About the Car

Introduction

The (car body) brain behind this unique idea is Yasu Ichige who did this for a Japenese art project. He took 2 Rovers and welded them together to make one rover with 2 fronts. However, the car was not road legal so could only ever be used on private land. It had engines both ends with welded diffs, essentially the car could be driven at both ends at the same time causing spectacutar burnouts. When Yasu moved on to his next project he needed the space this car took up and that is where I came in.

The next phase of the Rover’s life began with me, which then gave birth to the RovoR 1654 or “The RovoR”.

The RovoR started out life as 2 x Rover 827’s. One end was G59 BLX Rover 827 Vitesse and the other end was F627 AFD Rover 827SLI. Both were cut in the middle of the back doors and the rear ends discarded.

The two front halves were lined up and then welded together.

Sill reinforcement were welded in place, same for both sides and a ladder section bolted in and also welded to the box section that runs from the base of the B pillar to B pillar.

The roof section with strengthening (not shown), also the sunroof apertures have been filled in with welded plate (not shown).

The fuel tank in situ mounted to the ladder section, this photo is for info only as I have relocated the fuel tank to the rear end boot secion.

The two headed car was born. An engine at both ends and not road legal. This is how it arrived with me.

Making it road legal

The following information details what I needed to do in order to get the car road legal, rather than just writing paragraph after paragraph of text, I have added lots of photos to show my work and kept the actual typing to a minimum.

Before I did anything I wanted to check how the engines were running and which was the best one to keep and which to remove and use later or break for spares.

I found that the engine on the SLI end of the Rovor was not running, before I removed it from the car I wanted to get the engine running so I could find out exactly what the issue was since I would want to use it later. It turned out that the timing was off due to a build up of gunk under the crank shaft sprocket, this caused it to jump a couple of teeth.

The original expansion tanks had the nipples broken off, so I repaired them by drilling out, tapping and inserting the replacement brass fitting.

Once I got the SLI end engine running again, I removed it and started clearing out the engine bay to make way for the boot conversion.

Next I fabricated and installed the rear brake caliper brackets.

6mm steel bracket installed with the reat caliper bolted up.

Aluminium bracket to bring the hose away from the upright to lessen the curve on the hose as it enters the caliper.

Hose going into caliper with kink prevention (ignore the cv boot, this has been removed and the CV joint stripped out).

Handbrake. Middle support bracket and cable clamp.

Cable routing down the centre

Centre handbrake blanking plate and support.

Rear wheel “steering” locking system

Steering rack removed and 12.7mm aluminium cut to size and the centre hole drilled and tapered to take the new track rod end x 2.

Assembled steering locking system (after this picture was taken, I added another threaded insert to the bottom assembly). Photo shows a 4mm aluminium plate I used to to tie in the ends into the sub frame to make it even more secure.

Assembled and fitted locking system with front to rear sub frame fitted.

Rear suspension spring swap

After scouring the internet looking at varies photos and technical details I came across the BMW 1 Series E87 rear springs which were an ideal fit and load requirement.

Rear stripped out CV joint, same for both sides.

Engine compartment to boot converstion and installation fo fuel tank.

Using scrap wood to mock up a level floor.

Tank in place for position and size.

Installing wood at the front and rear to level out the boot floor. The wood is bolted down to the respective sub frames. The tarpaulin is to help keep everthing dry.

The floor and tank are now in and bolted down. I used rubber strips under the tank brackets and under the bottom of the tank to protect the metal work.

Fuel cap tethered

Lights

Rear side lights, similar pattern to the fiat 500 rear lights, makes it look happy.

Fog light installed on the offside part of the bumper

I fitted the number plate lights and used a number plate to ensure I had them lined up in position correctly.

Middle door window replacement

To get the car through the IVA test I would of needed to use safety marked glass in the middle windows, as that would need to be custom made I decided to use 3mm hardboard cut to shape and stick black vinyl over it. I later replaced this with clear perspex.

Side marker lights and reflectors

Because the car is over 6m long, orange illuminated side markers plus reflectors have to be installed. The illuminated side markers needed to have a separate swith which I installed into the factory panel to the left of the handbrake.

Safety bolt system

Because the car now has “suicide” doors, I had to build a system that if the rear door(s) were open and the ignition was on and handbrake down, then a warning buzzer for that side would sound. Only after closing the door and bolting it would the warning buzzer go off.

Overview of the safety locking bolt system.

Unlocked

Locked

Brake pipe newly fitted, internally and externally.

Newly fitted and routed copper brake pipes from front to rear.

I removed the Vitesse engine and gearbox to replace the gearbox due to the diff being welded. I also replaced the timing belt and alternator at the same time.

Interior and wiring

Front to back wiring entering box section, this is the wiring for the rear end section of the car.

This website is a work in progress and will be added to and updated on a regular basis. I hope the information in here is interesting and please do let me know if there is anything you would like me to add or answer or go into more detail about.

Thank you for taking the time to be interested in my unique car.