New 1967 P6/2000 tc owner in Oregon USA

darmahsd

Member
Hello there folks, I am very humbled and excited to join this forum. I have been tinkering with many old cars and motorcycles since my teens and have always admired the Rover cars. I recently fulfilled a dream to try a rover and just drove it home from Spokane Washington on Friday. It is vin# 41801910A. It was owned by the same family since 1970 and was kept after very fastidiously over all these years. It has not been driven much but the engine runs beautifully and I have checked the compression and all cylinders are reading in the 140-150 range. The body is basically perfect with it being repainted sometime in it's history; the roof clear coat is peeling a bit and it is missing the body trim strip on the rear right wing. If any one has any info or knows someone who has one of these trim pieces available I would be very grateful. I have tried Wins but they only have the later wider style from the series 2 cars. I am first going to go through and replace all the fluids and replace the typical tune up parts and go from there. I did notice on the drive that the suspension seems very tired and a bit of vibration at highway speeds. I have. a lift in my garage and am going to have a look underneath this coming week. Thanks so much for this great forum and will keep you updated. I am curious if most folks here are also on the facebook P6 group?
cheers! Paul20250118_135448.jpg20250118_135457.jpg20250118_143329.jpg20250118_143423.jpg20250118_140054.jpg20250118_135354.jpg20250118_140150.jpg20250118_140142.jpg20250118_140308.jpg20250118_135507.jpg
 
Beautiful car. My first car was a 2000TC many years ago!! Very cheap and long gone now! I like the early style rev counter and what looks like the original radio too.Front right 1.jpg
 
What a beauty. Compression sounds low if it's a 10:1 ratio – should be 190psi. If 9:1, official figure is 160psi so yours isn't too far off. HC engine number starts 415, LC starts 416. Compression might come up as you use it more.

Have fun

John
 
Hello there folks, I am very humbled and excited to join this forum. I have been tinkering with many old cars and motorcycles since my teens and have always admired the Rover cars. I recently fulfilled a dream to try a rover and just drove it home from Spokane Washington on Friday. It is vin# 41801910A. It was owned by the same family since 1970 and was kept after very fastidiously over all these years. It has not been driven much but the engine runs beautifully and I have checked the compression and all cylinders are reading in the 140-150 range. The body is basically perfect with it being repainted sometime in it's history; the roof clear coat is peeling a bit and it is missing the body trim strip on the rear right wing. If any one has any info or knows someone who has one of these trim pieces available I would be very grateful. I have tried Wins but they only have the later wider style from the series 2 cars. I am first going to go through and replace all the fluids and replace the typical tune up parts and go from there. I did notice on the drive that the suspension seems very tired and a bit of vibration at highway speeds. I have. a lift in my garage and am going to have a look underneath this coming week. Thanks so much for this great forum and will keep you updated. I am curious if most folks here are also on the facebook P6 group?
cheers! PaulView attachment 26063View attachment 26064View attachment 26065View attachment 26066View attachment 26067View attachment 26068View attachment 26069View attachment 26070View attachment 26071View attachment 26072
Paul: Congratulations on your “new” car. My first car was a 1969 TC in Brigade Red with rostyle wheels. Wonderful car. I probably have the trim piece that you need. Give me some time to take a look.
Drew.
 
Hey there, thanks for the welcome; it is most appreciated. I will check the engine # today to see what spec it is. And wow, Finfrot; I would be most indebted to you and psyched if you can source that if possible. I was just going to put on chrome adhesive tape in the meantime!
 
Please send a close-up photo of the opposite side trim piece, as well as a measurement of the length. I hope to be able to help you.
Drew
 
Nice score! What part of Oregon? I've spent a bit of time in Corvalis and will probably be back there next year.
 
Hey there John, In regards to your info on the compression ratio; I found my engine # which is 40502788H. Does this # indicate any in info in regards to the compression ratio? thanks very much.
 
The motor may have been rebuild at some stage with 9:1 CR pistons. Also did you test with the throttle wide open? You compressions are even so I would not be worried about this.

Does yours have Girling brakes or Dunlop brakes? My Rover 2000 TC, Vin number 41801519A is a first registered in 1967, 1966 model car. If it is a 66 model then you will have Dunlop brakes.
 
