Rover 200 & 400 Owners Club

Vulgalour wrote:I'm doing the very brief run in-between ph1a

This in-between stage only occured on Rover 200s as they received the grille later than the 400s. So there was a model year when the 400 first received the grille when the 200 had the larger indicators but still had the original grille.

In short, no Rover 400 came from the factory in this guise. See press cars with very similar plates from 1993 year:



Each to their own though, looks like a neat job.

ah, I thought both 200 and 400 were treated the same. I learned a thing

On the 200 models, late K into early L (93 models) had the teardrop indicators but phase 1 bonnet. Like mine! (registered Feb '93):







The changeover definitely wasn't clean. The chrome grille arrived before the body coloured bumpers arrived too (some L reg. still have grey bumpers I think). Real phase 2 (chrome grille, body-coloured bumpers, etc.) was late 94 into 95 I think.

Vulgalour wrote:Note that my passenger headlight sits wrong. I've been told that some R8s came from the factory like this and since I can find no obvious signs of damage or repair I'm inclined to believe that.

Mine came back from an MOT once with a wonky offside headlamp. They will rock upwards/backwards/forwards if you slacken the two top bolts, and can be twisted somewhat left to right too.

You need to guess what will affect the most improvement, then apply modest pressure to the headlight and tighten down the top bolts to hold it where it looks better. Do this for the two bolts individually if you want to twist the headlamp to point more inwards or outwards.

Finally, you can also fit penny washers between the headlamp and the top cross-member before refitting the bolts. If they're large enough, they tend to lift the headlamp up where needed to get it looking right.

If you still can't get a match by adjusting the wonky one, do the best you can, then make it into a "look" by adjusting the other one to match!

worst case there are always replacements available from like £10. there is also an adjuster on the headlamp it self if that helps.

finally changed my 97 cab to the phase 1 coupe bonnet