New project! Very early Y plate (2001) Rover 75 Tourer
 

Hello all,
As usual, I got itchy fingers after a while and had to take on something new - but having had a string of ZTs and ZT-Ts I decided to go back to my roots and look for a nice 75 project to keep me busy.

Lo and behold, as if by magic someone steered me towards a very early Tourer - being registered on the 23rd July 2001, she likely rolled off the production line in the first half of the year.

I present to you, a very dirty Y133 MNE!

https://i.ibb.co/6ZcZtTr/151534433-2...57898102-n.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YWhb0Gq/153486291-1...02674613-n.jpg

She needs a lot of TLC to bring her up to scratch; not to mention the fact she's also completely immovable due to a suspected Reverse Piston failure.

The good bits - she's a Club SE (I believe) with the lovely early cloth seats - and with only 77,000 miles on the clock they're in excellent condition.
There's also little to no corrosion to speak of, and even the alloy wheels (Unions, one of my favourite) are in good shape.

I'll keep updates coming - I have more done since I picked her up; I'll add to the thread later.

Stay safe all,
Mat

Nice one, Mat. May be dirty now but should clean up nicely and it's always good to hear about Rovers getting TLC.

Looks a good basis for a project Mat with that sort of mileage, and I guess you're in a better position than the rest of us to get the parts you need!! What engine does it have?

From another early 75 Tourer owner...

Kevin

Its the right colour!

Hello all,
It's great to see the interest is still alive and well for saving older cars such as this one. :D

I should have mentioned she's a CDT (Diesel) in 116 flavour; however I found this more than acceptable in my last CDT.
Even has the 'Torpedo' door badges, which I've missed sorely since my last early 75. :)

One of the nicest colours and very good to see another one will be preserved, enjoy the fixing up and we look forward to the improvements.

Well, as promised - here's another update. I'm actually posting progress from around a week ago, work getting in the way of fun as usual! :D
While it's clear the car has been looked after in the past, it's a bit grubby due to where it lived and the types of journeys it was used for. Nothing a good clean won't fix.

First up, a good decontamination wash using the two-bucket method:

https://i.ibb.co/VWf2wrB/154583296-8...82952043-n.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/R3Xk3rD/154864416-7...78479002-n.jpg


She came up much better than I imagined, and that's just from a quick go-over to remove the mud etc. You can still see there's a lot to remove close-up:

https://i.ibb.co/2y9XKZt/157511718-1...53778703-n.jpg


I'll need to get some proper tar remover, and go a bit 'deeper' with the cleaning!

Inside came up OK though, I'll need to replace a few bits of missing trim but nothing too major.
Before and after:

https://i.ibb.co/fqvgNnR/155270351-2...66395707-n.jpg


Mechanically (save for the broken gearbox) she's in good order, however I'll be changing both front and rear springs as a precaution (fronts are corroded where they like to snap, and the rear is sat a little low either from sagging or snapped springs).
We even have an FBH, which seems to work! :)

https://i.ibb.co/jHVf6sF/153072769-1...17270181-n.jpg


Next up, the spare wheel well had a little water in - I'm working through finding out where it's entering, and I've drained and re-coated the well itself as there was some rubbing through from the wheel as well as a bit of minor surface corrosion which was flatted back and re-painted.
Unfortunately I didn't have any Moonstone Green paint to hand, so for now she's taken a light coating of Hycote Black until I can get my mitts on the correct colour.
I also removed the corrosion from the spare wheel itself, and repainted this too.

https://i.ibb.co/D1cD0BT/154309720-8...93872016-n.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/mS8s2g0/157126012-2...37418787-n.jpg


The engine bay seems to come up well too - just a quick wipe-over test to see how badly the dirt is ingrained...

https://i.ibb.co/wJFrXyM/155483199-4...57572327-n.jpg


Cheers for now - I better get back to the office! :)

Probably teaching granny to suck eggs but check out Car Chem. Probably my favourite "go to" detailing suppliers.

https://www.car-chem.com/shop/glue-tar-remover

I'm about to try out "Total Clean" which is an aggressive cleaner and can be diluted 100:1

https://www.car-chem.com/shop/total-clean

Maybe that might help to start off the "deeper" cleaning?

Looking forward to hearing how things progress.

Good Luck.

Smashing - I'll grab some of that.
Thank you - I'm much better with 'oily bits' than I am with detailing / cleaning. :)