[Bean66]

Hi All

Newish member looking for some advice on a few little issues with my new purchase.

Joined when I decide I wanted a Streetwise, who knows why I decided that, but I did. It was My Ztt petrol was getting expensive to run and I didn’t need such a big car and like not good old Rovers so I thought why not.

So this week I got my Streetwise Olympic, cheap as chips and not in bad nick but I need to do a few things as there are some MOT advisories.

Rear steel brake pipes between flexi and drum back plate corroded and need replacing. Something I can do easily esp as I’ll probably change the fluid but are correct shaped steel pipes available or am I making coppers, which I have done before on older cars but the correct steels look better. So if they are available where from or do people make steels?

The rear H frame axle bushes are on the last legs so need to be replaced. So is that an easy enough job or are they diff to get out and press the new ones back in and can it be done in situ with std DIY tools. I normally press things in with the vice or wind them in with a threaded bar and big washers.

On non MOT issues speeds 1 and 2 on the heater fan don’t work so is that a common fault and is it usually the switch or heater motor unit?

And my dash top digital clock works but the display is all corrupted so are units available or is it the scrappie?

So if anyone has any comments or recommendations I’ll be glad of the advice.

Thanks Bean

[Lerich]

The fan speed fault is very very common, caused by the fan resistor failing. It's located in the fan motor housing, easily accessed by removing the glovebox. You can either replace or replace.

Later R3s like the Streetwise had cheapy Pektron clocks which often fail. They are easily replaced by a good working equivalent or an earlier 4-pin clock.

[Oldroverdiesel]

Hi,
Fan fault common one easy to fix have a look at DMGRS.co.uk they do a repair kit for £3.99
They might do the bushes for your suspension but also have a look at Rimmer Brothers, they might be able to get you the brake pipes but I’d make the copper ones easier and cheaper.
Your Streetwise rear suspension might be different to my 45, but I managed to press my rear bushes in using a large vice, a bit fiddly and the old one difficult to get out as rusted in but managed to use a hacksaw to cut a slot to help.
Hope this helps

[Bean66]

Hi All

Just a quick reply on the clock issue.

Its not a huge issue but i would like most things to work, so thought i'd have a look for one. Looking on the Bay three availabe, but all around 50 quidish.

Seems a lot for a not good little digital clock, so number 1 is it more than a clock and number 2 is that the kind of amount they go for?

I'd hunt for one via scrappies but thats not the joy it once was since you can't climb over wrecked cars with a couple of spanners and a screwdriver and take stuff off yourself.

Any advice would be great.

Cheers Bean

[Wadmiester]

As to repairng the fan. The Fan speed resistor pack will have burnt a couple out. If you have a soldering iron its an easy job to replace them with 10W ceramic resistors. 3 resistors on the pack as the fan on full speed gets the full 12V, 2 will have gone on your pack. You can see a burnt out resistor in the photo.I would cut them all off even the good one and replace with new ceramic type to the correct ohms values. You will find them easy to get online. I couldnt find exact matches as in the photo but you can wire 2 or more in series to get the right resistance.

[Bean66]

Hi,
Your Streetwise rear suspension might be different to my 45, but I managed to press my rear bushes in using a large vice, a bit fiddly and the old one difficult to get out as rusted in but managed to use a hacksaw to cut a slot to help.
Hope this helps

Hi Oldroverdiesel and all

Firstly i'm assuming that my SW rear suspension is the same as a 25 but is the rear suspension on a 25 the same as a 45?

So the question is is it possible to replace the beam axle bushes (RGN000021) at home?

if it is, does it mean dropping the beam axle to get at the bushes or is it doable in situ maybe by partly dropping the axle?

My normal method would be to pull the bush out with a threaded bar and selection of big washers or sockets, maybe even cutting the old bush apart to losen it enough to pull out?

Or as my 25 Haynes manual says "bush renewal is best left to a Rover Dealer....as Rover service tools 18G 1756/3, 18G1756/5 and 18G1756/12 are required...and while the old bush may be removed...it is unlikey that new bushes can be installed without the specially shaped mandrel"

Anyone successfully done this or is it down to the local dealer?

Cheers

[Oldroverdiesel]

Hi
Have you had a go at the suspension bush yet?
Don’t think it is the same as the 45 if it has a beam axle. The 45 has independent arms on the rear with a large bush that bolts to the chassis on the arms that support the wheels. These bushes are a common mot failure so I changed both mine during lock down as the car was off the road and I remove the entire arm to press the bush out in my vice, not an easy job to remove as they where rusted in.
For ease it might be better to get a local garage to assist as they have the ramps etc to make access easier.
Did you have a look at dmgrs web site?
Regards Ian

[GTiJohn]

Yours is the first case of worn our R3 rear suspension bushes I've heard of. The bushes are common across all 200s, 25s , Streetwises and MG ZRs but as you've spotted completely different to the 400/45/R8.

Getting the old ones out might be (relatively) easy but getting the new ones in isn't. They have a Nylon outer rather than steel and need careful alignment and pressure to get them in to not score it, or worse crack it. The correct tool is therefore recommended.

The service tool was developed from the one made by the chassis fitter, Vern Houghton, for test track tuning changes during the development of the R3 and nobody could come up with anything better