What's next at Lake View

I have noticed this place (lake-view) before...
Is this you?

Yes, that's me. I'd all but forgotten all about the car in that video clip.

It has the unique distinction of being the only car where all my driving has been captured on video - i.e. that 3 point turn on the forecourt was the only time I ever used the car. I sold it soon after that footage was filmed.

The car (WVT) was later advertised in Driving Force for months, maybe years as an unfinished project.

I am glad I saw that footage because for years I had a horrible feeling that car had a set of Rostyle wheels on it when I sold it but I can see that it just had the S-trims on ordinary wheels.

Thanks for the kind words about the videos - I don't do it as often as I used to but I might put the GoPro on soon - the weather is nice at the moment on the Isle of Man.

I use Lake View garage for all the work on my Rover 3500S too - Tom really is a wizard with these cars.
When I was last there I noticed this great picture on the wall, of the garage back in the early 60s when it had petrol pumps. Thought you might like to see it.
Just love pictures of old garage forecourts - in the days when they really had character.View attachment 10370

Tom cares about his customers - I think that's what makes the difference.

He kindly scanned some of the old photos (but by no means all of them) and they are on my Flickr channel, including the example you showed with the Austin Healey.

So, while Roger the Bodger was busy rectifying this "unacceptable" patch of rust he didn't manage to even get all of it out in his rush to stuff up your paint work and lighten your pocket?? Or, is corrosion on the Isle so bad it started fizzing on the bit adjacent to the door shut after the repair?

I'm not sure to be honest - maybe a bit of both?

I can manage the bad weather - I have plenty of garage space in Douglas - but the lack of skills for keeping the cars fit and well might well bring my Manx adventure to a premature end - for instance Hildegarde is stranded at my home with a leaking fuel pump and I am struggling to get anyone decent to come and sort it - if it were any other fluid (except maybe brake fluid) I would have a go at this myself.
 
- but the lack of skills for keeping the cars fit and well might well bring my Manx adventure to a premature end - for instance Hildegarde is stranded at my home with a leaking fuel pump and I am struggling to get anyone decent to come and sort it - if it were any other fluid (except maybe brake fluid) I would have a go at this myself.
Don't get too disheartened, it's not that terrifying to do. If you are armed with the right tools and a big mug of determination, you would be surprised at what you can achieve with a slow, methodical approach and common sense.
I managed to coach my wife into changing the starter capacitor on her dishwasher over WhatsApp from Myanmar and she did it 100% when I eventually got home and confirmed it.
 
The fuel pump was removed today - the mechanic will tell me if it is the large valve or the small valve kind and then I will order the overhaul kit.



I think Hildegarde might prefer an electric fuel pump with that 4 litre engine but I just want to get the car moving again - she's been stranded for nearly a month now.

In the meantime, Daffodil is more than capable of mingling with the great and the good of the Manx Classic Car Club - in fact I got a kick out of having Daffodil with her scuffs and dings and crappy paint next to the shiny cars of the MCCC.



I know it hurts at Lake View that Daffodil gets all the fuss and attention but I can't help how I feel.
 
There's a lot going on at Lake View right now.

Ethel (ETR290L) is having the full works done - a bare metal respray and engine overhaul.

This was last done in 1990 and she's had a hard life since I bought her exactly 12 years ago today.

Tom and I have put our anoraks on and she will be restored to her original colour - Mexico Brown and as far as possible, her original spec.


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We've already got her electric sunroof - factory fitted, no less - working again.

WXC426K - Hildegarde's 4 litre engine suffered cylinder liner slippage in December and is having a 4.6 litre replacement - with the coveted "Top Hat" cylinder linings, uprated Warrior cylinder heads and bespoke stainless steel exhaust manifolds.


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Thankfully the 4 litre engine didn't overheat when it failed so it can be repaired to go again in another car.

There's a new arrival in the fleet - STF508L - a Mexico Brown 3500S which is converted to run on LPG.


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It's a very nice car - it doesn't have a name but I am very pleased with it - I bought it from a colleague in October 2018.

Tom from Lake View is wary and suspicious of LPG in general - mainly due to being surrounded by tight-fisted Staffordshire farmers with explosive Land Rovers but he was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the vehicle when it arrived at Lake View - my track record on bringing nice cars to Lake View is not all that good but it does happen.

DDF476L - Daffodil - at death's door when she arrived in August 2014 - is top dog at the moment - the "go to" car.


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She's had so much work done to get her into this condition that I think it would be rude not to take her to the next level by giving her the respray and new interior she deserves.

The two-tone Blue McFoo (BPH970H) - now officially a white car with the DVLA - is the odd one out and I want to find a new home for the car.
The Series 1 cars have some very nice olde worlde touches but I prefer the Series 2 V8s.


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The McFoo is another one of my better buys - "I thought you were going to turn up in something horrible but most of the work has already been done" - Tom's remarks just after Easter 2014. She's in regular use and will continue to be used until she finds a new owner.
 
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Do you mean the exhaust manifolds?

They were £1750 (including a Y pipe also in stainless) and they came from JP Exhausts of Congleton.

It took them a week to make them.

The ill-fated 4.0 litre engine had a chance to try them out and it makes a huge difference in terms of fuel economy and performance compared to the standard manifolds.

The 4.6 litre engine was made by V8 Developments.
 
