Lady Charlotte - 1966 2000SC

[Dave3066]

Got myself one of these this week

In best Rolf Harris voice........"Can you tell what it is yet?" Apologies to our antipodean colleagues...

This is the usual spare wheel mounting in the boot

So need to remove this mount......another metric bolt here.....18mm

....and fit this one

So I can do this....

Now I don't have to carry both mounts in the car

Dave

 

[FrazzleTC]

That's a very neat solution indeed, Dave! I'm always misplacing the spacer for the bootmount!

 

[DaveHerns]

Probably Whitworth , Rover wouldn't have used metric bolts .Heaven forbid

 

[JVY]

Very clever. Assume this means if you need to put a load of stuff in the boot, you can remove the spare wheel from the boot and attach it to the boot lid - knowing you will have all the right parts to hand.

 

[arthuy]

Dave,

Did you make that bracket up or source it from another car?

I had one of them in the S which was supplied with boot mount thought I think it was longer than yours.

Colin

 

[Dave3066]

It came from another car Colin. I knew Rover made them but it's taken me this long to find one.

Dave

 

[SimonEccles]

Wow - I've just the whole 28 page saga of Lady Charlotte. Dave, I'm in awe. True Rover devotion. I hope you are rewarded with the reliability you clearly now deserve!
Simon

 

[Dave3066]

Wow - I've just the whole 28 page saga of Lady Charlotte. Dave, I'm in awe. True Rover devotion. I hope you are rewarded with the reliability you clearly now deserve!
Simon

Thanks Simon, glad you enjoyed the read.

She is by and large a very reliable car, well about as reliable as you can expect from a 47 year old Regular checks and maintenance is the key. This weekend's job was to replace a steering side arm. I was getting an increasing level of judder from the front end whenever the brakes were applied. I checked the brake disks and pads etc for wear and anything on that side that might cause a judder. Turned out to be a very worn ball joint on the steering side arm. All better now

Dave

 

[Dave3066]

All better now

Don't you just hate it when words such as those above come back to haunt you :roll:

Since posting this it became clear that the brake judder was slightly more serious than a worn steering arm balljoint. So I've since refurbished the front calipers on both sides and fitted new pads etc. Whilst I had the calipers off I also took the brake discs and hubs off to have a look at their condition. The outer faces of both front discs are fine but the inner faces are I think what's causing the judder. I've cleaned them up as best I can with a cup brush in the angle grinder and there is now no judder......however.....the front brakes are still not right and they're binding a little bit (if I push the inner pads away from the disc with a lever the wheels run freely) which has affected fuel consumption by around a couple of mpg. I had hope that the brakes would sort themselves once the new pads had bedded into the cleaned inner face of the discs but I have a feeling that the rough inner faces are slowly destroying the inner pads.

So it looks like I need new front discs.......and probably a couple more new pads too :roll: I'd love to be able to get the existing discs re-faced as there is plenty of material there, but obviously I use the car every day.

Dave

 

[arthuy]

might be worth finding new discs. I have a pair done at West of Scotland engineering when I had the vitesse because I couldn't find a new set easily and even then not much under £300 or something ridiculous, they worked out at £45-50 the pair, but then you would have to get them to the shop and back etc.

If you know anyone with a lathe you could skim them easy enough for beer money.

Did you clean up the pistons or go for stainless? I have some stainless to go in mine source via a guy doing parts for the ford capri.

Colin

 

[Bjk67]

Ask around at local garages, some offer brake disc skimming that can be done on the car without removing the discs.

 

[Dave3066]

Did you clean up the pistons or go for stainless?

Piston were fine Colin so just cleaned up and refitted.

Ask around at local garages, some offer brake disc skimming that can be done on the car without removing the discs.

I remember seeing that done on Wheeler Dealers a while back so might be a good shout.

Dave

 

[arthuy]

I am sure I saw some video of guys putting a car in drive and using a chisel to skim in situ. not very clever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRyylK1wf6E

I haven't seen these machines before but look the business and would removing the disc etc..

 

[Dave3066]

Yep, that's the one I saw too Colin. There is a place listed in Edinburgh that has one of those. Still means taking the car down there and leaving it with them etc so too much hassle for me I'm afraid. So I bought a couple of new standard front discs. Brake caliper removed and hung out of the way

With the hub and discs removed it was a fairly straightforward removal of the 5 bolts holding the disc to the hub and split the 2 with a mallet. The next 2 pics show the outer and inner faces of the offside disc. You can see how rough the inner face is

....and the effect it has had on the inner pad

Disc thickness is not too bad

I couldn't find any mention of a minimum thickness in the WM. All it says is that the standard thickness should be 0.505"

New disc

Fitting is the reverse of removal but I cleaned and re-greased the hub bearings and made sure to check hub end-float and disc run-out before continuing to the other side.

