Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

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richard moss
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Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by richard moss » Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:00 pm

Update time:

1 March 2009

I changed the carpet, fitting a good spare one which DIDN'T have worn patches in the driver's footwell. The job was straightforward but I managed to knacker my right elbow in the process (tennis elbow is the most likely diagnosis) and I've been in agony ever since.

I've also decided to refit the original bumpers - well, sort of. the original front bumper (a late mk1 big bumper) will go back on but as the rear one that came with the car was a small bumper, I'm respraying a spare big one to fit.

14 March 2009:

"New" headlining and sunvisors are in, thanks to the generosity of Keith, one of the chaps on JT's Post War Classics forum. Whilst there, I had a good look at Keith's V12 Daimler and have to say that I never realised that a car could look so good in a colour like that (a sort of pale lavender). I love it.

I've also finished spraying up the replacement rear bumper so now I can fit it with two big bumpers, not one big and one small (which was how it came to me!). I've got some new stick on "chrome" for the new rear bumper on the Sterling (the bumper originally had red trim) and hope to have that all sorted by next weekend. The skirts will leave little evidence that they were there (one screw hole in the sill, a couple in the arches) and these will cover up easily enough. A few quid on some paint to tidy up the body and then I'm done.

The "Luxury" pattern wheels are back on, too, as I decided that I preferred them to the Vitesse 16" wheels.
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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richard moss
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Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by richard moss » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:54 pm

It's "back to the future" time now:

Image

Standard bumpers on, side skirts removed, Luxury alloys back on. The only difference is that instead of a "small" rear bumper, it has the proper big one - taken from my mk1 scrapper, resprayed and treated to a chrome strip to replace the old red one.
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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richard moss
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Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by richard moss » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:13 pm

Here are some pics taken during my lunchbreak:

Image

All done with aerosols and some ebay "chrome":
Image

This is why I'm glad I took off the skirts. This has come through due to trapped mud/water:
Image
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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Richard Clements
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Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by Richard Clements » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:01 pm

That looks better without the skirts i reckon it's down to the colour scheme.

Edit: The car looks good anyway but i think the skirts detracted from it.
1989 827 Si Fastback, Manual, Pulsar Silver Metalic

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richard moss
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Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by richard moss » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:24 pm

I agree with you - hence the change! I'm getting good at bumper swaps, down to under 30 minutes each end now.

The new chrome strip makes a hell of a difference - much more obvious when viewed in the flash. it was only £13 for 8m (enough for both bumpers) on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0387278662" target="_blank I'll respray the grey and black sections of the front bumper and replace the strip.
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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Phil - Nottingham
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Location: Nottingham

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by Phil - Nottingham » Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:04 pm

Our long gone 1987 820 had quite severe corrosion commencing on the bottom D post and bottom door corners in under 3 years old - being metallic its impossible to repair properly without respraying half the car. Even after lead loading I suspect it will come through again.

At least yours WAS hidden ;)
P2/P4/P5/P5B/LR's - EXJ 8**/2**8MY & others

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richard moss
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Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by richard moss » Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:53 pm

One small job done today as most of my available time was taken up elsewhere. I replaced the nearside rear light unit which had been letting in water because two of the four mounting bolts had sheared off. Hopefully the boot will stay dry now!

Mrs M's cabrio got some new wheel nuts to replace the scabby old ones and had the fluid in the powered hood reservoir topped up (the hood operation is much smoother and quieter now).

The Jaguar got a bit more attention, too - straightening out and rust treating the crumpled rear bumper and repainting a number of black-satin trim panels
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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richard moss
Posts: 233
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:23 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by richard moss » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:36 pm

Two more recent jobs.

First was fixing the wobbly gear linkage, which was making the gearchange rather vague.

I've seen people replace the universal joint with one from the steering column of various Rover group cars (a very popular mod on Rovertech), but I reckon that many of them are missing the real culprit - wear around the hole in the UJ where the roll pin goes through to secure the linkage to the selector rod.

Here's the UJ in question. It's secured to the gearbox selector rod by a roll pin that has to be driven out. The roll pin is usually stuck fast and VERY hard to shift!
Image

The problem lies in wear in the holes which have this rod through it - mine were worn enough to allow 10 degrees of rotation before the gear selector rod in the gearbox actually moved! The actual UJ was nice and tight - despite 104,000 miles and nearly 19 years.
Image

To fix this you can weld on a new UJ (stuff that!), weld up the holes and re-drill (awkward) or replace with a bolt and clamp it down tight (much easier). For this last option I cut a slot through both sides of the sleeve on the linkage:
Image

I then shaped a couple of washers to fit the sleeve and put a 5/16" high tensile bolt (about 1 1/4" long) through the sleeve and selector rod. Once tightened up with a nylock nut, the sleeve compresses onto the selector rod and grips it tight (this is why the slot was cut in the sleeve).
Image

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The result is amazing - nice, tight and more importantly accurate gearchange. All for the sake of about an hour under the car.

The other job was to improvise a wiring circuit for the headlight washers - replacing the timer relay which always rots out on these cars and is unavailable new. I'll try to remember to draw out the wiring diagram and post it up - suffice to say, I now have headlight washers
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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richard moss
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Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:23 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by richard moss » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:37 pm

I had to replace the near side track rod end after dropping the wheel into a rain-filled pothole on thursday. I had a handy spare in the shed (£5 from ebay) and also took the chance to change a dodgy steering rack gaiter whilst at it. The trusty Trakrite then sorted out the tracking.

I think I also have a knackered rear damper - so that will be done tonight all being well (yes, I have a spare in the shed).
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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richard moss
Posts: 233
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:23 pm
Location: Wolverhampton

Re: Richard Moss's 1990 Sterling

Post by richard moss » Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:43 pm

I had to replace the top balljoints a few weeks ago - one was a bit iffy at the MOT last year and had been steadily getting worse.

I knew one was bad but was annoyed to find that the other was just as bad - and I only had one spare in the shed. Luckily my local motor factor had one on the shelf - so ten minutes and £15 later I was sorted.

Image

As well as doing the balljoints, I replaced the bushes in the anti-roll bar drop links. What a difference! I hadn't realised how soggy the front had become but new bushes have completely transformed the way the front feels - at a cost of about £8 and an hour of my time (driving out the old ones and tapping in the new.

I also discovered the cause of my front end vibration:

Image

This split in the front right tyre had distorted the tyre and thrown it out of balance. Even worse, it looked like it could have let go at any time (maybe on the M5 on my way to Cornwall the next day). Thankfully I had a spare wheel of the right type with a good tyre on it so all is well again.
Last edited by richard moss on Sat Jul 11, 2009 10:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1990 827 Sterling manual
1990 Jaguar Sovereign 4 Litre on LPG
1969 MGC GT (currently hibernating)

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