Honest John Article

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zcar
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Honest John Article

Post by zcar » Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:00 pm

More looks than Ferrari owners got......? Well I can relate to that, on a 600 mile round trip to the south coast and back the other week, I saw 2 Ferraris and a Lambo. How many 800s? Precisely zero. So by my logic an 800 is rarer than a ferrari and a lamborghini!
Enough of my ramblings heres a link to the article:-

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/c ... ning-cool/

Enjoy
Nick

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by SJG » Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:16 pm

I was just about to post the link, you beat me to it. A good article
Simon

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:13 am

I suppose i'm spoilt here, there's at least 5 800s in my village that i know of. There are 3 White Gold (1 and 2) 2.7s (2 saloons and a coupe, at one point i owned all three together), an Oxford Blue 820 saloon and a Nightfire Vitesse Sport Fastback. In fact, as the crow flies it's only about 30 yards to where the nearest 800 not owned by me lives.

That said, when i'm out on the road, i rarely, if ever see any other 800s unless i am going somewhere i know there is another owner. Most people don't even know what they are these days but those who do tend to be a bit shocked that the head gasket hasn't gone (Jeez i hate BMW for what they did!) and that it's a 20+ year old Rover that is still running, in one piece and still looks good.

They're all forgetting one thing though.

Above all, it's a Rover! :wink:
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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'94 827 Sterling saloon
'88 Volvo 760 V6 Estate
'95 827 Coupé LPG gone but not forgotten!

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by vito » Tue Aug 04, 2015 5:51 pm

zcar wrote:More looks than Ferrari owners got......? Well I can relate to that, on a 600 mile round trip to the south coast and back the other week, I saw 2 Ferraris and a Lambo. How many 800s? Precisely zero. So by my logic an 800 is rarer than a ferrari and a lamborghini!
Enough of my ramblings heres a link to the article:-

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/c ... ning-cool/

Enjoy
Nick
Yup, a great article
Gaz (or Gary if we're being formal)

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by rovercoup » Tue Aug 04, 2015 6:25 pm

vito wrote:
zcar wrote:More looks than Ferrari owners got......? Well I can relate to that, on a 600 mile round trip to the south coast and back the other week, I saw 2 Ferraris and a Lambo. How many 800s? Precisely zero. So by my logic an 800 is rarer than a ferrari and a lamborghini!
Enough of my ramblings heres a link to the article:-

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/c ... ning-cool/

Enjoy
Nick
Yup, a great article
Agreed, it is nice to read that the cars we hold so dear are now becoming recognised as a classic by the automotive press, let it continue to grow and become more appreciated.
Rover 827 Vitesse Fastback Man Mk1 89
Rover 827 Sterling saloon Auto 90
Rover 820 Fastback 2.0 MPi Auto 90
Rover 820 Coupe sport 94
Rover 827 Sterling Saloon 95 auto
Rover 820 Vitesse Fastback 98
Rover 25 2.0TD 01
MGTF 135 02
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Re: Honest John Article

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Aug 04, 2015 6:34 pm

mrpcpc wrote:I read somewhere a while back that the Rover 800 fastback has the same drag coefficient as the Porsche 911 :lol:

It also weighs little more than a new Ford fiesta. :lol:

I want to believe it so It does :wink:

Dave, off at a tangent slightly...

I sorted the back firing out although it hasn'r=t done it since i mentioned it last as I've been a little considerate on startup with the accellerator.

It turns out that the mixer was wobbling around on the front of the intake.

I've fixed it back down as I was investigating a high temperature and so changed the thermostat for good measure (discovered the loose mixer.)

While I was at it I thought I'd look at the clutch slave too and made it worse after allowing the piston to push out on the spring when I unbolted it.

I spent the rest of the weekends journey's doing gear changes as fast as i could and almost dumping the clutch because if I held my foot down on the pedal for any longer I would lose it completely and have to physically pull the pedal back up with my hand. :lol: (I had to top it up twice too :roll: )

Last night I done a slave transplant (literally) I unbolted the old one and let the fluid run out of the pipe (pulled the pipe downwards)

I then unbolted one from a complete system I had stored ( holding the union upright ) I topped it up and topped up the reservoir and the screwed it onto the pipe, bolted it all up and it worked perfectly with no bleeding needed.

I fitted the old one to the system I had spare to save the master a while longer (stored again with the pipe up above the master.

Conveniently, the pin for the clutch pedal fits perfectly into the feed pipe to the master from the reservoir, the spare I used has been hanging in a garage since 2008 when I wrote the Sterling off that it was in ( A rare Mk2 factory manual 827 Sterling :( ) Oh well, the bits live on :wink:

Now back to our rare 800's

I love driving mine.

I found proof online that the Porsche 911 also has a Cd of 0.31 (same as the 800) but lost the page before i could copy the link. I also happen to know the 800, even in fully weighed down, Sterling trim weighs less than the Ford Focus ST180 giving it a better power to weight ratio than the Ford. As such, it's probably about the same weight as a Fiesta or any other "small" car these days!

