Rover 214 SEi - am I mad?
Discussion
Seen one REALLLLLLY cheap locally, and we could certainly use a 'spare' car around, given that me and the missus work opposite shifts. They look alright to me, based on a cursory search of the internets - make sure cambelt has been done, check for any obvious problems and just buy the thing?
Good little cars. The hg issue isn't as bad as people make out but check it over well to make sure it isn't cheap for a reason...
I had one as a runaround last year for a bit. Handled well, had enough poke and was very comfy. Build is hit and miss but it's still a nice interior.
Watch out for rust if your planning on hanging onto it. If its got tax and test, you would be silly not to.
I had one as a runaround last year for a bit. Handled well, had enough poke and was very comfy. Build is hit and miss but it's still a nice interior.
Watch out for rust if your planning on hanging onto it. If its got tax and test, you would be silly not to.
Liquid Knight said:
Good cars, victims of bad press and stigma.
How cheap? I may be after a run about if the mighty 213S needs work. ;-)
I know you love your 213 How cheap? I may be after a run about if the mighty 213S needs work. ;-)
As I live in Jersey, it wouldn't exactly be an economical purchase for you, I suspect...The chap just called me and said it needs a CV joint done - shouldn't be expensive, I imagine?
Liquid Knight said:
About a fiver and an hours work to fit a replacement drive shaft from a scrapped car.
New CV joins go for around the £40-70 mark and take just as long to do.
Hmm, may see if our local scrappie has one - bit limited over here as far as that goes. Either way, it's cheap enough to go for it I reckon. Thanks for the advice New CV joins go for around the £40-70 mark and take just as long to do.
Classic Grad 98 said:
If it's cheap enough for you to want it, and you have a need for it, why not?
Obviously it'll require daily head gasket changes
Kind of my thinking - even with the repair I know about, this car will be cheap enough that if it dies on me I won't care too much. And if it goes on for a couple of years, it's a win all round!Obviously it'll require daily head gasket changes
The Original shape 214 pre-dates the HG problems. Only When BMW got hold of the "K" series did they become a proble. I had a Original 214Si (95bhp), a 416i(120bhp) and a 25(120Bhp) and had no problems. I did try out a SEI when looking at replacing the Si. The SEI did have power steering which was wierd coming from a non-power steered Si but felt a little more powerful. In this weather the car warms up faster than anything else as well. Fuel consumption on all the K engined cars was really good as well. I miss them really.
telecat said:
The Original shape 214 pre-dates the HG problems. Only When BMW got hold of the "K" series did they become a proble. I had a Original 214Si (95bhp), a 416i(120bhp) and a 25(120Bhp) and had no problems. I did try out a SEI when looking at replacing the Si. The SEI did have power steering which was wierd coming from a non-power steered Si but felt a little more powerful. In this weather the car warms up faster than anything else as well. Fuel consumption on all the K engined cars was really good as well. I miss them really.
So a 94 car should be OK (BMW ownership was 95-on IIRC) then? As long as it goes, stops and turns corners it'll be all I really need so anything better than that is a bonus. What are these like to insure, incidentally? Can't be any more than my Fiesta Zetec-S, anyway!The K series was in many ways a great engine. Light, powerful efficient.
Like the MGA Twin Cam it was ruined by unreliability which has still not been solved to this day. There are improvement but the Achilles heel HG is still the Achilles heel.
You would think in the 50 years between the MGA Twin Cam (eating pistons) and K series (blown HG) the engineers would have learnt the error of their ways.
Apparently not.
I hope you enjoy your car, I would recommend RAC recovery as a back up.
Like the MGA Twin Cam it was ruined by unreliability which has still not been solved to this day. There are improvement but the Achilles heel HG is still the Achilles heel.
You would think in the 50 years between the MGA Twin Cam (eating pistons) and K series (blown HG) the engineers would have learnt the error of their ways.
Apparently not.
I hope you enjoy your car, I would recommend RAC recovery as a back up.
Figured it wouldn't be TOO long before the first "OMG so unreliable" post in a Rover K-series thread. As I understand it, the 1.4s didn't suffer from the HG issues anything like as badly as the 1.8, and, as pointed out on this very thread, those problems really began under the BMW stewardship anyway. So, with this car being a: a 1.4 and b: pre-BMW - thanks for your concern, but I'm prepared to take the risk 
You are correct the smaller K series engines are far less trouble.
I am a fan of K series engines surprisingly.
