P6B S Project Car

More progress.....Car up in the air now on quickjacks. propshaft fitted, engine mounts done up, fan fitted. While underneath, lets fit the PAS belt...not looking very good at all, seems short. Old belt was 890, this one is 875...anybody have a length that has worked for them please?
 
Finished up fitting a 900mm belt, relatively easy. Tightened up OK. Such a faff getting a belt into place, I had to unbolt the pump completely to get the belt laced in place - not something easy to do on the side of the road! Also bolted the steady bracket back on the inner wing.
Slowly getting there...
 
Speedo cable fitted to box, gearlever installed with anti rattle spring & button. My modified hold down gave me a bit of trouble but got there in the end. When I work out how to lift the exhaust a couple of feet I will try to fit that next.
 
Exhaust is up! I got an 8" box under the front end, then I lifted the rear end up to the first muffler joint and fitted 1 bolt, then I was able to lift the front into place, having applied some muffler sealant to the manifold , and some anti-seize to the bolts. While I was fitting one nut to the nearside flange requiring two hands, I held the offside up with a spare knee. Once I had a nut started on offside it was all down hill from there.
Only fuel and cooling to go now!
 
jp928 said:
Exhaust is up! I got an 8" box under the front end, then I lifted the rear end up to the first muffler joint and fitted 1 bolt, then I was able to lift the front into place, having applied some muffler sealant to the manifold , and some anti-seize to the bolts. While I was fitting one nut to the nearside flange requiring two hands, I held the offside up with a spare knee. Once I had a nut started on offside it was all down hill from there.
Only fuel and cooling to go now!
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Have you considered gymnastics as a pastime?
 
Funny you should say that.....every now and again I am finding it quite difficult to get out from under and back on my feet. I guess thats to be expected at 82. Not too bad when I can use the creeper, but not always possible.
 
Blimey, @jp928. I'm highly impressed that you're getting underneath your P6 to reassemble things yourself at 82 years of age! More power to you!
 
While I can I will keep at it....Got a bit done today. Fitted choke cable, couple fuel pipe from reserve switch to pipe across bell housing and along to the pump. Refitted the lower bell housing cover plate, the PITA is several M6 bolts into the bell housing, 2 1/4 UNC into the block. Radiator fitted, with some difficulty getting the side mount bolts to align and engage, and not much fun getting the 2 stage fan shroud fitted - 4 bolts for stage one to the radiator, then 4 more for stage 2 to stage 1. Despite the multiblade viscous fan blades not being very wide about half their width is clear of the shroud, which I have read somewhere is ideal, as the centrifugal effect is quite important.
 
It runs! Filled the cooling system through the top heater hose and fired it up. One fuel leak, no water leaks. Gear change not optimal so will have to do some adjustment there to set the 1-2 line. After that and a road test all thats left is fitting the bonnet - have to rope in some helpers for that.
 
Some forward progress, but some back as well. Main reason for fitting this box is the $ I have buried in its overhaul, and some poor gear selection issues in the old box.....which I seem to have carried into this one. Issue was poor location of first gear selection, and I did spend time on looking at the underside of the remote, but didnt get anywhere. Now I have a spare remote to compare with I can better see whats going on. The book calls for a clearance from the bottom of the lever to the reverse baulk plate of 2.5 mm - mine is probably more than 5mm, which means the lever goes past the 1-2 line and wont engage without moving back to the right. To achive this clearance the book says 'add/remove shims as required' on the reverse baulk plate mounting - mine has shims of ~2mm under the bobbins with the springs, where there are only thin washers on the spare remote. Remove the shims? Not enough clearance to the tunnel wall to get the bolts out, unless I can distort the wall some (difficult), or move box left - more difficult.
One curiosity - I have a 2300/2600 supplement as well as the 3500 SD1 manual. The supplement is easier to use , being much thinner, so I read up on adjusting the remote in that first. Mentions setting reverse baulk and 3rd gear spring wire . mmmmm thinks - surely I have seen something on setting 1-2 line? Get the big manual - yes - thats where it mentions lever clearance to baulk plate. Both models used the LT77, why would they leave out that bit in the 6 cyl supplement?
Ruminating on how I can get those shims out, or otherwise reduce the clearance to point first is easy to select.
 
