My Dad had exactly same 1978 SD1 V8s was a brilliant car it was more reliable , better built , didn't rust and was better on fuel than our neighbours 1982 Renault 25 V6 ... And the most memorable thing was it sounded amazing also a lot quicker than most Granada's and BMW of the same era, it was the coolest car at the school gate 🇬🇧👌
In the 80's my dad was given a sky blue V8 Rover as a present in left hand drive. It was shipped all the way to him in Africa. It was cool to be the only ones with the car 😎
Hello Nigel, I also learnt to drive in one of these, was my dads. One of my fondest memories was putting my foot down a bit quick going around a roundabout and ending up facing backwards. I respected the car and the power after that!
@@FU2Max I think we shared very similar experiences. Only once did I end up facing the wrong way in my dad’s SD1 but it was enough for me to gain a better respect for the engine and a little disappointment for the rear suspension. On one occasion I remember flying past a convoy of slow moving traffic expecting my dad to give me a bollocking but all he said was ‘it’s nice to know the power’s there when you need it.’ Before the Rover my dad had a 1971 XJ6 which I found, bought and hope to get roadworthy in the next year 😀
Great to see your enthusiasm in bringing these old girls back to life. I have owned four over the years,3 V8s and a 2600. I remember selling My Vitesse for £ 300 when the clutch went. If only I would have known how valuable they would become.
I love B.L and Rover , and believe the marques should be brought back as such British, steel , coal sick a hearing the scare mongers Your doing a good thing in my eyes I remember riding in the back of a sd1 as a child my father's boses car fellt like a rolls Royce to me back then !!! Keep at it man 💗💓💖🙏
It shall if the blue diesel paint job gets finished in readiness for the NEC Restoration show in a few weeks time - and this won't be needed in 'as found' condition for display.
Hi James thank you for your V8-S videos. My Dad had a silver one from new . It had about 140,000 miles on it when he sold it in about 1990. In its final years it was only taken out to go to the south of France every summer. My mum wasn’t very impressed by the road side repairs by then! Wish he kept it.
Years ago i had the 2600 and 3500 sdi, also had 2x 3.5s p6 loved them all. later on we had 2x 800 series a red fastback with alloy wheels but some scroat nicked the wheels, luckily insurance paid out. be great to see this old girl up and running again.
As a Aussie I love that a Pom is doing a rear wheel drive V8! The sound of them old Buick V8's is beautiful. I can't wait to see the rest of the videos on this car.
( I remember these when they were launched) - I wasn’t a fan of the 2300 and 2600 as they looked a bit under-wheeled and slightly high, but the 3500s were absolutely magnificent looking beasts…👌👌👌
G'day from Brooksys Car restorations. In Australia!! Love the content... I'm restoring a 75 super bug on my channel at the moment... love the green beast... been trying to get a V8 rover for years and in a manual... very cool!! Good luck!!
I just subscribed just for the fact I bloody love they way you use your hands like they are sandpaper cut them up all the time 😂your a good talker too 👍
I would still love one of these only in that colour I always loved it... I've driven several of them over the years,23,s 26s and 35,s but never owned one.
I've always wanted an SD1 and missed the boat as far as getting a reasonable one for my budget. I did however get my 3.5RV8 in a 110 Ambulance which is very much work in progress. Maybe one day I'll get the SD1. Great work. Looking forward to the next.
Nice to hear it fire up. Where the gorgeous 827? I hope you still have it. Nice to see gold wheels and way before Scoobys! Great car,well will be once you've got it sorted.
This is almost like when I started my E12 for the first time in more than 10 years. A massive cloud of smoke😅 not sure what the neighbours thought. Looking forward to the next video!
I think I'd be pulling the carbs down and checking the dashpots, maybe put some fresh fuel in as well since the fuel gauge seems to be on empty and while you're about it, can you please bolt that rocker cover down since all that rattling is doin' my ed in!!! 🙂
I had a yellow 3500. Comfy car and nice to drive. But the head gasket went. It sat outside my place for about 12 months and eventually I sold it to someone who just wanted it for the engine.
