Manalishis 820 Vitesse Coupe

[Manalishi]

Time flies!

I took the Vitesse out two weeks ago when we had some nice weather, but then the temp dropped so I had to let it stand for a while. When starting it up after several months of storage, all that was needed was a good charge of the battery and turning the key. Springs to life within a second!

Two days ago it was time for my annual Swedish MOT and as usual the car went through with clean sheet. What a car this is! Nothing except a verbal note on the split cv-joint rubber (what is it called?) and that the front discs were pretty bad. This was not news to me and I already had a cv-joint rubber and I bought new brake discs a while back, but never got the time to fit them. Today I did some elbow grease. Changing discs was about an hour which is excellent for an old man with bad back! And the car is transformed! Better braking obviously, and also better feel in the steering. The old discs were absolutely shot so they really needed changing. The new ones were Brembo which I know is good. I used them on my old 620ti with excellent results.

So, happy boy again, with many miles of driving ahead!

[Slamm]

Well done on the MOT, not something I'm looking forward to on mine, nearly five years since the last one.

[SJG]

Good to hear Henrik, enjoy the spring now

[Manalishi]

Just ticked over to 210.000km. Still going strong!

[Manalishi]

Two days ago it was time for my annual Swedish MOT and as usual the car went through with clean sheet. What a car this is!
Nothing except a verbal note on the split cv-joint rubber (what is it called?)
and that the front discs were pretty bad.
And the brakes don't work,
The brake light and number lamps inoperative
Headlamps not working,
Lower ball joints worn,
Sill rotten (all the way along)
Front and rear subframes rotten,
oil leaks everywhere,
Tyres below legal limit,
ummm ?
er, brake pipes corroded,
passenger door will not open from outside
Wipers inoperative,
Washers inoperative
Seat belts broken/missing

I know what you mean by verbal note

Only joking. well done for keeping her so well.

You forgot, the airbag is hanging lika a bagpipe from the steering wheel and the front wind shield is missing.

[Slamm]

Just ticked over to 210.000km. Still going strong!

Ah nearly run in then.

[Manalishi]

You forgot, the airbag is hanging lika a bagpipe from the steering wheel and the front wind shield is missing.

Its not a failure if the windscreen is missing, I guess thats why he didn't mention it.

It is here. One of the few things you need to have on a really old car to get it approved here.

[Manalishi]

Just ticked over to 210.000km. Still going strong!

Ah nearly run in then.

Actually I think so too. It takes no oil, no leaks anywhere and an overall very nice running engine. So I'm hoping to get a few more miles!

[Manalishi]

No leaks anywhere ?

I would think that work has been done to be fair.

I can't see any 2.0 turbo engine on the 800 getting away with that mileage scott free.

The rear crank oil seal as well as the head gasket in the corner are a common failure as you probably know.

I would bet that money has been spent in these two areas at least, which is a good thing.

These were both done on my 95 Sport. when I bought it there was a brand new radiator and a brand new gearbox on it. covered in oil but very shiny I replaced the engine and turbo and renewed the crank oil seal , but the head gasket had already been done on the new engine.

I don't have any oil leaks either (not many of us out there.) That said though, my power steering pump has a small leak

Hey, don't be fuzzy now. I have an Austin Seven so a leak for me is something that makes it necessary to fill up every 15 minutes and call the fire department in the weekends. Obviously a 22 year old car wont be dry on the outside of block etc, but no drips or puddles. A slight sweat from the front corner as usual, but that's it. I'm happy without puddles though!

My old 620 ti got a full rebuild with hylomar on guarantee and that was dry as the desert for ages. It still went kaboom.

[Manalishi]

Time for update, and nice to be back!

New set of tyres, Good Years F1 215/45/17!

Gear shift linkage fixed!

Bumpers tidied up!

Oh, and I fitted an electronic boost controller from Gizzmo...

This summer has also seen some serious trips. First 1800km down to south of Sweden and back, then 2 weeks later 1500km to the same place and now last Saturday we went to British Motor Meet som 300km away. The Baby Austin on the right is used somewhat more sparingly, but a few shorter trips happens.

[Alucard7002]

Nice to hear from you!

Both cars are looking very nice - Gentlemanly cruiser and fun toy!

[traineefarmer]

Both cars are looking very nice - Gentlemanly cruiser and fun toy!

Which is which?

[scoobyh123]

Very nice too! I like the contrast of extremes - 1936 Austin Seven (not quite but almost the beginning) and 1993 (not quite but almost the end) Rover 820 Vitesse and something like 10 times the power from the later car but 10 times less to go wrong on the earlier car.

A bit of a tongue-in-cheek thought (but meant as a genuine, serious question) - are there any parts common to both cars Henrik? Except "obvious" things like light bulbs, self tapping screws and similar?
Reason for asking is i recently discovered the temperature gauge sender on my 827s and Jeep is the same and is also the same as many Ford sender units. Considering the Jeep engine design goes all the way back to the late 1950s and in 1965 the 4-pot 2.5L version graced the engine bay of Nash Ramblers there is potential there for maybe one or two parts to be common, albeit unlikely.

[Manalishi]

'Common to both cars', do you mean if any parts are the same and interchangeable? Actually no, nothing. Even the plugs are the old 18mm in the side valve, and the electrics are (originally) 6v positive earth although I've changed that for simplicity to 12v neg earth. Saying that I have actually looked at every screw and nut in that car and except for the use (sorry) of some M8/M6 bolts and nuts in the chassis, all of the threads are BSF or BSW.

Oh wait. The dust caps on the tyre air valves are the same!

[scoobyh123]

That was what i meant, yes. Knew it was a long shot and i think tyre valve caps are exempt but i did wonder, purely out of curiosity that came about because of the aforementioned temperature sender unit which probably dates back to the Second World War and the Willys Jeep that used either Ford or AMC running gear but apparently the same temperature sender.