So where were we up to...... well, the old Tomcat got its ticket and I treated it to a cambelt change whilst it was there as I'd not got all the service history at that point so wanted to be safe. Was a bit mad when I discovered they'd not changed the right hand side VVC belt too. Cue the argument that VVC's have two belts...... Sod's law the rest of the service history turned up a week later, and there was piles of it! The last service at 80k was a head gasket, full service, water pumps and of course all the belts! Oh well, better to be safe than sorry.
So after that, was time to turn my attention to the dodgy drivers window as I looked a bit of an idiot turning up at work and having to open the door to wave my pass at the security gate! Took the door card off and was kind of gobsmacked. This car has not wanted for anything all its life. Main dealer service history for everything, and how was the window fixed when the cable snapped? That'll be a screw through the channel! What?!!!!! Managed to find a complete window cassette from a breaker so that was a spot of luck.
Next up was the interior, and like I'd done on the Puma I wanted to make the seats mint and the leathers I'd bought had a nasty gash in the drivers bolster. The kit provides some amazing flexible filler to repair them and wow, it came out good!! Sprayed the whole seat in matched dye. The biggest faf was masking up all the contrast black stitching!
Finish is really good. Not perfect at the stitching was poor already, but not bad for a cheap interior!
Next up was spraying the new spoiler I'd got as the old one had made a permanent bid for freedom with all the fixings corroded. A total bargain at £48 brand new! My friend has a spray booth for furniture, so a decent rattle can and sterile working environment and it was done. Pics are before flatting back and polish and it looks first class!
As a splurge of over exuberance, and because the rear wheel was losing air from around the bead, I got all four wheels refurbished for an amazing £120. They really set the car off now and also stay up!
Whilst the wheels were off I tidied up all the inner arches and painted the discs and calipers. Also fixed the rust on the rear arch. The finish is good but thanks to me skimping on Halford paint instead of getting the decent stuff I did for the spoiler the colour match isn't perfect.
Next up was a really good machine polish and wow, it's come up a million dollars. Not bad for a £50 neglected Rover!
So that's it. Car finished and I love it!! Been using it for work all week and it's a head turner with plenty of people saying, wow, not seen one of those for ages and what good condition. Always worth the effort when you get those comments!
Sadly, I have no room or time for it moving forward as there is a bump on the way, so they money invested it needed back out. Bugger! I'm a bit gutted but it will be a great car for someone. It did have a minor strop as I was taking the pictures though and cut out, refused to start and just clicked away from every relay!! Turn out a bad earth was all it was and we were back in business!
Anyone fancy a nice Tomcat?!!!!
