Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

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Alucard7002
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Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Alucard7002 » Mon Aug 01, 2016 9:39 pm

Yes you read that right.

I now own Mike Medford's 820 Vitesse!

Third time is the charm for the dreaded, cursed NOJ registration. :wink:


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Photographs unashamedly nicked from the for sale post.

Got it home ok via a local garage for repair evaluation.

Wheel alignment is spectacularly out.
Brakes need bleeding badly.
Welding required is substantial but not completely rotten. (Just in time realistically)

Spares stash that came with the car filled Two 800 Fastbacks and some had to be left behind...

Today I swapped on the replacement front wings and binned the rotten old pair.

Put my old 16" Prestige wheels on after drilling out a sheared wheel nut :shock:

Swapped the black grill for a proper chrome one.

Jobs to do:

Bleed brakes fully. (I did a quick and dirty bleed to see how bad the fluid was - answer is not bad at all)
Weld temporary patches for MOT
Order new pair of sills to be fitted this Xmas at the folks place (Hi Dad :lol: )
Replace wheel stud I drilled out.
General deep clean and tidy up underneath (salty up north and previous owner couldn't jet wash underneath the car like I do)
Detail it, Pewter grey is actually rather nice!
Replace 3" stainless catback with something more akin to OEM.
Remove window tints.
Fit Brink towbar from Shitesse (Hi Dave, could I have my towbar back please mate :roll: )

Fit a flat cap and walking stick on the back seat and a caravan club sticker ;-)

It's had a few tweaks under the bonnet which Adrian Flux didn't take me to the cleaners for :twisted:

Goes like a Vitty should, smooth, deceptive acceleration on the motorways with tyre lighting ability in 1st through 3rd.

Torsen equipped 'box is a HOOT around the twisties, got to watch for when the turbo comes on song though as torque + Torsen does quite literally wrench the car in the direction you're steering.

For now the plan is to MOT it to park it on road, leave well enough alone until I've replaced the sills. Keep it as a second Sunday car for surprising BMWs and the like :lol:

Don't mind the bottom of the bumper rubber strip hanging off. It started to rain on me after I swapped the front wings so I just quickly threw the bumper back on.

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The rust is severe on both sill ends due to BOTH rearmost drain holes being seam sealed from the factory :shock:

The driver side has had a new sill put over the top in 2012. The old sill sort of remains in place and is happily rusting away behind. Inner sill, floor and trailing arm mount needs attention. I'm not even surprised at some folks definition of acceptable welding repairs anymore. Not after Project Shitesse anyhow :roll:

Passenger side sill is completely original therefore only has two small holes at the very back, inner arch is fully intact as is the lowermost sill flange. Inner sill and floor almost completely intact.

Driver side photos only for now, I'll get some of the passenger side after work tomorrow if the rain holds off for long enough!

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Last edited by Alucard7002 on Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dušan - head lunatic @ Four Paw Racing

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by CHR15E » Tue Aug 02, 2016 3:42 pm

Very brave!

Those spares will be the left overs from when I sold up.
Chris
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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Dickie524 » Wed Aug 03, 2016 3:53 pm

Really pleased you've got your hands on this one dude, I really am - I would have hated to see it go along with that stash! Well done! It's looking much smarter already. As stated it sounds like you'e got to it in the nick of time :-) Well happy.
Richard
(1997 820Si / LPG)

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Alucard7002 » Sat Aug 06, 2016 8:54 pm

Cheers folks,

Yes it's brave/stupid but I do enjoy spannering on these old busses :roll:

Tacked on plate for MOT bodge purposes. Same on passenger side but I'll get some photos once the paint is dry!

Not too horrendous at all - emminantly saveable.

Plan to do bare minimum to the original shell for now so that when I borrow Dad's garage I can chop it all out easily :wink:

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Passenger side

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Factory plugged drain hole that was the cause of all of the rot

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Along with a very thin coating of inner sill wax

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Definitely looks like a Friday or Monday built car :roll:
Dušan - head lunatic @ Four Paw Racing

'66 Ford Country Sedan
'89 Mazda MX5 1.6
'98 Mitsubishi Evo 4 GSR
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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by scoobyh123 » Wed Aug 10, 2016 9:46 am

Welding that lot up should indeed ready the car for MoT - at least on the welding front anyway!

Good to know all spares either sold for peppercorn prices to enthusiasts or have been safely stashed away for future plundering when necessary.

As for the towbar, no problem! ;) :D
Cheers,
Dave

'02 Honda CR-V SE Executive
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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Chatterbox_Trish » Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:25 am

hi duc thank you for pic of my ex-baby just to let you know I was not med'grand I was his landlady and friend felt a bit offended at you calling me his grandmother hope all goes well with my baby and look forward to updates on rover work

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Alucard7002 » Thu Aug 11, 2016 9:05 am

Oh my! My deepest apologies Trish!

Duly edited.

Sorry again for any offence caused!
Dušan - head lunatic @ Four Paw Racing

'66 Ford Country Sedan
'89 Mazda MX5 1.6
'98 Mitsubishi Evo 4 GSR
'07 Subaru Legacy Spec B

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Alucard7002 » Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:00 pm

Got it 12 months ticket!

3 Advisories:

Rear wheel bearing - play
Offside rear shock absorber oil mist
(rear sills repaired and painted)

Emissions were a little iffy thanks to the CTS being broken. Snuck though by the hair on it's chinny chin chin though.