Disc on the other side was in a similar condition if not slightly worse on the inner face

having a similar effect on the inner pad on that side too

All done and back together again now so no more rubbing on the front brakes

Whilst I was doing this I was also helping raylish of this parish with his ignition wiring via the wonders of modern communication (he's in Cyprus)

Dave

 

[Dave3066]

Next job was to have a look at the bottom of the gearstick. You may recall my repair effort way back in July this year. Well with all the mileage I do it didn't last more than a few months.

I opted for the same repair again but this time instead of using Araldite I used an epoxy steel solution

Then a few more layers of heatshrink before applying more grease and refitting.

See how long that lasts :roll:

Dave

 

[Dave3066]

The day's work is not yet finished though as I've fitted halogen headlamps and need to check the aim when it gets dark. I've already got a relay in the headlamp circuit so no worries over the slightly bigger current draw of the halogens.

Dave

 

[Dave3066]

After this weekend's mammoth trip down to the National Motorcycle Museum for the RP6C AGM I needed to sort a small leak in Lady C's exhaust. It's been leaking around the gearbox mount for a while and my best efforts to fix it with exhaust cement keep failing. I have another front exhaust section but it's not the right type, more on that later. Here's where the exhaust is leaking

I used a bit of another non-Rover exhaust section that I got with Lady C to make a repair around the exhaust mount. I put some more exhaust cement around the holes and clamped the repair section in place. So far it's holding well, but I need a new section.

That brings me to my conundrum, and I'm hoping someone can help. The picture below is of the exhaust currently fitted (on the right) and the section I got with Lady C when I bought her.

Clearly it's not the correct part, but I'm hoping someone can tell me which type I actually have. Lady C's chassis number is 40038188D. According to the book she should have one of these

The rear 2 cans are correct for what I have fitted but the front and centre part are different. I have a front and a centre section, neither of which have a silencer. I can't find a system in the books that has the front section that I have :? I also can't find a system that has the centre section I have. The centre section has the exhaust mounting point, the clamp at the rear and the 2 little wings near the front flange that are not shown in the picture above, but are in the picture below. The picture below does not show the gearbox mount that I have :? The front section has the sump mounting bit so you see my conundrum.

There are also these 3 front sections as shown in the later parts book.

I think the front section that I got as a spare with Lady C is for an auto?

Any help in identifying exactly which bit I need to replace the centre section would be gratefully received Thanks.

Anyone following my fuel fillups on Fuelly might have noticed that my consumption has taken a noticeable dip from always being over 30 to under 26mpg on a recent fillup. I think the front brakes are binding a bit since I replaced the seals in the calipers. Fitting new disks hasn't made much difference and I'm starting to wonder if clamping the flexible hoses when I did the calipers has damaged them. They look ok but you never know. Might have to get some new flexible hoses and replace them to rule them out.

Always something to do eh!

Dave

 

[harveyp6]

I think the front section that I got as a spare with Lady C is for an auto?

I think you're right, IIRC the manual one steps in towards the centreline twice, and the auto only once, like the one you have.

 

[Dave3066]

I've had confirmation that as I suspected Lady c should have a scheme three, three can system fitted. I've no idea where a previous owner got a hold of a non-silenced front pipe but I've managed to source a silenced one to return her to the correct exhaust system. The non-silenced front pipe that is fitted is actually in very good condition so I'm in two minds as to whether or not it's a good idea to replace it with a silenced one. Would the silenced pipe be more restrictive to exhaust gas flow? Why were so many silencers fitted in the first place. My exhaust has a nice throaty rasp to it that I quite like. "It's how a car exhaust should sound" as some have commented upon hearing it. Do I risk losing that if I fit another silencer?

Thoughts welcome folks

Dave

 

[Demetris]

Dave, if i remember correctly from the James Taylor book, Rover went through various exhaust systems trying to make the 4 cyl P6 a little more refined.
If you add another third silencer into the system it would most certainly make it a little more quiet, but the actual effect on the tailpipe noise depends on the type and characteristics of the new silencer .
When i first bought my TC it had the standard two can TC system and a characteristic rasp (not unlike some Italian products) through the exhaust at certain revs. Some time i introduced a 3rd straight-through can behind the gearbox, just like the system on 2200s. The tailpipe rasp has gone since then, but also the car was significantly quieter when cruising. With the windows open while accelerating gently there is a rather civilised but distinguished noise signature evident from the exhaust manifold that now is not drowned from the tailpipe noise.
If you like it the way it is now, keep it the way it is!