(Another) barge with a mission - Rover P6 3500 V8
Discussion
Earlier this year, we decided to buy a big old barge (Jag XJ6) and take it on a 5,000 mile road trip around Europe, for the most arbitrary of reasons (to drive the ice roads which form on the frozen Baltic ocean - thread here).
The resulting road trip was so much fun, we've decided to do another similar trip - a decision which generated several questions.
Where? Why? And what barge?
These questions proved difficult, but eventually succumbed to the depth of problem-solving expertise which tends to congregate in the local pub every Saturday evening. Hence 'where?' is North Africa - Morocco and maybe Mauritania to be exact, 'why?' is to explore the North-West fringes of the Sahara, and the answer to 'what barge?' is the following:
It's a 1975 Rover P6 3500 V8 auto, it's done 91,000 miles, has MOT until August, and I came to own it by placing an £800 ebay bid on it while in the pub last Saturday evening. This £800 turned out to be the only bid placed, and so, rather trepidaciously, I headed to London yesterday, to drive it back to Devon. Following a rather memorable 7 hour journey through frankly biblical weather (described here), the car made it to it's new home on Dartmoor. It's now awaiting some TLC, as the engine seems to be down on power to the tune of about 100hp (and hence is probably the most unstressed V8 on the planet) and there are a few little rust spots which should be nipped in the bud before they get any worse.
Overall though, I'm rather impressed with the big Rover so far. It cruises smoothly while exuding an old-world charm, is reasonably comfortable, and it looks pretty good from most angles - particularly the menacing front view, and the Silver Shadow-esque rear. It's certainly not without it's flaws though - for instance, it generates so much body roll it goes beyond frustrating and actually becomes funny, and in faster corners it acquires a fore-aft pitching motion which, once you notice it, suddenly makes the scenery seem very close...
However, at the end of the day, it's a quirky old barge with a carb-fed V8, and it only cost £800. Can't go wrong with that sort of logic!
Now I've just got to get it ready for it's trip to Africa in June...
The resulting road trip was so much fun, we've decided to do another similar trip - a decision which generated several questions.
Where? Why? And what barge?
These questions proved difficult, but eventually succumbed to the depth of problem-solving expertise which tends to congregate in the local pub every Saturday evening. Hence 'where?' is North Africa - Morocco and maybe Mauritania to be exact, 'why?' is to explore the North-West fringes of the Sahara, and the answer to 'what barge?' is the following:
It's a 1975 Rover P6 3500 V8 auto, it's done 91,000 miles, has MOT until August, and I came to own it by placing an £800 ebay bid on it while in the pub last Saturday evening. This £800 turned out to be the only bid placed, and so, rather trepidaciously, I headed to London yesterday, to drive it back to Devon. Following a rather memorable 7 hour journey through frankly biblical weather (described here), the car made it to it's new home on Dartmoor. It's now awaiting some TLC, as the engine seems to be down on power to the tune of about 100hp (and hence is probably the most unstressed V8 on the planet) and there are a few little rust spots which should be nipped in the bud before they get any worse.
Overall though, I'm rather impressed with the big Rover so far. It cruises smoothly while exuding an old-world charm, is reasonably comfortable, and it looks pretty good from most angles - particularly the menacing front view, and the Silver Shadow-esque rear. It's certainly not without it's flaws though - for instance, it generates so much body roll it goes beyond frustrating and actually becomes funny, and in faster corners it acquires a fore-aft pitching motion which, once you notice it, suddenly makes the scenery seem very close...
However, at the end of the day, it's a quirky old barge with a carb-fed V8, and it only cost £800. Can't go wrong with that sort of logic!
Now I've just got to get it ready for it's trip to Africa in June...
mybrainhurts said:
Be prepared for huge fuel bills...
For sure. On our last trip, the Jag averaged 22mpg (due to a dodgy thermostat) - so at least we've got a pretty low target to try to beat... As for the colour - it wouldn't be my first choice either (I think these look much better in brighter colours like red or white), but if you're going to get a '70s car, you may as well get a '70s colour to go with it...
