Reviving the old rover

[jwmurders]

Hi everyone. New to the forum, I recently acquired a 1959 series II “88” and looking for a good community for information. It will be a long road but I’m excited. I am trying to find out if a mid 1980’s Rover diesel 4 cyl is a good option to put under the hood. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance
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[adelafofca]

You are in for a fun journey. I just "finished" a 1960 88. I first made sure it ran well as my son drove it to school. I made the engine run well and did brakes to get the stopping down. I did a rewire to simplify troubleshooting. I didn't switch to an alternator at the same time but would recommend it as it is reliable and cheap. I also did a lot of bulkhead repair as the PO had this sitting outside for several year. It required new door pillars and some repair by the vents. Let on I did some cosmetics like seats and I did a spray liner for the interior as it is a surf vehicle. The liner makes it easy to clean and easier to maintain than paint.

Good luck and be patient. Like life, it is not about the destination, but the journey.

[jp-]

Nice Rover.

I've got a 61 SII that I will be repowering with a Cummins R2.8, but that might be a year or two down the road. My 1988 2.5 turbo diesel is a slug. You'd think with the turbo it would have a little more pep, but nope. So no way I'd consider putting that engine into anything. But that's just me and even though this diesel only has 100,000 km's I doubt it was treated well, so maybe it would be a different engine if it were rebuilt, but I won't be wasting the time on it to find out.

[cedryck]

Welcone to the forum. You will find a bunch of wise and usefull information here, so dont hesitate to ask. When I finished my 65 2a, the wonderful folks here and at the end of the phone at rovers north, have what you need, concentrate on the "safe" stuff, running engine, stopping brakes, proper electrics, proper steering, wheel bearings, etc. Rovers North also has plenty of Pro Line options to help with the lightning of the wallet effects of working on old rovers. cheers

[Myron]

Welcome JW. I've owned my 64 IIA for 25 years and took it off the road for restoration in 2008. It took 4 years and there were times when I told my wife I'd have my head examined if I ever did anything like this again. It also took 3x the budget I'd estimated, but it's beautiful and reliable now. I love it.

This forum used to be very active, but I think most of the old Rover community has moved over to social media. The good news for you is that there's probably a YouTube video for just about anything you could want to do. Back in the day you had to subscribe to the British magazines and save the how-to sections.

Good luck,

Myron

[cedryck]

True it seems like the forum used to be more active, but there are still loads of good information in the archives, and search engine, so if you need answers and no one pipes in, do a search, usually there has been a number of conversations about what you need to know. cheers

[jp-]

True it seems like the forum used to be more active, but there are still loads of good information in the archives, and search engine, so if you need answers and no one pipes in, do a search, usually there has been a number of conversations about what you need to know. cheers

We all moved over to the Guns & Rovers board...

[jwmurders]

The old rover has a Jeep vigilante 327 fit into it back in the late 70s which I just got running a few days ago but found a good deal on the 1986 rover diesel with tranny and t case so that being said the 327 is squeezed in that engine bay and am wanting to get something more size appropriate. Brakes are shot will tackle those soon. Just finished removing front fenders to access motor mounts. Truth be told it is a big undertaking but will just tackle it as I can.
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