The Rover is dead. Long live the Rover!

[tyre_tread]

I received the head gasket test kit from Frost on Friday so I used it on the Rover earlier today.

If the fluid turns from a purple colour to yellow then the head gasket has blown (or at least one in the case of the V8!) Any chance that my eyes are deceiving me or is there a difference in colour between the original fluid in the bottle on the right and that in the tube on the left?



The question now is whether just to take it apart and see what is the damage or, as I know the original engine is not in the best shape, whether to go for a complete new engine.

Answers on a postcard..........

Next stop is the RPI website!

[Sporting Bear]

Good news, no sign of steriods and you're pregnant

[mark r skinner]

Sporting Bear said:

Good news, no sign of steriods and you're pregnant

[tyre_tread]

I've decided to go for the cheapie route for now and ordered a gasket set from RPI. Once the heads are off I'll examine them and see if they're suitable for re-use or if I need to order a set of refurb'd heads.

Edited by tyre_tread on Wednesday 14th February 21:11

[mark r skinner]

tyre_tread said:

devcided and ceapie and oredr

Are you drowning your sorrows mate?

[justinbaker]

Alan, The best approach might be to hold a hose on the inlet pipe of the engine, and flush through both the radiator, then the engine. In the case of the head gasket reporting OK, could it be a cracked liner, rather than the "squidged bit". But either way heads have to come off.

I would get a good 3.9 engine, and rebuild it, not for power, just make a nice job, you can always restrict it.

Shame old Benson has a bit of a cold, I am rather fond of the old bit of tin.

Iff you like I will take some folding stuff out of the bank and hand it to you, just park it on my drive eh!!!

[tyre_tread]

justinbaker said:

Alan, The best approach might be to hold a hose on the inlet pipe of the engine, and flush through both the radiator, then the engine. In the case of the head gasket reporting OK, could it be a cracked liner, rather than the "squidged bit". But either way heads have to come off.

I would get a good 3.9 engine, and rebuild it, not for power, just make a nice job, you can always restrict it.

Shame old Benson has a bit of a cold, I am rather fond of the old bit of tin.

Iff you like I will take some folding stuff out of the bank and hand it to you, just park it on my drive eh!!!

For now I want to get the old boy back on the road and then I can do a proper job once the garage is built.

I do fancy doing the 3.9 rebuild route but not sure I have the confidence. Fancy giving me a hand?

[b.johnson]

Sound like an interesting job, what size is the engine that is in it?

[tyre_tread]

b.johnson said:

Sound like an interesting job, what size is the engine that is in it?

Hi Ben, long time no see.

Its the bog standard 3.5 and AFAIK its the original engine from 1970!

Edited by tyre_tread on Friday 16th February 11:55

[tyre_tread]

Well guys, the disassembly has started (although gaskets not arrived yet).

All moral support is welcome.

I suspect ther will be lots of tea drunk over the next few days

Edited by tyre_tread on Monday 26th March 09:20

[mark r skinner]

tyre_tread said:

All moral support is welcome.

# We love you Alan, we do.
We love you Alan, we do.
We love you Alan, we do.
Oh Alan, we love you." #

[tyre_tread]

Oh dear!

I managed to get as far as removing the ancillieries and rocker cover and valley gasket. What a mess. I am surprised the old boy was running so well.

There's certainly a lot of cooking been going on.

Before I started - It already looks messy where the water has been sprayed around from the over heating



Once I had disconnected all of the ancillieries and the inlet manifold it looked like this:


I took one of the rocker covers off and found this


Then I took a look inside the rocker cover and


A closer look revelaed how badly it is caked with dried out emulsified oil.


and undneath the valley gasket just made my heart sink.


I am at a real low ebb now and cannot believe just how bad it looks.

I was running out of daylight and just didn't have the heart to remove the heads. I'm not even sure its worth removing the heads. I suspect the engine is scrap anyway!

Now I REALLY need a morale boost!

Thoughts guys?

Edited by tyre_tread on Saturday 17th February 17:14

[tyre_tread]

justinbaker said:

If you like I will take some folding stuff out of the bank and hand it to you, just park it on my drive eh!!!

Quite a tempting offer right now!

[markytop]

You should have posted an 18 certificate or similar for photos such as those.
I don't know much about the internal goings on under the bonnet, but those pictures don't tell a pretty story.

Hope you can sort it Alan, as yours is a really good example of Rover's heyday.

[tyre_tread]

Thanks Mark.

I might delete them as it is quite upsetting.

I'm trying to get hold of JB at the mo as I think he might be bale to offer me some support and advice. Besides, he'll know the best place to be able to get some fluid for my parts washer which I am DEFINITELY foing to need over the coming days!

[pupp]

Looks exactly like you'd expect a high mileage old skool motor to look like bearing in mind most of its miles would have been on old skool oil without any detergents etc. If it's 'running well' as you say, just do the minimum... if the heads are coming off, it's no biggie to give the chambers a clean up and maybe clean up the valve seats... trouble is that leads to quaestions about whether the guides are worn etc. If the numbers all match, though, I'd be tempted to rebuild what's there over sticking a replacement in as originality is everything with classics. Chemical cleaning will get rid of all that goop if you do decide to dig her out and get dirty!

[Sporting Bear]

I'm glad someone who knows what they're talking about has just posted before me

The yogurt looked interesting but the general mess around and in the engine didn't look too bad to me (not that I know the first thing about mechanics) also considering it's been suspect for a while

I remember the Rover V8 likes regular oil and filter changes so once you've cleaned it up you can keep on top of it

If you can get someone who can recognise what, if any, parts need replacing to point those parts out to you , you can then see what the job involves

I'm sure a lot of Rover V8 engines get bucket loads of abuse and are still repaired easily, remember all the applications the engines had

Benson will return

[tyre_tread]

Thanks guys, you're probably right: Just doesn't feel that way right now.

Nigel, what are you up to next week

[Sporting Bear]

tyre_tread said:

Nigel, what are you up to next week

I'm on Spokey's run

Email me if you think I can help you with anything (help, me, = desperate you)

[tyre_tread]

Sporting Bear said:

tyre_tread said:

Nigel, what are you up to next week

I'm on Spokey's run

Email me if you think I can help you with anything (help, me, = desperate you)

And here's me thinking you are handy with a spanner?

All support is good, even just assisting in lifting the bonnet, sucking air through teeth & slowly shaking head from side to side in a sympathetic manner.