SVX said:
That's simply awesome! Any plans for longer range tanks? Improved cooling?
Don't think we'll be fitting longer range tanks, as the capacity isn't too bad to start with (about 15 gallons I think), and the boot is surprisingly small, even before you cut into it by adding further tankage. Hence we'll probably go with the easy option - a couple of jerrycans on the roof. Better cooling is definitely a consideration however. Once we've got the engine running properly, flushing out the cooling system and maybe adding another fan or two is pretty high on the list of priorities, depending on how useless the current cooling system is.
As for other modifications, the vague list (which will probably change) is as follows:
See how easy it is to raise the suspension (it's a pretty odd set up on these - pushrod front suspension and de dion rear, with inboard brakes - so I've no idea how viable it is at this stage.)
Bodge together a sump guard.
Drop in a 4.6 V8 out of a P38 Rangie, and supercharge it.
Fit the roof rack off my classic mini, and modify it to take a roof tent for desert camping.
Install some cool stickers, a dashboard rug, some blinding spotlights, and find a way of converting from MP3 to 8-track.
Think that just about covers it...
(PS - I was joking about the supercharged 4.6... sorry.
)wackojacko said:
That on standard suspnension the lack of bolster support and braking efficiency would be exciting with a supercharger added 
You're telling me! It had crossed our minds as a potentially lethal, post-trip course of action. Given it only weighs 1300kg, another tempting option is to strip it out, bump up the power, install some suspension that actually works, and make it into a rather amusing left-field drift/track day/autotest car... we shall see - one silly idea at a time...And Mr Foxbat - Why thank you; however if your username implies you've had a flight in a MIG-25, then I am rather jealous, and it is you that is the hero...
It's now a week since the big old Rover dragged itself the 230 miles home from London, unable to exceed 60mph and being forced to crawl up some of Devon's modest hills locked in 1st gear at less than 30mph.
Clearly, something was very amiss with the engine, so when the wind, rain, hail and flooding eased off sufficiently, I investigated further, paranoid that I'd accidently bought a dud unseen off Ebay.
I began with a highly scientific test to see how many of the eight cylinders were firing (starting the engine from cold and squirting WD40 onto each exhaust manifold in turn, to see if it boiled off.) The grand total came to five - three on the right bank and two on the left; however while this was obviously an issue, it failed to explain why the engine could barely muster 40hp. Next guess was something amiss inside the Carbs, so I took the air box off to investigate further, and in doing so, noticed that the throttle linkage between the two carburetors was broken, meaning when the accelerator was pressed, only the two functioning cylinders of the V8's left bank were accelerating, while the right side's throttle remained closed.
This explained why the car was so sluggish and thirsty - I'd driven it home from London with only 2 of the 8 cylinders pulling their weight, while three pottered along with the throttle closed, and the remaining three refused to fire.
Fast-forward to today, and I've just replaced the broken throttle linkage, changed the spark plugs, rotor arm, Distributor cap, and air filters - and the car is finally running like it should, idling smoothly and rocking the whole car with every blip of the throttle.
I'm currently taking a break from fitting the roof rack and spotlights, and have some rather cool period stickers on order to give the old beast an authentic rally look. Pics to follow in a day or two... Until then, here's some photos of the progress so far:
The new throttle linkage in place - one of the balljoints on the end of the previous linkage had broken.
Experimenting with the roof rack setup.
Clearly, something was very amiss with the engine, so when the wind, rain, hail and flooding eased off sufficiently, I investigated further, paranoid that I'd accidently bought a dud unseen off Ebay.
