My '72 P6 V8 is back in use on UK roads and once again wearing its silver on black 'K' plates!

A 100mm ABRACS spindle mounted poly wheel in the electric drill goes through the paint layers very nicely. Too bad I get ten minutes work time out of a battery on the effective higher speed, but it takes over half an hour to recharge. Lots of coffee breaks!
 
After resisting for however long it has been since the invention of social media, I finally and reluctantly joined the book of faces, so as to be able to comment on the Rover P6 Club page. I must say despite the interface being quite hideous, there's a whole lot more action over there! This Forum is the place for quality comment, longer posts, how-to's and so forth, but not for finding stuff for sale! I've been after a new rear bumper for ages, the for sale section on here didn't help, the bay of e's didn't really help, but after only an hour on facepalm and I got a massive outpouring of love for my car, and a solid tip to a guy who has re-chromed bumpers in stock. Sha-zam! Nice straight shiny bumper ordered, to be fitted once I get my replacement wings and doors painted and hung, whenever that ends up actually happening. Bank account now really rather dented, but hey ho, this is an expensive hobby! I'm getting a few hours of power sanding done every other day, so as not to really annoy the neighbours, but in the evenings afterwards my shoulder muscles don't half hurt! I'm only a skinny wimpy dude and keeping the heavy DA moving sure takes a toll!
 
...and it's broken again! Crawling up from Camden to Hampstead at 20mph, with both front windows open in the heat, I heard a loud twittering/squeaking, as if a sparrow were somehow trapped under the bonnet. I was getting some very funny looks from pedestrians! It sounded as if the tyres were squealing against the inner wheel arches, and I thought it might somehow be the Wet & Black tyre dressing I tried out yesterday in a moment of madly narcissistic retail therapy. As if.

A couple of miles further home and the clutch began juddering and slipping. Halfway up a fairly steep hill I had to stop for a blind octogenarian who pulled out sharply in front of me, and suddenly the trapped bird noises turned into bits-of-metal-tinkling-and-graunching !!!

Fortunately I was able to limp up to the top of the hill and made it the last quarter of a mile home rolling in neutral. Pulling in to my off street parking spot it made the worst metallic knocking noises I've ever heard, worse even than when I once stripped a diff peeling out of a side road too enthusiastically. There's nothing underneath the car, neither shrapnel nor fluids, and no trail of debris.

Throw out bearing or clutch, I suppose. Yay!

I have one number to try tomorrow for a mechanic who was recommended to me by one of our great sages. However, if for whatever reason he is unable to help, I'm at a loss for who else to turn to. If anybody has any further recommendations for a competent mechanic in the North London area I would be very grateful.

I know this is like asking about the length of the proverbial piece of string, but how many hours does it take to change a dead clutch and/or replace a throwout bearing?

Snapshot of my car the last time I had transmission trouble, when I borked my BW35 the other year before my manual swap. The ADAC dude looks like me but with hi-vis! :cool:

Kaputt-March2019.jpg
 
I left my car to sulk like a scolded teenager for a fortnight whilst I tried to find a mechanic who can help me with my conundrum. Found a local chap who could help, but I would have to bring the car to him, he can't collect. Called the AA, who explained they need to send a roadside recovery man first. Expecting his imminent arrival I washed the pollen and spiders webs off the beastie, started it and let it warm up. After warning the AA guy to expect horrible noises when he tried to engage gear, he tried reverse... no problems. No noises either! He followed me the half mile to the garage of my choosing, I ran the car through all the gears, mysteriously it was working fine!?!? The friendly local mechanic grinned, and told me to just "carry on!". On the way home however, the clacking returned. Not as noisy as when it blew up, but there is something amiss. Have I lost a spring from the driven plate, perhaps? Would I be right in thinking having him open it up now is smarter than waiting for something to bind, seize or explode further down the road? The mechanic doesn't want to just replace the driven plate, he only fits replacement clutch kits, so everything wears in together. Should I now upgrade to a beefier and more expensive clutch, and if yes, any recommendations?
 
Having been under mine again today I did notice that the prop is running quite close to the old bracketry for the BW35 at the back. I wonder if your trans could have slipped sideways and contact is being made there ?
 
My jalopy has been carted off for the attention of a competent mechanic, suggested to me by one of the prominent oracles of this forum.
I do hope whatever I did to it this time isn't too costly to remedy. Hey ho. If it stops raining I might get around to digging a few more bits'n'bobs from my parts stash and taking photos so as to flog it all to you guys and refill the P6 piggy bank a bit...
 