At least now I can relax and leave it parked on the road until next month.

I hope to have the new sills on by the end of September and the rest of the little iffy bits fixed along with a GOOD detail. Poor thing needs a good abrasive polish and the rear bumper/boot lacquering.
Dušan - head lunatic @ Four Paw Racing

'66 Ford Country Sedan
'89 Mazda MX5 1.6
'98 Mitsubishi Evo 4 GSR
'07 Subaru Legacy Spec B

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Dickie524 » Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:18 pm

Good skills fella, beaten the knacker-man for another year!! :-)
Richard
(1997 820Si / LPG)

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon Aug 22, 2016 8:36 pm

Good news Dusan, well done!

I expect you'll be after a rear hub that's only done 59k miles then to sort the wheel bearing? :wink:

Best get that CTS sorted out to prevent the wallet-moths going on the slimfast plan! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Cheers,
Dave

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Alucard7002 » Mon Aug 22, 2016 10:44 pm

Thanks folks!

Saved indeed. Should be good for 5+ years after I fix the rust properly.

Funny you should mention spare hubs Dave, I have two in Pembrokeshire somewhere (I think) and a local friend with a press ;-)

Two rear wheel bearings added to the list.

CTS is indeed bad... bear in mind I've spent the first tank from M1 services - A14 - Cambridge then a bit of idling while stationary fixing it + MOT.

9.1 mpg :-o

Yes, single digits.

No I wasn't hooning it except for the slip roads. No the fuel tank/neck isn't leaking.

New one on the to order list.
Dušan - head lunatic @ Four Paw Racing

'66 Ford Country Sedan
'89 Mazda MX5 1.6
'98 Mitsubishi Evo 4 GSR
'07 Subaru Legacy Spec B

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by scoobyh123 » Mon Aug 22, 2016 11:14 pm

A word to the wise about the wheel bearings - make sure you order the correct side and if someone tells you they're both the same, cancel your order!
I think it's the left hand rear wheel bearings that are a slightly larger diameter than the right hand ones but i would have to check to make sure. Obviously they're not interchangeable........
You may get some aftermarket ones that are an exceptionally tight fit one side and a bit slack the other, i can't remember the dimensions but it's not a lot of difference, just enough to cause a problem!

You know where there are a couple of spare hubs and to the best of my knowledge, they have good ABS sensors too. Much quicker and easier to swap complete. :wink: :D

As for that CTS - that's bad!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: Even hooning my Jeep or towing with 2t on the back i've never managed single digits! And that's a 4 litre tractor engined automatic weighing about 1.75 tonnes! Oh yeah it also has the aerodynamics of a brick wall! :wink: :lol:
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
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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Alucard7002 » Tue Aug 23, 2016 4:21 pm

Worst I have ever managed before that astonishing number was 10.2mpg in the 820 on LPG!

Towing the Ifor Williams from Bradford - Cambridge at 60 all the way with two of the four trailer brakes seized...

Looking forward to fitting the new CTS among the other bits.

Thanks for the tip RE: rear wheel bearings! Why on earth would they spec different sizes Left to Right? Nothing makes any sort of sense to me as to why Rover would choose to do that.

I'll ask The Old Man if my spare hubs are in Pembs, if so then I won't bother trucking the KV6 donor hubs all the way from yours ;-)

Thank you very much for the offer though - I'll get back to you on that as soon as I can.
Dušan - head lunatic @ Four Paw Racing

'66 Ford Country Sedan
'89 Mazda MX5 1.6
'98 Mitsubishi Evo 4 GSR
'07 Subaru Legacy Spec B

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Re: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by scoobyh123 » Tue Aug 23, 2016 8:09 pm

You're welcome! :wink: :D

Worst fuel economy i've ever suffered was many moons ago when i was just a young pup. I had been running a Zephyr 6 2.5 manual but for the lack of a track rod end (that i discovered a couple of years back is the same as a Mustang TRE, Capri, Granada and umpteen other Fords since) stopping me getting an MoT, i swapped it for something with MoT although god only knows how!

The floorpan was non-existent as i found while adjusting the clutch - i reached through the floor to get the other spanner i needed! Fred Flintstone eat your heart out! The brakes only sort of worked but that wasn't a terrific problem as it was that rotten it would disintegrate if it hit a pile of leaves! You'd think with all the weight loss caused by the rust it would be extra-economical, especially with only 1100cc's to slowly drip fuel into but no, on a bad day it struggled to reach 9mpg and on a good day would just about manage 11mpg! Oh yeah, it would only just about reach 45mph as well - downhill with a Force 10 wind behind it!

This wonderful vehicle was a Mk2 Escrot Van with the amazingly fast, powerful and economical 1100cc engine - allegedly!
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: Alucard7002 - 1997 Mk2b 820 Vitesse Fastback - Pewter Grey

Post by Dickie524 » Tue Aug 23, 2016 11:23 pm

Happy days eh?!

TBH I think mine is similar on petrol - thing is, mine does know when it is hot - i.e. cooling fans respond propery etc - so think the CTS is fine in my case - and I have had at least 3 different new ones on there with the same result! Will be interested to see how you get on with this one Dusan!
Richard
(1997 820Si / LPG)

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