spec 4 individual round headlights, it did look to be in lovely condition! Yours is pretty much just the spec I would want, it looks great
I've always loved a Chimera, the underbonnet exhaust set up always looked bonkers to me. Very interesting spot, I think i can count the number of SD1's I've ever seen on the road on one hand.
I have to admit I never liked the NAS headlights, although I know some people go mad for them!
Thankyou, my dad had a vandenplas V8, but it's got to be a vitesse for me, it's all about the spoilers! But I always sway between which Vitesse colour is my favourite, my dad had a moonraker blue car, I really wanted a black car, but red probably suits the car best in the end.
Well I've been carrying on with the Rover, one thing I didn't like was the rust trail down the brake servo...
So with the assembly off to sort the bulkhead it was silly not to rebuild the master cylinder.
relatively simple system and apart from the outside not looking too nice, it was an ideal candidate for a seal kit and freshen up.
I also stripped all the paint off the servo and repainted it back to gloss black.
It's now all back in the car and I'll bleed it up before the engine goes back in.
While I had the paint out I also gave the lightened flywheel a quick coat to keep any corrosion at bay. It's had a fair chunk taken out of it so that should waken everything up even more.
One thing I did also want to do was reinstall the air conditioning components.
When I bought the car they'd all been removed but where included.
A dry fit was required to work out where everything goes.
With everything worked out its back off to completely strip, and recoat all the components.
Much better!
Finally I finished the job I'd started a little while ago re-coating the original engine looms in new loom tape.
I've gone with modern fabric loom tape, which i think gives the best appearance.
Gearbox loom all checked, re-secured and coated.
Quite difficult to photograph well, but the rest of the engine loom recived the same treatment and looks so much better in my opinion.
Joe
wormus said:
Threads like this make me jealous! Love this car and the attention to detail. It’s a real credit to you. Makes me miss my old SD1.
If it's any consolation it's taking up most of my evenings when I get back from work!My time driving mine I was so impressed at its road manners. I'm already missing driving it, can't wait to get it back together now.
Progress has been slow, and the engine is not in yet sadly.
I have carried on with the air con components which has taken some time to work out what was left over from the RR, and which bits where original SD1.
I got there in the end and worked out the bracket and compressor arrangement and aligned the idler wheel to the crank and compressor. I also finished painting and assembling the support brackets.
No pictures but I've also bled the brake system after almost fully draining the system to removed the master cylinder and engine bay lines, it was definitely needed, the fluid was gross!
The engine bay is now ready for the engine! I'm hoping to get it in within the next few days so stand by!
Joe
So I've been very quiet on here, but luckily for you guys I've been busy!
The engine looked pretty on the stand, but it couldn't stay there could it.
The Rocker Covers came off to avoid any damage during fitment
While it was nice and accessable I did pack the oil pump as per the work shop manual.
No lack of oil pressure for me!
With the engine and gearbox ready it was off the stand for the flywheel and clutch fitment.
I clingfilmed the cylinderheads to prevent any contamination or dropped fixings while it was being worked on.
With all the work done it would have been silly to not replace the clutch, despite the one on it looking fine.
So a new genuine clutch from JE went on.
Gearbox mounting went smoothly, and the whole assembly could hang together again.
Mounted up my re-taped gearbox loom, and you can also see the new mounts and gearbox output seal (larger suffix D of course) It is a vitesse after all.
Engine bay empty for hopefully the last time, and looking very nice.
After quite a bit of wiggling ( yes I did refit with the gear stick in place) It was in!
I also dropped the rocker covers back on for safe keeping.
The original engine returned to BCK after almost 3 years apart.
Lots still to go back but a massive step forward
Joe
The engine looked pretty on the stand, but it couldn't stay there could it.
The Rocker Covers came off to avoid any damage during fitment
While it was nice and accessable I did pack the oil pump as per the work shop manual.
No lack of oil pressure for me!
With the engine and gearbox ready it was off the stand for the flywheel and clutch fitment.
I clingfilmed the cylinderheads to prevent any contamination or dropped fixings while it was being worked on.
With all the work done it would have been silly to not replace the clutch, despite the one on it looking fine.
So a new genuine clutch from JE went on.
Gearbox mounting went smoothly, and the whole assembly could hang together again.
Mounted up my re-taped gearbox loom, and you can also see the new mounts and gearbox output seal (larger suffix D of course) It is a vitesse after all.
Engine bay empty for hopefully the last time, and looking very nice.
After quite a bit of wiggling ( yes I did refit with the gear stick in place) It was in!