The really very good news is that my gearbox has been rebuilt, and reinstalled, and it works properly.
The bad news was that my brakes are disastrous, and various other components were also imminently about to expire and urgently needed to be replaced. To say nothing of my having royally messed up the carburettor tune, so the car is running far from properly. - blushes in shame!
After crawling around under and over my jalopy long enough, my man who wields the spanners on my behalf is taking a well earned vacation. Here's hoping on his return to work he will be refreshed, energised, all the requisite parts will be on hand for him to fit, and he'll be keen to get shot of my rust bucket!
– Hey Quattro, we need a 'fingers crossed' emoji!
 
I spent a fine afternoon flinging my car around the leafy lanes of Hertfordshire with joyful abandon. I'm happy to report that my gearbox was rebuildable, and seems to be working a charm. The engine is set up very nicely now, having been restored to 8° BTDC static timing. It was previously at 13°, so quite difference! Nice throttle response, nice steady low idle, jolly good show! Shame the front suspension is making such dreadful squeaking noises! Still a fair few things to sort out, so it'll be going back to the same mechanic whenever he can book me in, for more fettling. In the meantime, I will resign myself to it sounding like an old boat creaking at anchor. No photos, 'cos I was too busy driving!
 
I spent a fine afternoon flinging my car around the leafy lanes of Hertfordshire with joyful abandon. I'm happy to report that my gearbox was rebuildable, and seems to be working a charm. The engine is set up very nicely now, having been restored to 8° BTDC static timing. It was previously at 13°, so quite difference! Nice throttle response, nice steady low idle, jolly good show! Shame the front suspension is making such dreadful squeaking noises! Still a fair few things to sort out, so it'll be going back to the same mechanic whenever he can book me in, for more fettling. In the meantime, I will resign myself to it sounding like an old boat creaking at anchor. No photos, 'cos I was too busy driving!

There are sir, strange forces at work here........... As you know I am squeaky myself, or rather something is, and despite having four nipples now I still like a squeak now and again.
Oh and I am midway through a distributor timing session involving both mechanical and vacuum advance fettling, read that as making a meal out of something that should be simple ( but is anything so )
 
I feel it behoves me to sing the praises of the chap who recently fixed up my old banger! He came recommended by one of the wisest stalwarts of this forum, for which I am grateful. He is himself a fellow forum member, known on here by the username @GrimV8. I am very pleased with his service, and can attest that he knows his way around a P6, and how to get one running properly. I'll be using him again as soon as he has the time, because there's a whole lot of creaking and groaning coming from my front suspension, and it is mortifyingly loud in all the wrong ways! Any P6er in Herts needing their car serviced or repaired could do a whole lot worse than look up Brooklands Motorcraft on Stagg Hill.
 
Most odd. The awfully loud creaking and groaning noises my front suspension had been making seem to have stopped. I haven't done anything to the car but drive it! Things don't magically fix themselves, in fact in my experience this is likely to be the quiet before the proverbial storm, so I expect some kind of crunching failure to happen in due course. Until then, speed humps can once again be driven over without cringing!
 
Did drive through a few inches of water in the hot spell the other week when Thames Water workmen were releasing water from a stopcock in the middle of the road and letting it flow down the hill into Queens Wood, Highgate. Wasn't standing water, it was all flowing, can't have been more than a couple of inches depth. Didn't affect the noises, which continued that day and the week or so thereafter, until things suddenly and miraculously improved on Thursday!?!?
Why do you ask? How would a good soaking of the underside serve to quieten squeaky poly bushes? What am I missing?
 
I ask because a good soaking followed by a period of silence might indicate that whatever is creaking got lubed temporarily, and maybe it was another bush(es) that was creaking - shocks, lower arms, your knees, etc etc :eek:
 
New steering side arms installed, which made it obvious that the driver side joint in the transverse steering arm also needs replacing. Just enjoyed a three-hundred-odd mile trip out of the capitol to the south coast, and I'm as happy as Larry, whoever he was, with the way my car copes with everything. My major gripe being that my front discs, though new, are warped just like the ones I replaced less than a thousand miles ago. The judder at overtaking lane speeds is unnerving. Despite the endless travails, I love this car. As did seemingly everybody I encountered the last couple of days, in sunny Dorset and Hampshire.
 
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