James I don’t know how you find time to do your PROPER JOB 😂, I feel the same as you James , cars 1st and working for the boss man 2nd 😉 Ofc unless he is reading this 🤔 then it’s what a wonderful guy my boss is and that’s why I work sooooo hard for him. Oh and yeah cars looks kinda amazing through rose tinted SD1 glasses 👍🏻.
Just came across your channel and subscribed. Wow… I have a lot of videos to catch up on. At some point in the future…. any chance of a MG ZT/Rover 75 somewhere along the line?
We don't have Rover here in the United States. I am an AMC enthusiast and some of the cars can be quite hard to find parts for. Is that the same for this Rover? Or are parts readily available. Subscribed! Looking forward to seeing more.
Yes it’s quite possible. I think cylinder number 8 is a bit sick as when it’s running if I pull the it lead off the engine note doesn’t change. All the other cylinders you get a drop in engine revs. I might do a compression check later
I've rebuilt loads of these engines, it may well be a ring issue but unfortunately the engine is just probably worn out in many areas, rings, shell bearings, valve guides, guide seals (if they still exist on this engine, the 'umbrella' valve stem seals are usually found in the sump! They might be only used on the P6 engine though), rockers, and rocker shafts, cam, cam followers/lifters. These V8 lumps will still run when totally worn out, they don't even rattle much, they just make no power and drink oil in the same way that George Best drank beer! It costs quite a lot to sort the Rover engine out but they are nice when they are running well.
Hi, can I ask you if I can contact you in the matter of parts or sources of second hand parts for the SD 1 ? That V8 S with its colour sceme makes me feel good by the way.
A step closer with the 'Ole "Salad 🥗 Shooter." You should swap out that tire with a better one so you don't have to keep fucking with putting air in it, it'll be easier to move around when you get it to the N.E.C. show.
Would be nice if you could once restore an SD1 (not this S) and try to enhance its Ferrari Daytona resemblance as much as possible. So I'm thinking colour, leather stitching, some 5 spoke wheels etc. No tacky Ferrari badges etc just enhance it a little bit. Would love to see that (oh yeah, don't do it in Rosso, but in a lovely 70s metallic colour)
I still love the SD1 from my boyhood.I prefer the straight six 2300 or 2600 daftly as a better choice nowadays.However your car excuse my Walsall sense of humour is no worse than when it left the showroom.Rot was a free option back then as was burned out wiring and brakes that didnt work.Panel gaps you paid extra for if you were flush.Great potential but a sad fail by BL.Thing is they still look so good bearing in mind in the 1970,s this car challenged the mighty Ford mk1 and 2 granadas.
The SD1 like the Range Rover Classic were both fantastic original Rover designs, that were then sadly let down by shoddy build quality and The British Leyland bean counters. If they'd been built properly using good quality materials they could have been world beaters.
Indeed it was, and used in all the cars promotional material too. My chum in schools father bought an identical Triton Green V8-S when they first came out.
My Dad had exactly same 1978 SD1 V8s was a brilliant car it was more reliable , better built , didn't rust and was better on fuel than our neighbours 1982 Renault 25 V6 ...
And the most memorable thing was it sounded amazing also a lot quicker than most Granada's and BMW of the same era, it was the coolest car at the school gate 🇬🇧👌
In the 80's my dad was given a sky blue V8 Rover as a present in left hand drive. It was shipped all the way to him in Africa. It was cool to be the only ones with the car 😎
In 1984 I learnt to drive in a 1981 SD1 3500 and have dreamt of owning one ever since. Watching your videos only makes my desire to buy one stronger 👌
Hello Nigel, I also learnt to drive in one of these, was my dads. One of my fondest memories was putting my foot down a bit quick going around a roundabout and ending up facing backwards. I respected the car and the power after that!
