Rob's long term Supercharging project

1396midget wrote,...
it sounds really really good. Favours one pipe over the other slightly, but not too badly. The pipe is high enough up into that area to not bother me at all when bleeding the rears. If I'm honest we didn't think about the bleeding when we put it in!

The reason it's so high is it caught on the de dion if it was any lower with fatties in the back. I've checked boot temps after a blast then idle session and it was OK. I can easily take more pics if you or anyone else is interested, it wasn't too hard to build. And it definitely goes better over standard.

In order not to favour one pipe slightly over the other you would need to run a complete dual system right from each bank complete with balance pipe. The problem with that is either trying to fit them both in the tunnel or running them beneath the floor, both of which I am not in favour of.

Mine is pretty loud as it stands, as you can see from my You Tube videos, so maybe in my case a dual system might be just too much. Would love to see some more pics though, from exiting the muffler all the way to where it runs up beneath the battery case.. :)

Thanks in advance Rob,
Ron.
 
I'll take some this weekend.

Till then, here's a rear-ish view. I've got some chrome overpipes (actually it's a leg from a cocktail bar) to put on but I've not got round to doing it yet.

P9281836 by 1275midget, on Flickr
 
1396midget said:
It took me 3 days to do the rear calipers. Yikes. 5 days almost solid work for 2 chaps, think of the labour cost!

Hi Rob.
Those brakes are certainly some fun and games.
When i did mine; from the time I jacked the car until the time I turned the final spanner on them was 3 weeks!
General consensus here in Australia is that to drive the car in and have these done at a garage (if you can find one willing, let alone competent), it will lighten your wallet by $1000!
 
I've not actually tested them properly yet, so don't hold your breath! I pendulum'd from "wow what fantastic engineering" to "what daft b**tard designed this and ever thought it would work" more than a couple of times!
 
1396midget wrote,
looked like the bearings might have been turning a little bit on the stub axle, I'll be putting them back on with a little bit of locktite.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo :!: :!:

the shiney patch you see on your stub shaft is typical of all bearing areas where wheel bearings sit, the clearance fit is to allow the inner race (hub assembly) to be fitted easily without force (compared to the outer races which are usually tapped in as you did) the inner race will creep on the stub shaft causing this shiney area but it does not mean it is worn compared to the other non shiney surface on the stub. The weight of the vehicle will seat the inner races against their shoulders, the front washer/locknut and they need to float, as it were, to achieve this, and help when setting your play and loctiteing will prevent movement and will cause premeture failure of wheel bearings and won't give you a correct end float setting once the loctite sets.
Even if you do have a badly worn stub shaft with noticable wear and can feel ridges then loctite is never an option only new or good second hand stub shafts, but don't be misled by the shiney areas on a stub shaft where the inner races sit,
If you have used loctite then I highly suggest to dissassemble and remove loctite from the bearing bore and shaft but if it has set you will find it difficult to remove the hub assembly and would be better to fit new wheel bearings once hub is removed as most times liquid loctite will run into the bearing rollers.
Regards,
Scott
 
I am astounded that so few cars use greasable balljoints - the grease pumped into them would flush out the grit and extend their lives dramatically. Most, if not all, the balljoints on my Jeep are greasable and last a very long time.
 
Richard Moss said:
are greasable and last a very long time.

Hi, and that is why they don't, because you are not going back and buying replacements.
That is where manufacturers make more money, in aftersales.

Colin
 
Dad has some bedford CF balljoints that have a greasy point in them. Not sure how they'd work on the P6 as the top and bottom joints are inaccessible from the back where the grease points are. No excuse for the steering arm joints though!

Got some more done on the P6 this weekend. Had I not found another hole then it's be going again, but more on that later.

