My Rover

Today the time had arrived to change my Rover’s rear brake pads. Inspection revealed a minimum of 2mm of material remaining, although I could possibly have stretched it a tad longer. They had been fitted just before Christmas in 2007, and to date had delivered just over 83,000 Miles (134,000km) of service. They were genuine Unipart pads.

The outer pads were removed; the half shafts detached from the diff drive axles and then the inner pads withdrawn. Two of the inner pad locating plates were rather tired, so these were replaced with a pair of NOS items.

I cleaned up the piston cups, sprayed them with Silicon spray and then wound them in by hand. I was very pleased I have to say, no need to use that annoying Girling tool.

The new pads were duly fitted, half shafts re attached and the rear calipers bled. I did the latter as the pedal had been feeling a little spongy during the last week or so, probably a result of minimal pad material and the resulting heat transfer. In any case, bleeding did the trick, as the pedal feels much improved.


Unipart pads showing minimal material.


Only 2 mm remaining at the thinnest point.


O/S piston cup cleaned and ready to be wound in.


Once the ratchet could be heard, I stopped winding when the lever was as positioned.


NOS Ferodo pads


Two NOS inner pad-retaining plates to replace the original items.


All done. Only the tag plates need knocking up, which occurred next.

Road testing revealed a firm pedal accompanied by a smooth quiet operation. The Unipart pads liked to squeal on occasions, fortunately though it disappeared after a couple of years.

Ron.
 
Recently I had noticed a rapid knocking sound emanating from the rear of my Rover following a brake application. It was not audible on all occasions, but when present would vary in length from a fleeting moment to not more than a few seconds.

An initial inspection delivered no obvious cause, but with the rear suspended and the wheels free to turn, the sound could be both heard and felt. I narrowed it down to the near side inner universal joint, but the half shaft would require detaching from the drive shaft so as to be sure. Upon doing so, my suspicion was confirmed, smooth in one plane, but very rough within the other.

I detached the half shaft from the de-dion elbow, and fitted a NOS shaft and hub assembly complete. The removed shaft had also been a NOS item that I had fitted during 2008, complete with factory fitted GKN sealed universal joints. During the ensuing 6 years, just short of 87,000 Miles (140,000km) had been covered.

I have never been happy with either driving the universal joints out or using a vice. To me, there had to be a better way. Of course, using a hydraulic press would be the ideal, but without such luxury I opted for the next best alternative. Using a 2-legged puller, some sockets and a short length of heavy-duty water pipe, they came apart very nicely indeed.


Two legged puller and circlip pliers.


Upon inspection, both universal joints contained rust in vary degrees, the grease having long since been displaced.
The replacements were both made in the U.K. A Unipart packaged GKN item that I had purchased many years ago, and a more recent GKN/Hardy Spicer acquisition. GKN is a British automotive and aerospace components company that was originally known as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, having been founded in 1759. During 1966, GKN acquired a company called Birfield Ltd, which, amongst its assets was Hardy Spicer Limited of Birmingham.



With the cups and the yoke eyes wiped free of any grease or oil, I used a G clamp to great affect in their installation. Winding one cup in at a time made the operation much easier and ultimately more efficient. No burrs or swarf to speak of, I was very pleased indeed with the outcome.


Clean and ready to accept the new uni joints


The Record G clamp worked perfectly for their installation


Nice and neat.


Ready to go back into storage until needed.

Ron.
 
Very nice - I love how clean your rover is, literally every bit of it would appear to be shiny and new! Wish mine was like that :(
 
Great post on your universal joints . It does look all very new. Im always painting rosie shes looking good round the back. Your brake write up is handy to. I will just follow your repairs from now on lol. :D
Marcus
 
Back on the 1st of March 2014, my Rover started to exhibit what appeared to be fuel vaporisation. It was a touch early for Winter grade fuel to be on sale, but given it was now Autumn, and such fuel is cheaper to manufacture compared to Summer grade fuel, anything could be possible.

As the days and then weeks ticked by, the problem remained. I found myself having to use the electric pump pretty well right from cold, which seemed rather odd. There was no evidence of fuel within the engine oil, so a failed main diaphragm seemed unlikely, especially as this pump had been a genuine NOS AC item that I had fitted only in Feb last year, so only some 32,000 Miles (52,000km) of service thus far.

Sometimes when I checked the filter, bubbles could be seen, so that provided substance to the vaporisation angle. However on the flip side, no oil residue was forming on the pump as it would usually do, especially given my Rover had travelled some 10,000 Miles (16,000km) since the problem began.

As I have been so busy of late, today was the first chance that presented for me to remove the pump and take a look. As soon as the pump came away, I could see the cause. The following photos reveal all!











