Rover SD1, A trip to the Hospital

This week just won’t end.

Today started well, I got out fairly early and made a start on fitting the rear speakers into the Rover.

I checked my vast databank of photos of Rovers, and found a couple where the exact same speakers I have were fit to the standard locations. Upon inspection, I worked out how it was done. These are the photos (credit to the owner),

The issue I had yesterday was that the speaker was too wide and wouldn’t fit between the guard and the little step down that can be seen in the second picture above. It occurred to me that the speakers don’t sit flush, and must be screwed into the step down.

Using the cardboard template off the box, I copied that to some more cardboard and trimmed it to the correct size of the speaker (the original template from the box is far larger than the actual speaker).

Using this, I worked out that I could reuse an existing hole, and would only have to drill one extra hole. So I did.

And then I bolted the speaker in place. The plastic trim still fits too.

I made a short adaptor loom to go from the speaker terminals, to the standard terminals on the car loom. Upon testing, it sounds good. Plenty of bass, good clarity and most importantly, no rattles. The other speaker should be easy to fit now.

But then this is where it all went to shit.

To get the speaker cover panel back into place I need to remove the side squabs on the back seat. To do this there is apparently a bolt at the bottom. Whilst crouching down next to the car, reaching in to try to find the bolt, my right knee made a horrific POP noise and the kneecap badly dislocated. The pain was excruciating, and thankfully my screaming in pain had my fiance out there in a flash. She managed to get me into the car and lying on the back seat whilst on the phone to the emergency services.

The ambulance crew arrived smartly, they proceeded to cut the leg of my jeans open and gave me some “laughing gas”. As soon as I was high as a kite on the gas, the paramedic proceeded to pop my kneecap back into place. That is a feeling I wont forget for a long time 😣

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the Emergency Dept, getting checked, X-Rayed and then strapped up and put on crutches. I’ll be off work for a period of time, and also unable to drive 😥

Oh well, life goes on. Hopefully it wont be long until the hose clamps for the injection system arrive, and then as soon as I can drive again (or bend my leg for that matter) i’ll get the car in the garage and under the knife.

Rover 1 – Me 0