Ruskie the 3500s

I have been out at the car today and have pulled the carpets and seats out.

Found a mouse nest under the rear seat, drivers rear.. Over the years I have found quite a few of them in P6 but these mice had dragged a full blue latex glove in there. At least there was no bodies. Once I found a petrified one , yuk.

I am probably going to bin the carpets, some water had been getting in and they are pretty rank. has anyone bought carpets recently? I got some from coverdale in the past but no one seemed to do the original type of carpet.

On the lift, Cj autos had a couple of demo units so I have managed to get one. I have a few friends relaying it across the country for me so might get a start on that one.
 
Gave the carpets a wash down, the passenger side one didn't survive.

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Just realised that it is 4 years this week since I got the car, despite being stored outside it hasnt suffered too much.

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Original paint from the factory, I think this is what your read about regarding the new paint on the last cars falling off.

I will take the roof panel off and check the rails as I cant decide if there is a leak or the moisture in the car caused a the roof lining support to rust.

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One of the things I have been worried about is the later cars rust in strange places, I found on are needing attention today and expect a few more.

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I might manage to get more done during lock down.
 
Taken a while but I now have the lifting device in my possession and gave it a whirl.

I am much happier using this, the oversized pillar jack makes it a safe operation.

All I need to do is get the motivation to start scraping the underseal off.

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Call me a doubting Thomas, but I would put a couple of props under that before crawling under it.
 
It is surprisingly pretty stable when up, I have a step behind the car so it wasn't fully over.

You can put some axle stands the rails to stop it rolling back. The first time we used in on the 2000tc we put a couple of props under it but they werent doing much.
 
Please, put at least one big prop in place before you get squashed! I'm nervous, I know. Do it for me!
Before you start scraping any underseal off, soak it all in diesel. Let it soak in, then do it again. It will work wonders at softening the hardened old underseal, which will then come off much much easier with just a bit of gentle extra heat. Use rags and wipe patiently and you won't scratch and scrape the original mustard coloured factory primer.
I wish I'd had a gadget like that when I did my base unit!
 
Shouldn't that roll over jig extend to the opposite wheels too, so it has a brace point that doesn't load all the mass on that one side's axles?
 
Seems like I only get around to looking at the P6 once a year.

Plans went south last year, there is a bit of a saga involving a compressor made in a far off country, parts made of chocolate and doing bits whilst I had things apart.

For those who are interested in non Rover rust.

I have had my trusty 110 Defender for nearly 10 years and it has seen a few repairs to the bulkhead, I had sourced a new old stock one for it but never got round to fitting it. Last year it was obvious that it would need to be done and being locked down there was no where to go, which I took as an omen.

Strip down went well but as you do there are bits you want to tidy up and replace. I did break the welder out, replacing 2 outriggers that were ok but would need done in the next few years.

What was a planned 6 weeks turned in to 9 months. I was working away through out which meant that weekends were the only time I could get stuck in. Frustrating things like ordering spares that took longer to arrive, were wring when they did or broke when opening the packet added to the delays.

A major delay was the compressor, knowing I had a lot of work to do and wanting to do my own spray painting I had bought a belt driven compressor. it had hardly ran when I notice a leak. The non return valve had split, in hindsight I should of returned it but it was a big unit at 70kg. several replacements went the same way and then as I had it apart there were other issues then the head went. Eventually I pushed the supplier to replace, it did have a 2 year warranty. The compressor breakdowns cost me valuable days, a few times I had to brush the epoxy mastic and coach paint on which was not what I wanted to do but when you have already mixed the paint it needs to be used.

When the compressor did work I got a lovely finish with the epoxy, some much so I think I will be using it instead of powder coating brackets and parts that I would normally of sent out. The spray is a decent finish and cost wise it makes sense as I have the tools to do it.

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It started as a quick bulkhead swap and ended as a mini rebuild.

Worth doing though, I had thought about getting professional to do the work but a few things put me off. The time a vehicle is away (we have all heard horror stories) and the costs.

Doing the swap and additional work at a garage would have made this uneconomical to repair or near as. There are also the bits a garage miss or don't bother to do, when you have the car in your own garage you can paint all the brackets and replace parts that aren't connected to the main job. So I wont have the 'why didn't they change x whilst everything was apart' moments.

I still have a few things to do, for example the doors rot from the inside out. Before this strip down I rebuilt 2 spares but the drivers side doors were too bad, although some parts were cut out for repair sections that were to complex to make. So I am on the look out for some doors worth rebuilding and then will look at painting using coach enamel.

Other projects have also kept me back, last year I bought a Mk2 Jag that has been sitting in a Californian junk yard for over 25 years. This will be a long term project but the base is very solid.

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So time to get back into the P6 not that I haven't been doing anything. I have been chasing parts that have been away for 2/3 years....

Originally I wanted to get the underseal off before I did any else, I hate putting new brake pipes on dirty undersides. However I think getting the car running again will make it easier. This will involve refitting all the hydraulics and brakes that I had refurbished several years ago.