I also dropped the rocker covers back on for safe keeping.
The original engine returned to BCK after almost 3 years apart.
Lots still to go back but a massive step forward
Joe
Superb
The car behaved pretty well. Nathan was pleased with it.
The manifolds sounds good, although I'd not heard it without. They did f
k his engine up though with various broken studs It was touch and go for a while as to whether he would need to replace it...
1275 GT said:
Brilliant to hear, did the car behave? and how is he getting on with the tubular manifolds? Did it make much difference to the noise?
Joe
Forgot to reply to this. Joe
The car behaved pretty well. Nathan was pleased with it.
The manifolds sounds good, although I'd not heard it without. They did f
k his engine up though with various broken studs It was touch and go for a while as to whether he would need to replace it...gforceg said:
As ever, massive "hats off" to you. Great work and thread upkeep. Enjoy every minute you have with it.
Thankyou I do enjoy working on it and especially driving it! surveyor said:
Forgot to reply to this.
The car behaved pretty well. Nathan was pleased with it.
The manifolds sounds good, although I'd not heard it without. They did fk his engine up though with various broken studs It was touch and go for a while as to whether he would need to replace it...
I'll definitely need to get together with Nathan once mines MOT'd to see the difference. The car behaved pretty well. Nathan was pleased with it.
The manifolds sounds good, although I'd not heard it without. They did f
k his engine up though with various broken studs It was touch and go for a while as to whether he would need to replace it...wormus said:
I’ve still got a lovely dry garage for this one if you ever decide you hate it.
A beautiful, very cool car.
Thankyou A beautiful, very cool car.
but I think it'll be a little while before I hate it, especially with how it sounds now...But we'll get to that.
So with the engine and box back in it was reassembly time!
In the light of day it still looked good, but lots of things to connect.
First was the propshaft and new exhaust downpipes.
Needed a trip out for some new stainless hardware, but definitely worth it. Everything looks so much cleaner as well, worth the time spent cleaning everything.
I didn't really want to, but in the end I'm glad I had to replace the downpipes.
Next up was the oil system.
After having so many problems priming the first time I was a little apprehensive!
Original cleaned rockershafts installed to the corrrect sides, you can also see the updated valve stem seals.
Making sure all the rockers are thoroughly lubricated, and the engine is nice and full of oil before priming the system.
Primed almost immediately with the priming tool, and made lovely pressure.
I did spend the next 10 minutes checking for leaks, but nothing so far!
Rocker covers on for hopefully the last time, and looking lovely.
Inlet manifold on next, It was of coursed cleaned as much as possible without too much disassembly.I didn't want to disturb too much as the car ran well before.
I am enjoying the painted plenum, hopefully it'll suit the car. Reassembled with the throttle linkage and TPS.
It definitely looks like it should be there, just need to hear it run now!
Joe
One downside of taking a car to pieces is you can't put back dirty and non-functioning parts when reassembling, well I can't atleast.
I'd tried previously to get the aircon fans to spin over with little sucess so I knew they needed some attention.
Disassembly was relatively simple, although the fans are seized to the motor spindles, and one of the motors casing bolts sheered.
There was nothing wrong with the motor brushes, and the windings where intact, so a little bit of investigation found a broken corroded lead to one of the motors disabling both. The wire was replaced and re-soldered and both motors swang into action.
Everything was de-rusted and freshly painted, one casing was much more corroded, leading me to thing one motor has already been replaced.
The sheared motor housing bolt did present an issue, as they run through the entire motor, and to replace I'd have to removed the unmovable fans...
So sunken SS fixings will have to do! I don't like deviating from what should be, but in this case it'll do.
There's a little mix of fixings to suit shimming to fans to the condenser, but it's much nicer than before.
Joe
I'd tried previously to get the aircon fans to spin over with little sucess so I knew they needed some attention.
Disassembly was relatively simple, although the fans are seized to the motor spindles, and one of the motors casing bolts sheered.
There was nothing wrong with the motor brushes, and the windings where intact, so a little bit of investigation found a broken corroded lead to one of the motors disabling both. The wire was replaced and re-soldered and both motors swang into action.
Everything was de-rusted and freshly painted, one casing was much more corroded, leading me to thing one motor has already been replaced.
The sheared motor housing bolt did present an issue, as they run through the entire motor, and to replace I'd have to removed the unmovable fans...
So sunken SS fixings will have to do! I don't like deviating from what should be, but in this case it'll do.
There's a little mix of fixings to suit shimming to fans to the condenser, but it's much nicer than before.
Joe
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