The 1275cc engine and original gearbox is now out of the engine bay, making way for a K-series! We had a few little problems on the way which we overcame. The first was that the hoist we bought was too high off the floor and wouldn’t go under the midget’s wishbones without lifting it with a jack which was a bit awkward. The second was taking off the mounting points in the correct order, after a bit of confusion we realised there were 3 bolts on one of the mounts hence why the engine wouldn’t budge!

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I thought I’d post a bit about the donor car we’re using, its a 98 Rover 200 Vi. It has the 1.8 litre VVC engine that produces 143bhp as standard. At some point the bonnet had flipped up, dented the roof and smashed the windscreen! We drove it back like this from Oxford and it didn’t skip a beat. We were quite surprised by it’s performance too, needless to say my dad had a big grin on his face.

The engine is in good condition, having had 2 cambelt changes according to the history. Its done 97k which is high but should be OK. Being a VI it has the CAT2 immobiliser, and lots of other goodies which most 200s don’t have. We’re pinching the half leather seats to put in my Rover 220 Di (daily driver) and probably the leather steering wheel and vented brakes too.

Once we get all the parts from it we’ll be breaking the Vi, so if you need anything get in touch! We’re close to Peterborough if you want to collect any big items.

We’re at the stage of gathering parts, ready for the rebuild in the summer. So far we have a Rover 200 Vi (more info to follow) and this lovely Ford type 9 gearbox. Its a recon box from a 2.8 V6 Capri, we’re unsure of the mileage but it looks to be in good condition. It has the long input shaft, so we will be getting the bellhousing from Titan Motorsport later in the year. We have to modify the front x-member and create a hole for the new gear stick to come through as it sits slightly further back behind the original.