Hey J_rad; I did not do the compression test with open throttle; I will give it another go. Your thought about a rebuild is interesting as I was thinking about that as I have been degreasing the engine bay. The block is painted bright blue with a bare aluminum cylinder head so I am guessing the engine has been out of the car? Unless these engines were originally painted blue? Maybe someone has some info onthat. I did read about your car last week and they look almost identical! Love that color. 20250122_163303.jpg20250122_162821.jpg20250122_162922.jpgI do have Dunlop brakes as well.
Yes sdibbers; I have been asking in the electrical section about the starter motor as there are some issues with that...
 
Yes sdibbers; I have been asking in the electrical section about the starter motor as there are some issues with that...
That can have a big effect on a compression test results.

On the engine paint colour. That’s not original. They would be unpainted on the aluminium parts (sump, plugs on timing cover etc) the block would be painted a duck egg blue (similar to the underside of a spitfire fighter).
 
Re Engine Colour, Rover never painted complete engines at that time. Ferrous castings were often painted before machining which includes the Cylinder block. This means machined faces would end up unpainted. Bought in items such as oil filters / Air filters & Lucas items on the engine would come in painted from the supplies . Alloy parts also not painted .This also means no fixings would be painted.
 
Engine number starting 405 is a 2000 with automatic transmission, and therefore a single carb and 9:1 compression ratio. So it looks as though your block might have been changed at some point, which might be when it got painted that blue. Power and torque with TC head, carbs, exhaust and a 9:1 ratio are 117bhp gross and 107bhp net/125lb ft gross and 120lb ft net. With 10:1 they are 124bhp gross and 114bhp net (the figure usually quoted for a 2000 TC in a UK context)/132lb ft gross and 126lb ft net.

If you got the compression figures you mentioned without wide open throttles, that's a pretty good result. You'll probably be right on 9:1 spec if you do the test again with WOT. One advantage of your engine's probable 9:1 compression is that it will run happily on lower-octane petrol.

One small thing to consider. The camshaft is the same for SC and TC engines, but it is set 4 degrees retarded in the TC relative to the SC to raise the speeds at which peak torque and power are reached. Rover achieved this by altering the hole in the engine backplate through which a peg can be inserted in the flywheel when the crankshaft is in the correct position (actually the peak lift of number one exhaust valve) for another timing-check peg to be inserted in the front of the camshaft during the process of setting up the valve timing (which uses a very precise vernier system). With luck your engine will still have the TC backplate with the hole in the right position. If it has an SC backplate, with valve timing set by the method in the workshop manual the engine will feel torquier low down than is normal for a TC, but won't rev as freely and won't make best use of those two enormous 2in SUs.

I've attached a pic of the peg in its 'storage' position on my 2000 TC. When using it for valve timing you unbolt it, turn it round, refit it with the peg pointing inwards into the hole, and turn the crankshaft until the peg finds the hole in the flywheel as you press lightly on the peg. There's a little boss on the back of it which locates in the hole when stored. The pic shows the peg's distance above the flange on the bottom of the block. If yours is the same, you have the correct TC backplate. If the distance is smaller, because the flywheel has 4deg further to rotate before reaching TDC, then it's an SC backplate.

It's well worth getting a factory workshop manual if you don't have one already. You can usually find one on eBay. It's very comprehensive and very well written and designed. I hope all this helps.
 

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You probably know this already, but might be worth adding that this is a bowl-in-piston engine with a flat head face, so the different compression ratios are achieved with different sized combustion chambers in the pistons.
 
Hey there John; wow, thanks for all that helpful info. I will check that back plate and take a photo of it today and measure that distance. The engine runs very well, so I am hoping I do not have to do to much besides a full service at the moment. I actually am happy that it will run better most likely with the high test fuel available in the states. The car did come with all the factory service and owner's manuals which I have been looking over. There are many things to do on this car but I really enjoy doing this. I am waiting for the seller to furnish me with all the service history on the car that are in a storage unit at the moment. Cheers and this forum is fantastic.
 
You probably know this already, but might be worth adding that this is a bowl-in-piston engine with a flat head face, so the different compression ratios are achieved with different sized combustion chambers in the pistons.
The Compression ratio is identifiable by the piston top and markings. You can get a decent boroscope from Amazon these days for about $80. Then pull a spark plug and with the piston near BDC have a look.
 
I’m a little surprised it’s registered as a 67, Dunlop brakes + the interim tachometer housing + the black round shifter knob is something I’ve never seen on a NADA 67. Not impossible though. Engine bay wise all looks correct except for the brake booster being a later Girling unit.

You’ve got a nice car there.

Yours
Vern
 
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