Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Morning folks

First picture so far

I'm Dave, and I'm an engineering apprentice from Oxfordshire (am I right in thinking these cars were cowley built?)
Although this is my fifth car its my first dabble in Rovers and I must say I'm rather impressed!

Anyway I found it on Ebay last week, as I've been on the lookout for a cheap stop-gap car for a while while I weld up my old E28 Beemer.
A week ago, I boarded a train to tunbridge wells, paid the princely sum of £205 for it (the car, not the train) and drove it 110 miles home no trouble at all. It was my first time driving an auto as well, so took a bit of getting used to, but it was fun! That 1.6 Honda lump is a sweet little motor, so I'd far rather it was a manual, but beggars cant be choosers now can they.

Its full title is a 416Si, ie, pov-spec, but its less to go wrong isn't it

12 months MOT, tax until february.

61 thousand miles, Two owners from new (first one was a doctor) and an absoloute stack of history (FSH) including orignal bill of sale (9 thousand pounds and a vauxhall belmont GLSi in part exchange). Original tape-cassette works perfectly. There was even an old-style AA gold phonebox key in the door pocket!!!

There are two small rust scabs on the door, a busted headlamp frame, a wonky sunvisor and the classic Rover saggy headlining. Other than that is pretty much Mint and as it left the factory.

I think it'll serve as a more than adequete stop-gap for a few months while I weld up the E28, and I'm sorely tempted to keep it longer!

Motoring doesnt have to be expensive. Textbook Bangernomics!

All the best folks

Dave

These are very nice car's! I can't speak about the auto, but the Honda engine is a peach!

If your using her for short run's especially they don't [ in my experience] like to run on supermarket fuel, due to the lack of detergent in the fuel, so every other tankful should be a decent brand unleaded, plus a regular shot of fuel injection cleaner.

Quite an early one too. Hoping you've got PAS on the car - you know already.

It is a nice engine but the auto is rather clunky even by 90s standards.

All 200s and 400s were build at Longbridge. Cowley had Maestro/Montego then Rover 600 & 800.

Thanks for the replies chaps

I'll try some branded fuel and cleaner in it, I have a suspicion its been driven gently all its life so might need some cobwebs blowing out, so to speak.
My BMW had a similar "old mans car" sort of life before I bought it and an "italian tune up" made a small but noticeable difference to how well it ran.

It (the Rover) sometimes doesnt like to start when hot :/ So first on the cards is a full service, and the above mentioned fuel system cleaner.

What type of autobox fluid should I use, and is there a specific procedure for changing it? The car does have PAS, does this intertwine with the autobox as I believe it does on some vehicles?

thanks

Dave

Looks good, I love the early shape cars!

Welcome, sounds like a good buy. You have sound knowledge base and on here can add to that too. You are right about stop-gaps though, they often turn into stop-stays! Enjoy the ride

Fluid= Unipart Transmatic ATF for complete refills or Dexron 11 D Type ATF to top up [ I have copied this from the wksp manual]. Should be the same, so perhaps only the packaged quantity differ. DOHC engines have a different box.

ATF Should be changed every two years or 24,000 miles.

You refill through the DIPSTICK TUBE.

There is a drain bung at the bottom of the box, try and source a new washer before commencing the job! 40 Nm[20 ft lbs] when yo do it up. Drain warm.

The refill capacity quoted by Haynes is 2.4 litres as opposed to 5.8 after a rebuild, or dry.

Final level check when hot; dip within one minute of engine off. Level ground to state the obvious! Max min marks on the stick.

UnderNutter wrote: The car does have PAS, does this intertwine with the autobox as I believe it does on some vehicles?

No, the two systems are separate. The PAS system is topped-up via the reservoir on the right of the engine bay (standing in front of the car, looking at the engine).

To replace the fluid completely you'd have to carefully undo the return pipe where it connects to the PAS gear, drain, then refill. Running the engine and turning the wheels from lock to lock will then bleed the system of air. Be careful with the pipe union - they're easy to break, lose the sealing o-ring and so cause a leak.

It might be easier just to empty the reservoir and replace with new fluid, run the engine. Then repeat once or twice more. Bit of a faff but easier and low risk!