[Dorchester]

But when a niggle is solved another one is turning the corner...

From the front of the car something looks bizarre as if the driver's side was a bit lower than the passenger's... and it was.
From the alloy edge to the arch one, about half an inch difference on an even ground!
Testing each shock absorber it's obvious than the driver side one feels softer & weaker than its counterpart.
Why? given that the passenger's one on the right is more solicited because we are driving on the right side here.
I bet some previous owner thought wise to swap only that only dampener! No comment...

Not sure about the springs as well, even suspecting them may look pernickety, nevertheless even I'm looking forward maybe a bit too far I don't want to ask twice for a similar job in the same place.

Thus the cab being nearly 27, I decided to swap them all, coil springs & shock absorbers and the top rubber as well (for the latter whose name & reference I ignore - unavailable at Rimmers -, I'm following my good mechanic's wise advice) And BTW to swap the rear dampeners as well.

At last to add to the meaty expense my good man told me that even the tread isn't that worn and may accept one more year the rear tyres are 11 years old and some cracks appear on the side and even the tread looks beginning to get off. Mind you that the guy has sharp eyes because on my part it looks rather trifling. On the other side they were cheap tyres bought as usual by a thrifty owner to say the least... The kind short hands & deep pockets!

But I've faith in my mechanic and I do know he doesn't say that by a selfish personal interest but because he is cautious & meticulous and loves his job and the cars he is helping to maintain at the highest level.
I chose Dunlop sport bluresponse 185/55 r15 82 v, 70€ each (£62.34) but very reliable, quiet, comfortable, and efficient on wet grounds & corners.
Just in case I give you a reliable guy's address I found out for my springs:
best of british rover
Looking forward to the shipping speed...

 

[Roverlike]

I am aware of all the above including your supplier since I travell across many forums as you already know ...

 

[Dorchester]

I do know indeed. I'm just hoping I've got here a bit more than a handful of talented readers...

 

[Dorchester]

Two crazy stories this week!
just to laugh a little & turn our back from another dreadful one, you know which...

1. I'd ordered 6L of Petronas Synthium 3000E 5W40, 2 KYB front dampers & 2 TRW rear dampers from Oscaro a well known car accessories retailer.
They sent me a 5L can of oil first.
Then I wait a good while and they tell me that the front right KYB is missing hence they give me back its value 56€ (£50).
So I hurry to find out the missing one at the best price... in Germany. Nearly same price but a beefy shipping fee of 20€.
And a few days later Monday last I receive the parcel from Oscaro... with both KYB left & right! Morons!

2. I'd ordered from best_of_british_rover both front springs on the 16th. Very kind & helpful guys and item with very good value for money (mind that it was £45 for both springs, when one only is £60 here).
They send the parcel (8 kg!) on the 20th which arrived in Lyon, France the 21st then in Toulouse the 22nd last Friday at 5:41 a.m.
Since then... nothing!
DHL promised me the parcel for yesterday at the latest.
But since it's stalled and locked up as well at the custom because they need some missing papers! Morons! ☠
I told you I hated that ghastly B...t! 🤮

 

[Dorchester]

The waiting heap of items, including Mintex front brake pads (not sure they'll be fitted if my mechanic found good the present ones) and a pair of good Dunlop Sport Blueresponse 185/65/15, because he found the rear 11 year old ones not actually worn (deep enough), but very slightly cracked on sides and a part of the tread threatening to go off...
N.B. I've swapped Petronas (to the V6) for Shell Helix Ultra I 5W40 as you may see.

 

[Dorchester]

At last after a fortnight locked down at Toulouse custom plus a week for nothing, my springs were delivered!
But I was robbed of 32.50€ (£28.50) by DHL and without any bill & explanation: either I'd to pay or the carrier will go with my parcel!
TBH our VAT (TVA) was due i.e. 10.27€ but all the remaining is extortion / racket because the Anglo-European agreement asked for no custom taxes at all for parcels less than 150€ worth.
But if I did want to get & keep my springs I'd no other choice.
And when I tried to explain the problem the call was cut off!
Conclusion:
Item price: £45
Shipping price: £20
VAT: £9
Robbery: £20
Ba....ds! Scammers!
🤮
I'm sorry to say that our purchases in the UK are over but emergency problem...