I began with a highly scientific test to see how many of the eight cylinders were firing (starting the engine from cold and squirting WD40 onto each exhaust manifold in turn, to see if it boiled off.) The grand total came to five - three on the right bank and two on the left; however while this was obviously an issue, it failed to explain why the engine could barely muster 40hp. Next guess was something amiss inside the Carbs, so I took the air box off to investigate further, and in doing so, noticed that the throttle linkage between the two carburetors was broken, meaning when the accelerator was pressed, only the two functioning cylinders of the V8's left bank were accelerating, while the right side's throttle remained closed.
This explained why the car was so sluggish and thirsty - I'd driven it home from London with only 2 of the 8 cylinders pulling their weight, while three pottered along with the throttle closed, and the remaining three refused to fire.
Fast-forward to today, and I've just replaced the broken throttle linkage, changed the spark plugs, rotor arm, Distributor cap, and air filters - and the car is finally running like it should, idling smoothly and rocking the whole car with every blip of the throttle.
I'm currently taking a break from fitting the roof rack and spotlights, and have some rather cool period stickers on order to give the old beast an authentic rally look. Pics to follow in a day or two... Until then, here's some photos of the progress so far:
The new throttle linkage in place - one of the balljoints on the end of the previous linkage had broken.
Experimenting with the roof rack setup.
Thanks for all the positive comments folks.
Today, the postman brought stickers...
I fear may have gone a little over the top in my quest for the '70s overland rally' look...
In answer to the question, I'm on the west side of the moor, near Yelverton. The Mini is currently in bits and is a bit of a long term project, but hopefully will be back on the road soon... but then I've bening saying that for ages, so don't hold your breath!
Today, the postman brought stickers...
I fear may have gone a little over the top in my quest for the '70s overland rally' look...
In answer to the question, I'm on the west side of the moor, near Yelverton. The Mini is currently in bits and is a bit of a long term project, but hopefully will be back on the road soon... but then I've bening saying that for ages, so don't hold your breath!
Hi folks.
Thanks for the above advice; I think you may well be right that the suspension is rather past it's best. Investigating this is on the 'to do' list, along with about 87 other jobs...
There's still so much to be done as not much work got carried out on the Rover over the weekend. Instead, it's been out and about a fair bit, covering about 100 fun, undulating Dartmoor miles in convoy with the other 2 V8s it shares garage space with. The 100 miles were completed without a hiccup, a very reassuring fact given that it's the car's first real shakedown since its been running on all cylinders again.
Here's a couple of photos from the 'Bank Holiday Burble' - a marvellous way to spend a bank holiday Monday which may even become something of a tradition...
In other news, some thought has now been given to what we actually want to do with the car in Morocco, so rather than the trip simply being 'lets go to Morocco', we now have a very vague route plan:
We have 16 days door-to-door for the road trip, so the plan is to get the ferry from the UK to Santender, drive the 600 miles across Spain to the ferryport at Algeciras, then it's about an hours crossing to Africa. As the ferry from the UK to Spain takes about 24 hours, we're looking at about 2 days to get to Morocco, and another 2 to get back. Leaving one day slack, that means we'll have about 11 days to actually go exploring.
I always like to have a bit of a goal to my roadtrips, however contrived it is, and this time we've decided to try to drive the Rover to 'Cape Bojador', in Western Sahara, for no other reason than that it's Arabic name - العيون بوجدور الساقية الحمراء - apparently translates to 'The Father of Fear'. And I've never driven to anywhere called 'The Father of Fear' before, and I kinda like it
How we get there depends on how the Rover behaves, but the general idea is to drive from the Ferry to Fez, then continue south, make an off-road crossing of the High atlas before vaguely following the 'Desert Highway' South-West across the fringes of the Sahara into Western Sahara, and on to Cape Bojador, before heading back north via Marrakesh and Casablanca. The whole loop is about 2,000 miles, which should be comfortably do-able in 11 days with plenty of time for sightseeing and gaffa-taping bits of car back on.
However, we all know what happens to the best laid plans...
Thanks for the above advice; I think you may well be right that the suspension is rather past it's best. Investigating this is on the 'to do' list, along with about 87 other jobs...
