Labeline
New Member
Hi everyone. I bought my 72 P6b 3500S in September. I had some issues with rough running which all seem to have been sorted with new leads, condensoer, points and rebalanced carbs, timing and dwell angle all reset and it is now very pleasant to drive. However the compression test revealed some issues. The highest psi was 150 and the two lowest, in cylinders 5&7 were 140 and 130. There is no evidence of any oil coming past the rings and as the lowest cylinders are adjacent, the suspicion is a head gasket failure and worn valve seats. I am therefore going to schedule some maintenance for next winter. As I intend to change the head gasket I am going to take the opportunity to have the heads upgraded/refurbished. Change the camshaft and followers and change the timing chain and cogs. I have read the numerous threads in this subject on this forum but would like some updated advice. I am not interested in increasing performance, it is a classic car, not a sportscar, but I would like to get the best out of my investment. Just to make things more interesting, I live in France so will need to get all this stuff done remotely. I am told I should be going for a 3.9 litre cam and possibly be replacing the standard heads with 3.9 ones too. Any recommendations would be welcome. I don't want to spend a fortune but I only want to do it once. I do not believe the engine is original. It is currently showing 87k on the odometer but who knows what that relates to. There is no tappet noise whatsoever. I paid a lot of money for this car and am somewhat peeved to find that I need to have this work done in addition to other things I have found since buying it.