@@FU2Max I think we shared very similar experiences. Only once did I end up facing the wrong way in my dad’s SD1 but it was enough for me to gain a better respect for the engine and a little disappointment for the rear suspension. On one occasion I remember flying past a convoy of slow moving traffic expecting my dad to give me a bollocking but all he said was ‘it’s nice to know the power’s there when you need it.’ Before the Rover my dad had a 1971 XJ6 which I found, bought and hope to get roadworthy in the next year 😀
Great to see your enthusiasm in bringing these old girls back to life. I have owned four over the years,3 V8s and a 2600. I remember selling My Vitesse for £ 300 when the clutch went. If only I would have known how valuable they would become.
Somewhere to keep it though..
Lovely old girl I had 1 V8 a26 and a 2.4 VM turbo diesel loved em all. Looking forward to seeing it done mate .👍👍
I love they way you use your actual hands and fingertips to dig out the rust. Just like the olden days!
Just found you and love the raw way you video stuff........ no BS straight up channel .👍
Thanks centurion
I love B.L and Rover , and believe the marques should be brought back as such
British, steel , coal sick a hearing the scare mongers
Your doing a good thing in my eyes
I remember riding in the back of a sd1 as a child my father's boses car fellt like a rolls Royce to me back then !!!
Keep at it man 💗💓💖🙏
That is going to be a real beauty when done ✔
Oh gawd please remove the moss! I couldn’t work there with my OCD…
It shall if the blue diesel paint job gets finished in readiness for the NEC Restoration show in a few weeks time - and this won't be needed in 'as found' condition for display.
It's genuine as-found moss. It adds value 💰🤑💲!
Supposed to work well in hanging baskets. 💐🌻
Precisely
First thing I would have done is remove the moss
Hi James thank you for your V8-S videos. My Dad had a silver one from new . It had about 140,000 miles on it when he sold it in about 1990. In its final years it was only taken out to go to the south of France every summer. My mum wasn’t very impressed by the road side repairs by then! Wish he kept it.
Evening from your Germany follower!
Years ago i had the 2600 and 3500 sdi, also had 2x 3.5s p6 loved them all. later on we had 2x 800 series a red fastback with alloy wheels but some scroat nicked the wheels, luckily insurance paid out. be great to see this old girl up and running again.
I have no idea why but watching the first film on this car I am now invested in the rest of the build. I really like this car.
Glad you enjoyed it. I can’t promise rapid progress as I have other cars that need to be done first
As a Aussie I love that a Pom is doing a rear wheel drive V8! The sound of them old Buick V8's is beautiful. I can't wait to see the rest of the videos on this car.
You have some proper cool cars out there. V jealous. Loads of v8's. I always wanted a leyland P76
( I remember these when they were launched) - I wasn’t a fan of the 2300 and 2600 as they looked a bit under-wheeled and slightly high, but the 3500s were absolutely magnificent looking beasts…👌👌👌
G'day from Brooksys Car restorations. In Australia!! Love the content... I'm restoring a 75 super bug on my channel at the moment... love the green beast... been trying to get a V8 rover for years and in a manual... very cool!! Good luck!!
I just subscribed just for the fact I bloody love they way you use your hands like they are sandpaper cut them up all the time 😂your a good talker too 👍
My mrs is constantly horrified at how bad my hands get. Must get used to wearing gloves really
New bonnet sills welding here there bit of paint. Enjoy it for year then full resto love to own somthing like that
A few quid and a trip to rimmer brothers and alot of work it could have a MOT soon? Great update. Well done on getting it to move.
Absolutely fantastic, id be delighted
Really enjoying the videos James, good to see these old girls are still out there. keep on doing what your doing its great watching!!
I would still love one of these only in that colour I always loved it...
I've driven several of them over the years,23,s 26s and 35,s but never owned one.
What a cool car! Subscribed.
Really enjoy an SD1 upload bud👌👌
That colour is stunning.
I've always wanted an SD1 and missed the boat as far as getting a reasonable one for my budget. I did however get my 3.5RV8 in a 110 Ambulance which is very much work in progress. Maybe one day I'll get the SD1. Great work. Looking forward to the next.
Nice to hear it fire up. Where the gorgeous 827? I hope you still have it. Nice to see gold wheels and way before Scoobys! Great car,well will be once you've got it sorted.
