Not so long ago I wrote up how had the front suspension of my car rebuilt with standard bushes in the swing arms, and new poly buffers in the front spring cups. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fit the new shocks I had custom made, having mistakenly ordered the wrong O/D poly bushes and consequently having received shocks with lower eyelets too big to fit the beefed-up threaded lower shock mounting studs. Darn and tarnation!
After subsequently obtaining the right bushes and having the shock eyelets swapped for the correct size, the next task was finding a competent and trustworthy mechanic to fit them.
I don't own a trolley jack. It turned out I'd need three of them, plus two burly fellows pressing down on the inner wings to get the job done!
The chap I had been using was unable to take on any more work, but word of mouth sent me to a discrete row of unmarked lock-ups not at all far from where I live. I met a couple of nice 'old school' car guys, the one of whom does wrenching, the other bodywork and paint. Both Rover owners. Suffice to say fitting the shocks was the expected pain in the proverbial, but now they're on the plague of metallic 'knuckling' noises are finally banished. That took an age to rectify, but I'm so happy I got there in the end. Speed humps used to drive me to distraction, all those awful loud groans and creaks. Gone! At long last. Back to how it performed eleven years ago when I completed my rebuild, and first fitted poly bushes, stiffer shorter springs and adjustable shocks.
The noise was coming from the shocks themselves, so a hat tip to GrimV8 for the diagnosis way back at the beginning of the year, and to the guy in my 'hood who fitted the new replacement shocks and poly bushes, for a great price considering the hassle that turned out to be!
Bushes are by Powerflex, adjustable shocks from GAZ again, set to the middle setting of about twenty clicks between soft and hardest rebound.
Now to attend to the grinding noises from the rear... Diagnosis is "Diff!". Ho hum. Fortunately I have a spare in the garage. I think I'm going to try and get a second opinion, but I can see a diff refurb on the cards for spring of '23. Ergh. Crush spacers. More expense. Rolls eyes, philosophically.
Oh, yeah, I think I knew the following tip but had forgotten it. Irked by a noisy shrieking belt, making you worry your alternator pulley bearing is shot, or the recently replaced water pump? Johnsons Baby Powder liberally applied to the lower pulley – hey presto – alternator belt is quiet again. I felt like a doofus.
...and why wasn't the screen washer fluid actually reaching my windscreen, despite a brand new bottle and pump? Blocked jets on the bonnet. Doh!
Good thing I've found a chap who knows the simple fixes, and is happy to share them.
that's like 700 Pounds. Complete madness. In 2022, the recore cost was $700, a couple of years earlier, $350. So the cost is basically doubling ever 3 years! Here in Australia the companies that make radiator cores have brand new ones for the Rover. If they don't, they make them to order. I have never had a core that wasn't exactly as it should be, dimension wise.