 

[gnu]

Bad luck, hopefully the charges will go away once the processes settle down. I think people are just taking advantage of the uncertainty atm. I think competition will get rid of extortionate charges in the long term.

 

[Dorchester]

Maybe @gnu but I'll never see back my money and I've just been told I'm not alone: several guys suffering the same scam in the first weeks of January on a French Rover group.

 

[Dorchester]

The springs are fitting fine and I'm glad of the result.
Just for info to those in the know: the springs are marked with 2 stripes one grey, the other pink. I assume they are the right ones. I didn't notice a big difference with the genuine ones (dampers swapped as well, for KYB Excel G on the front, and TRW at the rear) but I did barely 3 mls! I'll have a closer feel tomorrow while going & getting the St Valentine's day meal at a restaurant.
BTW apart from front springs & dampers and rear dampers, filter & oil were renewed (Shell Helix Ultra I full synthetic 5W40) and both rear tyres for good Dunlop Sport Blueresponse 185/55/15 82V, and the front speakers bad contact corrected. £262 work.
Hopefully money well earned & deserved by my good mechanic: everybody isn't DHL who takes advantage of Brexit to demand extortionate & unjustified fees!

 

[Dorchester]

Just to illustrate my new front springs colour code.

 

[Dorchester]

And here's my lucky day: old springs weren't yet in the bin and here they are with the colour of the stripe which appears rather orange. But why from orange I got pink & grey ones, I haven't the faintest clue...

EDIT:
BTW after 22km (14mls) done yesterday, the car doesn't feel harsher at all.
On the contrary with tyres slightly over inflated from 2.1 kg/cm2 or 29.87 psi before to 2.2 kg/cm2 or 31.30 psi now, it feels at least as comfortable as before, and maybe a tad better (or is it me?).
Worn dampers being changed the car has slightly now more grip on the road as expected and steering wheel feels a bit sharpened if you see what I mean.
Success!

 

[Dorchester]

A nice & sunny 5 mls walk last Wednesday, among trees, shrubs and fields on a limestone plateau 20 mls far from home.
And I don't forget to mention an herd of black pigs wandering freely along close to our path. Nice picnic as well as you can see, with a venerable dolmen in the background. And indeed a very punchy & responsive cabby even in the sneaky uphill journey. Very healthful for our C19 overdosed brains! I wish you all the same buddies.

And back with the hood down.

 

[gnu]

Hood down in February! Must be having better weather than us. The BRG looks nice with the brown hood.

 

[Dorchester]

Hood down in February! Must be having better weather than us. The BRG looks nice with the brown hood.

Thank you for that buddie. I'm rather proud of my brand new British mohair hood.
At the moment the temperature is around 5/8° in the morning & 15/18° in the afternoon. And with such a sunny day I couldn't help myself even I was to care about my better half who is rather feeling the cold, hence hood down and sometimes heater at the max when passing through a shadowy spot! Mind that last year I was able to have the hood down as early as... January!

 

[Dorchester]

Little mod to help my cabby breathing a little more. I've just taken off the three channel hose at the bottom of the air box which connects to the front entry and - I guess - the outside air aerator which comes in the cabin.
I've fitted an approximate & temporary kind of hose (coming from an old vacuum cleaner!) to keep the connection between front entry and cabin and that's it.
It's of no consequence that the air going to the throttle be a tad mild because E85 prefers mild air than cold one. On the contrary it'll be better for the mix. And mind that I'd already drilled 6 holes at the bottom of the same air box. As the engine needs more fuel to work fine, as a consequence it needs more air as well, provided the throttle cannot suck more air than permitted by its surface indeed.

I can notice than during the first 2 or 3 minutes the engine is now better fed because previously when cold it tended to cut off, the mix being probably unsteady. No such weakness now, the distance between outside & throttle being far shorter and all the air from outside going to the throttle and no longer divided & shared with the cabin aerator.

 

[Dorchester]

I'm now after a set of four 5-spoke alloys (1998) for the princely sum of 80€ (£70)!

