THE ROVER SD1 FORUM

KwS · Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 2:48 pm Post subject: My new 85 VDP EFI

Oh the joy and excitement! after about 7-8 years of wanting one, i finally have an SD1 in my hands. Its a 1985 Vanden Plas EFI in gold, with brown leather interior. Done 141000miles. Auto, with the 3.5l V8.

I paid $3000 (which is about 1100 pounds), and its oh so worth it to me (dont know if i got it cheap or expensive. i think i got it cheap considering the condition).

The body is immaculate. No dents, no rust. Nice and shiny, with all trim etc. Such a beautiful car! Interior seems very good. ill need to give it a real decent going over in the next few days to see whats ripped, whats missing etc, but so far it seems everything is there, and everything is very tidy. Completely original, except the horrid radio someone put in it (which will be coming out soon).

It also came with original service documents from back in Ireland (including the original owners name and address), and came with a stack of Warrant of Fitness (basically a MOT i think) documents from the early 90s. The guy i got it off was the 3rd NZ owner since it was imported. He got it 2 months ago (to take the engine and box out and put into his ute (pickup truck). He decided it was too tidy to trash and sold it on; to me.

Also came with original handbooks, user manuals, a mark 1 sales brochure, and a haynes manual (with EFI suppliment).

Im very very happy with it. Its in very good condition, drives well... is a blast to drive (although not too fast, considering i came from a turbo subaru... but miles of torque).

There are a couple of quirks, like having to get used to the indicator stick being on the other side of the steering wheel... oh and things like the headlight switch placement, and the drivers side glovebox. Its awesome.

Still need to fix the coolant temp and oil press guages not working... but hopefully that wont be too hard.

Heres the pics that were on the auction site i got the car off. Ill take some more, detailed pics in the next few days.

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

v8man1 · SD1 User Joined: 01 Mar 2007 Posts: 149 Location: kent

hello how you doing that is a very nice looking vdp really nice look after the old girl!!

_________________
rover tp vitesse my dads old car!!!
discovery 3.9 es,

Chris P · Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: My new 85 VDP EFI

That's a very nice SD1 you have there, and you did very well to get
it for that money. A 'poor' EFi would probably make about that in the UK,
despite how relatively rare they are. It's great the car has managed to
stay original - and you've got an ultra rare model in NZ as the VDP EFi
was never dealer imported there.

KwS wrote:

There are a couple of quirks, like having to get used to the indicator stick being on the other side of the steering wheel... oh and things like the headlight switch placement, and the drivers side glovebox. Its awesome.

Series 1 SD1s had the indicator stalk on the right, series 2 swapped it
to the left. I presume this was some European sales standardisation, I
guess all Holdens and other local stuff are indicator right hand side?

KwS · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:09 am Post subject:

everything but european cars have the stick on the right of the wheel. im getting used to it now, but it made for some fun lane changes on the way home yesterday, lol.

Also, does anyone know what petrol i should run it on? Do i need a lead additive, or is it okay just to run it on the higher octane unleaded?

Chris P · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:14 am Post subject:

The V8 will run on unleaded. A lot of work was done on the heads for
the SD1 in the early-mid 1970's with a view to US sales and unleaded
fuel.

If the timing has been adjusted, it'll run fine on regular unleaded
(95 RON in the UK). I run my Vitesse on super unleaded (98 RON)
as it's near enough 4 star (97 RON), so no adjustment was required.
I do so few miles the additional cost isn't so much an issue.

Fuel additives and octane enhancers are a 'waste of money'.

kiwi_sd1 · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:14 pm Post subject:

Hi KwS, nice caR Smile

I was looking at that on TradeMe, and thinking if only I was in the south island Wink

I laughed at your comments re the indicator and lights - had the same issues. It actually took me a while to find the light switch!!

KwS · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:07 pm Post subject:

lol, the previous owner pointed the light switch out to me... if he didnt, i'd still be trying to find it!

