G'day

M

MADPOM

Member
Just thought I'd say a quick G'day from the Beautiful Sunshine (although not so dry right now) Coast, QLD, Australia.

I'm in the process of stripping a 70 P6 back to it's are shell and, following a few days dip, rebuild from the ground back. Purists won't like my style, but I have seen loitering around that I am in good company here so I'm sure the planned modifications will be appreciated by a few.

So far I have stopped at the roof and dash board, which is coming out, but I am having difficulty locating a picture heavy thread of the dash removal, which I understand can be tricky. If anyone could point me in the right direction I'd be quite pleased.

I had originally intended to stuff a 1UZFE up the front but am looking very closely at whether the running gear from an A8 4.2 Tdi Quattro might be massaged into the chassis; not being under any illusion that it will be a simple task, but AWD with 800nm from 1700-2750 rpm in a car that's 700kg lighter than it's donor is very appealing.

I would need to source an A8 from the UK or Europe, preferrably whole as an insurance write off, but otherwise a unit with moderate mileage could be sourced for a reasonable price and chopped in half prior to export.

First job is to complete the strip and then get to measuring to determine whether it's possible or a pipe dream. I have access to someone keen to assist with the engineering required for the transplant.

Wherever possible any existing parts prone to rust will be re-manufactured in SS, having access to CNC machining gear is a substantial benefit.

I've owned this beast since '93 and knew the previous 3 owners, I am the 5th owner of this car, which I have to say is one of the better handling car's I've ever driven; especially lowered a kidney shattering 4".

Once the dash is out and roof is off she'll be popped on a trailer to a mates place so the mechanicals can be removed; and then the fun starts!
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

I think Stina recently had a thread where she removed the dash - will let you know if i find it :)

Would be great to some project pics of your work in progress!

Rich.
 
Welcome to the forum madpom, sounds like a great project make sure you keep us updated... :wink:
 
DaveHerns wrote,...
1UZFE- What's one of those ?
Click to expand...

4.0 litre Toyota Lexus V8.

Hello MadPom,

Welcome to the forum. Sounds an interesting project. Please do post some pics when you have a chance.... :wink:

Ron.
 
Hi Madpom! You'll find plenty of support and encouragement here.

I like the idea of the Lexus V8. I also like the idea of 4WD! Of course the P6 could have been designed for 4WD - there's even a factory Front wheel drive one still running - the gas turbine prototype, T4. So I really approve of the Audi running gear, but I'd prefer the Lexus motor. Biggest difficulty in fitting a non original V8 is width. The Rover V8 is surprisingly narrow, both because it has no overhead cams etc to get in the way, and because it is small capacity. Most modern V8's are a lot wider. You could probably accomodate the extra width at the top of the engine bay with some very brave mods to the inner wings - they don't do too much structurally, provided you retain the P6 suspension with the spring load taken on the bulkhead. But one of the biggest problems is how to route the exhausts, even on the Rover installation, the chassis rails confine things very seriously. Don't get too carried away at the back, the de dion rear end is superior to almost any other suspension set up! Just change the diff for whatever you think you need.

Good luck!

Chris
 
if you go the 1UFZE, get one of the ones with tougher internals (earlier ones?), easy peasy horsepower with some turbochargers strapped to the side, though they also love supercharging. Smash a R154 gearbox in there and call it a day with a better diff out the back.
 
I have the supra 5spd mated to the v8 at present and an idle S102 Sprintex Supercharger, but have fallen for the VWG Tdi Motors after having driven a Tdi Golf since new in 2006, easy bulk torque. 8sp tiptronic box is certainly appealing.

Interestingly the 1UZFE is shorter, narrower and lower than the 3500 and although I can't for the life of me find it right now, I compared the dimensions on the Audi 4.2 and it was marginally smaller.

In any case, have plasma cutter and prepared to use it. I'm lead to believe the tunnel width was larger on the auto to accommodate the bigger box, but frankly have access to the necessary equipment to arrive at a reasonable solution.

The car was originally equipped with the BW35, although later converted to the 3500S 4 Speed, prior to me offloading that in favour of the R154.

I do like the Dedion rear end and if at all possible want to maintain it, but I'll certainly need the traction control with the TDI, so it will largely depend on the system design.

If I end up taking the second choice, which will be a blown 1UZFE, I would probably whack a Jag rear end or something similar. I do have a love hate relationship with the Jag handbrake assemblies however.

Unfortunately she is looking a little sad in the photo below but she's stripped of most of the panels and there is nothing nasty lurking beneath at this stage. Sills look good. Drivers side floor pan not great, boot not great, but otherwise relatively rust free where it counts, save for the occasional bit of surface rust missed by Rover's factory installed chassis oiling system.

