Scarab the Rover..

pleased to say i now have the replacement front springs (and rears!) at home.

I took the liberty of ordering new rubber spring pads also. I've also got a set of suspension bushes on order that should be here at some point. A while back, i found a pair of NOS link rods with the ball joint at one end and the bush at the other. So almost have all the bits for a refresh of the front end. This included all 4 swivel ball joints all the way from my mate in OZ.

Now its holiday season along with a busy work schedule. So very limited time in the garage to sort the P6. I will be tackling this myself and have been motivated by Cobraboy's kind comments!

So updates and pics will appear once i get started. I'll wear a chainmail suit with a full face crash helmet.........
 
Started to look at compressing the front springs. I have the bonus of a set not on the car.

Free length measures about 16". I have compressed one to 14" with ease.

Any idea of how short I need to get it to remove it from the car?20230625_141609.jpg
 
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ampwhu said:
I've had a look at these link rods today and can't see a difference between the 2.

How are they 'sided'?
Click to expand...

The bushes are level as I have put a bolt through them, so you can see they bend in a bit at the end in opposite directions.

IMG_2522.JPG

Also, they have LH and RH on them

IMG_2524.JPG

The 4 cylinder cars have the chassis rails closer together, so they are longer, but still handed.
 
Hi @ampwhu. I would caution you not to mess about with those small threaded bar and hook spring compressors! In my experience, they want to twist and the hooks want to slip off the spring. You will need to compress the front springs quite a lot to fit them, and there's really no room under the inner wing to cram those compressors in there. Borrow or hire the proper chunky tool, which will retain the spring safely, and the job will be much easier. It is a tight fit with the big tool, but it can be done, safely and swiftly. Here's a pic off the internet of a tool similar to what I am suggesting you use. Good luck, be careful!
beefy-spring-compressor.png
 
i understand what your saying here Mr T. But what i really need to know is how far to compress the spring. from 16" to ?

All the manuals say "burly men" should sit on the bonnet. Not sure thats good advice. Sitting on the bonnet wouldn't really compress a spring that much. The compressor's I have pictured above are old and are just to highlight my query.
 
ampwhu said:
i understand what your saying here Mr T. But what i really need to know is how far to compress the spring. from 16" to ?

All the manuals say "burly men" should sit on the bonnet. Not sure thats good advice. Sitting on the bonnet wouldn't really compress a spring that much. The compressor's I have pictured above are old and are just to highlight my query.
Click to expand...
I've used the factory spring rods to remove the front springs. I was also skeptical of having a guy on the front working, but it did. The springs need to be about 9" compressed for removal. That's a scary 1200lbs of preload on the spring when compressed!
 
ampwhu said:
9" sounds a lot. In fact, a big lot. That's almost half its size.
Click to expand...
Yep, Its a huge amount. Bear in mind the setup on the front of the car, the pushrod supports the front seat of the spring at an approx distance of 178mm from the pivot of the the bell crank at the bulkhead. The distance from the pivot to the centre of the top ball joint is around 335mm giving a ratio of 1.9 so 10 lbs of load equates 19 lbs at the moving spring seat. So Rover's solution to having that, plus a very large suspension travel was to use a long spring highly compressed. See screen shot of the area in question when scanned.

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That's the correct tool for the job. Nice one. I found the photo below elsewhere on the p6 internet and came here to post it. Pleased to see you've already got the job sorted.p6-spring-compressor.jpg
 
Thanks for the reply gents. The tool has been returned to a mate for the time being but is mine to borrow when needed. It is a well built compressor.

I haven't managed to start on the car at the moment due to spare time. Plan is to start late summer and do during the autumn. I have all the bushes now also. Update when I start.
 
Bit off topic, but I found an old picture of my P6 I owned over 30 years ago. MJD 523L. It's still on the road somewhere!

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It was a 3500 auto. I couldn't afford or find a 3500s manual back then so I've put that right now.

The yellow one behind was also mine . It was a 2000 TC 1971 if I remember. Unfortunately corrosion was terminal and I ended up breaking it up to get some money back. Sadly girls, pubs and travel led to being P6'less until I decided I needed to get one again years later.
And what fun I'm having!
 
Hello all, started on the front suspension rebuild yesterday. I finally managed to get everything I needed to do the job. Or so I thought....

Removing the front spring I thought was alot harder than people said. I'd read the manual over and over again. I tried to follow what was written but it didn't turn out that way. The main problem I came across was every nut, bolt, washer, bush and bracket was seized solid. It has never been apart since 1972! The bushes had collapsed and were pretty dangerous if I am honest. All the ball joints were knackered and breaking the taper on them all was a mission. Here are some pictures of progress

20230902_150002.jpg

So I got to the point of the spring in place held by the front damper.

20230902_155538.jpg

I had tried to use the above mentioned compressor with the C shaped cups but it was hard to fit them in the space, so after chatting with some other people, was told to use the short ones I had. This worked but was still a struggle.

I

20230902_183640.jpg

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So we got to the point of just the top lever arm, which to be honest won't come out. Decided to walk away and have a break.

After all this, it's just one side! Surely the other side has to be easier.
 
The positive side is the bodywork is solid with only surface rust in one area. Also the inner sill area and floor is solid. A previous owner has had work done here and its a good job. So I've used the 22mm tube in the sill to support the car on an axle stand.

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I'll take another look next weekend when I've some free time.
 
I have simple spring compressor tools like above, but each hook has a cross bolt that can trap the wire to prevent it slipping out. Used them on the 928 fronts, and while the rod did visibly bend, everything went well - German origin.
 
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This was a struggle today to remove the bush. Oh what fun.

I am almost in a position to refit the spring now as all the bits are painted.
 
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