Introducing Eve

The later Series 1s had the large aluminium 'ROVER' letters on the left of the boot lid. Hazel has these (Feb '70), whereas OCC (Apr '64) has the chromed small letters above the number plate.
Early Three Thousand Fives had the smaller letters & the V8 & 3500 badges higher up on the right, too.
I'll get my anorak...
 
No, if that was the case some-one would be arguing that the letters are chrome rather than aluminium, but we won't descend to that..................
 
Progress slow at the moment, as the heated windscreen that was sent was the original period version with a thick bar right in my line of vision...... They are replacing with the 'new' version free of charge as that is what I ordered! But all takes time......
Still waiting on the painter to return the panels for the front of the car but at least he has said they are ready.

Good bits :)
Interior with the trimmer, so out of my garage which can now be readied for Rovers Return.

The electrical circuits for heated screens and radiator fan are fully integrated into car, with laminated wiring diagrams.

The exhaust is fitted, and the engine runs very sweetly even before the carbs are set up. Moving back and forward 6 feet shows zf to be working (at least for 12 foot!).

Reconditioned wheels look gorgeous.

In a job lot of parts I picked up..,
NOS bonnet badge and mud flaps with a good as new radio blanking cover. So these are going to be fitted.


Always the waiting for parts that is the killer.
Two more weeks.....but told that two weeks ago.....

But Colin says it will be ready on Tuesday, but which Tuesday is the question ...,
 
Small update:- replacement heated screen arrived!
But it's the same style as last time, so still wrong :(
Replacement due in another 2 weeks...... Hopefully third time lucky

Oddly, when Colin was fitting the new Vitesse wheels to the rear, he found they were locking on the body when the shocks were at full travel. It turned out that the Gaz adjustable shocks fitted were 2" longer than the standard P6 ones. When reported to Gaz, they arranged courier collection, fixed the problem and returned within a day. Now that is customer service! They may all be like this.....
If you have the Gaz fitted on yours, you may wish to check at full travel. I am sure they will fix them if you find the same problem.

When testing Eve on the private road, they also found that the speedo didn't work. The new speedo cable doesn't engage properly at the gearbox end, so will have to be sent back and remade.

Oh well, what's a few more weeks after nearly 9 months!
 
Adding 2 small transmission oil coolers at the front.............
View attachment 10390

Quite a neat tranny cooler solution. What would have been easier is mount a single, larger one vertically. They obviously still work in either orientation. The internal one is a complete no, no with the ZF and was always fairly poor with the BW. I think you are member #6 of the ZF P6 club. Hate to think what all this is costing and I'm too polite to ask!
 
Quite a neat tranny cooler solution. What would have been easier is mount a single, larger one vertically. They obviously still work in either orientation. The internal one is a complete no, no with the ZF and was always fairly poor with the BW. I think you are member #6 of the ZF P6 club. Hate to think what all this is costing and I'm too polite to ask!

Now that is a good idea, I may use that if I find I need an engine oil cooler.
As for price, lets just say to buy and rebuild the gearbox was around £1200 never mind the fitting................
I haven't had the nerve to add up all the rest of the bills :)
 
Tell me about it. My gearbox fitting budget went 130% over which did not please me at all. Unless you can do this completely yourself it isn't remotely an economically sensible option. Can't argue with the result. I got my gearbox ready built up with all the pieces I needed from Andy Morgan (eightofthem) for somewhat less than that though and it really is prepared to an excellent standard. (actually perhaps too good as I don't want questions at the MoT next week).

Be interesting to know whether one of the Rover specialist would take this inhouse (Colin Gould, Mark Grey) and offer it as a turnkey solution? Certainly with the Triumph Stag it can be done for around £2200 all in from at least two specialists. Perhaps there's just not the demand and the lower value of the P6 makes it less viable. Now the knowledge is in the public domain it's not too difficult, more a logistical exercise in pulling it all together.

Also if you've been reading the thread, I'd be interested to know your opinion of the gearing when you are up and running. I'm fitting a 3.54:1 diff and 195/70 tyres to drop it around 15% overall. Nearly 34mph/1000rpm is just too high.
 