DSCF0494.jpg


There are a few more photo's in the album below.

http://photobucket.com/p6b
 
Welcome Madpom, exciting project!
Do you think your bonnet/hood paintwork is the result of no insulation between the aluminium and the engine?
On the larger v8 subject, i've always fancied finding a scrapped modern chrysler 300c with the 5.7 hemi :D
I don't know how feasible that would be to fit in a p6 bay though...
Jim
 
You are quite right, there Corazon, the paint blistering was indeed the result of no insulation; which happened to be destroyed by fire one day when my brother was driving her. Had a lynx foam filter which went up following a back fire caused by flooring it off the line in first :D . The holley was too big for the application.

5.7 Hemi would definitely need some massaging to install but would certainly liven her up a little; or a lot.
 
If you going 4wd would you just cut away the Rover's underpinnings and graft the donor chassis in ?
A bit like how Ford made the Escort Cosworth out of a Sierra Cosworth
 
DaveHerns said:
If you going 4wd would you just cut away the Rover's underpinnings and graft the donor chassis in ?
A bit like how Ford made the Escort Cosworth out of a Sierra Cosworth
Click to expand...

At this stage I'm not entirely sure; it will of course depend, I very much like the idea of a one piece front end but not sure I could be bothered.
 
Hello Madpom.
I really like those alloy wheels, they look great, I've not seen that type before on a P6. Do you know what vehicle they're from? Any chance of a nice photograph of one of them, straight on? All the pics on your photo album are from an angle. I dare say they'd look a real treat if you had the rims polished up and the spokes/vanes/whatever they're called painted in whatever body colour your project car will be. Or simply bead blasted and silver powder coated.
Don't suppose you've got a photo of the car showing the stance after the 4" lowering job you've described? That sounds sill-scrapingly low, I'd like to see it.
 
Those are Cheviot Turbos. 14 x 6" IIRC. I had a set years ago but some B'stard nicked them.
Burntgrey2.jpg

Cheviot was/is an Australian company and their aftermarket wheels were very popular in NZ/Oz in the '70s. I doubt you'd find a set anywhere else though. They were not common with the Rover stud pattern, though I have seen 3 sets of them in NZ.
 
I have a habit of double posting and still can't work out how I manage to do it.

The wheels are Cheviot 6JJ x 14 as an aftermarket rim, though 3 of them are just Cheviot 6 x 14.

I had a feeling these were actually blanks that were drilled, but the 6JJ might indicate it was a factory option for a particular vehicle. I have a feeling it was actually a Holden Commodore, but will confirm.

Sorry that's not much help; I'll ask my mate who owned the car previously and come back to you.

Here's a picture straight on.

2012-02-05103019.jpg


Unfortunately I haven't got a photo of the Lowver 4" lower than standard, as it sits it's 2.5" lower. My mate has a blown up photo of the Lowver in it's former glory, I'll see if I can get it scanned for you. Those were the days before digital cameras; I wouldn't even know where to start looking for the negative.

It's amazing the age we live in, I walk outside now with my 8mp Camera equipped smart phone, it automatically uploads the image to photobucket via the home wireless or 3g, and I copy the link to the now published file.

It was low, real low, I actually hit a coke can once and crushed it about an 1.5" from the bottom.

To give you an idea how low it was, getting her on a 4 poster hoist was a 3 man operation, you had to drive it up to the hump that covered the hoist's hydraulic lines and one on either side of the car had to lift at the front wheel guards and allow it to run over the hump, the car was rolled forward and the process was repeated to get the hoist arms under the car to lift it.

I was pulled over by the police late one evening after he saw me use both lanes (in the same direction) of the road to round a 40kph corner at double and a little more. He went over the car and found a few things wrong with it and gave me the option of a speeding fine or an appointment with the Department of Transport for a machinery inspection. Naturally I took the former but he gave me the appointment instead.

At 4" lower than standard it was still technically road legal at the time, since the lowest point of the car, the rear discs, still cleared (just) the regulation 100mm minimum road clearance, but in the interest of self preservation and not wanting to have DOT go right through the car with a fine tooth comb, I opted to lift it 1.5" for a compromise between ride and handling; interestingly it handled better at that height anyway, presumably with a little more shock absorber travel.
 
KiwiRover said:
Those are Cheviot Turbos. 14 x 6" IIRC. I had a set years ago but some B'stard nicked them.
Burntgrey2.jpg

Cheviot was/is an Australian company and their aftermarket wheels were very popular in NZ/Oz in the '70s. I doubt you'd find a set anywhere else though. They were not common with the Rover stud pattern, though I have seen 3 sets of them in NZ.
Click to expand...

I promise it wasn't me; can't vouch for the original owners mind you but it's a darn long way to go for a set of rims. :D

This pic would give you and idea how low the LOWVER actually was; the rear wheel arch was blanking the top wheel nut and sitting about level with the next two; you physically had to jack the car up to get to all 5 wheel nuts! :shock:
 
Really nice rims. Thanks for obliging with the photo. As you say, it is easy these days, isn't it! Look forward to hearing more about your project. My tuppence worth: photograph everything as you take it apart, how it all goes together fades in the memory if you take too long about it putting the thing back together!
 
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