Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

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mercedade
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Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Thu Sep 27, 2018 10:30 pm

So, as most of you know, when James let me know the car was up for sale, I decided to jump in.

James' thread is here: http://www.rover800.info/forum/viewtopi ... =2&t=14545 for all the grisly details of the work he's undertaken in the last few months.

My thread will be much (MUCH) slower to update - mostly because there isn't as much for me to do, but also because I'm chronically bad at chronicling my adventures.

James was a pleasure to deal with, very keen to make sure I was happy with my purchase and incredibly helpful with all the arrangements.

I'm absolutely thrilled with it. The engine is just as willing and eager as my last, albeit not quite as whisper quiet as that one (it really was sensationally quiet). The bodywork is many order of magnitude better than my last. I think, as personal taste, I prefer the Recaro seats from the standard trim over the leather of this 'lux' version, but I've no intention of changing them.

I drove it back from Suffolk to Manchester on a lovely, sunny Sunday afternoon and had a genuinely wonderful time.

Image

Brief shakedown of what's needed:

Tracking
Clutch slave (bleed or refurb and bleed - I have a seal kit)
Re-attach interior mirror
Resolve intermittent hot-start problem (extra cranking needed, but only if started in the 10-15 minute window after getting warm. Straight away it was fine, and after a slight cooldown, fine)
Fit manual boost controller and boost gauge
Glue some wayward trim (imagine dashlift, but around the glove box, corner trim etc)
Replace radio (currently an original, including working 6 disc changer in the boot, but has an intermittent amplification problem and, quite frankly, I want something more modern)
New speakers! All four are various degrees of rotten.
Replace rear bumper
Hoover it
Flush and replace coolant
Refit air-con condenser, and risk a re-gas
ID and fix exhaust blow (knowing my luck, it'll be the flipping flexi section again)
Resolve exhaust-ish smell in the cabin (potentially linked to above, but I doubt it)
Various bits of trim.
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

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Manalishi
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by Manalishi » Fri Sep 28, 2018 4:40 am

Excellent! And your house looks lovely!

Regarding the clutch slave, if you use the repair kit, please take some pics and go through the steps. Those slaves tend to have a short life so a write up would be great!
Henrik
Rover 820 Vitesse Coupe 180bhp -93 (Italy)
Rover 827 Vitesse manual (non cat) -89 (Spain)
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by neo » Fri Sep 28, 2018 5:34 am

I did an upgrade on my stereo to a JVC headunit and speakers blue tooth hands free etc big improvement well worth doing also you can get leads that let you still use steering wheel controls company called in cartec supplied mine.
tony

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scoobyh123
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by scoobyh123 » Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:01 am

mercedade wrote:
Thu Sep 27, 2018 10:30 pm

I drove it back from Suffolk to Manchester on a lovely, sunny Sunday afternoon and had a genuinely wonderful time.

Image

Brief shakedown of what's needed:

Glue some wayward trim (imagine dashlift, but around the glove box, corner trim etc)
Replace radio (currently an original, including working 6 disc changer in the boot, but has an intermittent amplification problem and, quite frankly, I want something more modern)
New speakers! All four are various degrees of rotten.
Replace rear bumper
Hoover it
Flush and replace coolant
Refit air-con condenser, and risk a re-gas
ID and fix exhaust blow (knowing my luck, it'll be the flipping flexi section again)
Resolve exhaust-ish smell in the cabin (potentially linked to above, but I doubt it)
Various bits of trim.
Deal with the wayward trim the same as dash lift Adrian - get it nice and warm, glue it with Evil-Stik, Gorilla Glue or your preferred weapon of choice to stick things permanently then clamp it with the usual stuff to hold it in place overnight to cool, set and cure - preferably longer if you can.

Before you go to the expense of replacing the stereo, renew the speakers. You may well find it cures the amplification problem. Without going into the technical details, the amplifier can see a damaged speaker as a short circuit and shut down that channel temporarily as a result. In simple terms, when the speaker cone is intact, it provides mechanical resistance to the movement of the speaker coil which is normally held in the speaker magnets field. This creates the impedance the amplifier needs. If the coil is allowed to physically move out of that field, it becomes simply a coil, with little or no resistance so presents as a dead short to the amp.
At certain frequencies (the resonant frequency of the coil) it will provide reluctance but that is one frequency only, the rest of the time it's simply a coil of wire with no resistance to speak of. The amp needs impedance so needs the speaker coil to still be well and truly in the speakers magnetic field.

