The 'Rover Project (Cont'd)
Spring, 2001- Bugger.
Well, as anyone who'se still paying attention might have guessed, things have not gone according to plans. Mid-summer of 1999 I became employed in a job that leaves me little free time, and so my poor Colleen has sat patiently in the drive, waiting for me to get off my lazy arse and get things done. The good news is that the job pays well, so I have the finances to get going on the project, if I can just find the time. Additional good news; my buddy Phil "Bennie" Pollard contracted the Rover bug from me, and is now the proud possessor of an ex-MOD SIII 109. He's acquired garage space (three bays!) down near his place outside Philidelphia. I just have to get Colleen down there and I'll finally have a place to work on her, out of the weather.
Meantime, there has also been some other bits of luck; I found a fellow who was swapping his Series to new Weber carb and manifolds, thus was selling off his OEM manifolds and carb. I was a very happy fellow to pay $150 for both manifolds and an original Solex carb, plus a carb rebuild kit and a manifold gasket. When I get Colleen down to the shop, the front clip comes off for certain. Sandblasting and painting the breakfast panel is in order, and replacing the right front fender, so I might as well pull the left and make swapping the manifolds simple, as well as taking the time to fix up the front suspension, steering and such. I'm trying to resist the urge, but the dark promise of power-tools beckons and I may give in and buy a welder, plasma cutter and sand-blaster. Gods help me. :)
Spring, 2002
Has anyone noticed how Spring seems to be the big time for me to work on Colleen? Must be a cleaning-up thing. Anyhow, slow and steady must be the pace, but things continue to get done. Despite my promises to get the Rover down to Pennsy and start swapping parts, that hasn't happened yet. I lost my job in the middle of the winter, thus freeing up lots of time to work on the Rover, but at the same time, since I haven't a garage, working on it in the miserable cold doesn't seem terribly appealing. With the arrival of better weather, I've managed to remove the old, non-standard intake and exhaust. The latter was a job, requiring cutting apart the pipes to remove it, since it seems to have been built in-place. The proper intake and exhaust manifold have been bolted on now, though I need to acquire more fastners. The carb is next, though I'm stuck looking for an elbow between the air-cleaner pipe and the carb. After that go the exhaust pipes and muffler. At this point she's almost road-worthy again (and might even pass inspection, though in New Jersey, who knows?). The only "iffy" parts are the brake-cylinders and the steering-box: the brakes work, but they require some effort. A rebuild and bleed will probably do the trick. The steering-box, I was told by a less-than-trustable mechanic, has too much play in it. I'll have to have it looked at by someone who's not an outright thief, before I do anything with that. After that it's all cosmetics: seats, seals, and paint. Maybe re-galvanize all the trim...a new canvas top would be nice...and a replacement bumper.....