First up, this is the socket I used to drift the inner bearings back in:


IMAG0498 by 1275midget, on Flickr

I left the strut off the car and during the week dad managed to get the top joint out (reasonably easily) and just about got the bottom one out not so easily. He ended up welding the joint up totally and dragging it out using it's own nut, it was jammed in so incredibly hard. This caused a problem getting the new one back in, it just didn't want to go, even with filing a little off the ridged grippy parts. Eventually it went in under severe provocation with a 6lb lump hammer and a piece of tube, which was half an inch shorter and all mushroomed over on the top (1/8 inch wall thickness) by the time the joint was in. I don't think we've ever had to hit anything that hard to reassemble ever. Still, it's back in now, and the top one went in with only comparatively tiny battering. When putting the top one in then it's best to pop the 3 bolts in first then it doesn't go in wonky.

lovely new top joint


IMAG0505 by 1275midget, on Flickr

So stick that lot back on the car, after replacing the rubber floppy brake pipes.


IMAG0504 by 1275midget, on Flickr

Pop the new discs on


IMAG0496 by 1275midget, on Flickr

Pop the hubs back on (don't worry, no locktite)


IMAG0501 by 1275midget, on Flickr

Now it can be jacked up under the bottom joint to do the shock bushes, which were a bit hard and nasty. I built a tool which I forgot to take a picture of to get the split pins in the right hole.

Replace 2 gaiters on one steering tie rod, and replace the other side one in it's entirety.


IMAG0502 by 1275midget, on Flickr

Calipers on, plus a bit of de-rusting and painting round the shock mount on the body. I also wire brushed and painted the dust shields, which have to be the most substantial dust shields I've ever seen.


IMAG0506 by 1275midget, on Flickr

Pads in


IMAG0508 by 1275midget, on Flickr

bleed and the front is done! (don't forget to bleed the back too, or you have to go round again...)

So, what next?

This next:


IMAG0511 by 1275midget, on Flickr

Can anyone tell me what this part is supposed to look like? Should it have a drain hole in it? seems to be double skinned and has rotted between PO patch and original base unit. The other side is similar but nowhere near as bad. It's just in front of the rear wheel.

And then, especially for Ron, some exhaust pics

'Y' piece


IMAG0514 by 1275midget, on Flickr

this branches off from the original pipe, the joints have gone a bit crusty over the last year or so but it doesn't leak. Check out the comedy welding on the diff support thingy by the PO.

After the Y piece (behind my head in this next pic) the extra pipe tootles along quite high up:


IMAG0516 by 1275midget, on Flickr

then turns and goes under the battery box:


IMAG0513 by 1275midget, on Flickr

There's a heat shield made of ally between the box and the pipe.


IMAG0512 by 1275midget, on Flickr

it's further away than it looks in that pic, I can get my fingers in between the pipe and the heat shield.

Then it's straight pipe to the back from there, same on the other side and only one silencer.
 
Great shots Rob, I appreciate the exhaust ones that you took. Do you or did you get any resonance inside the car running just the one muffler?

It is always gives a great sense of achievement and satisfaction when you undertake major repair work, even something minor can instill that same feeling of success.

When you replaced the bottom ball joints, I do hope that you didn't file off the serrations too much? They do form an integral part in keeping the joint within the swivel pillar, but given how tight you said it was to fit, I imagine that it will be fine.

That corrosion looks nasty. I am very lucky in that being in Australia, rust is hardly ever a problem with the Rovers, but I know that a number of forum members have good experience with repairing areas such as that, so I am sure that they will offer some words of wisdom.

Ron.
 
Hi Ron

No resonance at all, just a great V8 noise. Turns to mostly wind noise above 60, then will give induction roar and engine noise when foot is subsequently planted.

The serrations were filed only at the very bottom of the first 'set' to give a better lead in, the rest were left untouched. I guess it'd be somewhat unsatisfactory to have one fall out.

I suspect with being in Australia you might have a slightly skewed version of corrosion (you lucky chap) :D It's bad, but nowhere near as bad as what I've had to fight on the Midget, and if I'm honest I think better than a £1000 car has any right to be after a year and a half on the road. At least it doesn't go all the way through to daylight on the other side! I think it should have a drain hole at the back there somewhere though.

http://robsmidget.co.uk/restoration/chapter-3
 
Rob, is that the rear edge of the passenger side sill that's corroded?