The 827 is out the front. I need to sell it ☹️
@@nitrosilvia that's a shame,it's a lovely car. Wish I had a garage,I'd love it and an SD1, ever thought about a P6,my other favourite Rover
I love the rawness of the videos! Can't wait to see the outcome of this and the Diesel!
Agreed, complete with hammers and bloodied knuckles
That’s brilliant. When you said easy start, I was thinking, I wonder if he uses Wynn’s carb cleaner, and there it was! Great project. Love the colour.
This car when it was new would of been stunning !
Fun fact, i learnt to drive in one of these! - looking forward to more vids on this car o/
Haha bet that was fun! Probably hard to stall which might have helped
Really enjoying the updates James. Just got tickets so hopefully will see you and the car at the NEC!
I now know what the term internal optimise means!!!
And I didn’t know that moss was a Rover SD1 accessory!!
Brill video!!!!
Regards Ian 👨🎤🇳🇿👍😂😂😂
It moves its alive keep the updates coming james donny
Cheers Donny
This is almost like when I started my E12 for the first time in more than 10 years. A massive cloud of smoke😅 not sure what the neighbours thought.
Looking forward to the next video!
Thanks. I’m very lucky that my neighbors are all quite chilled so long as I don’t take the piss
Looking forward to more videos on your progress of this iconic SD1 reminds me of your Dotty project 👍
Yay part 2 can not wait to see what the future holds for this car
Good work mate!
Cheers Steve
That's a lovely colour. These days all cars are in black & grey
I think I'd be pulling the carbs down and checking the dashpots, maybe put some fresh fuel in as well since the fuel gauge seems to be on empty and while you're about it, can you please bolt that rocker cover down since all that rattling is doin' my ed in!!! 🙂
Does this one have the Triplex 10/20 Super-laminated ZONE TINTED windscreen still fitted?
I had a yellow 3500. Comfy car and nice to drive. But the head gasket went. It sat outside my place for about 12 months and eventually I sold it to someone who just wanted it for the engine.
first job in a restoration, bucket of boiling hot soapy water with bleach AND CLEAN ALL THE SHIT OFF
I quite like it 🤭
Put some oil in the carb dampers ...
James I don’t know how you find time to do your PROPER JOB 😂, I feel the same as you James , cars 1st and working for the boss man 2nd 😉 Ofc unless he is reading this 🤔 then it’s what a wonderful guy my boss is and that’s why I work sooooo hard for him. Oh and yeah cars looks kinda amazing through rose tinted SD1 glasses 👍🏻.
Just came across your channel and subscribed. Wow… I have a lot of videos to catch up on. At some point in the future…. any chance of a MG ZT/Rover 75 somewhere along the line?
I think if I lived next door to you I'd be both horrified and fascinated at the same time.
Good evening James
We don't have Rover here in the United States. I am an AMC enthusiast and some of the cars can be quite hard to find parts for. Is that the same for this Rover? Or are parts readily available. Subscribed! Looking forward to seeing more.
I'm supposed to be working on my own UA-cam videos - But I can't help watching yours! Damned SD1s are so cool
Need to see a headlamp wiper test!
That would be good. Sadly I’m a bit away from that at the moment!
Another great video but ouchy bleeding!!
Seems to be that way it goes. I need to wear gloves more
Good work.
I was just looking through my haynes manuals and found a manual for the Rover 3.5 V8 couldn’t believe it was in there lol
The tacho suddenly springs into life at around 12:32!
Its definitely coming back to life
With all the blue smoke, I'm wondering do you have some stuck rings? Although you wont know until you get it firing on all eight pots.
Yes it’s quite possible. I think cylinder number 8 is a bit sick as when it’s running if I pull the it lead off the engine note doesn’t change. All the other cylinders you get a drop in engine revs. I might do a compression check later
I've rebuilt loads of these engines, it may well be a ring issue but unfortunately the engine is just probably worn out in many areas, rings, shell bearings, valve guides, guide seals (if they still exist on this engine, the 'umbrella' valve stem seals are usually found in the sump! They might be only used on the P6 engine though), rockers, and rocker shafts, cam, cam followers/lifters. These V8 lumps will still run when totally worn out, they don't even rattle much, they just make no power and drink oil in the same way that George Best drank beer! It costs quite a lot to sort the Rover engine out but they are nice when they are running well.
