P6 upgraded to family car, need to look into suspension clinks!

herbie

herbie

Member
Hello All,

Following the arrival of my son nearly a year ago, we discovered that the Mini Countryman my wife has is useless for carrying all the gear needed around. This meant the p6 stepped in, I live near Gatwick and it has been to Cornwall twice, Devon twice, Spa classic last month and is doing a grand job.


But.....the suspension is lacking its previous luxury feel, I changed the shocks for gaz adjustable ones and have tweaked them various times, it feels heavy over bumps and has various clunks from the front.

I have changed the engine mounts previously to the vw ones, I have checked various places with a leverage bar, and am wondering whether a re bush would be a good idea?

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Thanks,

Richard.
 
I put a set of Gaz shocks on the rear of my car and tried virtually every adjustment possible. The ride and handling was incredibly poor. I took them off and put a a pair of new standard shocks on and the difference was instant and unbelievable.

I rebushed the rear of my car approx 3 years ago and the difference to the ride was night and day. I've just done the front end and again an immediate difference. Tired bushes ruin the ride in these cars. All mine are standard metalastic.

The car handles well but is so different to a modern car as the car rolls a lot when pushing on. However its the ride that impresses me every time I drive it. They p6 must have been something really special when it first came out.
 
The rear shocks from Gaz are 2" to long, Colin Gould found this when fitting them to my car. The factory corrected them by return post and now fitted ok. I believe all of them will be wrong.......... He only found out when the car was at full suspension travel and my wheels started touching the body!
 
The replacement front shocks from many of the suppliers do not have the correct eye fittings on the ends. The original eyes were shaped to allow two conical bushes to be fitted, these bushes squeezed the shock when under compression from the washer and pin and held it firmly. The replacement eyes do not allow this and as a consequence the shocks rattle and clunk.
I bought some new AVO adjustable and the rattling drove me mad, I ended up cutting off the eyes and welding on the eyes from the old shocks, they are fine now.
If you are thinking of re bushing I have just removed new poly from the front lower arms and gone back to new Metalastik . The poly did not hold the arms firm enough.
 
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Richard - this is a good thread to see, not for your suspension issues, but because of how you are using the car! I am in a similar position to you, although a year behind. My wife is due on the 04/08 with our first.

Its amazing how many people have said to me over the last 9 months - "So are you getting rid of your car then?" under the impression that it would somehow be unsafe for a baby to travel in. o_O
 
Interesting point about the shock eyes. And I have never been a fan of the poly bushings. I've quite a bit of experience with the material, and though it is indeed elastomeric it simply isn't rubber.

Yours
Vern
 
The p6 has been brilliant! I took it to a baby seat shop to try out a base that means it takes the seat that fits with the ISO fix in the mini.

I have had to take it off limited mileage and up the service schedule, but this is very satisfying particularly when it completes a big journey, I did the Le Mans classic in it last year and it was brilliant. It's a 2200 sc auto and it runs so well on the motorway!
 
Quagmire said:
Richard - this is a good thread to see, not for your suspension issues, but because of how you are using the car! I am in a similar position to you, although a year behind. My wife is due on the 04/08 with our first.

Its amazing how many people have said to me over the last 9 months - "So are you getting rid of your car then?" under the impression that it would somehow be unsafe for a baby to travel in. o_O
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Haha had our first two weeks ago. Still driving the car and rear seatbelts were installed specifically for the baby seat. I want her to have the early memories.
 
Just had our baby on the 17th a week and a half ago so guess I will need to look at baby seats for the P6B as well.

seems to be the season for babies!

Graeme
 
Ours was due on the 17th but arrived early. I think most seats work best with a dedicated isofix mount but the retain the ability to use seatbelts but often not in the rear-facing orientation.

One popular option with classic is to buy the Ford Focus Isofix as it's about £15, weld a reinforcing load-spreader plate and bolt this in.
 
Richard Zahra said:
Congratulations to you all with the new babies. That's the right approach, start them early!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well, looking at the P6 owner's demographic at shows, we certainly need more recruits. With no disrespect, many of us won't see the government's phasing out of petrol and diesel.... One of the things I enjoy most is younger people who do take interest in these cars. I'm probably the last era of people who remember this car in everyday use. I was 6 when the last P6 was made (which makes me a "mature" first time dad). I do find it fascinating as to why those younger people find some kind of connection with an older vehicle.
 
I beat you by quite a bit, I have become a first time dad at 56 :D oops I shouldn't be smiling.
I too wonder what the younger generation sees in a P6 as it's unlikely they ever grew up with them, fantastic cars as they are. Who knows however another persons background when growing up, as a family in the 60's and 70's we grew up with a lot of cars from the 20's and 30's as the normal daily drive, my list of long past US and UK classic cars is to long to list, our family (extended) has always been car mad, motorbikes too, way back to the 1920's.

Graeme
 
Both our kids (there is a 23 months gap) had the P6B as their first car. It was actually transferred into our daughter's name until I bought it back for a nominal sum.
A few years back I considered fitting mounts - actually bought them- for top tethers which are mandatory in Australia for kids seat. However the consensus was to wait until the grandkids (who love "driving" the car in a static situation) were ready for booster seats. They all are in boosters now but haven't go any for the Rover yet.

So all your families have a lot of use and enjoyment out of your Rovers to come
 
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