This is the bottom of HOT before I pulled the old patch off. There's meant to be a couple of oval pressings and a small drain hole and you can see it by lifting the back seat squab.

DSCN7639.jpg


This is it trimmed out.

DSCN7665.jpg


And then plated over.

DSCN7667.jpg


Here it is from the inside.

DSCN7668.jpg


There's a double box section at the back against the end of the sill and the wheelarch which needs rebuilding at the same time.

If you take the sill cover off you'll have an idea of how much work you need to do as the rust may have extended towards the D post and jacking point.

*Edited to add that you could end up with it looking like this :D

DSCN8689.jpg
 
1396midget said:
Can anyone tell me what this part is supposed to look like? Should it have a drain hole in it? seems to be double skinned and has rotted between PO patch and original base unit. The other side is similar but nowhere near as bad. It's just in front of the rear wheel.

Rob

I tend to refer to quattro's thread on Sparky in the Member Projects area when trying to figure out what a section of base unit should look like. There are some very good images of the entire base unit in the first few pages of that thread so well worth having a look.

Good work on the front swivel pillar etc. You very nearly got another "nooooooooooooooooooooo" on the filing of the lower balljoint serations. When I fitted one last I took the gaiter off and put a deep impact socket over the top so it rested on the shoulder of the joint rather than the flange lower down. It does take considerable effort to get it fully seated and getting that first bit to locate centrally prior to exerting the full force of the BFH is half the battle. There is a good reason why it is so hard though, as others have found out.....

Dave
 
Dave3066 said:
getting that first bit to locate centrally prior to exerting the full force of the BFH is half the battle

too true mate. It was only just on the edge of possible. The gaiter on the other one is looking old so I reckon I'll replace that before it needs the joint doing!

Thanks for those pics, testrider, that is indeed the area in question. Unfortunately some bu**er has welded my sill covers on with a monster seam weld all the way down the car, so whipping them off for a looksee is a bit of a mission.

I can't get through the floor in the water collecting bucket section from the inside, even battering my hardest with the slag hammer it seems pretty solid. Those doubley bits up inside are what's confusing the issue on mine. Reckon I need to cut a bit more out to see what's going on, hopefully not as much as you!

The jacking point still works (yay) with no suspicious crinkly noises, which is good I suppose.

More investigating this weekend!

Thanks guys, 'tis a real help!
 
it was the most unstable thing ever, I only just got it off the ground and it was not something I'd want to take a wheel off! More a test of the crustyness of the jacking point than anything else, it held up quite well. I have a scissors jack and a block of wood for emergencies.
 
right I think I have more of an idea what's going on now after those pics and reading Sparky's thread!

MOT is booked for next Thursday, so I hope this weekend doesn't throw up any comedy problems. Could do with trying to bed the pads and discs in before it goes as well.
 
MOT rebooked for next thursday....

The 'better' side ended up looking like the second pic down of Paul's. Oh well. Mostly due to rubbish patching by the previous, they'd welded a huuuge patch on without bothering to cut out any of the rotty stuff, so it had just rotted between the original base unit and the new patch.

So cut that patch off and weld a better one on. Actually welded it to the base unit that was still present under the old patch, as it was very good after being cleaned up. it means I retain the little pokey bit on the bottom (looks like it might have been for a body jig or something).

Needed a patch inside the bucket section, and also needed to take all the wires out to weld the bottom bit up. Why they go under rather than through the crossmember at the back I have no idea. Dad's welded a tube in so that we can poke the wires back through easily when finished all the hot melty bits.

Of course it would have to be the side with the wire on that extended to the crossmember.....
 
It's PASSED! yaaaay

no advisories whatsoever. MOT man said it was perfect underneath, and was a delight to test :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

for interest, a well working handbrake apparently pulls 65% efficiency. Overall brake efficiency is 77%, I'm pretty chuffed with that!
 
Back
Top