Starting my descent into madness with a P6

N

neels

New Member
As posted in new members, I have probably ill advisedly purchased a 75 P6 3500 V8, in almost fully functional condition.

This mainly stems from a couple of recent old car outings which prompted me to go looking for something british that's a bit scruffy but driveable to hack about in. After looking at Austin, Morris, Humber on the listings (english fords are too expensive, and anyway I already have a broken one of them) I moved onto Rover, at which point I found something that fitted the description and also took care of a vague desire to own a V8 before they are completely banned.

After starting with a good clean and getting rid of the accumulated crap in the boot and footwells, time to start with getting the car to start when instructed.

The choke not working quite as it should be, which led to removal of the glove boxes and incredibly badly installed stereo in the centre console, to remove the basically completely stuffed choke cable. Fortunately found exactly the correct cable in a parts bin, complete with warning switch still fitted, and after some tightening of screws on the carbs to stop the mechanism jamming it's about ready to reassemble.

Sadly the previous stereo installer seems to have had no regard for decades old plastic and has done things up until they break, so the centre console is looking a bit sad but the upside is that I won't feel too bad chonking a couple of large holes to mount front speakers, the back will have to be box ones mounted to the parcel shelf. Just because you're driving a rough old beater of car, doesn't mean you can't have music....

No doubt more to come, as I uncover more sins of the past, fixing other people's terrible unfinished projects seems to be my life now.

The main thing I need to keep reminding myself is that this is sort of an interim car to get me out and about, and not to get too attached.:rolleyes:
 

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I put speakers into either side of the centre console with no qualms though you also need a pair on the parcel shelf to get a good stereo balance.
 
ghce said:
There is a couple of threads with various suggestions for stereo install.
I wouldn't want to fit speakers in the door panels, it looks crap.

Speakers, and where to put them


Graeme
Click to expand...
I'm really not a fan of chopping holes in door panels for speakers either, or any other part of a car for that matter. But as the centre console has already had the crap bashed out of it and the car isn't in mint condition I'm not too bothered, and it's a bolt on part that could be put back to original with not much effort in the unlikely event that was required.

Only considering what to do with front speakers as I have it in bits to replace the buggered choke cable, so might as well do it now while the console is out, and will start on the list of other things once the rear brakes are sorted and it's roadworthy.
 
neels said:
I'm really not a fan of chopping holes in door panels for speakers either, or any other part of a car for that matter. But as the centre console has already had the crap bashed out of it and the car isn't in mint condition I'm not too bothered, and it's a bolt on part that could be put back to original with not much effort in the unlikely event that was required.

Only considering what to do with front speakers as I have it in bits to replace the buggered choke cable, so might as well do it now while the console is out, and will start on the list of other things once the rear brakes are sorted and it's roadworthy.
Click to expand...

Well its only the mid range and highs that are really important up front as they are directionally important to the ears, bass can come from most anywhere.
Hence my solution of using the top pocket above where the radio would sit as its quite deep and easily accommodates 2 x 20 watt small rectangular speakers ( left and right) as per the photo of my car whilst still leaving a very usable pocket, infact you cant see the speakers at all as they are quite set back.
Tweeters are more important and need the spatial separation of being at each end of the dash.

Graeme
 
Well some progress has been made.

The old choke cable has been replaced, fortunately I found a near new almost exact replacement, which has been run without the almost 90° bends of the previous stuffed one. Also sorted out the incorrectly assembled linkages on the carbs, so they don't run into bits of each other and actually work properly, so now has a usable choke and starts remarkably easily.

Replacing the choke cable required removing the fairly bashed around centre console, so while it was out installed some speakers ready for a new stereo to be installed, with only a small amount of dicking around to figure out how to fit around the cables etc. While there have also removed the old stereo wiring, which had been grafted into all the most difficult and horrible places, and completely ignored the wiring connectors already there waiting for a radio to be plugged in.

For some reason the start inhibit switch had been disconnected, which almost launched it backwards through a fence the other day, so reconnected and established that the car starts in neutral, but not in park. That will do for me, I guess I'll find out if there was some sort of fault that caused it to be disconnected in the first place, but I know what to reconfigure if needed on the side of the road.

The front brakes now work well enough for a drive across town to the garage to fix the leaking rear caliper, at which point the car should be entirely usable, albeit currently without any carpet other than some cheap aftermarket floor mats, so that will need sorting at some point after the water leaks have been dealt with.

A couple of short trips around the block to check out if the fixes have worked have me looking forward to getting out for a proper drive and listening to the lovely V8 sound.......
 

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Well the car has successfully made it to a workshop with a hoist to get the rear brakes looked at, and a general once over to see what else might need attention. Short answer is that there's a lot that needs attention, but nothing that is serious enough to abandon the attempt so far...

What I need now to get it on the road is a pair of rear brake discs, or at a pinch maybe can get away with just replacing one. Do any of the New Zealanders here know where I might be able to find them? I'm new to the rover breed so haven't yet made any contacts for such things.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
neels said:
Well the car has successfully made it to a workshop with a hoist to get the rear brakes looked at, and a general once over to see what else might need attention. Short answer is that there's a lot that needs attention, but nothing that is serious enough to abandon the attempt so far...

What I need now to get it on the road is a pair of rear brake discs, or at a pinch maybe can get away with just replacing one. Do any of the New Zealanders here know where I might be able to find them? I'm new to the rover breed so haven't yet made any contacts for such things.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Hello Neels
give Nelson Rover Car club a buzz. They have amazing spare parts department. OR you could join the NZ Rover P6 page on Facebook and ask for the parts.
 
neels said:
As posted in new members, I have probably ill advisedly purchased a 75 P6 3500 V8, in almost fully functional condition.