There's still so much to be done as not much work got carried out on the Rover over the weekend. Instead, it's been out and about a fair bit, covering about 100 fun, undulating Dartmoor miles in convoy with the other 2 V8s it shares garage space with. The 100 miles were completed without a hiccup, a very reassuring fact given that it's the car's first real shakedown since its been running on all cylinders again.
Here's a couple of photos from the 'Bank Holiday Burble' - a marvellous way to spend a bank holiday Monday which may even become something of a tradition...
In other news, some thought has now been given to what we actually want to do with the car in Morocco, so rather than the trip simply being 'lets go to Morocco', we now have a very vague route plan:
We have 16 days door-to-door for the road trip, so the plan is to get the ferry from the UK to Santender, drive the 600 miles across Spain to the ferryport at Algeciras, then it's about an hours crossing to Africa. As the ferry from the UK to Spain takes about 24 hours, we're looking at about 2 days to get to Morocco, and another 2 to get back. Leaving one day slack, that means we'll have about 11 days to actually go exploring.
I always like to have a bit of a goal to my roadtrips, however contrived it is, and this time we've decided to try to drive the Rover to 'Cape Bojador', in Western Sahara, for no other reason than that it's Arabic name - العيون بوجدور الساقية الحمراء - apparently translates to 'The Father of Fear'. And I've never driven to anywhere called 'The Father of Fear' before, and I kinda like it
How we get there depends on how the Rover behaves, but the general idea is to drive from the Ferry to Fez, then continue south, make an off-road crossing of the High atlas before vaguely following the 'Desert Highway' South-West across the fringes of the Sahara into Western Sahara, and on to Cape Bojador, before heading back north via Marrakesh and Casablanca. The whole loop is about 2,000 miles, which should be comfortably do-able in 11 days with plenty of time for sightseeing and gaffa-taping bits of car back on.
However, we all know what happens to the best laid plans...
Hi,
Thanks for the leads regarding the springs and distributor. I'm pretty sure the points have been replaced fairly recently (the car came with the 'old' points in a fairly new-looking box) so we may cross our fingers regarding them. New springs are a good call though, as certainly from what people are saying, the excessive amount of body roll suggests it's past it's best. I was expecting replacement springs to cost more than they do on that website too.
I have a quick question for anyone with 1975 Rover P6 knowledge by the way: My car has no rear seatbelts, and as there's now 4 of us going on the trip, we'd like to fit some before we leave. Should a 1975 P6 have mounting points for the belts factory fitted, or are we going to have to get creative with a welder? I had a very quick poke around yesterday but couldn't find any mountings, but I've missed things before...
I'd certainly recommend it; for a completely 'different' travel experience there's very little to touch it. Despite only having about 8hp, the rickshaws are fun to drive, topping out at about 40mph (which is more than enough in rural India) and are entertainingly nimble, shockingly badly built, and very easy to fix. Travelling around India in one is a pretty intense experience due to the sheer density of humanity there and the extreme curiosity which is generated every time you stop your tuk-tuk in a random village.
The chaps who organize the Rickshaw Run are now doing similar events in South America and SE Asia too, using the local versions of the rickshaw, which may be worth a look if these destinations appeal more. Whichever event appeals most, I've only two words for you:
Do it!
Thanks for the leads regarding the springs and distributor. I'm pretty sure the points have been replaced fairly recently (the car came with the 'old' points in a fairly new-looking box) so we may cross our fingers regarding them. New springs are a good call though, as certainly from what people are saying, the excessive amount of body roll suggests it's past it's best. I was expecting replacement springs to cost more than they do on that website too.
I have a quick question for anyone with 1975 Rover P6 knowledge by the way: My car has no rear seatbelts, and as there's now 4 of us going on the trip, we'd like to fit some before we leave. Should a 1975 P6 have mounting points for the belts factory fitted, or are we going to have to get creative with a welder? I had a very quick poke around yesterday but couldn't find any mountings, but I've missed things before...
kwak said:
Great to read the stories here and on the website. You got me aching to join the next rickshaw run. I presume you recommend it?