Hmm, slave cylinders. Been having trouble with one of mine too, on the O/S/R brake of the green thing. Discovered it had siezed - managed to free it by hitting the pedal with the drum off. Then Sods Law, residual pressure popped the piston out, followed by some evil looking, black liquid! :evil:

Sorted with 5L of DOT4 and a bleeding session! Glad you sorted your clutch more simply though! :wink: :D

I've had one or two backfires from it as well, usually when i've switched it over too soon and been too enthusiastic on the loud pedal! A loose mixer will definitely cause it though - a lot of places run a bead of black RTV sealant round the throttle body to help eliminate leaks (which weaken the mixture and lead to backfires) before fitting the mixer.

Back on the 800s, i've now got two front ends, one mixer, the other SGi so just need a couple of donut tanks now. Oh yeah, a few other little odds and ends but nothing too expensive.

As for driving the 800s, i still say nothing else comes close.
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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'88 Volvo 760 V6 Estate
'95 827 Coupé LPG gone but not forgotten!

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by rovercoup » Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:37 pm

Rover 827 Vitesse Fastback Man Mk1 89
Rover 827 Sterling saloon Auto 90
Rover 820 Fastback 2.0 MPi Auto 90
Rover 820 Coupe sport 94
Rover 827 Sterling Saloon 95 auto
Rover 820 Vitesse Fastback 98
Rover 25 2.0TD 01
MGTF 135 02
Rover 45 1.6 SE 05

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by Alucard7002 » Wed Aug 05, 2015 12:24 am

mrpcpc wrote: It also weighs little more than a new Ford fiesta. :lol:
Aye but a NASP 820 on LPG is no match for a new 1.6 Fiesta! Silly 2 lane into 1 at a traffic light in Brum....

I need to find a turbo manifold and bits required to bring the NASP 820 to beyond Vitesse spec - it's downright embarrassing :oops:

Project Shitesse continues to surprise folks however! :lol:
Dušan - head lunatic @ Four Paw Racing

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by traineefarmer » Wed Aug 05, 2015 8:11 am

zcar wrote:More looks than Ferrari owners got......? Well I can relate to that, on a 600 mile round trip to the south coast and back the other week, I saw 2 Ferraris and a Lambo. How many 800s? Precisely zero. So by my logic an 800 is rarer than a ferrari and a lamborghini!
Enough of my ramblings heres a link to the article:-

http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/c ... ning-cool/

Enjoy
Nick
Do we know who the author of this article is? Craig Cheetham?
Tom.

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by traineefarmer » Wed Aug 05, 2015 8:15 am

scoobyh123 wrote: Sterling trim weighs less than the Ford Focus ST180 giving it a better power to weight ratio than the Ford. As such, it's probably about the same weight as a Fiesta or any other "small" car these days!
scoobyh123's signature wrote:9.4L, 18 cylinders, 60 valves and over 520bhp.....
But that's a less efficient use of capacity, cylinders and valves than a Bugatti Veyron! :lol:
Tom.

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by scoobyh123 » Wed Aug 05, 2015 9:57 am

traineefarmer wrote:
scoobyh123 wrote: Sterling trim weighs less than the Ford Focus ST180 giving it a better power to weight ratio than the Ford. As such, it's probably about the same weight as a Fiesta or any other "small" car these days!
scoobyh123's signature wrote:9.4L, 18 cylinders, 60 valves and over 520bhp.....
But that's a less efficient use of capacity, cylinders and valves than a Bugatti Veyron! :lol:

Maybe - but i could run all 3 for a decade for the cost of an oil change on a Bugatti Veyron! :shock: And still have change!!! :wink: :D :lol: :lol: :lol:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/bugatti/veyron/mpg

Oil and filter change - £14k
Tyres (set of 4) - £23500

It's also a more comfortable use of seats and (even on the 4.0 thing) a lot more fuel efficient than the Bugatti. The Bugatti got a best mpg figure of 17.5 which is less than 18.6mpg which is the worst i've had from the green beastie.
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
'99 Jag S Type 3.0 V6 SE


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'94 827 Sterling saloon
'88 Volvo 760 V6 Estate
'95 827 Coupé LPG gone but not forgotten!

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by Alucard7002 » Wed Aug 05, 2015 3:51 pm

mrpcpc wrote: I've been told ( although not proven as far as I'm concerned) that adding a turbo with the wrong pistons may result in detonation to the point of destruction.

I'd play safe and put a turbo engine in.

Actually, that's not true , I would go down your line of approach just to see what damage it would do to the engine :wink:
True if you crank up the boost on 9.6:1 compression on 95 octane with no supporting modifications you'll cause all sorts of headaches!

However I'm looking at liquid phase LPG injection combined with a large intercooler to really cool the incoming compressed air. That will help massively as will the much higher octane rating of LPG.

And you're right, if it fails NASP t16s are ten a penny and I have a spare sat in Dads garage ;-)
Dušan - head lunatic @ Four Paw Racing

'66 Ford Country Sedan
'89 Mazda MX5 1.6
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Re: Honest John Article

Post by Captain Sensible » Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:26 am

Interesting article. I agree on the whole driving cars your parents had thing (even though my Dad was a Volvo man).
I really wanted one of these as a kid. I just thought they looked very posh, and like a car you could push off to a country pub in, sunroof down on a warm evening 8) Dream do come true!

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Re: Honest John Article

Post by Captain Sensible » Tue Aug 11, 2015 6:12 pm

Oooh 4 star! I'd forgotten about that!

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