Hey,
Well it has now been ~6 months since I bought my P6 and have been working on getting it back on the road to be a rolling restoration project rather than one confined soley to the garage, and as such it went in for its roadworthy inspection today (our equivilent of the UK MOT which is needed for registration) and I am delighted to say it passed!
Now it still has a long way to go as a project but i must admit i'm delighted with progress so far having had as expected an extensive list of issues when it was inspected when i bought it. At that stage it had major suspension issues, interior was completely shot, wiring was a nightmare, etc etc etc.
Basically I have focused on all the stuff to get it through the roadworthy and haven't done anything about the exterior cosmetics as yet, so as i say it's roadworthy but it still ain't a looker!
Anyway, as such i thought i'd do a bit of a write up of the work done on it so far, as much to help myself keep track of it all as for anyone elses benefit, hehe..
Suspension, Front:
- New upper and lower ball joints.
- All bushes replaced except for pivot arm ones on the firewall side as they were in good condition.
- New shock bushes and moved moutings to correct hole on pin.
- Everything given a good clean & regreased where appropriate.
- Steering joints regreased and boots replaced.
Suspension, Rear:
- New bushes on subframe ends, trailing arm mounts and diff centre mount.
- New shock bushes top and bottom.
- Incorrectly mounted spring reseated properly
- Everything cleaned up.
Electrical:
- Where to start, basically everything tracked back and de-bodged.
- Headlight wiring was about to burn the car down - fixed. Who runs high current over the worlds thinnest bits of wire joined by sticky tape?!?!?! Arghhhh.
- All Sidelights/Indicators were on one channel, moved back to as they should be.
- Rear numberplate light was shorting on bumper internally, prob why all sidelights had been moved to other channel. Fixed.
- Removed old aircon compressor which was disconnected anyway.
Body:
- All panels removed (except roof), major hunt for rust conducted.
- Inside of arches, behind panels, behind outer sills, any accessible bits of chassis with car on stands wire brushed/sanded back, checked for rust and treated/recoated with protection.
- Very very little rust found, some small areas of surface rust inside the tops of the wheel arches where rustproofing had come away but amazingly nothing beyond surface and no signs of past welding.
- Only rust hole found in the whole car has been a perforation ~3mm across in the boot floor which has been treated, drilled out and a rubber bung fitted as it mostly lines up with one of the factory bungs.
- All window weatherseals replaced.
- Decker panel seal replaced
- Ugly old plastic wingmirror replaced with 2x chrome ones.
- front grills replaced with non damaged ones.
- Missing badges replaced
- front fog lights fitted
- panel under the front bumper was beyond repair so replaced with a much better one that has been my first proper attempt at spray painting.
- Battery box repainted and given an extra thick layer of rustproofing.
- Inside of boot stripped back and rustproofed/repainted.
- New mudflaps fitted, although alas without the Rover logos.
Interior
- New black carpets fitted
- Vinyl covers for seats sent out from the UK and fitted onto old seat frames & foam. Reasonably happy with the results but i still need to add some additional padding in some areas/replace a couple of sections of foam i think.
- Recoloured all of the interior to Landau Black with vinyl paint, doors trims, seats, gloveboxes, etc etc etc.
- Loads of bits of missing trim replaced
- Shifter plate plainted to remove clear plastic areas.
- Brand new retractor seat belts fitted in front, 2nd hand Jag XJ6 retractor belts fitted in rear.
- Jubilee clip keeping gearknob together removed. Another wtf moment...
Mechanical
- Haven't really had to do all that much here yet as it ran very well when i bought it.
- Full new exhaust system from manifold downpipes back - single muffler and quite loud to say the least..
- All fluids changed, new oil filter and spark plugs. Sump gasket, gearbox filter & gasket, usual service items really.
- Gearbox linkage adjusted and plastic mount for lever replaced and pieced back together to replace missing bits.
And that's about that....I think... May add more bits if i remember anything else that has been done.
So now all i need to do is track down a signatory from the car club i'll be getting it registered through and it should be on a club permit early in the New Year. There are new rules coming in here on the 1st of Feb that is changing the club permit scheme from the current "use for club events only" rules to a 90 day per year logbook scheme so it's going to be much more usable come Feb.
Will upload some pics of the progress shortly, alas i didn't take many of the underside of the car and during the suspension work etc which i am kicking myself for not bothering with now as it would have been good to have a much more detailed photo record of before and after, but hey too late now.