Hi Kwak, you've just reminded me, I really should get the Rickshaw Run trip report finished and up on the website! Sorry about that... I'd certainly recommend it; for a completely 'different' travel experience there's very little to touch it. Despite only having about 8hp, the rickshaws are fun to drive, topping out at about 40mph (which is more than enough in rural India) and are entertainingly nimble, shockingly badly built, and very easy to fix. Travelling around India in one is a pretty intense experience due to the sheer density of humanity there and the extreme curiosity which is generated every time you stop your tuk-tuk in a random village.
The chaps who organize the Rickshaw Run are now doing similar events in South America and SE Asia too, using the local versions of the rickshaw, which may be worth a look if these destinations appeal more. Whichever event appeals most, I've only two words for you:
Do it!
jbi said:
Is barge the right word?
It's the same length as a ford focus saloon and 6 inches narrower.
Otherwise, a very nice example of British automotive history
I know what you mean - it's almost like an 80% scale barge, rather than a full size one It's the same length as a ford focus saloon and 6 inches narrower.
Otherwise, a very nice example of British automotive history
. I chose the thread title more because it followed on from my last readers' cars thread ('a barge with a mission', about a Jag XJ6) rather than for it being the last word in descriptive accuracy; however from the driving seat the car sill feels very barge-like, being a softly sprung V8 auto with copious amounts of body roll...Torketil!
Thank you so much for your invaluable reply - I'll have a hunt for the mounting points and check the suspension over next week, when work finally leaves me alone. And you're correct in your observation that despite heading to Africa, it's actually a relatively short trip, not that much over 3,000 miles with probably about 10% of that off tarmac - hence there shouldn't be much need to over-prepare the car too much...
So... today I built a roof tent.
I won't add reams of nitty-gritty about why and how, as this is Piston heads, not practical camping; however if you're interested in that side of things, the lowdown's all here: http://80breakdowns.com/2012/05/15/not-an-eco-home...
In other trip news, we have recently noticed that our planned departure date is now less than 4 weeks away, so we'd probably better get some ferries booked. That task is currently penciled in for sometime this evening, after a BBQ...
I won't add reams of nitty-gritty about why and how, as this is Piston heads, not practical camping; however if you're interested in that side of things, the lowdown's all here: http://80breakdowns.com/2012/05/15/not-an-eco-home...
In other trip news, we have recently noticed that our planned departure date is now less than 4 weeks away, so we'd probably better get some ferries booked. That task is currently penciled in for sometime this evening, after a BBQ...
mig25_foxbat2003 said:
Please tell me that is collapsible!! Having spent some time in a roof tent in Oz, I'd heartily recommend them - more comfortable than my bed at home, and you can fold a mattress up in them!
Yeah, don't worry, it collapses away! It's considerably less plush than an average roof tent though, as it basically consists of a period late '70s ridge tent perched on a fold out plywood platform - no built in mattresses here! Here's what it looks like once the tent is removed:
And here it is once the fold-out panels are put away, ready for a day on the road...
I agree that a rooftent is perhaps the ultimate luxury when overlanding. For my last Africa trip - the African Porsche Expedition - I built a similar setup to the Rover's platform on the roof of my old Porsche, more because I thought it would look incredibly cool than for any practical justification. However after 3 months on the road we were completely won over to the concept, as it meant that wherever you were, be it a stony desert, seedy border crossing or sodden rain-forest, you were guaranteed a good night's sleep (except during electrical storms, that is!
) . I generally don't need much persuasions to share photos from that trip, so here's the inspiration for the Rover's roof tent in glorious technicolour:
A quick update on the old Rover, and its trip to Morocco:
Firstly, the ferry is booked, for Sunday 10th June, from Plymouth to Santender - 12 days to go!