@@nitrosilvia be interesting to see for sure James.
Reminds me of Christine 😂
Now if it could just fix itself?
Hi, can I ask you if I can contact you in the matter of parts or sources of second hand parts for the SD 1 ? That V8 S with its colour sceme makes me feel good by the way.
Yeah send me a
Message on retrorides forum my username is jimspolicev8sd1
Good stuff! I really like the body colour and wheel combination. How many SD1's do you reckon you have owned?
4:24 looks like you hit more than the brake drum!
A step closer with the 'Ole "Salad 🥗 Shooter." You should swap out that tire with a better one so you don't have to keep fucking with putting air in it, it'll be easier to move around when you get it to the N.E.C. show.
Yeah I put a better tyre on last afternoon. It totally changes to the look of the car with a silver wheel. Makes the green look awful!
Please put the gold wheel back on! They look sooo good with that green bodywork! 🙏
A green Christine
Limping along the drive with missing cylinders and smoke pouring out….
Would be nice if you could once restore an SD1 (not this S) and try to enhance its Ferrari Daytona resemblance as much as possible. So I'm thinking colour, leather stitching, some 5 spoke wheels etc. No tacky Ferrari badges etc just enhance it a little bit. Would love to see that (oh yeah, don't do it in Rosso, but in a lovely 70s metallic colour)
I have actually thought about that. A red vitesse and then drive it round Monaco
Did you hit the fence
(If you’re his neighbour and it’s your fence) the answer is “no” 😇
It reminds me of Uncle Buck’s car 😂
Nice video Mr nitro 🤓👍
Well at least the old girl moves
I still love the SD1 from my boyhood.I prefer the straight six 2300 or 2600 daftly as a better choice nowadays.However your car excuse my Walsall sense of humour is no worse than when it left the showroom.Rot was a free option back then as was burned out wiring and brakes that didnt work.Panel gaps you paid extra for if you were flush.Great potential but a sad fail by BL.Thing is they still look so good bearing in mind in the 1970,s this car challenged the mighty Ford mk1 and 2 granadas.
Probably a fail on emissions 😂😂. Otherwise cracking job - well done.
The SD1 like the Range Rover Classic were both fantastic original Rover designs, that were then sadly let down by shoddy build quality and The British Leyland bean counters. If they'd been built properly using good quality materials they could have been world beaters.
Don't take this the wrong way but.. You need Therapy mate lol... 😁👍🔥
It has been said before, and my wife agrees
🎉
You could name her Ellen because the first 2 letters are LN
I quite like that!
@@nitrosilvia you're welcome go for it,
I think its great you are saving these cars.
I hope the neighbours haven't got the washing out!
I didn't have one of these.. I had a 3500 V8 2000 body in 78ish..I also had a V8 MGB GT and an MGC..
I like MG's. Next year im racing an MG zr
These videos are coming think n fast, you do fast I'll do thick
Just wondering was this a original colour??
Indeed it was, and used in all the cars promotional material too. My chum in schools father bought an identical Triton Green V8-S when they first came out.
Yes original Triton Green
She sounds like Christine. 😂
why crush a brake pipe get a flexi pipe clamp really cheap
I subscribed ( now please jet wash it 👍🏻😁
Am I the only person whom wanted to throw that loose rocker cover down the garden😂
This guy is awesome 👌 lol looks at Mr flintstones car an say yeah fine I can fix that it's only a small hole
Leave it in the barn.
Great, but maybe wear gloves. The sight of your bleeding hands is ever so slightly disturbing 😂
Nek Arab ngono mengikuti jawab iya wong butuhe di sorot.
meaty V8
Sounds like a tractor.
Scrap it, they were rubbish new
Your poor hands. Put some gloves on Mr.
Indonesia ngono kui ngrti kabeh... Wong yahudi israel kui nek tak pikir kurang sosialisasi tenan
Buy some gloves for your poor hands!
Mind your finger
I need to wear gloves