I have fitted a high output 1800 MGTF K series into Classic Mini Cooper Cabriolet I own without a problem. It goes like the proverbial off a shovel.
I also have a Banham Kit Car based on GTi Metro bits with a 1.4 Twin Cam K series happily driving the car. Not a problem to date, another flyer.
But I find the arrogance of the original designers in producing a modern engine with such a weakness breathtaking. It was apparent from the start that a cross bolted mass production engine would be a risk. Name another successful cross bolted mass produced engine. I cannot think of one.
Would Volkswagen, Fiat or Volvo allow this? I think not. Reliability is their concern. Probably why they are still trading.
I am a fan of K series engines surprisingly.
I have fitted a high output 1800 MGTF K series into Classic Mini Cooper Cabriolet I own without a problem. It goes like the proverbial off a shovel.
I also have a Banham Kit Car based on GTi Metro bits with a 1.4 Twin Cam K series happily driving the car. Not a problem to date, another flyer.
But I find the arrogance of the original designers in producing a modern engine with such a weakness breathtaking. It was apparent from the start that a cross bolted mass production engine would be a risk. Name another successful cross bolted mass produced engine. I cannot think of one.
Would Volkswagen, Fiat or Volvo allow this? I think not. Reliability is their concern. Probably why they are still trading.
The k-series is a very good engine in my opinion, very light and producing a high specific output. The ladder construction was a revolutionary idea but ultimately didn't locate the engine's block components positively enough from the factory.
I've driven a few Caterhams with k-series and the character and shere racket is addictive.
I've driven a few Caterhams with k-series and the character and shere racket is addictive.
telecat said:
The Original shape 214 pre-dates the HG problems. Only When BMW got hold of the "K" series did they become a proble. I had a Original 214Si (95bhp), a 416i(120bhp) and a 25(120Bhp) and had no problems. I did try out a SEI when looking at replacing the Si. The SEI did have power steering which was wierd coming from a non-power steered Si but felt a little more powerful. In this weather the car warms up faster than anything else as well. Fuel consumption on all the K engined cars was really good as well. I miss them really.
The wedge shaped 200's were good little cars. Still see the odd few about, escorts & astras of the age are non-existant now. Edited by SuperHangOn on Sunday 5th February 12:34
Steffan said:
You are correct the smaller K series engines are far less trouble.
I am a fan of K series engines surprisingly.
I have fitted a high output 1800 MGTF K series into Classic Mini Cooper Cabriolet I own without a problem. It goes like the proverbial off a shovel.
I also have a Banham Kit Car based on GTi Metro bits with a 1.4 Twin Cam K series happily driving the car. Not a problem to date, another flyer.
But I find the arrogance of the original designers in producing a modern engine with such a weakness breathtaking. It was apparent from the start that a cross bolted mass production engine would be a risk. Name another successful cross bolted mass produced engine. I cannot think of one.
Would Volkswagen, Fiat or Volvo allow this? I think not. Reliability is their concern. Probably why they are still trading.
The Engine Designers specified particular pegs and engine gasket materials in order for the engine to run reliably. They had already hit problems without them and knew what would happen if they were not used. BMW changed the spec and then the problems started. If anybody was arrogant it was BMW not the Rover engineers.I am a fan of K series engines surprisingly.
I have fitted a high output 1800 MGTF K series into Classic Mini Cooper Cabriolet I own without a problem. It goes like the proverbial off a shovel.
I also have a Banham Kit Car based on GTi Metro bits with a 1.4 Twin Cam K series happily driving the car. Not a problem to date, another flyer.
But I find the arrogance of the original designers in producing a modern engine with such a weakness breathtaking. It was apparent from the start that a cross bolted mass production engine would be a risk. Name another successful cross bolted mass produced engine. I cannot think of one.
Would Volkswagen, Fiat or Volvo allow this? I think not. Reliability is their concern. Probably why they are still trading.
IMO the really basic mistake was to design an engine that required the level of care in assembly that this engine requires knowing full well this would be almost impossible to achieve in mass production.
BMW may have made it worse by cost cutting but the basic design is inherently unsuited to mass production.
Can anyone name another mass produced cross bolted engine cast in alloy?
I do not think so.
This construction is simply not suited to the vagaries of mass production.
BMW may have made it worse by cost cutting but the basic design is inherently unsuited to mass production.
Can anyone name another mass produced cross bolted engine cast in alloy?
I do not think so.
This construction is simply not suited to the vagaries of mass production.
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