There's not been a huge amount of progress over the past week, as the glorious weather has made poking around under the Rover fairly low on the list of appealing ways to spend the days - instead I've been poking around in the foot-well of the rover's V8 stable-mate, a TVR Chimaera, changing its brake master cylinder so I could take it up to sunny Wales last weekend (more about that here )
We have however, completed a few jobs on the Rover:
The rooftent platform has been painted a fetching shade of brown, and is now ready to be permanently fitted to the car.
A thorough poke around the car's underside revealed a bit of rust in one of the sills, so we've cut it out and replaced it with shiny new metal, meaning we can now actually jack the car up.
We've also taken the first silencer out of the exhaust system, replacing it with a straight-through pipe which releases the V8's burble rather satisfyingly. Not exactly a critical job, but if you're going to hose money into a V8 for a few weeks, you may as well get your aural moneys-worth!
Here's the modified exhaust and the waxoiled sill repair:
And here's how you listen to your Ipod on an 8 track:
Simply convert from '70s to '80s with an 8-track to cassette adapter, then from '80s to '00s with a cassette to MP3 adapter - amazingly, it works! I do feel it would be more complete if we'd managed to go via CD too however...
Right, after a week of very little progress, I feel we'd better get a move on with the more important jobs over the next week or so!
Firstly, the ferry is booked, for Sunday 10th June, from Plymouth to Santender - 12 days to go!
There's not been a huge amount of progress over the past week, as the glorious weather has made poking around under the Rover fairly low on the list of appealing ways to spend the days - instead I've been poking around in the foot-well of the rover's V8 stable-mate, a TVR Chimaera, changing its brake master cylinder so I could take it up to sunny Wales last weekend (more about that here )
We have however, completed a few jobs on the Rover:
The rooftent platform has been painted a fetching shade of brown, and is now ready to be permanently fitted to the car.
A thorough poke around the car's underside revealed a bit of rust in one of the sills, so we've cut it out and replaced it with shiny new metal, meaning we can now actually jack the car up.
We've also taken the first silencer out of the exhaust system, replacing it with a straight-through pipe which releases the V8's burble rather satisfyingly. Not exactly a critical job, but if you're going to hose money into a V8 for a few weeks, you may as well get your aural moneys-worth!
Here's the modified exhaust and the waxoiled sill repair:
And here's how you listen to your Ipod on an 8 track:
Simply convert from '70s to '80s with an 8-track to cassette adapter, then from '80s to '00s with a cassette to MP3 adapter - amazingly, it works! I do feel it would be more complete if we'd managed to go via CD too however...
Right, after a week of very little progress, I feel we'd better get a move on with the more important jobs over the next week or so!
Watchman said:
2 questions:
1. You said 4 people... but only a 2-man tent?
2. Where does the tent and framework go when collapsed vs your other luggage?
Hi there1. You said 4 people... but only a 2-man tent?
2. Where does the tent and framework go when collapsed vs your other luggage?
All the framework for the roof tent platform stows within the platform itself, while the extra panels which widen the platform to take the full footprint of the tent sit on top of it; so basically the platform is completely self-contained. The tent then goes in the boot - it's quite small by tent standards so will just get merged in with the other luggage.
As for the fact there's 4 of us and a 2-man tent - well spotted!
Unfortunately there was no easy way of accommodating all 4 people on the car, so half the expedition will be camping on the ground in the traditional manner.We've completed a few other odd jobs on the car over the past few days:
The carbs are now balanced, cleaned out, and not running quite so rich - meaning the engine no longer stalls occasionally at low speeds.
The radiator had a hairline crack just below the filler which was leaking slightly - now sealed with steal epoxy, and thoroughly flushed out.
We've checked the ride height against the workshop manual, and it seems the car isn't sagging any more than it should, so I guess the excessive body roll is due to nackered dampers and slightly low tyre pressures. With this in mind, and to keep costs down, we've decided to risk it and not replace the rear springs.
