My 220 Gti

The history of my Rover 220 GTi

The history of the car - fairly typical - last owner had not kept up with the servicing and some mechanical faults needed attention. The test drive showed the car to be torquey from about 3000 revs but a little hesitant and stodgy

A service was needed badly - just changing the air filter improved the idle and I renewed all of the HT leads and Dissy cap and put in some BOSH Quad electrode plugs - about the best you can get for this car. (Rear bushes were shot, not unsurprising for a Rover though, and one of the shocks had started to bleed a little) I tracked down some gas shocks made by G-Max and the handling was magically restored to this little rocket.

Brakes

	Rover 200 brakes are not brilliant - the standard 220 GTi has vented disks I mated this to EBC Greenstuff pads - excellent pads make up for the usual breaking problems- redstuff pads needed a little warming to work best (about 100-200c) so I went for the standard Greenstuff pads and the plus is that now I don't have to clean the alloy wheels so much as they are low brake dust pads).
I replaced the brake fluid with a synthetic fluid and the hoses are now braided - the brakes do not fade at all now - pretty impressive stuff! The body work was in brilliant condition (diamond white), recent new front tyres - budget ones though and the interior has the following blemishes - wrinkles on the front drivers half leather seat (it comes to us all with age!)

The mileage was approaching 100K and the gearbox had been reconditioned about 1 year ago although this became the cause of some expensive problems for me- I think the clutch used was a standard one from a Rover 1.4 or something - it's already wearing and the pedal feels high. (Another little job for me to sort out - perhaps when I fix the engine I will get an EBC racing clutch - that should last longer - Couldn't find one so got a Black Diamond Power clutch!).

Many thanks to Ian for his tireless dedication to get me back on the road - he has really done a sterling job and created the best 220 GTi currently around. The engine is cleaned and detailed and the exhaust manifolds have been polished to maximise the gas flow.