The inheiritance. 1976 P6b

rockdemon said:
you cant stop until you own all of the rovers.... muahahahahaha :)
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YES! or Mazdas. Or Triumph motorcycles. Or Nortons!

I saw someone once with their signature on a Mazda forum, "You can't save them all, but I'll damn well try!"

Well put I thought.
 
So the "S" has been and gone and sold on again by the guy that bought it off me, I've kept Mr Brown happy with the latest round of fixes which has well and truely melted my credit card into oblivion!

- front brakes rebuilt
- front suspension completely overhauled, everything greased, cleaned, new rubber boots, the new toplink bushes that I bought about two years ago went in
- new rear windscreen lower seal
- fitted the overhauled steering link
- transmission service and adjustment
- just about every single coolant hose, clip etc replaced. New thermostat, new radiator cap (the one I bought about 4 years ago wasnt working)
- all the belts changed, again I had what I thought was a complete set of belts that came with the car, apparently only one was suitable. So maybe some are for a SD1.
- big one was replacing all of the innards inside the drivers door so that the window goes up and down now. I've never heard of the window mechanism rusting out on an Aussie P6, but the bracketry that holds the glass in place was almost completely gone. Literally nothing was holding the glass up.

Next to do is:
- fit a new front windscreen and get the heater matrix/box overhauled. I have new front windscreen seals but I'm not particularly happy with the fit of the rear lower seal, so I may source the right bits from the UK. Anyone got a supplier they can recommend?
- refit the original silencer and get the carbs rejetted. I'll miss the induction noise though. :(
- fix some of the exhaust studs which have previously been broken by the look of it and replaced with incorrect bolts etc. May lash out for headers.
- swap the oil pressure gauge for a psi one
- fit a working clock
- paint the hubcaps
- police front wings
- steering wheel is ever so slightly off centre. Apparently this is a common thing. I'd like a Moss wheel but we'll see.
- a head unit that is period looking but has an input jack
- double exit rear exhaust. That horrible pea shooter exhaust really irritates me!
 
Hi Geoff,

Quite a list there of items ticked off. That must leave a nice feeling of achievement! I can say though that owning a Rover, work is never actually finished. There is always something that needs doing, bit like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

How are you going with sourcing some aluminium alloy wheels?

Ron.
 
I can say though that owning a Rover, work is never actually finished.
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Ron speaks the truth! Enjoy driving Mr Brown for a while before you embark on the next credit card meltdown session!
 
Guys, you're not wrong!

There's still a noise coming from somewhere which I suspect is a bearing, but it doesnt have that high pitch of a wheel bearing, although it may just be road noise.

The brakes are now very good, a little grabby but I can actually brake now and feel confident that it will pull up in a reasonable distance.

I have given the car an absolute spanking through some nice short hilly roads near me and although it has that p6 roll, it actually feels well planted. I can attack corners at 10km above the recommended speed in the rain, even higher in the dry.

I would also like to swap to a Bosch alternator at some point and maybe a hi-torque starter motor as it sounds like the starter is very slow to turn over.

I've also found that if I keep it in 2nd, it's a lot punchier off the line. 60km/hr is about 2,500 - 3,000 rpm which is perfect for dicing in traffic as well.

I saw a stag with a leyland 4.4 and manual gearbox being worked on at a rotary specialist, the rotary guy mentioned that the owner was going to pull the driveline and go twin turbo V6. I have now tentatively bought everything from the fan through to the driveshaft. So I now have a 4.4 leyland p76 motor with the factory two barrel, the dellow conversion kit that I was looking for plus a supra 5 speed. I can sell off my spare 5spd and nearly come out of the deal cost neutral (hopefully!). The reason I've done this is that I've noticed the oil light flashing occassionally and the oil pressure is always low. If a 3.9 pops up Id' rather grab that and build a stroker motor for the extra torque and parts availability compared to the 4.4, but at least I have a spare engine now. Oh and it comes with steel extractors which is nice.

I tried to find more information about the Scotts Auto Rubber car - he owned one which had a 4.4 in it. I just want to see how it was done etc, but info is pretty scarce on the web so I guess we'll see how it goes.
 
update:

car goes back tomorrow for the noise to be investigated. I have a sneaking suspecion it could be the diff. It was there before the front brakes got rebuilt, but it sounds like it is coming from the front.

The brake light is also flashing on the dash, that's getting checked too.

I'll also ask for the steering wheel to get centred. At the moment it has a slight tilt to the right when the car tracks straight.

Big news:



I bought this:



What is it?

It's a p76 4.4 litre that was in a Stag. Has some nice Stag 4.4 badges on the rocker covers which I think was a nice touch. It's bolted to a Dellow bellhousing and in turn, a Toyota W58 gearbox. All in good nick apparently and the motor was running when pulled. It has a Holley 2bbl on the original Leyland factory manifold, aftermarket ignition, a rebuilt steering pump and some horrible extractors!

I'm selling the motor off separately as I figure it's easier to build a 4 bolt mains Rover motor down the track than it is to rebuild a p76 motor which is the odd man out in the Rover/Leyland family (aside from probably the Triumph 3 litre).

I'm going to put the standard air silencer back in and get the hubcaps and rear plinth painted. Any recommendations on what colour the hubcaps and plinth are? Just flat black?
 
So much time has passed and still so little love given to Mr Brown.

Finally got around to installing my Denis Trigg/Rover Car Club of Aust. 22mm roll bar. Has made a difference in terms of body roll, but not understeer. Still feels very floaty.
I took photos so I'll do a write up when I can get the pictures off my phone.

Next thing I plan to do is a windscreen which I keep bringing up. Using Mr Brown every day has just brought up how badly aged the original one is.
 
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