Rover Tomcat

[tim dodwell]

I know this is not a racing question, but I know there are a number of racers with knowledge of the Rover Tomcat (220 Turbo Coupe). One of my sons has just bought one, and we found the nearside inner C/V joint was wrecked. I helped him fit a new driveshaft assembly (can't buy the C/V alone) a few weeks ago. Soon after we felt a vibration on acceleration, and found the new C/V to be rattling loose again. The car was lowered by the usual chav method - cut the springs. Since those who race these cars would also lower the car (but in a sensible way), I wondered if that could cause this problem. Of course, it could just be a bad re-conditioning, although I believe the firm (Shaftec) has a good name. Anyone out there with suggestions? The car is currently with my son at Portsmouth Uni.
Hopefully you moderators won't biff this elsewhere (until we have some ideas at least).

[GORDON STREETER]

I presume that the circlip is still in place( easy to sod up when fitting) and that the joint is exactly the same (size and number of splines! ) and yes it is possible to knacker a joint by running it too far out of line. I'm no Tomcat expert but they ain't rocket science !

[Greystone]

Tim, I have just had the same problem with my Tomcat. I have sent you a fairly lengthy PM on what happened and what I am doing about it. As I said in the PM feel free to ring me if you want to discuss this further.

Andrew Cherry

[Rovcoup]

If the inner cv keeps popping out the diff bearings are on there way out time for a box rebuild and steel caged diff bearings.

[graham bahr]

this might be of no use/help on a tomcat but you never know so here goes,

after we radically lowered wicks mk3 escort and got some decent front geometry in it that started eating inner cv's, the problem was twofold, the shafts were now running at a poor angle and were effectively too short, lifting the back of the gearbox up, improved the angle of the shafts and straightened them a bit which also helped in the length dept although we also added a spacer shim between the outer cv and the hub after that he had an occasional out cv failure but never again an inner one

[Greystone]

Tim,

I have a PG1/PG2 gearbox manual in a PDF file. If you PM me with an email address where you can accept an attachment of approx 4.5 mb I will send it to you.

Andrew Cherry

[tim dodwell]

Thanks Andrew for those brilliant files - am showing them to my son. Couldn't reply before as we were out all day yesterday, got back after midnight, and then spent 3 hours fixing a dodgy alternator on number two sons car so that he could rush back to his Uni for today's lectures. Aren't cars wonderful fun (says he who spends half his life fixing problems on his DMN Scirocco)! Funny that I actually considered buying an ex-challenge yellow Tomcat to race in the DMN a couple of years ago - maybe that would have been less hassle. The ones I have seen racing seem to be really good - Anthony Wright (who lives near me) does really well in the CTCRC series with his one. Been up to second overall!!!

[nyssa7]

Jason Holmes won the LMA Euro Saloons championship in his Tomcat in 2006

There is a yellow one on PistonHeads at the moment, would be tempted myself if I hadn't bought the Calibra the other week

[R59]

Rover Tomcat... hrrrrmmmppphh!

The most evil ill-built over-powered (for it's chassis capabilities) piece of scrap to hold a Rover badge.

I wouldn't waste the petrol or a match on one!

Though my experience comes of working on them in the Rover Turbo Cup (where they broke everything, and fell apart at the seams!), and driving one as an instructor at Donington day-in day-out. Evil. Evil. No brakes!
Went like..... wheeeeeeeee. Now Stop you b....... Stoooooooooooooop!
Handling? If you like snap oversteer. OK. that one was a dog. But it's scarred me for life!

May the lord have mercy on your soul!

I suppose it won't be long before there are plenty of cheap Chinese spares available.

Rob.

[Alan Cherry]

Originally Posted by racing59

Rover Tomcat... hrrrrmmmppphh!

The most evil ill-built over-powered (for it's chassis capabilities) piece of scrap to hold a Rover badge.

I wouldn't waste the petrol or a match on one!

Though my experience comes of working on them in the Rover Turbo Cup (where they broke everything, and fell apart at the seams!), and driving one as an instructor at Donington day-in day-out. Evil. Evil. No brakes!
Went like..... wheeeeeeeee. Now Stop you b....... Stoooooooooooooop!
Handling? If you like snap oversteer. OK. that one was a dog. But it's scarred me for life!

May the lord have mercy on your soul!I suppose it won't be long before there are plenty of cheap Chinese spares available.

Rob.

I used to sprint my brothers one in the late 90's - I must have been driving a different car !

Brakes - superb - although possible a bit overservo'd ( ap Racing jobbies )

Breaks - yes it does

Handling - probably the most user friendly car I've competed in - you could take liberties and get away with almost anything certainly no snap oversteer - It was the ex- Andy Thompson car that won the Rover Vento series the year before, so i suspect it was well sorted. Can't comment on handling now, as it's now got about another 100 bhp, and I haven't driven it in present form.

