green 820 Sterling? coupe S358LAN

[TDHFastback]

A two litre manual Coupe Sterling????
Interesting?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-820-Cou ... 2ec7bd7d22

Kate

[Richard Moss]

It's my understanding that coupes only came in Vitesse or Sterling spec (the Sterlings were not badged as such). 2L manuals were rare but available (John Turner on here had one - his username was 47p2). It's a good compromise in my book - luxury and sensible fuel consumption.

[Bert3]

Oi you lot; I'm all over this Gong to try and have a closer look over the next week if I can......

[rovercoup]

I have been in touch with the seller who advised me the following:
"Hi I got the car August last year and drove it until the M.O.T ran out in November I only have the green slip of the V5 not the whole log book I think the car has had four owners there is no service history the mileage is 147000 "

Hope this helps anyone thinking of bidding

[Bert3]

Ok - Just given this a once over, although no battery so couldn't start it up to check mechanicals properly. There's the usual signs of oil leak from front right of the T16 (from cam cover more than HG), but fairly certain HG is MLS judging by metal tang protruding from block (were they standard by '98?). No signs of leaks from aircon, but front oil cooler pipes in front of rads are corroded (think mine left the factory corroded!). Coolant tank looks fairly new!

I managed to check the usual problem areas before it got too dark and basically. this car needs saving now before any of the little problems become big ones.

There's rust appearing on the sills, but no holes; all the wheel arches are bubbling on the edge to some extent but saveable; filler neck is corroded but still in one piece (just); wheels are corroded/lacquer peeling; all the bumper brackets have opened; bumper brace bars are slightly rusty but not rusted through; door corners are blistered on inside, but no holes yet; interior is quite good considering it's done 143k, with only real problem being a bit of worn piping on drivers seat. Surprisingly there's only evidence of one small rainwater leak (from the NSR light into the boot) - all carpets etc are dry, and bodywork is good, no major problems, but light too poor to check paint properly - even around the rear window/boot lock/arerial is all good .... getting the picture? With a few weekends tlc it could be a very nice car ....

Definitely falls into the catagory of "much too good a condition to be broken" ....... just depends what it's worth compared to the poor prices that mint ones are fetching right now ....

edit: I've bid on it (little bit over scrap value) - would make a nice comfortable alternative to the Vit for 'lazy' days - I reckon parts of about £250-£300 plus a days grinding/welding (and filling/painting doors and arches of course) would straighten this one out, and all the rest I've found seem to be too far away to make cost of recovery back to NW viable.

[rovercoup]

good luck with your bidding bert. let us know how you get on

[Bert3]

Well, I've now got a few problems:

(1) Getting this transported from Cheadle to Warrington;
(2) Fixing the faults to get it MOT'd;
(3) Explaining to the missus why I've bought yet another car, this time with no back doors .... especially when there's no space at home to put it in;

oh, and (4) Why I've spent the money earmarked for new fence panels (winter's definitely taken it's toll on them) on what, to her, looks just like the other car I already have !

Wish me luck!

[rovercoup]

Great buy at that price, i was very interested and have the same problems with too many cars so i decided that divorce would be on the cards if i had bought it so let it go. had it had an mot i may have been even more tempted. good luck with the old girl, keep us informed on how it goes.

[Bert3]

Safely home ...



...... and a big shout for Gordon from 'recovery4cars.com' for his help with transport ..... came out after hours and only charged £35 for the 30 mile trip ....... takes the hassle out of getting it sorted for the MOT.

[Bert3]

OK - just me having a rant ..... feel free to skip to something interesting .... but here goes anyway

Sat alongside the '98 coupe at my home is my 'pre BMW' Vitesse ........ and having now spent the best part of 2 weeks trying to change simple consumables such as ball joints, steering gaiters, bonnet release cables etc, I can catagorically state I now know what BMW did when they took over Rover ... they stopped assembly line workers from using copper grease!!! Must have saved them nearly 50p on every car they produced ......