But as the 'good' tyres are 12 years old the seller is asking now for... 30€ (£27) because there's a scratch on one.
I'm negotiating that she asks a mechanic to take off the tyres I'm no longer interested in, on the other hand the operation would be at my expense indeed. Easier to do the 600 km without!
Bargain!
Here is the price for one only on the flea bay: Rover 200/25 MG ZR 15" 5 Vision Spoke Alloy Wheel (Part# RRC106034)
£60!

 

[Dorchester]

Today I got the 4 good old wheel nuts Chris Taylor (961tat on Rover 200/400 Owners Club) has kindly provided me with.
The reason is that the four original locking nuts had been removed at my request by the seller nearly 2 years ago and replaced by four non locking ones (but at that moment he couldn't find better ones in France). But from the beginning I'd noticed that - probably Chinese stuff - they were a tad shorter than the genuine Rover ones. And now I realize how much shorter they were! Besides my good mechanic had recently suggested to take them off because the wheel may be at risk. You can judge the difference by yourself:

However because I'm sentimental I've kept the genuine Rover locking nuts with their key.

 

[Roverlike]

Yes, but that means you will not be able to use same conical/tapered seating nuts from your cabby for your new 5 spoke sports alloys as for that alloys you need spheircal/radious seating nuts. I assume you have correct spherical/radius seating nuts on your Rover 25, so will be able to use new alloys only on Rover 25. Or you need to buy new set of spherical/radius seating nuts for new alloys as well.

 

[Dorchester]

Thank you for your clarification.
I agree the 5 spoke sports alloys are coming from a 1998 Rover R3 like your bubble shape model hence a different nut shape identical as the one from the missus' 25.
But I think it'll not be a big problem because according to my experience such spherical/radius seating nuts can be found out aplenty in France when the previous conical/tapered seating ones look very scarce.
To begin with I've just found a suitable center cap in France (7€) because the new set is missing one.
The good thing is that provided I'm using the right suitable nuts I'll be able to share the new alloys between the cabby and the 25 with 15" winter tyres hence one set for two cars!
And my younger son - whose agenda is rather booked for the following weeks - agreed to collect the set on next Saturday 13th of March at the seller's who is keen to wait. She put them aside for me. Let's hope that those bl...ed politicians & self-proclaimed specialists haven't in mind another hard lock-down because the boy has to do 100 km to meet the seller who lives just close to the Swiss border, near Geneva. Fingers crossed and the like...

 

[Dorchester]

How lucky I am!
You may know that as a scholar I love history & stories and what's better when we've got all the story of our prides & joys, am I wrong?
Yesterday on a FB group (every FB group or publication isn't nasty...) a mate posted this picture of a Rover related item he'd found on Le Bon Coin, a French website like Ebay but limited only to France.
A velours portfolio for maintenance book and owner's manual:

And guess what? Here is the tail of my cabby:

Have a closer look:

Isn't it a miracle? The same garage which my cabby comes from and was sold for the first time and which - icing on the cake - is located 550m far from the very house where I'm born... but not the same year as the cabby as you should guess! Just a... 41 years gap!
Straight away I got in touch with the guy I'd communicated with several times before - he is a very thirsty collector of Rover related items - and we agreed to make an exchange. I think I wouldn't have any other opportunity to get that goodie in all the years to come...
My genuine portfolio was a very ordinary grey plastic one with all the original papers: now I'm sure that my cabby is worth at least... say... a few quids more! I can't wait to get the precious gift!
And mind that I've got nearly the whole story of the car since it's sale in 1994 with nearly every bill and name, living place and even some details & stories of every of its successive owners. A very big plus when comes the time to be part of the FFVE (French federation of classic vehicles) and see my cabby classified as a collector car. But I still need to wait until 2024 if I still live & the car as well...
And thanks to another guy member of the same FB group I even know the name of the then director (he is in the French Who's Who) of the garage (Rover & Land Rover agency) who sold it to the first owner who was a VIP (I can't say more about, he is still living). Unfortunately the garage was closed very soon after 1998 and the director died in 2015 aged 74.
It's fab isn't it?