NEW ACQUISITION - 3500S

harveyp6 said:
How many older and newer cars have you driven to be able to make such a comparison, and how could you be sure that the later cars had police spec boxes?
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Just one older '72, and a '75. I did think that you might have divulged what the differences were to me, being a gearbox man yourself.

I'd have to go through the archives, and try to remember the source before I can comment further.
 
I don't think driving only two different cars is enough to base that kind of decision on.
AFAIK the only difference in the police spec boxes was that the gears were shot peened, for all the good that did.
I bought a car with a blown gearbox, that came with a brand new police spec gearbox and it drove and sounded exactly the same as all the other ones that were fitted as they should be. Only rarely did the police use manual gearboxes, by far most of them were BW65 with position "1" blocked off.
 
i could write loads about our new acquisition 3500S as a start with a bogus mot and so much wrong we used all the good tea bags getting her sorted but some previous owner/bodger fitted a SD1 5spd but never respec'd the hydraulics so pedal like a brick
we used a 0.625 master and a 1" slave ( from motoclan ) which makes a nice pedal and transformed the pedal loads .
Pete
 
I also used a 0.625" master cyl, but kept the 3/4" slave, everything works fine. The other potential problems are the 3 different length fulcrum bolts (we need middle size) and 2 different throwout carriers - we need the long one.
 
As far as I can tell my 5 speed set up is standard and pedal is as it should be - checked it with standard 4 speed clutch from my friends 3500S car - pedal effort felt same in operation not heavier at all. Then checked it with another S with 5 speed conversion and was similar if not a little lighter. When you think about it the clutches (assembly and friction plate) are pretty much the same (think you can use 4 speed assembly but not the friction plate as splines are different) so would not expect clutch pedal to be that much different….
I did see a 3500S which had been modified with a brake servo to provide servo assisted hydraulic clutch! Seemed quite OTT but I guess made for a very light pedal!
 
You can't use the 3500S pressure plate with the LT77 box and centre plate.

I've seen a servo in a 2200 clutch line and it didn't seem to make much difference to me.
 
While not having my main bulk of Rover P6 reading material to hand, I had noticed a couple of pages from the 'P6 Rover Owner's Club' dated April 1989, charting the option of fitting the SD1 5-speed 'box to the P6B. It states that one could select the option of replacing your worn-out manual gearbox with a 'police spec' 'box. Quote:

However, there was a police spec 'box available, at only £440 (with just £100 surcharge). This 'box was supposed to have even tougher bearings, and had higher than usual 1st and reverse gears - presumably for chases (backwards) along motorway hardshoulders. At this bargain price I was almost tempted. Un quote


I have more info' on this subject to retrieve at some point...

P.S. Perhaps this subject could be carried over to the P6 gearbox section? Apologies to Chris for extenuating his "welcome" page.
 
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GRTV8 said:
Hello Chris
Welcome along to this bunch of learned crazies.
Interesting chain of event with regard Rover familiarities and eventual acquisition.
Yours looks like a very good acquisition. Incredible milage for 50yrs. As they say -just run in.
Lots of fun to be had. Good move .
These cars really turn heads nowadays. The engineering that when into the P6 make them a lovely car to drive even today and hold well with todays drab looking lot of badge engineered boxes.
Gerald
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Thanks! Sorry for late reply - I wasn't getting notifications.
 
Km2bram said:
Hi Chris you beat me to it by 3 hours! A lovely car at very reasonable price. I hope the car gives you many years of enjoyment.
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Sorry Dave! And for the late reply as wasn't getting notifications. I've spent another £1200 on a full service and rectifying a few issues that were causing it to not run correctly, such as "floppy" gear change, worn distributer and ht leads breaking down, tracking miles out etc. It now runs as well as it looks!
 
The Rovering Member said:
Looks a very nice car. What makes you think they're Denovo wheels & tyres though? As already mentioned, they're not the Denovo trims & to me, the tyres don't look wide enough & l doubt that normal tyres have been fitted over the very heavy internal canisters. The Denovo nuts actually hold the unique plastic trims in place with springs & if they are Denovo tyres they'll be many years past their use-by date.
I have a set of unused Denovo wheels, tyres & wheel trims that have never been fitted to a car which l bought after finding out that my 'N' reg 3500 left the factory with Denovo's. They're very different from standard wheels.
The Denovo experiment was a failure & most cars equipped with them were converted back to standard (possibly Sd1) wheels. If yours was such a car it would have left the factory with a fully carpeted boot & no spare wheel mount.
Good luck with your car.
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You are of course correct! It was fitted with them when new (sticker still on the windscreen) but they have subsequently been replaced. There are interesting videos on youtube from the original launch of the Denovo system.
 
LS-1 said:
However, there was a police spec 'box available, at only £440 (with just £100 surcharge). This 'box was supposed to have even tougher bearings, and had higher than usual 1st and reverse gears - presumably for chases (backwards) along motorway hardshoulders. At this bargain price I was almost tempted. Un quote
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The bearings were the same in normal and police spec boxes. The only differences are the first second and third gears on the main shaft, and the laygear, and as a police spec laygear will fit inside a normal box with no other changes, the difference is because the police spec parts are shot peened. The reverse gear on the main shaft hub, and the reverse idler gear are exactly the same, which means the ratio is the same too.
 
harveyp6 said:
You can't use the 3500S pressure plate with the LT77 box and centre plate.

I've seen a servo in a 2200 clutch line and it didn't seem to make much difference to me.
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Thanks Harvey yes you’re right of course - I meant the centre plate can’t be used as splines are different. I also correct myself- the slave is SD1 slave cylinder on my conversion but I am not aware of the difference between the S slave and SD1 slave other than metric..

Dave
 
DaveRover3500s said:
Thanks Harvey yes you’re right of course - I meant the centre plate can’t be used as splines are different. I also correct myself- the slave is SD1 slave cylinder on my conversion but I am not aware of the difference between the S slave and SD1 slave other than metric..

Dave
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I used an SD1 slave on my conversion too, the biggest problem was flaring the pipe after swapping the fitting to metric. You can use the P6B slave but it needs a 1/4" spacer between it and the bellhousing.
 
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