Noob to Rover/Oldie to British

[slowmo]

I just rescued a 1971 Series IIa 88 for an abusive home (no maintenance in years). I'm replacing all tires, wheel bearings, brakes, wheel cylinders, the cracked exhaust manifold, generator, water pump, all hoses, flushing the radiator and heater core, pan gasket, valve cover gasket, new points, distributor cap, rotor, wires, plugs, and other stuff.

I'll drain all cases, fill all zerks, change oil, etc.

I'll re-torque the head bolts, adjust the valves (compression is good), start it up, time it, and adjust the carb (Weber or so it appears - must be verified). Once I get it running sufficiently I'll see what else it needs. I intend to keep it as a survivor since it has no rust. Maybe later a frame off, but right now I'll just get the kinks worked out.

Am I missing something specific to Series Rovers? I've rebuilt several British sports cars (the last one a 1959 TR3) so I do know so in's and out's of British engineering. But I don't want to miss something important!!

Thanks in advance.
David

[bensdad]

Oil drip pan for the garage or driveway
Very nice old truck BTW best of luck with it !!

[stomper]

Clean the grounds, but since you know Lucas, you already knew this.

[slowmo]

My wife is well conditioned to the Exxon Valdez aspect of British cars, thank goodness. I think the oil leaking may be why the truck has no rust. The underside is well lubricated. Drip pan. Check.

Concerning Lucas, I will try to keep the smoke inside the wires instead of freeing it.

I've got the Green book on order, but so far I haven't found instructions for the Weber carb and I know nothing about it, though I figure we will be acquainted soon. Anyone have a tune up manual PDF for the carb?

[o2batsea]

The manuals for the truck and the carb are widely available from several online locations. You need to spend about 15 seconds with google and it can all be yours free for download.
There is not very much NOS for these anymore. If you need parts you'll have to appeal to the hoarders, surf eBay, buy parts trucks or make it yourself. There is however a crap ton of counterfeit and reproduction parts varying in quality from marginally useful to patent garbage. Caveat emptor.
Personally I wouldn't touch the head bolts unless it is to replace a gasket.

[slowmo]

Personally I wouldn't touch the head bolts unless it is to replace a gasket.

Why? I generally would think of making sure they were torqued properly before gapping the valves. This is the kind of info I am looking for!

[stomper]

If there is a copper head gasket in there, you need to re torque the head, or you will blow the head gasket. If it is a composite gasket you are fine. Since you aren't sure, torque them.

As far as parts availability, we all keep our trucks on the road with re manufactured parts for the most part. Some parts are better than others, but don't be scared for off. There are work arounds and parts available to fix everything you will ever need aside from a few things.

[slowmo]

Thanks for the info. Compared to getting parts for a 1959 TR3 I am finding Series IIa parts a piece of cake...and...cough, cough actually quite reasonable. I shouldn't have said that. Of course I have not been buying heavy metal yet.

I just started exploring the forum so some of my questions are being answered with a little research. For example I'll see which carb I have when I get home and find tuning instructions on line (or scream for help again if not).

I will say, in my one week of ownership and tearing off parts, this truck is so easy to work on. Working on a British sports car is a character builder (or destroyer depending on which frozen bolt you are trying to remove). Everything on the Series is right there and ready to remove. Love it...so far.

[cedryck]

Slomo, these trucks are great to wrench on, very easy. With moderate apptitude mechanical skills you can do everything. And always ask here for help when in doubt. The green bibles are great place to start. Just a thought for any series rover sitting for a while drain the tank, usually loads of crud in the fuel, but, looks great best of luck with it, Oh what did you name it?
Cheers.

[slowmo]

Good one! Tank will be screened. Hadn't thought of that one.

I'll have to drive it a little to arrive at a name, however, from what I have read slow-mo may be a descriptive name. Sort of why I choose it as my forum moniker.

[triumphtr7guy]

Good one! Tank will be screened. Hadn't thought of that one.