And finally, the front wing now has a rather large pistonheads smiley.
So that's the current state of play, 9 days before we leave for Africa. And after flicking through the photos of someone exploring Western Sahara in a Landie here, I have to say I'm rather looking forward to it - provided the old Rover doesn't decide to interfere with our plans...
TonyRPH said:
Practical Classics had a feature on one of these in their "Staff car sagas" column back in the June 2009 issue.
The objective then was "Gloucestershire to Iran or bust" - I don't know if they ever made it though.
I initially thought this was that very car, until I dug out the magazine and checked the article.
Their's is a slightly darker brown though and is a 2200TC.
I've got a copy of that magazine; in fact when I placed my speculative Ebay bid on the car, thinking back to the article - and the fact that the Rover P6 looked so cool as a quirky overland vehicle - definitely swayed me a bit.The objective then was "Gloucestershire to Iran or bust" - I don't know if they ever made it though.
I initially thought this was that very car, until I dug out the magazine and checked the article.
Their's is a slightly darker brown though and is a 2200TC.
They did make it in the end - 10,000 miles to Iran and back, with quite a few overheating issues and suchlike. A good effort for sure.
We're only planning on covering 3-4,000 miles this trip, so it'll be quite a short undertaking in comparison. There are some big plans involving the Rover afoot for next year however, in the shape of the follow-up to the African Porsche Expedition: 'V8Nam', England to Vietnam, with a V8. Some friends are already planning to buy it off me if it survives the Morocco trip to use for said adventure, so it's got quite an interesting 12 months or so coming up...
Thanks folks!
For those that are interested, we're underway. The Rover boarded the ferry in Plymouth at 1545 hrs on Sunday, and is now 470 miles down the road in the automotively-named town of Evora, partway down Portugal. The car is purring away well, and is showing itself to be a comfortable and pleasant - if not fast and economical - way to cover the miles. We've got another three hundred miles to cover in Europe before we board the ferry to Morocco tomorrow afternoon, and the adventure begins in earnest. I'm keeping a blog of the journey here, and so far, we've learned the following:
1) If you've got to drive across Spain the following day, staying up into the early hours drinking whiskey with a group of hairy Harley Davidson Club members as you float across the Bay of Biscay probably isn't the best plan.
2) The Jaguar F-Type: Looks great. There were two disguised cars on the ferry, which we saw again on the road in Spain, and they looked stunning; beautifully proportioned and with a nice balance between power and litheness.
3) Brown cars with vinyl roofs are now rather rare in Spain, and attract some attention.
4) Steel epoxy really is a fast and easy way to seal a cracked radiator.
Right, that's it for now, hopefully the coming weekend will see us crossing the High Atlas into the Sahara, and seeing how the Rover really copes with a challenge. I'll leave things with a photo of the Rover meeting some of its successors in Salamanca yesterday:
For those that are interested, we're underway. The Rover boarded the ferry in Plymouth at 1545 hrs on Sunday, and is now 470 miles down the road in the automotively-named town of Evora, partway down Portugal. The car is purring away well, and is showing itself to be a comfortable and pleasant - if not fast and economical - way to cover the miles. We've got another three hundred miles to cover in Europe before we board the ferry to Morocco tomorrow afternoon, and the adventure begins in earnest. I'm keeping a blog of the journey here, and so far, we've learned the following:
1) If you've got to drive across Spain the following day, staying up into the early hours drinking whiskey with a group of hairy Harley Davidson Club members as you float across the Bay of Biscay probably isn't the best plan.
2) The Jaguar F-Type: Looks great. There were two disguised cars on the ferry, which we saw again on the road in Spain, and they looked stunning; beautifully proportioned and with a nice balance between power and litheness.
3) Brown cars with vinyl roofs are now rather rare in Spain, and attract some attention.
4) Steel epoxy really is a fast and easy way to seal a cracked radiator.
