Workshop manuals

Rob M

Member
Just a quickie. Would the Haynes manual for the V8 1968 to 74 cover my car as its a 77 registered model?
Would i be right to think that 74 models are hardly any different to the very last ones?
Im looking on flea bay and i dont want to get one if it doesnt cover mine..
Any advice gratefully appreciated.
Rob
 
Forget the haynes book of lies Rob and go for a factory workshop manual . More and better information . Can usually be found on ebay for around 30 quid . The factory parts manual is also good for exploded views too . Much more detail in both compared to the haynes and auto books offerings .

Edit , i even found one for you , how's that :D

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rover-P6-3500 ... 2ec1ad8cf7
 
Bloody Haynes manual is useless, I agree with Stina get yourself a workshop manual, they are very detailed and have great illustrations to help. Also if you get hold of a parts manual it will help when working out what you are looking at, how assemblies go together and part numbers and correct descriptions which can help when you need to order parts 8)
 
Mikep said:
Bloody Haynes manual is useless, I agree with Stina get yourself a workshop manual, they are very detailed and have great illustrations to help. Also if you get hold of a parts manual it will help when working out what you are looking at, how assemblies go together and part numbers and correct descriptions which can help when you need to order parts 8)

I agree.. I got given one with my car, and bought a proper Rover book straight away. The Haynes book of lies doesn't make any mention of the de dion tube at all!
 
Haynes "books of lies" are better than no books at all . A lot of us on the Citroen C5 forum were grateful when Haynes finally released it
OK it's not perfect but you get what you pay for and if you aren't doing full stripdowns it's quite adequate
 
V8P6B said:
The Haynes book of lies doesn't make any mention of the de dion tube at all!
Strange, the 4-cyl one does. It says pretty much the same as the genuine manual and even shows the same images.
I tend to use the Haynes outside to avoid dirtying the genuine manual. Apart from a few details, there's not a lot of difference betwen them (for the 4-cyl cars).
 
given you can get the haynes one for a fiver i'd buy both. Certainly in my rover workshop manual the s1 wiring diagram is wrong, but is correct in the haynes manual. However my workshop manual was only £11 off ebay... you dont have to pay full price if you take your time. Buy both! Too much information is better than too little. Although to be fair i normally ask here for clarification before starting any job after a read through the 2 manuals...

Rich
 
I agree Rich.

I too have both for my 4 cylinder and V8 cars. The Haynes Book of (alleged) Lies (just in case any legal types are reading this and thinking about suing :D ) is far less weight to carry in the car too :D

Dave
 
I also agree, but have sacked off the Haynes guide. Too many errors, not enough clarity (or awareness) of the various changes (HS8 carbs, for example, are absent), and the photos and description from the dismantly process aren't clear or comprehensible.
9780851472492.jpg

The workshop manual is just everything you need to know, but I also have the Ken Ball Autopress manual, which is basically an abridged version of the workshop manual. All of the drawings are from the Rover issue manual, although the text is new. It's not detailed enough for any serious overhaul work, but it touches on everything you need to know and isn't bad at all as a handbook for the roadside. It's also exactly the right size to fit in the driver's side glove box and has the wiring diagram for my car in it. No good for cars beyond 1971/2 though.

Michael
 
redrover said:
Autopress manual
I found a brand new one of those - the updated, green version, still in its original envelope in one of those scrap Rovers I collected in Anglesey last year. It's up for grabs if anyone wants to make me an offer. :)
 
I also agree that you can never have too many books. For my Rover I have the double volume official workshop manual, hard bound in red vinyl, the single volume workshop manual in soft back. Haynes book and another workshop manual by AutoBooks. I did have the green Autopress manual as well, but that now has a new owner.

I like to cross reference, what one text may cover well another less so and vice versa.

Ron.
 
I found a beauty in the Haynes manual in the section on dismantling the rear brake caliper.
The genuine workshop manual (L-24 Page 38L) says:
"8. Rotate the handbrake lever to eject the tappet. Place a clean rag over the hydraulic piston and apply air pressure to blow it out."
(An illustration shows the air line being applied to the hole from which the bleed nipple has been removed.)

Haynes (page 174) uses the same wording for most of the section except for this bit which says:
"21 Rotate the handbrake lever (C), Fig 9.29, so as to eject the tappet (E) Fig 9.28.
22 Apply a low pressure air jet to the tappet bore and with a clean rag placed over the hydraulic piston eject the piston..."
(the same illustration appears a couple of pages later)

The tappet bore, of course, has no connection to any of the hydraulics so can't possible eject the piston.
 
Willy Eckerslyke said:
I found a beauty in the Haynes manual in the section on dismantling the rear brake caliper.
The genuine workshop manual (L-24 Page 38L) says:
"8. Rotate the handbrake lever to eject the tappet. Place a clean rag over the hydraulic piston and apply air pressure to blow it out."
(An illustration shows the air line being applied to the hole from which the bleed nipple has been removed.)

Haynes (page 174) uses the same wording for most of the section except for this bit which says:
"21 Rotate the handbrake lever (C), Fig 9.29, so as to eject the tappet (E) Fig 9.28.
22 Apply a low pressure air jet to the tappet bore and with a clean rag placed over the hydraulic piston eject the piston..."
(the same illustration appears a couple of pages later)

The tappet bore, of course, has no connection to any of the hydraulics so can't possible eject the piston.

I have always found with a Haynes manual some common sense and interpretation is required, which is strange considering these are aimed at the DIY mechanic who may slavishly follow the instructions.

In my youth I used to blindly follow the instructions, which always starts with 'disconnect the battery' even when doing an oil change :? , and would end up with a load of parts removed that have no bearing on what I'm supposed to be doing, but I would remove them in the belief that the bloke writing this knows what he's doing :LOL: having said that they can be handy for torque settings.
 
What puzzles me with this one is that most of the Haynes is a word for word copy of the original manual, even the illustrations are identical. Yet they've chosen to change this small section and got it wrong. It's almost as if they did it on purpose!
Perhaps they're encouraging some interpretation as you say, so that we end up with a better understanding than we would if we were just blindly following instructions. :)
 
Willy Eckerslyke said:
Perhaps they're encouraging some interpretation as you say, so that we end up with a better understanding than we would if we were just blindly following instructions. :)

Maybe they're following the Meccano principle.....
 
hi rob m,
in answer to your question about would the earlier book cover your car, then yes, the only difference would be the autobox, i don't know if the early book has just the 35 in, but the later cars have a 65 autobox in them.

ian
 
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