Charles' early 92 827 manual coupe

[Charles827si]

I rang the DVSA (forgot it's not called VOSA since 2014), the bloke I presume in Swansea, took the car reg, and checked it through, the system with the chassis number.

And he confirmed what you said Dave. Whichever number he used, is not showing up on the MOT test criteria, so in which case; the car would not actually be tested for having a working catalytic converter, even if it failed the BET.

So in this scenario, something else would need to be tweaked to get it passed through an extended emissions test should the BET fail.

To be fair I'm positive the car would pass the BET with no CAT; all the readings were virtually on the minimum of the BET test in August this year maybe due to regularly using Shell Nitro+ (formally V-Power)

[scoobyh123]

The BET is much more lenient than the cat test Charles (3.5% CO and 1200ppm HC) so unless it's really hanging the engine should pass the BET test quite happily without a cat.

[Charles827si]

I've had to enhance the clarity of this, which I scanned.

Basic Emissions Test (BET)

I can't make out on the hard copy if it states 0.00% CO ? (It could do)
HC states ' 6 ' ppm
Lam'' 1.03
Engine Speed 2946rpm
Overall: PASS

[traineefarmer]

6ppm Hydrocarbons??

Your engine's better than new!

[scoobyh123]

What Tom said! ^^^^^

It should pass a cat test with figures like those, let alone a BET test!

[Charles827si]

The Hyundai was collected at 8.30 this morning for it's 20,000mile service, so rather than opt for the similar dealer courtesy car, I used the Rover to do some jobs in Skipton town, and collected a box of eggs a little further out, at the farm near the reservoir. The Hut has just been put back after it was blown down in heavy winds.

I also finally got round to fitting those rocker cover gaskets last week, so hoping this will solve the leakiness down both sides of the engine. I managed to order a clutch slave cylinder yesterday (Blueprint one) for a reasonable £56.00 with free postage.

As you can see I fitted (a while back) daytime lights and fog lamps (Ring Lighting) at the front. The daytime lights turn off when I press the standard fog lamp switch on the dashboard and the micro fog lamps are ON! (A party trick that I copied from my Hyundai )

At the rear end I basically glued on a number plate plinth from the last generation Range Rover, (it fits ok, made a mess with the superglue!! ; to clean up)

It's driving better than last year since I got the tracking done, I free'd up the underside prior to the tracking (rusted up adjustments)

The dent in the wing is a couple of years old (negotiating an icy decline in the village near to where I leave and knocked a stone on the wall, but it was either that or try not to skid into the oncoming Tesco delivery van trying to drive up hill in the snow/ice) Fair to say I got off very lightly with the wall! Also this is the side of the car which I need to repaint (The other side I did recently)

So this is up to speed with where I am with this delightful rarity

[scoobyh123]

Nice job on those DRLs Charles, have you got any of those details for them?

This is what i did on mine for DRLs but always open to fresh ideas :


(Click to play)

Also known as how to make use of those indicator assemblies with the lenses hanging off! Had to buy a special LED bulb (bi-colour) and a new bulb holder for each side, some 2mm Plexiglass to replace the internal orange lens in the indicators and obviously glue the outer lens back on after but i like the "hidden OE" appearance of them.

That said i could do with new fog lights on at least one of mine so maybe go for your idea as an alternative.

[Charles827si]

Nice job on those DRLs Charles, have you got any of those details for them?

This is what i did on mine for DRLs but always open to fresh ideas :


(Click to play)

Also known as how to make use of those indicator assemblies with the lenses hanging off! Had to buy a special LED bulb (bi-colour) and a new bulb holder for each side, some 2mm Plexiglass to replace the internal orange lens in the indicators and obviously glue the outer lens back on after but i like the "hidden OE" appearance of them.

That said i could do with new fog lights on at least one of mine so maybe go for your idea as an alternative.

I see what you did with the indicator DRLs in the clip, that's a neat idea! Like you say it gives it more of an OE appearance, where as the way I did my setup looks a tad bit of an afterthought. I modified/adapted the existing outer covers inserted in the bumpers to make the two light units fit in these. (both take less space than the original fogs, but I would have been better looking for longer measured LED units to fill the width of the inserts). These are held in place with the type of insulation you put under the carpets or inside the car doors, bit crude, but quicker way of doing the job rather than making fitted brackets (which I could do for future)

Both the Fogs and LED lights can be bought from Halfrauds, but I bought mine from an independent very old school motor factor in Bradford.