I've heard the roadcars leave something to be desired !

Alan

[Tomcat Racer]

Originally Posted by R59

Rover Tomcat... hrrrrmmmppphh!

The most evil ill-built over-powered (for it's chassis capabilities) piece of scrap to hold a Rover badge.

I wouldn't waste the petrol or a match on one!

Though my experience comes of working on them in the Rover Turbo Cup (where they broke everything, and fell apart at the seams!), and driving one as an instructor at Donington day-in day-out. Evil. Evil. No brakes!
Went like..... wheeeeeeeee. Now Stop you b....... Stoooooooooooooop!
Handling? If you like snap oversteer. OK. that one was a dog. But it's scarred me for life!

May the lord have mercy on your soul!

I suppose it won't be long before there are plenty of cheap Chinese spares available.

Rob.

Sorry for dragging up this old post, but the Tomcat car at Donington was a road car not a race car, which was used for instructors. The race cars are totaly different.
I have raced mine hard for 5 yrs and only had 2 DNF's and that was due to accidents.
I am that happy with the car I have brought it to Australia with me.

[gixxer]

Originally Posted by R59

Rover Tomcat... hrrrrmmmppphh!

The most evil ill-built over-powered (for it's chassis capabilities) piece of scrap to hold a Rover badge.

I wouldn't waste the petrol or a match on one!

Though my experience comes of working on them in the Rover Turbo Cup (where they broke everything, and fell apart at the seams!), and driving one as an instructor at Donington day-in day-out. Evil. Evil. No brakes!
Went like..... wheeeeeeeee. Now Stop you b....... Stoooooooooooooop!
Handling? If you like snap oversteer. OK. that one was a dog. But it's scarred me for life!

May the lord have mercy on your soul!

I suppose it won't be long before there are plenty of cheap Chinese spares available.

Rob.

Rob gary Prebble used a tomcat in the combe saloon championship
for a number of years and proved to one of the best cars in the championship the handling even in wet conditions put the rest to shame at times,although he have a little advantage at the start as the car was one that Tony Pond had used to develop the racing series,but having said that as gary said the development didn't stop there

But as in every championship all cars come to the end once the 4 wheel drive cars [EVO's] started taking all the wins which is what gary uses now although as far as i know he still has the rover

[Al Weyman]

They give an M3 a good run for the money in pre-93's and look pretty quick to me when they come past!

[R59]

One of the problems with the Turbo Cup in it's early days was Roversport's decision to NOT allow seam welding.
With the shell seam welded, it would be a different animal.

As I said - over powered and under braked in standard form. We used to do about six laps at a time pacing the single seaters, after the second time into Goddard the brakes would be super-stinky and refuse! The rest of the session would be a little interesting to say the least.
It also used to snap oversteer turning into Redgate, and I didn't "really" push it - as I'd had a bunch of billy's behind in single seaters. It was hairy in the extreme. It felt like it had a hinge in the middle where the chassis should be!

The car was allegedly a bit of a development job gifted to Donington/Drive by Rover, and was a bit of a development heap.

So, you could say, in my personal experience, I didn't exactly see the cars in a very good light.

I did see Gary Prebble's Castle Combe jobby, but knowing the rules in that series, it was hardly likely to be anything like a standard Tomcat, especially knowing it's heritage. Being front wheel drive, with Gary's capable car control, it would be pretty good in the wet if you keep it off max boost.

[gixxer]

Originally Posted by R59

I did see Gary Prebble's Castle Combe jobby, but knowing the rules in that series, it was hardly likely to be anything like a standard Tomcat, especially knowing it's heritage. Being front wheel drive, with Gary's capable car control, it would be pretty good in the wet if you keep it off max boost.

LOL er yes it did have one or two tweaks and quite a few dents knocked out of it too

[Alan Cherry]

Longshot here, but if anyone can help, it may well save me a lot of legwork!
I'm running a converted road 220 turbo, with an 'original' SD cage taken from Steve Govetts car. I managed to get a new set of fittings from the new safety devices when I fitted it (all now made in Poland)
Anyway, there is the possibility that I may need a certificate for the cage - shouldn''t be too much of a problem I bought one previously for my old Fiesta from the MSA for about £15 if my memory still works !
Anyway, the problem was that I had to have about 3 attempts with the MSA before i got the right certificate that matched the cage - not their fault, and they only charged me once.
However, If someone has the certificate laying about in their papers anywhere, If they could let me know the correct reference on the papers, I could be sure of getting the right one !

Thanks in advance

Alan

[Tomcat Racer]

Roll bar model No:- N49

RAC MSA Recognition No 1135

Hope that helps.

Jason

[Alan Cherry]

Jason,
Superb - thanks . I'll get on to the MSA, and see if they can send me one. I may need it this year for the RCN at the Ring and Spa - didn't need it last year, but they've changed the rules for 2009.

Thanks
Alan