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Rover SD1 Putting It Together. Handle Gaskets & Waist Trim

Its taken three weeks, but I thought it was about time I reassembled the door….

I’m sick of looking at the sad little Rover, with the door card off, and the boot all in a mess.

The first step was to install the door handle gaskets I purchased. The original gaskets are something similar to cardboard or cork, and quite simply ceased to exist on this car years ago. Original gaskets can be purchased from the UK, but Gareth at SD1 Travelled Spares has created the dies to actually make the gaskets out of rubber, which is a far better material.

The rears are easy to change, with the door cards off. Two 7MM nuts hold the handle in place, and if they are backed off slightly, the rubber gasket can be stretched over the handle and then the nuts are tightened. Done. My handle was super loose and moved when you opened the door, but now it’s firm, and solid.

Once I had done that, I began putting the door back together. The first step was to reinstall the moisture barrier. I pulled all the old tape off it, and taped it onto the door. Not flash, but it works.

I also reinstalled the door handle and relays. I refit the window button to the door card, and then fit the door card to the door. Pretty easy to fit, just need to hook the top of the card onto the door properly, and make sure the door handle surround clears the opening.

Since I was on a roll, and it was really nice outside, I replaced the door waist mouldings on the two right hand doors. The old ones were badly aged, dried out and falling to bits (literally like plastic instead of rubber). Pulling the old ones out was easy, they just pull straight up. The front door one started to come apart, so I gently levered it up with a plastic tool.

The old ones

And the new ones. Fitting wasn’t too hard, I used plenty of silicone spray to lubricate the seal, and then it just pushes into the holder. Its needs to be cut to fit, and the ends can take some time to get right.

The one last thing I wanted to do was to reinstall the speaker cover that I removed last time. This is what I was trying to do when I stuffed my knee.

I was trying to find the bolt to remove the side bolster on the seat. In my down time I enquired on the SD1 forum on how to remove the bolster and got some good hints, and told it was a Phillips head screw I was looking for. I managed to find the screw this time, and once I managed to get the screwdriver on it, it was easy to push the bolster upwards and remove it. Three weeks in the making. Finally.

With that out, I got the speaker cover back in, and put it all back together. Because of how shit the access to the screw is, I decided not to refit the screw. If I have to take the back seat base out, i’ll put the screw back in then, but until then it’s not going anywhere.

Still a lot of work to do, and I really need to focus on fixing the fuel leak now.

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