As can be seen, part of the casing that retains the pivot pin has broken away, affording the arm considerable free movement, thus rendering the pump ineffective to a very large degree.

Some of the broken pieces I managed to salvage, whilst the engine oil washed other pieces away. I imagine that they ended up down in the sump, at least they can do no harm there.


Pivot pin joining the pump arm and diaphragm hook. No damage could be seen here.

The pump was dismantled, the valve chamber united with a fairly good spare diaphragm chamber that I had in the cupboard, new oil seal , kept the same main diaphragm as it was in fine condition. I used a much longer pivot pin that came in a second hand pump that I purchased some years ago.

Being much longer, there is no room for the retaining cups, so I used a pair of ‘L’ shaped brackets to retain the pin instead, and it works a treat.


NOS AC fuel pump kit, from which I used just the oil seal.


Pump rebuilt and refitted.

I have never heard of such a failure before. The zinc alloy casting may have had a defect or had been damaged in some way during manufacture.

Has anyone else ever seen or heard of such a casting failure before?


Ron.
 
Hi Rich,

The pump that I am referring to I only purchased last year. It was a genuine NOS AC, in an AC box. While it was old, it only saw around 22,000 Miles (35,000km) of service before breaking, so to say that I am displeased is a massive understatement. :evil:

I can only surmise that it must have been a defective casting.

Ron.
 
It is possible that the pin worked its way out from one side and then not being supported both ends, moved at an angle, jamming the actuation lever. I had this happen to me but it didn't break the pump.

It was cured by getting a new pin made up with a circlip groove each end. The factory arrangement of peened-in small, brass cones at each end of the pin isn't a great one.
 
rp61973 said:
It is possible that the pin worked its way out from one side and then not being supported both ends, moved at an angle, jamming the actuation lever.

I can't see that ripping it out at both ends as it has here though. It'll probably be a while before we see another one like it.
 
rp61973 wrote,...
It is possible that the pin worked its way out from one side and then not being supported both ends, moved at an angle, jamming the actuation lever.

That did not happen as the two plugs that retain the pin were still firmly in place. I appear to have been extremely unlucky in that this pump, which was a genuine NOS AC item, appears to have had a fault in the casting. There was nothing that brought my attention to the fact that there may have been a casting fault prior to installing it. I just appear to have been extremely unlucky in that the first NOS AC pump that I had ever seen to purchase, (I didn't even see any in the late 1980's to buy) turned out to have a casting fault, and therefore a dud!

The fact that even Harvey has not seen a pump fail like this before should indicate that the chance of it happening again would be extremely unlikely indeed.

Ron.
 
After changing the engine oil recently, I decided to have a general look around whilst lying underneath. Apart from the intention to drive to Newcastle, which is about 2 hours north of Sydney, there was nothing else that prompted my decision.

As it transpired, I noted that the paint beneath the O/S shock absorber mount had a crack in it. Ringing an alarm bell I scraped the paint off to find what I feared, a fatigue crack in the base unit. :cry:



Inspection of the N/S revealed a similar situation. After scraping the bitumen paint off then sanding off the undercoat, it was obvious that there was no corrosion evident, so that was not the cause, rather the substantial mileage that my Rover has covered, around 313,000 Miles (504,000km) at the time being the initiator.



Some chassis stiffeners as they are referred to were ordered, and arrangements made for their fitment. It should be noted that this is a known point of failure, especially when corrosion of the base unit in this location is evident. The shock mounting can rip right out of the base unit, which could be very dangerous indeed depending upon the situation at the time.

I must admit that I have never seen this happen to another Rover, nor have I ever heard of such happening, but the fact that the stiffeners are available suggests that there have been other occurrences.

The cracks were drilled at both points of origin and termination so as to prevent stress risers and then all were welded up. The stiffeners were then welded into place.














After that, two coats of POR 15 were applied then the following day one coat of bitumen paint. There is one more coat of bitumen paint still to be applied.



I am very happy with the outcome, with the installation of the stiffeners in theory ensuring that the problem won’t occur again.

Ron.
 
When I was down in Sydney recently to have the chassis stiffeners welded into place, my Rover was also to receive its annual registration inspection. It passed without a hitch, but then when it was about to be moved out into the yard so as to await collection by me, a careless accident befell it.

The images are self-explanatory.













Fortunately, there was no damage within the engine bay or to the bonnet, although the bonnet was harder to close. Inspection showed that the catch mechanism on the underside of the bonnet had moved ever so slightly, even though all three bolts were very tight. Repositioning by the smallest amount returned closure to the standard that I had it set previously.

Subsequently, I received no bill for the welding nor for the inspection, and all costs involved in repairing, painting, straightening and chroming shall be covered by the business concerned.

Ron.
 
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