Hi from aussie member

A

aussiegazza

New Member
I have recently bought a Rover P6B 1976 3500 V8 model in Tasmania, Australia. It has been well looked after mechanically but the paintwork is a bit tired (although it polished up pretty well) and the velour seats need recovering. At the moment I have put new wool seat covers on the front seats and may put cheaper covers on the rear. The rest of the interior is great although there has been a water leak through the rear window at one stage and there are some water stains around the rear shelf. Any suggestions regarding cleaning up water stains? I have tried some pretty strong cleaners but the results have been minimal. Perhaps bleaching is the only option left apart from replacing the fabric? I have a couple more questions for members if anyone can help me. 1. Apparently this vehicle was assembled in NZ and transported to Australia. Is it ok to run it on unleaded fuel (we have I think 91 and 95 octane available) and is a lead additive required? 2. I took the car to a tyre service garage to get a wheel alignment. They couldn't do it as they said they would have to remove half the engine to get to the where they could adjust the alignment! Is this correct or is there an easier way to do it? 3. Any suggestions for a reliable source of parts that don't cost the earth? Cheers to all.
 
All i can say is welcome to the forum as my knowledge is fairly minimal when it comes to technical stuff. There are several members from your part of the world so i've no doubt you'll get answers to all your questions.
As is usual here i'll start the ball rolling and ask for some pics of your car, details like colour cheers Tam :D
 
Thanks for the welcome Tam. I am in the process of detailing the 'new' rover so I will post some pics when I am finished. I thought the colour was Saffron or Turmeric but the paint supply place didn't have any luck with those colours and instead 'scanned' the actual car to get me some touch up paint. I suppose the easiest thing is just to say it is orange! I like the look of your cars. I have 3 classics myself but will have to offload one due to lack of room. I also have a 1968 Hillman Hunter and a 1966 Mk1 Cortina but wanted something with more comfort particularly good seats and that is why I bought the Rover. Cheers. garry
 
Hillman Hunter you say! Been on the look out for Hunter myself at reasonable price but nice one's are pretty costly over here!! My Dad had a couple when i was just about driving age and have fond memories of them. Mind you i'm ashamed to admit me and my brother wrecked them rallying around fields once they were past there best along with a string of other desirable (now ) classics like Fords. Oh well if only we could turn the clock back we'd be rich :roll:
By the way photo's of any classics go down well here :wink:
P.S. Member/Moderator "SydneyRoverP6B" Has a Saffron car you could look at some of his photos for colour referance.
 
Yes your car can run on 91, I have run mine on it for the last 20 odd years higher octane is not required on the 9.25:1 later engines such as yours. Unleaded is absolutely fine, this is the same engine Land rover used and they say they are compatible with unleaded fuels, once again I have not used any additive for 20 odd years.
Your wheel alignment people sound like they are talking crap, one of the beauties of the P6 setup is that it is an easy adjustment system, others here can advise you more than me on that.
The seats are not velour but nylon unless of course they have been at some time in the past replaced or recovered, would love to see some pics of your car.
Whilst NZ assembled many of the P6's there were some exceptions, Manual cars which were brought in as CBU (complete built units) from the UK and the odd private import, a photo or 2 should reveal all as does the affixed on the inner wing chassis build number.
Parts for P6 are generally fairly cheap though is OZ I dont know, plenty of info and sources on this forum as to where to go to get all you need.

Welcome

Graeme
 
Thanks Tam and Graeme for your help. I will be sorry to sell the Hillman Hunter but the drivers seat and the stiff clutch pedal don't suit my stiff joints! It has had a fair bit of money spent on it, there is no rust, it has a new clutch, a Datsun 2 litre motor fitted some years ago and lots of work done to suspension, water pump, radiator etc. Unfortunately they aren't all that popular over here and I think I will be lucky to get more than $3000 for it. However I am in a local post vintage car club and hopefully someone in the club will be interested.

Thanks for the info re' the fuel Graham as I was starting to think I might have damaged the engine! Interesting re' the seats. Maybe they were fitted later as I would think that if they were nylon that wouldn't become threadbare! Anyway it doesn't really matter as I will just try and hide them for the moment but it would be nice to get them covered in leather one day.

Cheers
 
G'day Gazza,

Welcome to the forum and to the joys (hopefully) of Rover P6B ownership. :)

All of the series 2 V8 automatic Rovers that were officially imported into Australia were assembled at the Leyland plant in New Zealand, and then shipped across. Most were painted in official Rover colours, but a small selection left the factory in Triumph colours, my Rover being one of them.

Most if not all of the 1976 models that came to Australia featured low compression 8.5 : 1 engines. A tell tale sign of such under the bonnet are black plastic door mirrors as these only came on cars with the low comp engine.

I would be very wary of using 91 octane fuels as many (if not all) contain ethanol, so your best bet is to stick with 95 octane at a minimum.

Ron.
 
aussiegazza wrote,...
I took the car to a tyre service garage to get a wheel alignment. They couldn't do it as they said they would have to remove half the engine to get to the where they could adjust the alignment! Is this correct or is there an easier way to do it? 3. Any suggestions for a reliable source of parts that don't cost the earth?
Click to expand...

Almost forgot these. The toe in is adjustable via the track rod which runs between the drop arms of the steering box and the steering idler. It can be done without having to remove much more than the air canister, provided the spanners that are used have suitably short lever arms. Space is at an absolute minimum, hence a variety of spanners will be very helpful. The camber can also be adjusted by placing shims in behind the top link. The glove boxes need to come out in order for this to occur, but once it has been done, you'll likely never need to do it again. Same goes with the toe in, provided the nuts are done up tight, it won't change.

Essential spare parts such as ball joints, reconditioned water pumps, steering idlers etc can be obtained from T.R Spares in Sydney. Alternatively, you can source parts from any number of U.K suppliers.

Ron.
 
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