I've yet to come across a nut/bolt/stud on the coupe that hasn't needed to be WD'd, heated , hammered, and in most cases cut through to remove it. FFS I don't think in 15 years of ownership I've ever used anything more than an 18" breaker bar on the Vitesse and every time there has been signs that the parts had been lubed & thread locked properly at the factory .... not so the BMW built coupe.

The coupe had an MOT failure list with just 2 items on it (NSF ball joint & OS handbrake cable to be replaced) ...... couple of days leisurely work at most had it been the Vitesse ..... Well, here I am, taking another break for a cuppa whilst penetrating fluid does it's job, this time on a trackrod end and the brake caliper carrier bolts.

Final rant - don't trust oher peoples knowledge! I replaced the NSF lower ball joint (as per MOT sheet), although it wasn't that bad - only to discover the OSF was a lot worse (more play than an MG Maestro gearbox linkage ) .... I checked with previous owner and he said "Yep, that's it; the NSF on the DRIVERS side" ...... MOT tester must've been a Yank

[rovercoup]

know you've got the rant out of your system? that's not bad only two points to fix from the mot although I do understand the frustration in replacing worn or broken parts. but soon the summer will be here and you can go cruising (stuck behind caravans) around our fair isle in your coupe

[Bert3]

Deep joy ...... ball joints done on both sides, studs/bolts replaced where had to damage them to get them off, leaks from oil pressure switch and cam cover gaskets fixed, just the handbrake cable to fix, so, as I'm off tomorrow and should get that sorted then, booked it in for it's MOT next week........ and discover the (expletive deleted) ABS light wont go off .... checked the sensors with a multi-meter and the OSF shows an open circuit

Wheel off to check it's nothing daft, and discover the small (8mm) bolts holding the sensor wire to the body are rusted solid and the heads have been rounded off previously, so I can't remove the sensor to clean or replace it ........ and they're right next to the brake line so using heat is a no-no ..... doused in another can of WD40 and kettle on ..... oh, and text to garage to cancel MOT ...ah well, good job the MOT on the 200 diesel runs to August - at this rate it'll be next summer before I get this thing back roadworthy ......

[rovercoup]

Bert sorry to hear of your troubles with the ABS sensor, I,ve just had both of mine off while replacing clutch and both bottom ball joints. luckily if looked though someone has replaced these recently and came off no problem but had replaced with 10mm headed bolts. good idea.
anyway if your having problems with rounded nuts/bolts take a look at these http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... -040214678 they are very good and can get you out of trouble.
good luck with it.

[Bert3]

cheers .... have two small and one large sets of those, and currently have bolts/nuts stuck in 3 of them thanks to the coupes lack of maintenance!

Todays wonderfull experience showed me why the previous owner, despite merrily working on his other 2 cars when I went 'round, and having a garage full of tools, hadn't replaced the snapped handbrake cable with the new one in his parts bag ..... bolt heads already rounded off on all the exposed bolts, and even one of the ones beneath the heatshield had been chewed up beyond useless.

Fed up (still got to find a way to get both rusty chewed up bolts which hold the cables to the lower suspension arms off) so given up for the weekend - rugby all day tomorrow .... that should take my mind off things for a bit. Glad I cancelled that MOT.

edit: - I'm convinced the gods invented rust to test our patience, then quickly came up with tea to give us some hope of keeping our sanity.

[Chris E]

Bert sorry to hear of your troubles with the ABS sensor, I,ve just had both of mine off while replacing clutch and both bottom ball joints. luckily if looked though someone has replaced these recently and came off no problem but had replaced with 10mm headed bolts. good idea.
anyway if your having problems with rounded nuts/bolts take a look at these http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... -040214678 they are very good and can get you out of trouble.
good luck with it.

CAnt agree with the use of these enough...I have had to take quite a bit of mine off recently, and these came in very handy. They do larger sizes upto 25mm. I originally had a complete set of Snap on's version of these...and was gutted I realised I had left them in a car I sold, after Id lost the details of who I sold it to. I bought mine when they were on offer, and The Irwin set are as good as the snap on ones. If its any consolation re owners not doing jobs, Ive had to take apart most of the suspension to get access to the tie bar bolts that were solid, in order to move it to drop my auto box sump. I know now why it was "fixed" on the car before..heyho