Right, that's it for now, hopefully the coming weekend will see us crossing the High Atlas into the Sahara, and seeing how the Rover really copes with a challenge. I'll leave things with a photo of the Rover meeting some of its successors in Salamanca yesterday:
rallycross said:
Excellent blog and love the photo of the Rover in the film sets!
Thanks! Now I'm awake, here's a few more:
So far, the main breakdowns have all been caused by the same issue - the engine bay has been getting so hot that the fuel seems to be vapourising before it reaches the carbs, meaning the engine cuts out. On one occasion, the heat also appears to have boiled the brake fluid too, resulting in a temporary loss of stopping power. On a steep mountain road. Which wasn't much fun.
We've stripped off all the trim on the front of the car to try to cool the engine bay, and since the last breakdown, we've modified the screenwash system to spray cooling water directly onto the carbs. Fingers crossed the system will keep them cool (ish) when we test it in the mountains today...
Hi there,
Yeah, an electric fan pumping cooler air through the bonnet would certainly have helped a bit - more to prevent the brake fluid getting too hot than the carbs - but still, it could have made all the difference. Fortunately, in the end redirecting the screenwash system to pump water on the carbs worked well enough to get us back over the Atlas mountains; a five-second squirt every minute or so while going uphill just about keeping them cool enough to keep working. It's probably not a long term solution to running a P6 in 40+ degree heat however!
The Rover completed its Moroccan bimble in the early hours of Monday morning, making it home after 14 days and 2,900 miles - and approximately the same number of tanks of unleaded. It broke down three times; all due to the underbonnet temperatures overheating the carburetors, and the brake fluid boiled on two occasions for the same reason, leaving us having to pump the brakes frantically to stop. All in all though, given our complete absence of preparation (which extended about as far as removing one of the silencers and strapping a tent to the roof), it did much better than any of us expected, and proved to be a comfortable and characterful way to travel, which could easily keep pace with the frantic Moroccan traffic. While I was skeptical before, I can now see why people often say that the P6 can still compete with more modern alternatives as a Daily driver.
So what's next for the old Rover? That's still being debated; until a decision is made, here's a few pics from its little trip to Africa:
Yeah, an electric fan pumping cooler air through the bonnet would certainly have helped a bit - more to prevent the brake fluid getting too hot than the carbs - but still, it could have made all the difference. Fortunately, in the end redirecting the screenwash system to pump water on the carbs worked well enough to get us back over the Atlas mountains; a five-second squirt every minute or so while going uphill just about keeping them cool enough to keep working. It's probably not a long term solution to running a P6 in 40+ degree heat however!
The Rover completed its Moroccan bimble in the early hours of Monday morning, making it home after 14 days and 2,900 miles - and approximately the same number of tanks of unleaded. It broke down three times; all due to the underbonnet temperatures overheating the carburetors, and the brake fluid boiled on two occasions for the same reason, leaving us having to pump the brakes frantically to stop. All in all though, given our complete absence of preparation (which extended about as far as removing one of the silencers and strapping a tent to the roof), it did much better than any of us expected, and proved to be a comfortable and characterful way to travel, which could easily keep pace with the frantic Moroccan traffic. While I was skeptical before, I can now see why people often say that the P6 can still compete with more modern alternatives as a Daily driver.
So what's next for the old Rover? That's still being debated; until a decision is made, here's a few pics from its little trip to Africa:
A bit of a thread resurrection, I know - but I've finally finished the trip report for the old Rover's Moroccan adventure. If anyone is still interested, it's all here
As for the old Rover, it's still chugging around happily, seemingly none the worse for its trip to Africa; however despite the 2,900 mile burble we haven't really got attached to it as we'd imagined we would, hence it will soon be getting replaced with whatever vehicle the next adventure demands...
As for the old Rover, it's still chugging around happily, seemingly none the worse for its trip to Africa; however despite the 2,900 mile burble we haven't really got attached to it as we'd imagined we would, hence it will soon be getting replaced with whatever vehicle the next adventure demands...
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