Race/Rally car project car?

jasper53

Member
Anyone built a classic rally Rover P6? Considering building one if we sell our 2000. Seems to be a lot of 2ltr cars around. How difficult is it to graft a 3500 in to the 2 thou bodyshell. Considering it won't be concourse car, cutting won't be a problem. We have a V8 engine from one of our many MGB projects sitting around. Will the SD1 box fit in the Rover? We have one of those as well. Just wondering what, if any suspension mods are needed. Currently building another MGB for next years events, but fancy a P6. Bit big maybe, but there are a few big Mercs and other cars on the events. May consider chopping our 2000 up if nobody wants it. Would be a shame as it's a nice show car. Any info would be good to know. Cheers.
 
Anyone built a classic rally Rover P6? Considering building one if we sell our 2000. Seems to be a lot of 2ltr cars around. How difficult is it to graft a 3500 in to the 2 thou bodyshell. Considering it won't be concourse car, cutting won't be a problem. We have a V8 engine from one of our many MGB projects sitting around. Will the SD1 box fit in the Rover? We have one of those as well. Just wondering what, if any suspension mods are needed. Currently building another MGB for next years events, but fancy a P6. Bit big maybe, but there are a few big Mercs and other cars on the events. May consider chopping our 2000 up if nobody wants it. Would be a shame as it's a nice show car. Any info would be good to know. Cheers.

The big problem is that the 2000 and 3500 body shells are quite different in front of the A pillar. If you want to go down the V8 route you might be better served by finding a donor 3500 shell.

I have a 2000TC that I use on the track for fun. The big thing that can help these cars are: Stiffer anti roll bars up from (I made my own with 25mm hex 4340 steel flame hardened to 65 brinnell after machining. Stiffer shocks (I have adjustable Konis and plan to have them revalved to be a little stiffer still) and lower/stiffer springs. See some of mine and @cobraboy posts for more info on that.
 
Hi, As said by sdibbers the front of the base unit is different, the chassis rails are closer together on the four pot compared to the V8 and so have different length bottom suspension links. A trait is they handle differently because of the different geometry of each. The V8 would get a bit snug around the bellhousing and bottom link mounting so something to check as a first point.

Colin
 
What events are you currently doing? What/which type of Rallying are you considering for the Rover?

We were doing the Classic Rallies here in Ireland, then slowly disappeared and morphed into Targa Rallies. Then the MSA band large and multi cylinder cars (more than 4cly) from the Targa Rallies.
As you suggest the car was not the best around the tight tests, but if given the chance to show it's speed it would move up the order. Often I get the comment that the Rover is not as cumbersome as people expect, but it's no Mk1 Escort. If you can get into a class full of Mercs you'd do well.

If the rallies are regularities, I think the Rover is better then Midgets, Minis, etc, due to the internal space and comfort.

If your doing autotest heavy events, the lack of available LSDs will frustrate you. I've got a Jag IRS grafted in the Rover, but if your doing Historic correct rallies, that will be a no, no. You can just as easly replace only the Rover Diff with a Jag power lock, but although period, maybe not allowed depending on the rally regulations.
As Sdibber says, the standard suspension is not suitable, even for a regularity event. Main thing is to reduce the roll and strengthen the rear end. We quickly bent the rear trailing arms, and broke the diff mount. Both easily fixed.

Overall, I think they make a great budget rally car, as the basics are there; standard brakes can be made good, good power, comfort and robust; just don't expect to win to much.
I love the V8, that's why I have the car, but I often wonder if the 2000 engine could be better, I understand you can tune them cheaper and maybe lighter (correct me if I wrong)
 
I love the V8, that's why I have the car, but I often wonder if the 2000 engine could be better, I understand you can tune them cheaper and maybe lighter (correct me if I wrong)
I run the four cylinder. It’s not a bad old mill, from what I understand weight is about the same as the all ally V8. Piper used to do a performance cam for the 2000TC back in the day, but they are all gone as far as I can tell. I am looking at getting a regains on a hood used or NOS cam for my car, but that’ll happen later as I want to continue on suspension upgrades at the moment. The one area to be careful of with the four cylinder engine is the main bearings. They wear fairly quickly (60k miles in normal driving) this has been attributed to maybe flex in the block and smaller than expected shells. I’ve wondered about replacing the water jacket side plates with 1/4” steel plates and upping the bolt sizes for attachment in an attempt to increase stiffness. The better approach with be to design a girdle that could be mounted at the bottom of the block, that would require a lot more work of course.
 
I think I remember the owner of a pillar box red P6 in California having replaced his four cylinder engine with a 5 litre Ford V8 and a Tremec gearbox. I reckon that suggests the RV8 and LT77 combo might fit in a 2000 P6 shell. But don't take my word for it! If you do double the number of cylinders, please document it on a thread on here with lots of pics! Happy Rallying.
 
The side plates were used in the attempt to make the block lighter, as was also the very deep aluminium sump (up to crank centreline).
I believe that you can indeed make thicker plates, and device something in place of the original sump that will brace better the bottom end.
As for the increased weight, one can only guess the effect on the car's handling.
 
Interesting replies and many thanks to you all. We used to do stage rallying back in the day (late seventies) was good fun and cheap. Did rallies to the late eighties with a Subaru, then it got out of hand expense wise and someone suggested the regularity with special tests type events. We have done these now for many years on and off and enjoyed them. We've used Escorts when you could afford one, Mini, Midget and a SAAB 96. Currently on our 6th MGB GT. We keep building them and then selling after doing well with the cars at events!! There is a guy locally selling an early Mk2 V8s project car for not much money. May go and have a look at that, as the shell will take the V8 no problem as you say. Does not have power steering, but we can sort that. Our spare V8 motor is set up for it anyway. Thought we would have to do something to help with the roll and as mentioned a home made bar is a good option. We have a full restoration and machine shop, so no issues there. Due to space we may have to wait to get shot of the 2000 first, to make room for another big car. A Mini would just pop in a corner, but not these proper size cars. Fancy a bit more comfort for the longer rallies, although the B is quite good with MGF seats in and EPAS on it. Many thanks again for your thoughts. Will post any Rover project we start on here.
 
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