[Pruts3r]

Well here we are again. Been some time and the 75 didn't lose its stripes most of the time.

Did some things to it to improve it:
- fitted powerflex bushes in the front
- fixed the water coming in on the driver's side and run down behind the bonnet release and making my carpet wet.
- swapped out the damaged bumpers
- fitted a Rover 75 real wood steeringwheel with aubergine personalline leather.
- fitted wooden gear selector, also with aubergine leather
- fitted rear blind
- fixed al the door skins permanently. Looks like new.
- fitted original cruisecontrol
- fixed a lot of little nigly things
- the steel pipe that runs under neath the rear seats and that houses the fuel line had rusted through (common thing) so welded that.
And some more things.

Now for the big thing: the coolant drinking. Well it kept doing that. Every 70 km it would need 200ml. It made more mayonnaise than McDonald's does. We tried everything as people who followed up know (read this topic from start and you'll see). Kept checking things, searching, swapped the thermostat when I had a wet V. Bled the system perfect 10 times but it kept at it. Even the wonderweld only helped for like a month.

So what is a guy to do besides going to the nutthouse because of his car? Well we jumped the gun and bought a 70k miles used engine from a damage 75. We swapped the engine but kept all of the new stuff that we put on my old engine over the past few years. So my new oil cooler, fresh water pump, inlet manifold, new thermostat, and everything. Only swapped the engine block complete with heads. Took of the sump and cleaned it out (no sludge so that was a good thing). It was a monsterious job that took 15 hours (yes, we did it in one day) but it ran good from the start. Started right up and sounds great. Always a scary thing to put in a untested engine but it seems to work okay. It sounds a lot better than my old V6 which ticked a lot when cold on idle.

The temperature: it is s bit cold outside now but it is 87-89 when driving motorway (20mile trips, half an hour). When standing still it slowly goes to 90 and stays there for a minute or two before rising gently to the high 90's and then at 100 the fan kicks in.
All the hoses are hot and so are both ends of the radiator. The heater blows hot air.
Are my temperatures okay for this time of year or is it running to cold?

BUT have we solved the coolant drinking?

Well it seems so... The car made about a 500 km so far. The first 2 or 3 trips it needed a topping up a few times (400ml after first 100km trip, and after a second trip 120ml. Then after that just a sip). But now for the last week or so and after 200 km it is sitting stable and no need for topping up. Also the oil cap is dry. No condense, no mayo, no water. So has this done it? Did we finally fix it?

I don't know yet. I am still afraid to trust it is solved. This thing has been troubling me for over 4 years now so I am a bit cautious but signals now look good.

In a few months we will be digging in the old engine to find the culprit (we suspect a loose cilinder liner or a small crack in the block) that has been driving us crazy.

So far the new engine is a big improvement but then again it did only 70k miles whilst my own did 125k miles and mine was treated so bad with previous owners.

Still things to wish for? Yeah. A chrome grille and the chrome boot strip from a mk2.