Well I got the reverse baulk unit out! The spacing bobbins were longer than those in the spare, and I ground maybe 30 thou off the ends. A test assemble of 1 bolt gave me almost perfect 1st gear selection so I ground a little more off. Getting both bolts up with the unit assembled is a major PITA, so I had to get a bit brutal with the tunnel side - I could get 1 bolt lined up, but I couldnt turn it. Roped in an assistant and got it all fitted in the end. Road test next, then fit the bonnet and its done.
 
Road tested. Gear change notchy, but its a freshly overhauled box, so not totally unexpected, hopefully will loosen up with some use. This box is using ATF type F, previous used Redline MTL - might go bak to that if the new doesnt improve. Oil pressure is indicating lower than it used to (1 bar hot) - new sender, and the pump has been opened and has a new gasket; red light goes out very quickly on cranking, so as long as it stays quiet and the red light is out I am not going to worry too much. The old pressure sender used to occasionally fall to zero while moving, but red light stayed off. It was noticeably more responsive....without the air cleaner fitted.
 
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Had similar oil pressure reading issues after my recent engine rebuild. Original sender would drop to almost zero and fluctuate back to normal randomly when the engine had warmed up. New replacement sender from Wadhams under read badly (20lb or so) so I pulled the old one in half and cleaned the contacts, reassembled and reinstalled. No more false readings. As with you, no red light.
 
Thanks, thats worth knowing!

Can you advise how you opened the unit please? The one that came off my car looks like the connector is rivetted to something inside the case. Another unit seems to have a round plastic part that comes through a hole in the cap, with the connector on it.
 
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Got the bonnet on today, and it gave me all the grief I expected. First it wouldnt latch, after a little adjustment it latched....but it wouldnt unlatch. Fortunately I had removed the grille centre, anticipating this problem, so I was able to dismantle the latch enough to start again. Then I thought I would soften the spring, but I went too far and it wouldnt latch again - had to modify the spring to increase tension some. All came good in the end, so that job is finally done. Now to get some kms on that @#$%^ gearbox.
 
jp928 said:
Thanks, thats worth knowing!

Can you advise how you opened the unit please? The one that came off my car looks like the connector is rivetted to something inside the case. Another unit seems to have a round plastic part that comes through a hole in the cap, with the connector on it.
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From memory it was crimped all the way round. Prized it open. There was some sort of lever that moved with the oil pressure altering the resistance presented to the terminal that connected to the oil pressure gauge. Sorry I cant be more detailed and unlike me, hadn't taken any photo's. Cleaned the contacts with some 1200 sandpaper. Recrimped and sealed unit with a small bead of urethane.
 
Took her out yesterday for a 20km run, no problems. Today after doing 4kms, going up a slight hill the power sagged as though one carb had died, and barely got through the remaining 2kms to destination. Made it home without issues apart from nerves....to find the nearside rocker breather hose had come off the flame trap. Securely clipped on now.
Apart from this mishap she does seem more responsive than before, even with the air cleaner fitted. I can only suspect the dizzy went back in with a bit more advance and she likes it - must actually check and see what the timing is.
 
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I fitted a Britpart breather hose kit on to some SUs thinking I was doing the right thing. They were so sloppy they would barely hold themselves on, I had to source spring type hose clamps for every connection to make them work.
 
cobraboy said:
I fitted a Britpart breather hose kit on to some SUs thinking I was doing the right thing. They were so sloppy they would barely hold themselves on, I had to source spring type hose clamps for every connection to make them work.
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Another part where I find it so difficult to understand why they can't be made the correct size.
 
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