Coolant - ethylene glycol (the blue/green stuff), don't use the red OAT stuff as it can damage the cast iron block and if there is any ethylene glycol left in the system, will form a gel with it, blocking the internal waterways.

You can buy replacement flexi exhaust sections on fleabay, some are weld-in, others are clamp-in. Either will resolve the problem if it is that blowing.

What colour is the trim and what bits do you need? I've got a few bits of Stone Beige and a very few bits of grey, think it's the lighter grey but not sure of the exact name.

Nice mansion by the way! :wink: :D
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!

mercedade
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:56 pm

Thanks for the positive comments all.

The 'house' is just a ground floor flat I'm afraid, whilst I'm renting and getting my life back together (long story), but the gates certainly make it look a bit fancy...

And this is my 1000th post! Right, on to today's little bits of work...
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

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scoobyh123
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by scoobyh123 » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:08 pm

At least there are no stairs to negotiate in a ground floor flat when you crawl home from the pub 3 sheets to the wind! :P

Good luck getting things back on the level, you'll get there sooner or later! :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

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


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

mercedade
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:15 pm

I don't like the washed out beige grill:

Image

I have a black grill:

Image

The Rover badge in the black grill had a massive stone chip right in the centre, the cream one didn't, so:

Image

Image

The nuts on both were a little seized - on each one, the same threaded stud pulled itself out of the plastic moulding on the grill, but ultimately, it doesn't matter:

Image

I actually noticed it was a little off straight after taking this photo, so it is now properly lined up!
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

mercedade
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:17 pm

Easy stuff:

Image

Missing both the plastic ring, and the rubber donut.

Image

Not any more
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

mercedade
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:40 pm

Look at the state of that scuttle panel

Image

Image

I have a couple going spare, thankfully. So after a brisk rub down with the plastic/wire brush attachment on my drill, I was able to give it a coating of some old school (and definitely toxic) rust preventer

Image

Image

Fast forward a few days and I could give it a paint:

Compare with the old one:

Image

Fastfoward another 48 hours:

Image

Image

Whilst I was there, I also gave the wiper arms an (extremely superficial) blast with the black aerosol paint and it all looks much tidier
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

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scoobyh123
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by scoobyh123 » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:42 pm

All good stuff - black grille definitely looks better! :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

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


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

mercedade
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:46 pm

It wasn't until I was doing a walk around lightbulb check that I even realised this was happening. With the engine running, you can't hear it. With the engine off, it turns out the headlight level adjuster was constantly powering - either jammed, or broken. This racket is purely from the headlight.



I briefly considered investigating, but I had a spare set of headlights, and that seemed a much easier way to do it.

Image

And now I have silent headlights again (plus the Osram Nightbreaker bulbs from my old Vitesse, so better output too).
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

mercedade
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:52 pm

Other stuff from today is:

I've fitted the missing n/s/r mudflap from my spares stash
Fitted the rear-view mirror (although I strongly suspect I'll have to give in and get proper rear view mirror glue)
Carried on cleaning.

No pictures of that though - we all know what they look like.

And my reward?

Image

A bloody water leak!

I say leak, it looks to be coming from the vicinity of the water pump, but after about 4 mins it just stopped. Coolant level is decent, and what's coming out wasn't greasy and didn't smell like coolant. Could possibily be connected to the massive rain we had over the last week (this is the first time it's been started since then), but I'm not confident.

I'm also not too worried as I'm flushing, dropping and changing the coolant anyway so I'll have plenty of time to inspect for leaks - but it is annoying.
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

mercedade
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:55 pm

Manalishi wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 4:40 am
Excellent! And your house looks lovely!

Regarding the clutch slave, if you use the repair kit, please take some pics and go through the steps. Those slaves tend to have a short life so a write up would be great!
Thanks!

I have good news (for me) and bad news (for you).

