Saved for future generations to enjoy my 820SE

[Very Tall Brad]

Beautiful, Kate.

[Flinty]

great car there Kate... and of course it had to be a fastback!

[TDHFastback]

Thank you very much everyone. I appreciate your kind words.
Course now I have to try and decide what I bring to Peterborough.


I think in years to come all the 800s left will be the luxury/sporty versions and these basic models will be very very few and far between so its up to us to try and keep some of them.

But then I would say that

Kate

[marcushull]

Think you are right there a bit like you always see cooper , 1275 GT , or the specials but hardly see the basic 850 minis

and I`m still waiting to find out why the biscuit cried !!

[Lord Sterling]

and I`m still waiting to find out why the biscuit cried !!

ps why did the biscuit cry?

because his mother had been 'awafer' so long

Your right Kate about there being fewer poverty-spec models. Its happening now, moreover I think because people can finally afford to have what they couldnt before, therefore low-spec models are often overlooked or heavily modified. Shame really.

I'd seriously love to have a car exactly like yours, though an 827 if I can help it, though it would have to look exactly like your 820, no alloys or spoilers, just clean cut and original. Funny that, because I had an 827 Fastback before, though it had a bodykit and alloys

Lord Sterling

[LeeLee]

I would love another Mk1 820i fastback. I miss my old H reg 820i I bought it on a whim and it was one of the best cars I have ever owned... The best because it gave me less greif..!

[Roadwork]

That's really, really lovely. Paint it Silver Leaf and put the 14" wheels on and it'd be a spit of my old 820e, E193GHJ.

The interior was virtually identical, except I had the old 6 dial dash, oh and keep-fit windows in the back.

I did have a few custom-fit improvements I found in scrappies, though. I had map-reading lights for the front seats that an 820e wouldn't have had as standard, but I found that the sockets were already there just waiting for the lamp unit to be plugged in! My favourite mod, though, was the black rubber dashboard matt they were too mean to make standard fit in the 820e!

Beautiful car. Look after it.

[TDHFastback]

Well now the weathers nice I've set about the jobs that needed doing to the SE. I already had a nice guy fill all the internal orifices with waxoyl but decided to takle the wheel arches myself. Took a few piccies on the way.

They weren't too bad underneath but the leading edges of the rear wheel arches were worse than I thought and the paint just kept flaking off the further I scraped. The n/s indicator surround was bubbling quite badly as you can see





I jet washed all the wheel arches then cleaned them with a rough brush before degreasing them with white spirit. When dry I genolited any bare bits to kill the rust then painted them with 3 coats of black waxoyl paint.



I bought a little dremel and scrubbed off all the rust scabs on the arches back to bare metal before applying more genolite, 2 coats of primer followed by 3 coats of paint that was mixed for me by a very nice chap from Halfords. He commented on how nice the car looked and said it was unusal to see a woman driving such a big car



I then packed grease under the lips of the wheel arches and on top of the fuel filler neck.

It took a lot longer than I thought. The fronts weren't as bad as the backs and there were times when I wondered what on earth I had started.

Now I know to all you mechanic ninjas out there who can disassemble a fuel injection system blind folded in the dark using nothing but a lolly stick,2 old spoons and a thimble ,this would be a piece of cake, but I found it hard work and am pleased with the results for a first effort.

The paint could be smoother and I had nightmares about wet and dry but I feel the car is now ready to tackle another winter and is protected for the future.

Kate
still loving her SE

[CHR15E]

We all had to start somewhere.

Just don't take it apart. That's when the trouble starts.

[Robs820]

This is wonderful, Kate. The car that started my love for the Rover 800 was very much like this. My Mum had an 820se when I was about 3 or 4 years old that was the same colour/trim combo as this and had the same wheel trims on it. It was a saloon model though. That car started it all for me. This one is so nice. You've done well. A bargain at twice the price

[BlueRover]

I agree with the statement that lower spec cars are worth hanging on to, who'd have thought a Hillman Hunter 1725GL would be worth £2,500

[The Professor]

Don't know how i missed this topic.
Your car looks lovely and you have done a great job with the waxoyl etc.

[mjc9967]

looking good - I wouldnt have the guts....!

[John W]

Looks great to me Kate. I'm just about to start the same process with my coupe.....

[rickt500]

Great work there Kate, I've found that the rear arches only really develop surface rust like yours, you have to really let it get bad for them to rot through, so this bit of maintenance now will hopefully keep it happy for years.

At one point I had both the 820e and se, both fastback and both in pulsar (although I think the se had crosspoke alloys), it's suprising how much more kit there is in an se than the e, the se is basically the same spec as an SI, (820 or 827), with just the lower power engine. The e is much more basic, with manual mirrors, rear windows, sunroof, no footwell lights or wood door cappings etc...

I agree about keeping hold of the lower spec cars, that's why I scrapped the mk2 and kept my 820e, I just love it's 80's splendor !

I've also got all the Fastcheck gear for setting the idle mixture etc on the single point system if you ever need to borrow it, they can be a pain come MOT time, but it's easy with the fastcheck.

P.S. look after those front wings, they're hard to get hold of now.