I have some pictures which I will dig out when I was putting these together and wiring up.
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs- ... GwodHFoFVA
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs- ... iamond-ice

[scoobyh123]

Thanks for the links Charles, since my last post i remembered i have a pair of Ring Microline fog lights with prototype brackets on that fit and work well and look pretty much factory. I need to make some proper brackets (each a strip of 3-4mm thick 20mm wide bar 7" long drilled centrally and 3" from the centre at each end) and get them fitted as the OE Cibié/Valeo/Renault 5 & 21 front fogs are pretty dire even when new, never mind when the reflectors have corroded!

What are those "cruise Lite" fog lights like in fog - do they actually cut through the fog or just provide a wall of glare?

In case you're interested in doing the indicator DRL conversion, these are the bits i used :

http://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collect ... ed-led-380

http://www.classiccarleds.co.uk/collect ... urn-signal

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/p ... ategory/81

The ballast resistors are there to restore the normal indicator flash rate, i have considered an electronic flasher relay but decided to go with the ballast resistors so i could revert to normal bulbs if necessary at some point. Can't imagine it would be but you never know.

[Charles827si]

Thanks for these links as well Dave.
I haven't been able to drive in properly foggy conditions to come to a verdict whilst using the fogs; but I can say, they are extremely bright; and much more so than the standard old Valeo units (reflectors badly deteriorated on those and only good for the bin)

What I should do with the fogs is inset them, so that the light focus's on the dead ahead position because the light is escaping from the sides. However as they are set now, driving with them on at night has the advantages of lighting up the corners of the road and curb sides, similar to the Hyundai.

[scoobyh123]

You're welcome for the links, hope they're useful at some point. Shame you've not been able to try the fogs out in anger as it were, we get some seriously bad fogs round here so have been looking for some decent fogs that will not only fit but look right on the car.

The Microline ones i have do look pretty good and fit fairly well but sit fairly deep in the recess, very similar to the OE lamps. They're not quite so far back as the originals though so give a better beam onto the road in front of the car and also help light up the kerbs both sides of the road which is always useful in fog - often the only part of the road you can see to help navigate where you're going!

[Charles827si]

Last week I gave the car a proper clean/jet wash after going to the Longbridge Club meeting. Unfortunately, returning back home I buckled the wheel not long before joining the motorway. I wasn't able to do anything about it, since the wrench was pretty useless, and calling the RAC twice was non helpful, due to being bizarrely cut-off twice. Anyway, good news is, this is being taken care of, and I will have a 5th spare wheel, like I had before when I bought 5 Avon tyres for the five 17" wheels I had refurbed last year.

Today, I left the Rover with my mechanic at the local garage (great classic car guy) as I have been quite busy overall today and will be for a while over the next few weeks with various things.
He has been very busy himself today with a newish Vauxhall Vectra that won't behave with its gearbox, which he is having to dismantle again (he aint to happy with that car!)

So hopefully tomorrow, or when he can, will be fitting the Unipart (new old stock) non-catalyst centre section. Should give me abit peppier motorway performance, quieter idle perhaps.
Simon will be checking the car properly after last Saturdays incident, and doing a 4-wheel aligning. I've lost 'track' myself of the amount of times this has been done now lol! More recently it was only last October at National Tyres when I had my new Avon Tyres fitted to the Vit 17" wheels.

[SJG]

Perhaps you should think about putting the orinal wheels on, with their higher profile tyres?

[Charles827si]

Perhaps you should think about putting the orinal wheels on, with their higher profile tyres?

I could put the 16" Prestige's back on (which I put in the unit/hut with the Mk1). Though I do like the look of these wheels polished up, and I've got used to the flatter/balanced driving experience which was not uncomfortable for me before the pothole thing. The tyres are protected with the cover I bought for the life duration of the tyres, but I'm somewhat conscious of this same thing happening again.

It's not bad when you know an area, because you know where to avoid very bad surfaces, but with last Saturday, I couldn't have foreseen what happened.

There didn't even look to be a proper hole in the road, but obviously there was as I felt immediately after. Though I see your thinking, the damage perhaps might not have even occurred with 15" or even 16" wheels.

[Charles827si]

Front steering tracking adjusted today. Apparently was slightly out. The steering did feel abit vague, but after tracking, back to smooth working, and straight, without, jerks, wandering.

Gave the car a good drive tonight around the Yorkshire Dales, (Settle) Good place to test the driving, as the roads out of that Village can be long and fairly smooth, and there are interesting bends to negotiate.
Would have taken pictures but my camera/phone had a dead battery (nothing new there; normal working operation lol)

The Mk1 exhaust centre section is 3" shorter.
I'm going to take the Coupe next week to a guy in the village I live in, who makes stainless exhausts (he made one for the Atlantic blue Mk1a 827si which is very good quality 304 grade tig welded)
He might be able to make up a rear stainless box to fit the Mk1 non catalyst Unipart section, or if the price is reasonable, might go all the way and have 'made up' from the manifold ends back with centre/back box.