I'll have to drive it a little to arrive at a name, however, from what I have read slow-mo may be a descriptive name. Sort of why I choose it as my forum moniker.

draining of tank very good thing to do, when I did mine, found 2 rubber fishing worms,had weathered quite well, but still no idea how they got there. Nice 3 Slomo, wiring shouldnt be a big challenge, color coding the same, same principals, keep the smoke in the wires. What part of the country are you located in if not being too nosy

[slowmo]

I have gone fishing several times into fuel tanks, but never with rubber fishing worms as bait. I'll try that next time. I am usually trying to fish out something I dropped in there. It is especially easy to drop things into the the TR3 tank located horizontally just aft of the cockpit.

I do have my first strange issue, however. In draining the rear diffy, I found the drain plug to have odd pitting. Being the genius I am, I didn't really think about it, reinstalled it, and filled the diffy with new gear oil. When emptying the drain pan, I found the remains of a bolt (I think) beaten to smitherines. This THING has lived in the diffy for a while and I suppose that it actually at one point was attached to something. This same something may be wondering where the bolt is and be suffering for it's disappearance. Here is a pic which I will be attaching to our Christmas letter since I am spending more time with the Rover than my lovely wife as of late.



Can anyone identify the origin of this thing? Rats. Viewing the drawings, I tend to think it is a crown wheel to housing bolt (PN RNB507) as it seems to be the only bolt interior to the diffy.

Otherwise, I drained about 3/4 of a gallon of viscous dirt from various boxes and replaced it with 1.5 gals of gear oil. I still have the main gear box to attend to. After a couple of weeks of driving, I'll drain it all again in hopes of obtaining fairly reasonable lubrication.

Oh. I am located near Reno, NV.
David

[SafeAirOne]

Hmm...I'm trying to remember...I seem to recall reading on one of these forums, accounts of failures of rover diffs due to movement of the ring gear. I can't remember what the root cause of the movement was--replacement ring gears of incorrect thickness maybe?? I don't really remember, but this movement caused failures of the bolts due to the excessive shear loads put on them by the floppy ring gear during starts and during transitions from power loading to engine braking (deceleration during coasting).

Based on the evidence you've found, I would strongly recommend pulling the diff (if it's a rover-type diff) or removing the rear cover (Salisbury diff) and making sure all the bolts are present and correctly torqued (and locked) before you drive farther away from your house than your care to walk back.

[SafeAirOne]

The only other thing I could imagine it being is a broken third member stud that a PO had pounded out of its hole in the diff housing, but failed to retrieve before reinstalling the third member.

Having said that, the head doesn't really look like the head of the studs shown in the book--It's much thicker...

[lumpydog]

Slowmo - great looking rig! Nice patina - leave it like that!! Really nice.

Regarding that bolt that made its way out of the diff. It definitely merits opening the diff to check things out. One thing I've learned about these trucks is that they "talk" to you. You just have to know how to listen... Pay attention to subtle and not-so-subtle protests and signs (spitting out a chewed on bolt is not-so subtle). Ignore things like this and you will learn a harder lesson.

In the last three months I've also replaced the exhaust manifold, generator, fuel pump, starter, all hoses, flushed the radiator and replaced heater core, replaced the distributor entirely, new wires, plugs and a lot more. I've been setting aside the replaced parts as spares. My philosophy on consumable parts that wear: Check'm and fix'm before they break and you'll always know how to fix it in the future. Also - going down this path of swapping out old parts means I have working backup parts/spares. While I'm also new to all of this (purchased mine last summer), let me know if I can share any stories or advice based on my recent experiences.

It sounds like you're keeping the distributor itself and replacing its serviceable parts. Be sure to slip/lift it out and feel the bottom/shaft to make sure there is no wobble/play - being sure not to change the rotor position so you can drop the distributor back in at the same point of rotation.

If our host here cannot supply it, Ike Goss (pangolin4x4) is a great source for NOS and used parts.

Oh - also, post more pictures! Inside and out. Give us a chance to take a good look at her :-)