Rover 417 TD...not the typical Rover :D

[peterzs]

looking good, nearly there.

[Malteser]

Well ladies and gents, it has been ages since the last update. Between school work and summer holidays where I find more stuff to do than I possibly have the time for, I have now just gotten a chance to continue this write up.

That is not to say that my hands have been idle mind you!

So, Back when it was still at the sprayers a long, long time ago in a garage far, far away… (cue the music!!)

I had started putting the car back together again. First things first. Sound deadening!!! I fitted sound deadening to the inside of the door skins and also to the back of the door cards.







This has made a HUGE difference in the quietness of the car during driving and also gives that satisfactory solid THUD when you close the door instead of a clank.

Then went in the rest of the interior. Newly upholstered roof by me and then the seats afterwards.







Then the interior at the back.



And now, for the big reveal…… drum roll please……



Still fresh out of the garage and still with polish all over it but beautiful as anything!
And for the fun of it, some more…lol.







And here is a picture showing the smoothed bonnet and roof. No more window washers, radio antenna, or runners for me!



Then came the battery relocation. I put the battery in the boot because I wanted to fit a different enclosed air filter (which I am currently in the process of fitting) but didn’t have enough room. Option? Mod something else!! So ran the battery to the boot, made a box for it and a rudimentary shelf unit for the amps as well.



And yes that stain in the carpet was already there when I bought the car, and no, I never had it tested for STDs and yes, I have recently replaced it. :P







Then came the end of the school year. We have a student who is in a wheel chair and since the bus can’t get right up to the entrances everywhere and he can’t go over rough terrain, someone had to go with a car. PICK ME!!! PICK ME!!! And here is a shameless shot of the cars booty in the countryside.





Next I decided to change the gauges for boost and oil pressure because I didn’t like having everything black and then those were white, so I bought these gauges and they look perfect, with font lettering and everything!





I know, I need to clean the gauge cluster window. :/

So now I see this when driving:

[Malteser]

The last thing I am updating you guys on is the last exterior project that I have in mind right now (other than a light tinting of the windows). Everything basically on the exterior has been modified in some way or another. I mean EVERYTHING! Panels, doors, bonnet, hatch, etc… Except…..

The headlights. Now it is their turn. Remember that HID kit from oh so many moons ago?



Well now is the time to fit it. First I hooked it up to check the beam pattern and how they work and I must admit, for a Chinese set, they have a very clean cut off line and beam pattern. Since they are Bi-Xenon though, which means they are low and high beams, they will also work as highs and that is where they aren’t the best but I have a solution for that as well.

Low beam:



Oh and I realised that I made a mistake and ordered for a LHD car when mine is RHD so had to modify the internal shield which worked well.

High beam



And my high tech mounting procedure for testing.




My t-Shirt on the intercooler and light on that…lol.

Then I took apart the headlights. Thanks to the forum I used to be one for the car I had in Canada (Alermod.com) I figured that these can be de-tangoed by taking out an extra piece of plastic and that they weren’t painted on and I was right. This could go for the ZS and 45s as well for those who want to try. I will do a write up on the HID fitting and de-tangoing in a separate post.


Now with a basic fitting, this is what it would have looked like.



But that to me was too plain. Since I knew people in the Aleromod forum have done some headlamp modifications, I asked them about colours and they posted up some great headlight designs and I chose to go with a blackout theme. It ended up like this.



I could have also painted the high beam bowl as well black but I am actually going to put in the HID set that I had on my Alero and then on the Rover at the beginning in there so my high beams will light up the road ahead of me VERY well (considering I will now have 4 HID beams on high ) I also asked a local VRT tester (that is the annual safety inspection here in Malta) and he said that if it can be adjusted, then it can be legal. Since I left the adjusters all in there, then they will be legal!

So that is the update for now. I will hopefully soon be fitting the headlamps and then start fitting the air filter and will keep it updated more frequently hopefully.

So what do you guys think so far? Any questions, comments, concerns?

[Malteser]

Oh and that is the beginning of the piping that I will be using for the air filter under the table of the last picture.

[Djules]

Very personal car, I love it since I saw it on .org. Very good work !
The integration of the extensions of the ZS mk2 is awesome !

When I look at its profile or from 3/4, it reminds me the Vauxhall Vectra B

[peterzs]

Well done, great work.

[petet16]

Impressive work, sound proofing does make the doors shut with a very satisfying thud.

[talkingcars]

Looks good, attention to detail is spot on.

[LukeZS96]

Just read through this thread. Very impressive work, The flush bodykit looks brilliant IMO

[Maxfly]

Whole car is epic, don't think there is something you have done that I don't like. Love the headlights and look forward to seeing em fitted