'75 3500S siezed clutch

W

wilkinson92

Member
SO, im looking at a P6 3500S on ebay. but it does have afew issues.

the clutch has seized, the 'floor to sills' need welding, and the front inner wings have holes in them, were they have rotted through. there is also rust on the roof edge

firstly, how does a clutch sieze? secondly, I want to have a go at fixing it myself. As a beginner, is this abit too bold? I know whats involved in a clutch replacement, and I want to do this kind of thing as a profession, so I thought, why not start with a project and see how it goes. so how do I go about fixing a seized clutch?

secondly, should I be concerned about the amount of rust? from the pictures I can see there isn't much body rust, except the lower front wings, and even then its only about an inch and a half hole.

its up for sale for £1,400. is this a bargain or should I not waste my time and, more importantly, money? any help would be great

Thanks!

Alex
 
The centre plate sticks to the flywheel. If you have a running engine, clutch hydraulics and brakes that work, and somewhere safe to do it you should be able to free it without removing the gearbox. If you can do all the welding yourself then that helps, but it can be a lot of work, and will always be more than you think at the start, and for that money, I wouldn't consider it a bargain in that condition, but that's just my opinion.
 
Personally I would want to have a good look around it before buying it.

Seized clutch is normally because the plate has bonded onto the flywheel because its been there a very long time, and is often easily fixed by driving it about with the clutch held down. A lot easier back in the 80's when I used to do this regularly. Worse case scenario, fit a new clutch.

The rust is more worrying though. Almost certainly, that rust is just the tip of the iceberg.

I bought a car with no rust and never been welded, and got this viewtopic.php?f=21&t=6548&start=75#p52889

I'm not trying to scaremonger you, just be a good idea to have a good look around it, and check for all the usual rust areas.

The webasto doesn't look like it fits very well btw.

If you've never owned a P6, have a search around the projects on here.

Richard
 
Interesting...it sounds as if the clutch could be the least of my worries.

I'm going to go and have a look at it next Sunday, and I'll give it a proper looking over. I haven't committed to anything yet so I've got my arse covered in that respect :-D but I am abit concerned about the rust.

Stay tooned!

Alex
 
If you take it steadily and cut the rust out bit by bit, and replace it with good metal, it can be a very rewarding experience, but if you really don't want to be welding, then have a good look at the following.

Inside the front wheel arch at the front of the sill (i.e. behind the front wheel). These panels can rust badly.

Hockey stick bit above front wheel.

Inside the car, all the way along the inner sill from beside the throttle right back to the box section under the rear seat. (lift the rear seat squab out and check the box section is intact)

Side of boot where you can see a bolt. They can go here sometimes and this is a suspension mounting point.

Rear bump stops, check they are intact and there, they can go missing.

And anywhere else where there is obvious rust. D post just inside rear doors, under bonnet behind headlights, etc

The outer sills are screwed on, doesn't matter what state they are in, try to get behind them and have a feel around.

There isn't much on a P6 which cannot be fixed, just try to gauge how much work you have to do before buying it :)

Richard
 
First off, £1400 might be ok for a rolling restoration with an MOT that you can drive away and use, but regardless this a non runner.

Secondly the 3500s isn't that rare, they come up for sale all the time. It's the performance model that everyone wants. So a non running 3500s will be worth more and be more desirable than a non running 2000 or 2200, but £1400 is a LOT for a 3500s parts car/"restoration"!

Third point would be, that being realistic you are going to spend thousands more in restoring (or even getting this car on the road) than it is going to be worth - even if you are doing all the work yourself!

As a beginner you want to spend as much as you can afford, buying the best car you can afford and then spend your time doing jobs to improve the car over time.

The picture painted here is of a P6 that needs serious welding and this I would suggest is out of the scope of a beginner.
Unless you have good welding skills and a lot of patience. You will spend around £2000 with someone who is capable of welding the p6 baseunit properly and there are several specialist out there that will charge you double this.
Rot in the roof guttering is bad news and will let water into the car. The roof will have to come off and then its a pain to fix properly.

I say this from experience, you have no idea how many parts a P6 that has been off the road "in long term storage" (read 10-20years) will need and it will be way more than you can imagine! For instance, all of the brake calipers, servo and hoses will need replacing for rebuilt items. Having recently done this, I sourced the re-engineered parts from WINS at a total cost of £800. You can of course rebuild the calipers and servo yourself for much less, but I preferred to have reconditioned parts with sleeved bores.
This is before you then spend £0000s fixing the mechanical, suspension, panels, and paintwork

Join the Rover P6 Club page on facebook.... There is a nice MOTed Monza Red 72, 3500s with the desirable LT77 5 speed gearbox conversion for sale for £2900.
Needs a replacement drivers door (bubbling at the bottom) to make really tidy, but this is a much better starting point!
 
Thanks for your advice! the car sold bwfore I got a chance to see it. understandably, I'm not that upset! I didn't realise the cost implications of welding...I'm shocked! but it's great to know these things....

Alex
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top