Also if you've been reading the thread, I'd be interested to know your opinion of the gearing when you are up and running. I'm fitting a 3.54:1 diff and 195/70 tyres to drop it around 15% overall. Nearly 34mph/1000rpm is just too high.

I bought the LDV box (speedo drive built in) from a friend of Harvey's for about £400 and was told it was working when removed. I didn't really want to go to the expense of having it fitted only for it to fail soon after so went for a full rebuild with zf24 upgrade, hence the high price.

As for gearing I will have to wait and see, but I think with the +20 bored 3.9 I have installed it should pull that comfortably. My 4.2 jag will happy cope with that gearing. Not sure a non rebuilt 3.5 would be quite so happy though.
As I said, looking forward to finding out!
 
Excellent. It actually works in 4th and lock-up very well, the problem is tractability in gear. The tall gearing works against you at some point because you ideally want it to hold lock-up at motorway cruising speed under most conditions (i.e. general driving bar steep hills and fast overtaking). With that tall gearing, you are actually a long way under the torque peak even with an engine like the Rover V8. You'll certainly see gearing like this (and more) with diesel engines but that's another story. Even your fresh, tuned engine is likely to feel flat.

There is another issue too in that the tall final drive (obviously!) affects all gears which means slower pick-up and blunted acceleration. This was a comprise with the Borg Warner box which simply isn't necessary when you have a 0.73 overdrive on top - this more like 6 speed gearing than 5 speed. A car of the power and low weight of a P6 ought to be a bit snappier off the line even with an auto - that isn't just a question of adding more power, it's where exactly you are in the power/torque bands at "normal" road speeds. Ultimately it'll even work against you in terms of economy if you simply can't use the gear properly and you end up working the engine to make up for it.

So I see the ZF as an opportunity for better economy AND performance, hence I think this needs to be investigated. It's not simply a case of adding a massive overdrive gear it has to work with the rest of the car. If you look at the other thread it explains why the Triumph Stag fitted with the ZF is such an utter joy to drive - 27mph/1000rpm is about right for that car.
 
I had been following the thead, and in fact Colin was talking to me the other day about your reservation with gearing.
When the car is back together (so close now), he will give her a couple of days shake down (he will commute in her) and if wildly over geared he has the correct crown wheel he can drop in, but I'm hopefull it will be fine.
In fact I'm not to sure if the gearing is the same in the LDV box, perhaps Harvey could enlighten me?
 
There are two variants of the ZF box, these differ only in the first 2 gears, 3 and 4 are always the same.

The shake-down is wise. But commuting won't help you, you need to do some cross-country touring and motorway work.

Initially you are rather wowed by the extra gear but it soon become apparent that it isn't ideal. I think it's probably a function of the fact I've driven this gearbox in other cars and know how it feels. I'd argue even the 3.54 axle is slightly too tall but not far off. 3rd gear still being taller than the top gear (again 3rd) of the 2000 auto as the tyres are 5.3% bigger.
 
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What an incredible thread! As someone who now has two P6s on the road, I don't want mine to be off the road for as long, but it shows how life can get in the way sometimes!

I love to see cars which have a real story behind them, and yours certainly has that! Once you're finished it sounds like you'll have an extremely useable car with all of those upgrades!
 
What an incredible thread! As someone who now has two P6s on the road, I don't want mine to be off the road for as long, but it shows how life can get in the way sometimes!

I love to see cars which have a real story behind them, and yours certainly has that! Once you're finished it sounds like you'll have an extremely useable car with all of those upgrades!

Thank you Frazzle, the plan is to have a car that will start on the button and could be used everyday, a daily driver if you will.
Not that it will be used everyday (I don't have cause), proberbly no more that 2000 miles each year BUT these will be any weather, any time miles (although not keen on salt)
I am looking forward to getting her back, hopefully by the end of this month. Then she will be off again to have the webasto installed.
I think I should get some quality time/miles with her in September/October (a year after sending her away).
I might have a little run down to Salcombe Devon in October, when our dog will be allowed on all the best beachs!
I think the sunroof will really come into its own in the Autumn :)

A few pics with the wings on .......
IMG_0383.jpg IMG_0384.jpg IMG_0382.jpg

Peter
 
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