This mainly stems from a couple of recent old car outings which prompted me to go looking for something british that's a bit scruffy but driveable to hack about in. After looking at Austin, Morris, Humber on the listings (english fords are too expensive, and anyway I already have a broken one of them) I moved onto Rover, at which point I found something that fitted the description and also took care of a vague desire to own a V8 before they are completely banned.

After starting with a good clean and getting rid of the accumulated crap in the boot and footwells, time to start with getting the car to start when instructed.

The choke not working quite as it should be, which led to removal of the glove boxes and incredibly badly installed stereo in the centre console, to remove the basically completely stuffed choke cable. Fortunately found exactly the correct cable in a parts bin, complete with warning switch still fitted, and after some tightening of screws on the carbs to stop the mechanism jamming it's about ready to reassemble.

Sadly the previous stereo installer seems to have had no regard for decades old plastic and has done things up until they break, so the centre console is looking a bit sad but the upside is that I won't feel too bad chonking a couple of large holes to mount front speakers, the back will have to be box ones mounted to the parcel shelf. Just because you're driving a rough old beater of car, doesn't mean you can't have music....

No doubt more to come, as I uncover more sins of the past, fixing other people's terrible unfinished projects seems to be my life now.

The main thing I need to keep reminding myself is that this is sort of an interim car to get me out and about, and not to get too attached.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Nice to see you are getting stuck in. I'm also new to the P6B V8, and mines a manual. Bought on a whim in Napier while we were holidaying there. It drove home the 935km to Tekapo without much issue , which was surprising as it had'nt really gone anywhere for 15yrs. I expected to find many hidden troubles, and so far we are 29 jobs into it, but it's always been driveable. When I say "we" i actually mean 90% a good Timaru mechanic, and 10% me, as we have no big place here for me to pull it apart and stuff it up. Gonna be pretty good after the winter I think, current jobs are upper ball joints, and steering idler box worn. Like you we didn't pay a lot, and the sound and smiles per mile are worth it all. Keep smiling!
 
CG McD said:
Nice to see you are getting stuck in. I'm also new to the P6B V8, and mines a manual. Bought on a whim in Napier while we were holidaying there. It drove home the 935km to Tekapo without much issue , which was surprising as it had'nt really gone anywhere for 15yrs. I expected to find many hidden troubles, and so far we are 29 jobs into it, but it's always been driveable. When I say "we" i actually mean 90% a good Timaru mechanic, and 10% me, as we have no big place here for me to pull it apart and stuff it up. Gonna be pretty good after the winter I think, current jobs are upper ball joints, and steering idler box worn. Like you we didn't pay a lot, and the sound and smiles per mile are worth it all. Keep smiling!
Click to expand...
Now you've got me thinking that I need to keep track of how many fixit jobs have been done on the thing, so far I think I'm up to 5 at home, and will be another 4 by the time it gets back from the garage. Will have to put a scoreboard on the wall, but I'll leave the $ amount buried in a drawer somewhere.
 
neels said:
Now you've got me thinking that I need to keep track of how many fixit jobs have been done on the thing, so far I think I'm up to 5 at home, and will be another 4 by the time it gets back from the garage. Will have to put a scoreboard on the wall, but I'll leave the $ amount buried in a drawer somewhere.
Click to expand...
I like stats, crazy huh. So everything i think needs done gets added to the list, doesn't mean it'll get done, but its on the list for referral at least. Wife is happy, so that good, as I was looking at a TVR convertible, and she was dead against that as it would be too cold. Now, however , with the 3500, we get to visit every op shop to find period clothing and crochet rugs!
 
CG McD said:
I like stats, crazy huh. So everything i think needs done gets added to the list, doesn't mean it'll get done, but its on the list for referral at least. Wife is happy, so that good, as I was looking at a TVR convertible, and she was dead against that as it would be too cold. Now, however , with the 3500, we get to visit every op shop to find period clothing and crochet rugs!
Click to expand...

Funny that -Ive got a wife that doesn't like convertibles or motorbikes too .Something about hairdoo's
 
My wife doesn't mind the motorbike, or the convertible, but is keen to get out making v8 noises in the rover just for something different.

There have however been some hat purchases to suit roofless travel.
 
Some progress has been made, rear brakes sorted with rebuilt calipers and a replacement pair of discs, all road legal but now a question.

I need to get it starting and running a bit better, things are generally a bit tired which is fine for what I want to abuse it for, but still needs to work nicely in traffic to make it fully usable.

There seem to be a bunch of answers on what to set the timing to, so I've gone with a reasonably common 6°BTDC which seems to work ok.

I've found a great article on how to set up the carbs which seems to have worked so far when warm, although I'm not too sure about balancing given the amount of slack in the linkage between, but I'll get to an airflow check at some point when I get a chance to see how that looks.

Now need to set up the choke and am lacking sensible information, so my question is - can someone tell me the correct fast idle setting at full choke, so I can drive it slightly warm rather than having to wait until fully warmed up.

Any assistance appreciated......
 
These days maybe consider not installing a stereo at all. Modern rechargeable speakers and a phone sound better than most I remember from the 70s and 80s anyway. You aren't going to get hi-fi in an old car anyway. Ironically my father and grandfather had a PYE car radio which also had a speaker in it to be used as a portable. Back to the future on that one.
 
Get a soft copy of the workshop manual from the P6 club. Fast idle 1100-1200rpm. Set with the pointer on the fast idle cam level with the adjusting screw, when its fully warmed up. It wont be driveable at full choke for more than a minute or 2 - far too rich.
 
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