It makes a lot of sense to me now... i like having that wee switch there. Pity the car doesnt have a buzzer for when you leave the lights on and take the key out (my subarus turned the lights off when the ignition was turned off).

Also noticed today the car comes with the original jack, wheel chock, and a 5th alloy spare wheel.

Does anyone have a pic of their spare wheel in its factory fastened position? i cant seem to see how mine is meant to fasten down, and i think im missing a floor piece to go over top of it or something?

Also, with the cruise control, is it meant to 'surge' to keep it at speed? or is it meant to keep it a constant throttle position?

Ive also found that the speedo sometimes refuses to show anything (just sits at 0mph, until eventually it springs to life). usually its only a couple of seconds before it jumps up to speed, but when i was out before, it took a good few minutes to respond.

kiwi_sd1 · Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:18 am Post subject:

lol, KwS you're finding the same things I found Smile

My speedo does the same on occasion. I've also found my trip computer has a mind of it's own and can decide to have a wee sleep sometimes - but Ramon has some awesome information on his website about all this so if you haven't already I'd recommend checking it out.

londonbabe · SD1 User Joined: 05 Jul 2006 Posts: 81

I can't see clearly from the pics but that radio looks like the original. If it's a philips then it probably is.

The indicator thing is an ISO standard - and only makes sense on LHD cars, but there you go.

KwS · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:41 am Post subject:

pretty sure its not the original radio. will be replaced eventually with a headunit that can read DVD discs. Im trying to find a simple, black unit with no fancy looking dials and buttons.

Lehto · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:30 pm Post subject:

KwS wrote:

pretty sure its not the original radio. will be replaced eventually with a headunit that can read DVD discs. Im trying to find a simple, black unit with no fancy looking dials and buttons.

Just make sure you upgrade the speakers to go with the new stereos. I learned it from my 200 that it has a huge effect. And dont go pinching the penny when upgrading speakers... sacrificing 50€ more for just the front speakers alone wont make you go bankrupt and the difference in the sound can be massive. Smile

Sony blackpanels only have 2 front buttons and are totally black from panel if I remember correctly. I dont know if they are produced anymore tho...

_________________
Owner of 3 Rovers and 1 MG.

KwS · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:38 pm Post subject:

from what i can see, the front speakers have already been upgraded, unless the factory 1985 models were 2way speakers.... which look a bit like this,

thats only from the glimpse i got when my partner opened the door the other day and i saw in the grill. dont know what the rear speakers are.

Lehto · Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:34 pm Post subject:

Such speakers definately arent stock speakers. I dont have stock front speakers for my car either so I dont know how they should look... im assuming their like the rear ones which are just plain crap.

_________________
Owner of 3 Rovers and 1 MG.

KwS · Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:53 pm Post subject:

right, just a small update. drove the car over 400km down to visit family and then back to where i live, over the xmas break. Didnt miss a beat, im so proud of her. Incredible car to drive, although it harshness of the ride suprised me a little (handles great though, for such a big car).

As mentioned elseware on the forum, my alternator decided to pack up the day after i got back home from my trip.... thankfully she was nice enough to wait, instead of leaving me stranded somewhere.

The alt decided it wanted to put out 16+ volts.... which is a bad thing. Made the belt squeal badly too, and put heaps of load on the alternator.

Today, with a lot of luck, i sourced a factory rebuilt alternator. Not quite the same model (its not a A133, and it puts out 70A) but its as close to new as you can get... i got it cheap, and it works extremely well. Its smaller, and lighter than the old alt too.

Old Alt...

New alt...

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

Latest photo...

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

KwS · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:03 pm Post subject:

right, i didnt post these when i actually cleaned my car as for some reason i couldnt get into this forum... but heres what my car looks like when its been cleaned.

The company that imported it to ireland...

I've since replaced the radiator cap, and the alternator. its also got a cone filter on it now (and what i difference!)...

Heres the original unit, with the filter that was already in it when i got the car. as you can see, the gap around the filter for air to get into is almost nonexistant.

and the new, bright flaming red filter...