Cheers,
Al
Well it has now been ~6 months since I bought my P6 and have been working on getting it back on the road to be a rolling restoration project rather than one confined soley to the garage, and as such it went in for its roadworthy inspection today (our equivilent of the UK MOT which is needed for registration) and I am delighted to say it passed!
Now it still has a long way to go as a project but i must admit i'm delighted with progress so far having had as expected an extensive list of issues when it was inspected when i bought it. At that stage it had major suspension issues, interior was completely shot, wiring was a nightmare, etc etc etc.
Basically I have focused on all the stuff to get it through the roadworthy and haven't done anything about the exterior cosmetics as yet, so as i say it's roadworthy but it still ain't a looker!
Anyway, as such i thought i'd do a bit of a write up of the work done on it so far, as much to help myself keep track of it all as for anyone elses benefit, hehe..
Suspension, Front:
- New upper and lower ball joints.
- All bushes replaced except for pivot arm ones on the firewall side as they were in good condition.
- New shock bushes and moved moutings to correct hole on pin.
- Everything given a good clean & regreased where appropriate.
- Steering joints regreased and boots replaced.
Suspension, Rear:
- New bushes on subframe ends, trailing arm mounts and diff centre mount.
- New shock bushes top and bottom.
- Incorrectly mounted spring reseated properly
- Everything cleaned up.
Electrical:
- Where to start, basically everything tracked back and de-bodged.
- Headlight wiring was about to burn the car down - fixed. Who runs high current over the worlds thinnest bits of wire joined by sticky tape?!?!?! Arghhhh.
- All Sidelights/Indicators were on one channel, moved back to as they should be.
- Rear numberplate light was shorting on bumper internally, prob why all sidelights had been moved to other channel. Fixed.
- Removed old aircon compressor which was disconnected anyway.
Body:
- All panels removed (except roof), major hunt for rust conducted.
- Inside of arches, behind panels, behind outer sills, any accessible bits of chassis with car on stands wire brushed/sanded back, checked for rust and treated/recoated with protection.
- Very very little rust found, some small areas of surface rust inside the tops of the wheel arches where rustproofing had come away but amazingly nothing beyond surface and no signs of past welding.
- Only rust hole found in the whole car has been a perforation ~3mm across in the boot floor which has been treated, drilled out and a rubber bung fitted as it mostly lines up with one of the factory bungs.
- All window weatherseals replaced.
- Decker panel seal replaced
- Ugly old plastic wingmirror replaced with 2x chrome ones.
- front grills replaced with non damaged ones.
- Missing badges replaced
- front fog lights fitted
- panel under the front bumper was beyond repair so replaced with a much better one that has been my first proper attempt at spray painting.
- Battery box repainted and given an extra thick layer of rustproofing.
- Inside of boot stripped back and rustproofed/repainted.
- New mudflaps fitted, although alas without the Rover logos.
Interior
- New black carpets fitted
- Vinyl covers for seats sent out from the UK and fitted onto old seat frames & foam. Reasonably happy with the results but i still need to add some additional padding in some areas/replace a couple of sections of foam i think.
- Recoloured all of the interior to Landau Black with vinyl paint, doors trims, seats, gloveboxes, etc etc etc.
- Loads of bits of missing trim replaced
- Shifter plate plainted to remove clear plastic areas.
- Brand new retractor seat belts fitted in front, 2nd hand Jag XJ6 retractor belts fitted in rear.
- Jubilee clip keeping gearknob together removed. Another wtf moment...
Mechanical
- Haven't really had to do all that much here yet as it ran very well when i bought it.
- Full new exhaust system from manifold downpipes back - single muffler and quite loud to say the least..
- All fluids changed, new oil filter and spark plugs. Sump gasket, gearbox filter & gasket, usual service items really.
- Gearbox linkage adjusted and plastic mount for lever replaced and pieced back together to replace missing bits.
And that's about that....I think... May add more bits if i remember anything else that has been done.
So now all i need to do is track down a signatory from the car club i'll be getting it registered through and it should be on a club permit early in the New Year. There are new rules coming in here on the 1st of Feb that is changing the club permit scheme from the current "use for club events only" rules to a 90 day per year logbook scheme so it's going to be much more usable come Feb.
Will upload some pics of the progress shortly, alas i didn't take many of the underside of the car and during the suspension work etc which i am kicking myself for not bothering with now as it would have been good to have a much more detailed photo record of before and after, but hey too late now.
Cheers,
Al