Yep, I'd imagine the rather sad originals were struggling a bit. This is always a P6 problem. Fit another Rover engine and you'll be well down on whatever it came from.
 
Yep, I'd imagine the rather sad originals were struggling a bit. This is always a P6 problem. Fit another Rover engine and you'll be well down on whatever it came from.

If you are referring to the stock cast manifolds ?
Well, yes and no. perhaps ordinarily yes, but I fettled a pair of 3500s cast manifolds with a die grinder and on the 4.6 I have it made more power than a stock 4.6 with all the fancy EFI and management they come with, and I am running fairly olde world ignition and SU carbs.
I know with headers I'll get a bunch more power, but its all about bang for buck, and how much more bang will 1800 bucks buy ?
 
If you are referring to the stock cast manifolds ?

Well, yes and no. perhaps ordinarily yes, but I fettled a pair of 3500s cast manifolds with a die grinder and on the 4.6 I have it made more power than a stock 4.6 with all the fancy EFI and management they come with, and I am running fairly olde world ignition and SU carbs.

I know with headers I'll get a bunch more power, but its all about bang for buck, and how much more bang will 1800 bucks buy ?

Thanks for the tip about fettling the stock manifolds - I will keep this in mind if and when I get the 4.0 litre engine repaired and suitably top-hatted and into another car. You're right - it was a lot of money to spend and I'm not minded to spend such a sum again any time soon.

It all came about because the old Y-pipe was perforated beyond repair and I liked the idea of having an entire stainless system from the engine to the tailpipe. I wasn't expecting such an improvement in performance.

Both green cars (WXC and DDF) used to reek of unburned fuel - Daffodil's problem was cured by a visit to a local rolling road for a tune-up but Hildegarde stopped smelling of fuel as soon as the manifolds were changed.

It was lucky she didn't go on the rolling road at £200 a go because the cylinder liner slipped on the first long drive resulting in the removal of the engine. When she does make it on to the rolling road, I think she should easily double Daffodil's scores. That's no disgrace to Daffodil - she is a stock 3500.


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Peak Power:- 129.1 Bhp @ 4406 Rpm
Peak Torque:-185.9 Ib ft @ 2197 Rpm
MIKEANICS
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Well I phoned JP and asked them to make me a set of headers to that design, but without the collector, I just wanted the four pipes going south, I would sort the rest and have them bend 90 degree lower down and have the collector horizontal They said they wouldn't do it as the jigs belonged to RPI.
A few weeks back I was at RPI but exhaust talks did not really progress there either, so a stalemate.

I have a company near me called Demand Engineering https://demandengineering.co.uk/
Dan the big cheese there has quoted me 1700 quid for a set of long tube headers.
As I have said, its a lot of dosh for an as yet unknown gain.
 
Very interesting news about what's going on at Lake View. Good photos and some good welding done. Nice to know you are happy with your exhaust manifolds. I have similar manifolds from Rpi, but havent tested the car properly yet. All I can say it is noisy with just one pot in the exhaust system. Sounds very sporty.
Regards, Barten
 
I'm reluctant in many ways to go for tubular headers, not just the price but also noise and heat issues. What work is needed on the cast items are we talking about port matching to the head and cleaning up the internals i.e. what is often done (perhaps ill-advisedly) on the inlets? I inquired about using much thicker tubing to alleviate many of the known problems with these.

So I'm guessing the place to start is with a good pair of 3500S manifolds.
 
I'm reluctant in many ways to go for tubular headers, not just the price but also noise and heat issues. What work is needed on the cast items are we talking about port matching to the head and cleaning up the internals i.e. what is often done (perhaps ill-advisedly) on the inlets? I inquired about using much thicker tubing to alleviate many of the known problems with these.

So I'm guessing the place to start is with a good pair of 3500S manifolds.

The 4.0 litre engine sounded very sweet with the custom made manifolds - there's no reason to think the 4.6 will sound any different. As for heat, we are going to bandage the manifolds in thermal tape when the 4.6 goes into the car - which shouldn't be too long now.

The silencer and tail pipe were custom made by the previous owner of BPH970H - he is a pipe fitter by trade and made a really nice chimney which has a wider bore than a standard exhaust without being OTT.

Tom's got a bit of head scratching in terms of deciding the best way to get all the various pulleys and pumps to fit properly together.

We have a so-called "intermediate serpentine front cover" which has a distributor cam but drives the oil pump via the crank shaft instead of via the distributor and the camshaft - he is hoping to be able to get the water pump and the existing power steering pump running with some engineering work.
 
That's very cool. I have the prototype for this in the garage. Hasn't run since the 1980s, but it will again one day.
 
I've realised that I am never going to get all my projects finished so there's a change of plan.

STF508L - Brown 3500S - for sale as a runner
WXC426K - green 3500 - no engine or gearbox - for sale as spares
BPH970H - series 1 3500 - for sale as a runner
ETR290L - 3500S - for sale as spares
 
I've realised that I am never going to get all my projects finished so there's a change of plan.

STF508L - Brown 3500S - for sale as a runner
WXC426K - green 3500 - no engine or gearbox - for sale as spares
BPH970H - series 1 3500 - for sale as a runner
ETR290L - 3500S - for sale as spares

This is a big change of plans although I know there can come a tipping point where you’ve got to just take stock & reign things in a bit.

I do hope all is well.
 
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