This week I ordered some engine gaskets and started looking out the brackets I had removed for powder coating. I can't find the power steering pump but I do have a couple of spares. I have a new (old) compressor so will be getting them smartened up without any breakdowns.
 
Talk of working on cars on jacks.....Many years ago had an SD1 up on a screw pillar jack ready to get under for something. The Missus came and said ' Are you sure thats safe?'. As I turned to look at it, the nut in the jack stripped and the car slid back to the ground. Pair of stands and a new jack promptly obtained. Now have 6 stands, 2 trolley jacks and a Qickjack setup.
 
I only ever get under a car if it's on ramps, usually one under each wheel. And I turn one of them around so it can't roll off :)
 
Now have 6 stands, 2 trolley jacks

Oh dear, can you recommend anywhere I can go for help, I have 24 axle stands, (ranging from 2 to about 30 ton a pair), and six trolley jacks, (plus a seventh that needs the ram sorting out). I think I may have a problem.....
 
I only ever get under a car if it's on ramps, usually one under each wheel. And I turn one of them around so it can't roll off :)

I used to do that as well, but sometimes it gives access problems getting under the car, so I had custom blocks of wood that went through between the two top rungs of the slope, and wedged under the body of the ramp at an angle meaning the car had to roll uphill before it could actually come off the ramps.
 
I have made a start on putting the engine back together.

The timing cover is getting cleaned up, I have ordered a high volume pump kit and steel timing chain. Forgot about the oil seal when I put the order in but fingers crossed all the parts will be here by the weekend.

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I bought some paint stripper (enviro friendly type) it isnt too bad at shifting the oil. Previously I used nitromors the red tin was great at breaking down the burnt on oil.

The rocker covers when I got them powder coated were done inside and out side. no idea why buy was too late when I spotted it. I tried the enviro stripper on it and it had almost no effect. I will get the elbow grease out.

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I would like to get the engine running and the car move under its own power.
 
Is there any alternatives for the pedal seals? for the pedal box and the accelerator linkage?

I don't mind paying £20 for a small rubber cup but if there is an alternative I would be happy to try them.
 
The final part I have been waiting for turned up today so I am going to try and get the engine back together Sunday.

It is quite straight forward, I need to swap the timing chain and gears for a steel Coyles set.

I have drilled out and cleaned the timing cover ready for the upgrade neoprene seal, this is to replace the rope seal. It is very straight forward and I have done it a few times.

One thing has come up as I was fitting the high volume oil pump. On the spacer plate there are 2 long holes, which match the timing cover. The gaskets that come with the kit only have one of these cut out.

I have noticed this in the past and I have a spare gasket which has both cut outs. On closer inspection though the oil pump base housing has as shallow cut out but it doesn't have anywhere to go. I have a spare later type and it is the same.

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This the original damaged housing, with seize PRV.

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High volume adapter plate fitted.

Can anyone shed some light on why this is? if it is a redundant hole from early engines then why does the housing have this in the casting?

I didn't do much more with the rocker cover but will need to finish the first one and make a start on the second.

Bit off topic but whilst waiting for the part to arrive I did refurb the carbs for my MK2. They are HD6 Thermo carbs with the Aux carburettor. They were in really poor condition and leaked badly to the point where the car wont start and is a fire hazard.

The carbs bodies were beaten up like they had been thrown about. I had to sand them down and polish them. I have made them look ok but not show standard.

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The linkage did clean up but I have left them in acid for a few hours and they came out really nice.
 
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Today job was to replace the timing cover, clean out the sump and look at bolting parts back on.

However I wasn't really happy when I was turning the engine over, it was a little stiff at one point. So rather than taking a chance i reverted to plan A. I took the heads off to check it anything had dropped in.

Amazingly all the head bolts, exhaust manifold bolts and exhaust stud bolts all came off without much effort.

The sump was full of sludge, traces of anti-freeze and a bit of emulsion, a few years back when I removed the inlet manifold some coolant had run down the valley gasket.

This was cleaned out and the exterior given a coat of acid to dissolve the surface rust before I paint it.

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Other than needing a good clean everything is as I had expected. I will strip and clean the followers as they will have old oil in them.

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Next thing I will need to do is get the heads off to the local engineering company for a light skim.

Seeing as everything has come apart easily I might just get the engine and box out and sort out the engine bay paint.
 
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Back from the engineer shop.

I need to clean out the threads in the block before I get them back on. Thanks to Mr Quattro for helping me get some of the 3m thread sealer.

Will also need to get the sump painted, I have cleaned the surface rust off but havent had time to give it a couple of coats of epoxy mastic.
 
Oooh - I replaced the chassis on my 90 a couple of years ago, but haven't had to do the bulkhead yet. Not looking forward to that! I managed to get the body from the bulkhead back off in one bit, which made things simpler, and also gave me a convenient shed to store stuff in during the swap!

Work on the P6 looks good too, keep up the good work. Bit less room to swing a spanner on them compared to the Defender eh? :D
 
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