My First Rover, 1972 P6 2000.

[danm]

Hi, Over the weekend I have managed to get my "new" P6 home and I have started the assessment of its condition. Getting it home was an event in it's self as the Rovers
front end geometry doesn't suit the towing A frame that I was using to get it to my house. It simply would not steer around corners at all so in the end my mate drove my car
and I took care of the steering. :roll:
The car has been off the road since 2001 and has covered 40 miles since its last MoT, it was laid up in a front garden until 2009 when my mate rescued it and put it away in his garage. He told me that it would need welding to the rear most ends of each sill and that the clutch and brake cylinders were knackred (and removed)
Here it is once it was uncoupled from my car and had been given a quick wash.

It isn't too pretty but to be fair this is its worst side.
The first job was to give the known rusty areas a check over and to search for any more, the sill covers came off very easily and revealed this.

The sills are absolutely perfect and have been well protected with very thick underseal that is still tacky! The Rusty areas are on the flat sections under the car so hopefully should be an easy enough repair. There is also a small section of the NSF floor that will need a plate letting in too but considering the fact that this car has never been welded it is in fantastic condition.............................if only the same could be said of the engine :evil:
This started and ran beautifully until yesterday until I went to start it to show my mate, it initially fired and then started clattering and stopped having lost compression on two cylinders. I pulled the cover off and revealed this...

The cam timing was out by a gnats but nowhere near enough to cause valve damage so the only option was to pull off the head, this revealed two stuck valves.

Removing the valve revealed that it was coated in a tar like deposit that had glued it fast into its guide. It had to be drifted out with a punch.

There is more evidence of this deposit on the cylinder walls too so the pistons will be coming out to check.
I hope you like it.

Dan

 

[stue1972]

New to the p6 scene myself too but looks like you've got a good base to start with there. look forward to following its progress.

 

[danm]

Hi, Thanks mate. The condition of the body is surprisingly good which is a massive bonus. There are three areas that need attention, The front one has been done and I intend starting on one the sill rear ends tomorrow.
What I have found though is that the engine that run so well before suddenly sticking its valves has been running for a considerable time with broken top rings in two cylinders. One of the affected pistons has escaped unscathed, the other has been rendered scrap.

The bores are very good which is lucky but I am left needing a new piston, or pistons if anyone has a set, alternatively I could fit a good complete engine (single carb)
One other fault that this car came with was a stuck clutch......

I had to pry the disc off the flywheel as it was so stuck! The friction material is down to the rivets so it will be replaced anyway. I will be hopefully replacing the seals in the clutch and brake master cylinders tonight, a kit for the slave was supplied with the car but a quick look at it's bore was all that was needed to condemn it as scrap so fitting new seals would be a wast of time. I have a new cylinder on order along with a set of seals for the front calipers.

Dan

 

[marcus/rosie]

Hi welcome looks like you got a good car body wise. But engines do come up often. Im interested in your pistons as they look different to the 2000sc or the 2200sc. Is it a 2000 tc. Or sc
I have a piston that looks like yours but does fit my 2000 sc . Some one might come along and explain the difference.
Any way welcome

 

[danm]

Thanks mate. My car is 2000 SC. If you like I can get a decent picture of the piston crown so you can make any comparisons.

Dan

 

[marcus/rosie]

Hi if you could as i have 1 new piston that looks like yours. They are different to mine . Mine are flat with just a dish in.
Marcus

 

[danm]

Hi if you could as i have 1 new piston that looks like yours. They are different to mine . Mine are flat with just a dish in.
Marcus

Thanks Marcus, I will sort some better pictures tomorrow.

Dan

 

[marcus/rosie]

Ok if its same your welcome to it.
Marcus

 

[danm]

Hi, Todays progress was a bit of a mixed bag as the weather wouldn't make up its mind, one minute it was thrashing it down, the next is was hot and sunny :evil: Between downpours I removed the remaining caliper,
it is in quite a state and is seized solid.

Last night I rebuilt the clutch and brake master cylinders with new seals throughout, the reservoir had 1/4 inch of what looked like mud in the bottom that had to be cleaned out. They were quickly refitted to the car, a job made much easier by the engines absence.

The final mechanical job of the morning was to pull the remaining valves out of the head, all exhaust valves came out easily but the inlets were all glued in with the black deposit and had to be driven out.
The head looks to be in very good condition, tomorrow I intend to run it through a hot wash to clean the black goo out of the valve guides.

The head being flat looks like it came off a diesel.
Finally here are a couple of photos of a piston for Marcus.

The piston is 85mm across.

Dan

 

[marcus/rosie]

Hi i will take a pic of piston i have for you and add it tomorrow it looks the same . But you can look and see what you think . not great pics. if there no good I will try some better ones. size is 85mm across and 88 mm deep.
Marcus

 

[grifterkid]

Very nice!

My first P6 was an Almond S2 2000TC and I loved it dearly...

Yours looks very solid indeed so you've got a really good base to start from there.

I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

 

[danm]

Hi, That looks like the right one to me Cheers mate.

Very nice!

My first P6 was an Almond S2 2000TC and I loved it dearly...

Yours looks very solid indeed so you've got a really good base to start from there.

I look forward to seeing how this progresses.

Thanks mate!

Dan

 

[danm]

Hi, despite the very changeable weather over the weekend I have managed to make some reasonable progress. I started to repair the rusted area of the NS sill, here is what I started with.

It didn't look too bad but like all corrosion what can be seen initially is only the tip of the iceberg. I started by cutting out the rot underneath and then removed what was left of the closing plate under the wheel arch. The rot extended to the small floor section under the rear seat, this was soon cut out.

Unfortunately that was as far as I got as the wind made welding almost impossible :evil:
While under the back of car I got my first look at the calipers..................

Believe it or not, they are actually free with a working handbrake! I need a new bump stop though, are they available?

Talking of brakes, the system is all back together having had new seals in both front calipers and the master cylinder and it is now fully operational so that is one job to tick off the list. I went to the Battlesbridge car show today and was fortunate enough to find a NOS 3 part clutch kit, some wipers and a replacement trim for the NSR door, I am now looking forward to starting the engine reassembly.

Dan

 

[The Rovering Member]

Before you tick the brakes off your list; did you check the rear calipers over, remove the covers to check for brake fluid ingress? It's extremely unlikely that they'll have survived such a long lay-up without some form of damage. If they're not leaking now then expect it sooner rather than later. Best to remove & strip them while you're in the process of restoration.
Use search & you'll find plenty of information on the job which isn't as difficult as legend suggests.

 

[Quagmire]

+1 on The Rovering Member's comments. My rear calipers also worked fine after the car had been laid up for ten years. However after a few weeks of commuting (maybe a couple of months) I noticed a puddle of what I initially thought was oil from the diff - wrong! It was brake fluid and the seals had gone.

I'd sort them out now while the car is off the road and you have it all in bits anyway, rather them have them go once you have started enjoying cruising about...