I did a proper rummage through my spares stash today and found:

Image

Two spare slaves! There is a seal kit for the used one, but...I'm not going to use it because I've also got a brand new one. The write up will have to come another day! Sorry :D
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

mercedade
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Posts: 1476
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Location: Manchester, UK
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by mercedade » Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:16 pm

scoobyh123 wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:01 am
Deal with the wayward trim the same as dash lift Adrian...
That's pretty much my plan. The only difficulty I've had so far is that not every bit is clampable. I'm coming up with elaborate systems of wedging wood with books and the like at the moment, but it will be a few weeks before I can try them out,

As an example, here's one area:

Image

There aren't many to be honest, but they are just a shade more prominent than I'd like so would like to resolve.
scoobyh123 wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:01 am
...Helpful radio facts...
Cheers Dave. I'll be honest, I'll be ditching the original equipment irrespective of whether or not it is revived with new speakers. I'll keep it stashed for a future owner (although there may never be one :) ) but I want one with WiFi access so I can stream direct from Spotify. Tape adapters and small FM transmitters are both too much of a pain and sound quality will never be good enough. For the last year, I've had an Android headunit, tethered through my phone's 4G signal, playing through the Harman Kardon speakers on the ZT and it's been a total revelation. Trouble is, they tend to be double DIN. I've got plenty of spare centre console panels to start playing around with making a double DIN fit, but can't say I'm wild about it (and I know it won't be popular here :lol: )

I'll be replacing the front speakers with decent units (can anyone reading this confirm size for me please?) and reinstalling the same amp and sub in the boot that's been in my last 6 cars. Although I had it in my last one, I'm undecided about another amplifier 6x9s in the parcel shelf at the moment. If I can find another cream parcel shelf then maybe (I kept my old one as a template, but it's grey).
scoobyh123 wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:01 am

Coolant - ethylene glycol (the blue/green stuff), don't use the red OAT stuff as it can damage the cast iron block and if there is any ethylene glycol left in the system, will form a gel with it, blocking the internal waterways.
We'll see eh? :wink:

(Just teasing - it's already on blue and I've not got the inclination to start switching now. I just needs flushing, as you saw the amount of crap in the system from when James was working on it)
scoobyh123 wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:01 am

You can buy replacement flexi exhaust sections on fleabay, some are weld-in, others are clamp-in. Either will resolve the problem if it is that blowing.
Either scenario sounds like a much bigger ballache than I really want, but yes will have to keep those options in mind. Took me ages to track down a replacement front pipe for my last one - and even that wasn't right in the end. I have a spare (and brand new) T-series front pipe, just can't remember which version it is. Will have to measure up.
scoobyh123 wrote:
Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:01 am

What colour is the trim and what bits do you need? I've got a few bits of Stone Beige and a very few bits of grey, think it's the lighter grey but not sure of the exact name.
Cream! Acres of cream and red. Appreciate the thought though.
Adrian
1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (white gold)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 820 Vitesse Hatchback (green)
Gone...1992 Rover Mk1 827 SLi Manual (green)
Gone...1998 Rover Mk2 825 Diesel (green)

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scoobyh123
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Re: Mercedade's '97 Vitesse Lux

Post by scoobyh123 » Fri Sep 28, 2018 10:39 pm

Stone Beige parcel shelves are like unicorn turds and hens dentists. If you've got a grey one, i'd suggest recovering or recolouring it, especially if it's already got the 6x9s in it.

Door speakers are 5.25"/130mm, easily found on fleabay from about £20 upwards, depending on your pocket, taste and desire to have a named brand etc - you know the score!

I know some of the "purists" won't like the idea of a double-DIN Android head unit but looking at the facts, in many ways your car is similar to mine - very nice but doubtful that it will ever be a Concours D'Elegance winner. As such, make it what you want it to be and enjoy it! With an Android head unit, you can also have a reversing camera and dashcam if you add a couple of cameras, one with additional switching from the reverse lights to flip the display to reversing camera.
I've got a mirror dashcam and that has a reversing camera function built in to the rear camera - put it in reverse and the display changes to rear camera with guidance lines on the screen which is part of the mirror. Extremely good translucency as well, still functions very well as a mirror, even with the camera display running.
Quite funny this time of year with the sun low, driving along a tree-lined road - dark but you can see the bright pots where the sun is coming through the trees and because they get bigger the nearer they are, it's like driving through a star field! :lol:

One day they might even introduce a class at the Concours for the nicest modified or most subtle modified, in which case we might be contenders! :P

The replacement flexi joint was suggested with the thought in mind about how hard it is to find a genuine Vitesse front pipe - they're with the Stone Beige parcel shelves! :wink: :D
Cheers,
Dave

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


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

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